BY LEVI SHAPIRO The first broadcast in Israel was a military parade in 1968. The first commercial television industry did not even launch until 1993. This limited home market has taught a generation of Israeli content creators to cut costs and look for growth abroad. In the words of comedy writer Omri Marcus ( It’s A Wonderful Country ), “we are like a sweat shop from the Far East — only instead of Nike shoes we make cheap and smart content.” The Israel Audience Research Board (IARB) estimates 1.7 million Israeli TV households, 20 percent of which are non-Hebrew Arabs. Early programming successes were either political satire or imitations of foreign formats. As one Israeli producer joked, “It isn’t stealing if one Jewish comedian borrows from another Jewish comedian.” Today the market is fragmented, with a public broadcaster, two commercial broadcast networks and an 80 percent penetration rate for cable (HOT) and satellite (YES). Primetime broadcast is dominated by reality, led by Channel 2, which actually has two concessionaires. Channel 2’s Sunday-to-Tuesday lineup is controlled by Tel Aviv-based Keshet, while Wednesday-to-Saturday programming is overseen by a different company, Reshet, which is also based in Tel Aviv. Those days will reverse next year. Keshet leads the ratings race with reality programs like Big Brother , So You Think You Can Dance and It’s A Wonderful Country. More recently, Keshet has begun exporting formats. According to Keren Shahar, head of Formats & Acquisitions, “four years ago it was hard to schedule meetings with international buyers. Now people want to hear about what we are doing.” This includes The Vault , which aired in 18 territories, The Successor with Uri Geller (10 territories) and Mythological X. The undisputed king of Israeli reality and game show formats is Erez Tal, executive producer of The Vault , host of Big Brother and the creator of many popular shows. Tal launched his career on Israeli Defense Force Radio, which is popular with a national audience and where many Israeli talents began their careers. “Israel is a good lab for formats. We know how to make cost-effective primetime,” he said. The launch of direct-to-home satellite in 2000 forced cable to innovate. According to Udi Miron, CEO of cable network group Ananey, which is headquartered in Tel Aviv, “the worst thing you can call an Israeli is a ‘frier’ [or sucker]. So the cable industry heavily promoted video-on-demand to demonstrate value.” Today Israel has one of the highest VoD penetration rates in the world. “Consumers will pay for value. Kids programming does especially well on SVoD. We created pay channels for food, health, travel and lifestyle, and are beyond break-even with all of them.” On the global market, mention Israeli TV to most program buyers and they will probably respond “telenovelas.” Dori Media is the world leader, distributing over 5,000 hours of telenovela content to 65 countries and 450 TV channels. This includes owned and operated channels in Indonesia and other markets. In order to leverage alternative platforms, Dori recently launched Novebox.com, a social media and networking site focused on telenovelas. “Every day, two billion people watch telenovelas,” said Nadav Palti, CEO of the Tel Aviv office of Dori Media. “This is a very stable genre and demand remains high if you effectively promote, package and program.” In addition to the TV formats, Dori also produces about 1,000 new hours yearly in Argentina and Israel. Israel’s small size makes it difficult for producers who don’t export. Avi Armoza left his role as svp at JCS, Israel’s largest studio, to create Armoza Formats. The company has sold formats in Europe and North America. “Development is the most expensive and risky part of television. Many territories may not be able to afford U.S. and U.K. formats. Israeli shows can fill that need.” Armoza’s approach integrates content and technology. For example, The Smart Aceis an original poker trivia game show designed for niche channels and offprimetime in combination with the Web. Hagai Levi never created his dramatic series B’Tipul to get rich. “You can live very well in Israel off of reality and game shows, but not drama. The producer who only produces drama will be in trouble,” he said. After years of producing telenovelas, the creator and executive producer wanted to combine his interest in psychology with a cost-effective format. “Psychology is my hobby and my illness. I have been in therapy all of my life.” The format was sold to HBO in the U.S. and the series that is based upon it, In Treatment , is now in its second season, racking up Emmy and Golden Globe awards. Other versions are in production in France, Russia, Italy, Portugal and Serbia. “Except for Serbia, those countries have much higher budgets than Israel,” said Levi. “If it wasn’t for the overseas business, I would have lost money.” In Treatment is “Israeli” in the budgetary sense. “My intention was always to make it on the cheap…two actors, one location. For the telenovelas, I could write one episode every day. I truly believed that was possible for In Treatment . In fact, I needed an entire month to write each episode. So development took me one and a half years before shooting.” What remains to be seen is if scripted Israeli formats can maintain relevance abroad. “Some of the plotlines, such as the fighter pilot, are too Israeli. We all felt that the second season requires a much deeper adaptation to make it more culturally relevant,” said Levi. Localization includes an entirely local writing team and new showrunner, Warren Light, who formerly served as showrunner for Law & Order: Criminal Intent . Levi is not sure that other Israeli shows will have similar success abroad. “All of this is unbelievable. I showed up at a unique moment when the American networks were looking for ideas from abroad.” For now, international buyers looking for cost-effective and creative formats are learning to say “shalom” to Israel. V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 36 T e r r i t o r i e s Israeli Television: Small Country, Big Ambitions Erez Tal, king of Israeli reality and game show formats Producer Hagai Levi Ananey’s Udi Miron Avi Armoza of Armoza Formats
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