Traditionally, among the programs broadcast by television stations, two main categories of programs can be distinguished: the catalog and the flow.
Today, the definitions of these two categories are strongly challenged by the generalization of on-demand consumption and the multiple possibilities offered today by digital media to watch or review programs.
That said, we can continue to consider that catalog programs are intended to be rebroadcast, sometimes years after their first broadcast (films, series, etc.), while the flow must be consumed in a certain immediacy (games, reality shows, talk shows, “varieties”, etc.).
The “catalog” is therefore considered as cultural and benefits from public aid, whereas the “flow” has always been excluded.
However, from the point of view of the economic development of a region, this discrimination has no reason to exist.
It is in this spirit and on an experimental basis that Wallimage has been mandated by Wallonia to consider the creation of a specific funding line for television, including flow.
We are talking about TV programs that are recognizable by their recurring graphic and sound design, but also by the way they run, which makes them original. The stronger the mechanics, the more solid the format is, since it has to hold its own regardless of the variables that will appear from program to program.
The personality and psychology of the candidates of game shows or reality shows, for example, will influence the content of the programs, but their “format” is there to reassure the viewer who must constantly find his bearings in what the Americans call “non-scripted shows”…
These “formatted” shows have production budgets that range from almost nothing to several million euros per episode! However, for their designers, the work is always the same: they have to imagine a mechanism, test it if necessary in a model, then convince TV channels to produce it on the basis of a pilot.
It is essentially during this first phase of their journey that independent producers take real financial risks. That’s why Wallimage is setting up a new help line for the production of format drivers.
The complete rules of this call for projects can be downloaded by clicking here.
Professionals are invited to return their projects by September 19, 2016 and the results of this 1st call will be announced at MIPCOM in October.
Interested producers can obtain more information from Wallimage by calling 065/40.40.33.
Please note that the offices will be closed from July 17 to August 16 for the traditional summer vacations
