EXCLUSIVE: Suppliers that helped produce Lucky 13 have been asked to provide evidence of their debts following the collapse of the UK production vehicles behind the ABC game show.
Deadline has chronicled the messy demise of Lucky 13, the Shaquille O’Neal and Gina Rodriguez-hosted series that proved unlucky for many of those involved.
Lucky 13 was produced under a novel greenlight model, under which producer Studio 1 pre-funded the series in return for half of ABC’s ad revenue and 100% of product placement sales. But the venture went sideways when the revenue from 30-second ad spots fell well below projections, with ABC later canceling the series.
Lucky 13 Holdings and Studio 13 Entertainment, the special-purpose companies set up to house Lucky 13, were effectively declared bankrupt last year, and an administrator was appointed to wind up their affairs. They were run by Studio 1 CEO Adrian Woolfe.
Millions of dollars were owed to financiers, the presenters, contestants, and suppliers. ABC eventually stepped in to pay host fees and contestants at least $460,000 in winnings.
Studio 13 Entertainment still owes unsecured creditors as much as £890,974 ($1.2M), according to a filing by Menzies, the UK accountancy firm overseeing the administration process. They have now been asked to prove their debts by October 20, even though Menzies has said it is unlikely they will be repaid.
These creditors include the likes of post-production house Suite (owed £113,264); Nest Productions (owed £163,914), a production services company; and media law firm Lee & Thompson (£27,000).
SMC Speciality Finance, which helped fund Lucky 13, was owed around $4.6M after the collapse, but pocketed the $881,994 in ABC ad revenue generated by the show. SMC has taken control of the Lucky 13 rights and other IP owned by Studio 13 Entertainment, including Dancing With Horses, a show piloted for Fox with Sarah Ferguson starring.
Lucky 13 tested contestants’ knowledge with 13 true-or-false trivia questions but with a twist: just how well do they know what they know — and, just as importantly, how well do they know what they don’t know? If they accurately predicted how successfully they’ve answered 13 questions, they could take home a $1M cash jackpot.
It became ABC’s most-watched summer series premiere when it launched last July with 2.7M viewers. Lucky 13’s season finale was also ranked No. 1 in its time period.
Woolfe created the show and served as showrunner. Actor Kevin Bacon was an executive producer alongside Mark Wells, Glenn Coomber, Aaron Stone, Alastair Burlingham, Gary Raskin, David Schiff, Scott Henry, and GW Wright. O’Neal executive produced alongside Colin Smeeton and Michael Parris for his Jersey Legends Productions, while Rodriguez executive produced via her I Can & I Will Productions.
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