Earlier this year, a studio audience gathered to watch the taping of a pilot for “Wordle,” a new game show based on the wildly popular New York Times puzzle.
The warm-up comic who came out before the start of the show explained to the crowd how “Wordle” emcee Savannah Guthrie is the co-host of the “Today” show with an impressive resume that included interviewing presidents. He also advised them on how there may be unfamiliar spellings of the words used in the game.
While Guthrie needs no introduction in the U.S., it was required at “Wordle,” which was shot at dock10, a TV production facility in Manchester, England. Production company Universal Television Alternative Studio and NBC had a contingent of executives, producers and question writers on hand. But the director and technical crew for the production were all Manchester locals, as was the audience. The contestants were flown in from the U.S.
If “Wordle” gets added to the NBC schedule next year, it will be produced in the United Kingdom — either in Manchester or in Ireland. But the move won’t break new ground. A growing number U.S. game show makers — long based in Los Angeles and New York — have headed across the ocean to take advantage of generous tax credits that can bring down the cost of production at a time when TV networks contend with shrinking audiences and profit margins.
Fox currently has four of its prime time game shows produced overseas, including “The Floor,” “99 to Beat,” “Celebrity Name That Tune” and “Beat Shazam.” (The network’s “The Masked Singer,” which gets a California Film Commission tax credit, and “Celebrity Weakest Link” are made on the Fox lot in Century City.)
The latest season of Fremantle North America’s classic Goodson-Todman format “The Match Game” was produced in Montreal for ABC with a local crew to take advantage of Canada’s production tax credit. Past seasons were taped in New York.
Fremantle even used Canadians as contestants for “The Match Game,” although viewers will notice they never identified their home towns. Producers had to police regional accents and references to make sure the show didn’t sound too different for an American audience.
Fox did not make an executive available to discuss the trend. But Rob Lowe, host of “The Floor,” has spoken bluntly about the cost savings realized from doing the program at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland.
“It’s cheaper to bring 100 Americans to Ireland than to walk across the lot at Fox,” Lowe told listeners of his “Literally!” podcast earlier this year. (Lowe’s show does have as many as 100 contestants, all of whom are flown over from the U.S. for the production.)
An hour-long game show can run between $1.5 million to nearly $2 million an episode depending on the cost of a celebrity host, according to network executives familiar with the budgets. Tax credits offered in the U.K. can bring that total down to under $1 million, a significant reduction in an era when media companies are relentless about containing costs.
Any savings are meaningful as the traditional TV business is struggling with the massive change in consumer viewing habits. Audience migration to streaming platforms has driven TV ratings down to historically low levels over the past decade. The latest data from Nielsen shows that 45.7% of viewers are watching streaming, compared to the 45.1% tuned into broadcast and cable networks.
The trend has actually helped the game show business. The genre — typically contained in a four-walled studio — is cheaper than scripted programs and has taken up more network prime time real estate in recent years. In an era when consumers can watch shows on demand, the urgency and undetermined outcomes of game shows make them feel “live,” like sports, the last surefire ratings-grabber for traditional TV.
But there is an industry-wide demand to reduce costs while maintaining the quality of the on-screen product. Even the less expensive option of a game show is not exempt.
“There is a pressure in this time that everyone — studios, production companies and network — is feeling to produce hours of television for lower price points,” Kim Kleid, executive vice president of current programming for Fremantle North America said in a recent interview. “The word on the street is do more with less. We all have to look for different efficiencies.”
On that measure, entertainment industry workers based in LA have felt the pinch of cost-cutting — with many having lost jobs and others struggling to find new roles, in part due to runaway production.
Scripted series have long been produced overseas and in Canada. Ardmore Studios has been operating since 1958 and at one time was owned by a consortium led by actress Mary Tyler Moore. Reality competition shows with large groups of players are also heavy users of overseas locations (Netflix flew 456 contestants to London for “Squid Games: The Challenge”).
But game shows with contestants and celebrities on a single set were largely done stateside. The phrase “This program has been recorded at CBS Television City, Hollywood” is evocative for generations of kids who watched “The Price Is Right” on a day off from school.
The turning point came after the COVID-19 pandemic. Game shows went back into production before scripted series were up and running after the lockdowns of 2020. Countries outside of the U.S. were quicker to loosen health precautions, enabling studios to lure new business.
Producers adapted quickly to using local crews outside of the U.S. Kleid believes the experience of working remotely and with social distancing made them more agile and able to adapt to a different system with a leaner staff.
“Everyone was in different locations, even in the studio because you couldn’t be together,” Kleid said. “It created a certain realization that not only can we do a show with a different set of circumstances, but we could do more with less.”
Studios based overseas are aware of the current panicked business climate and have been aggressive in pursuing cost-conscious U.S. productions.
Toby Gorman, president of Universal Television Alternative Studio, was looking at a number of locations to produce “Wordle” over the two years it was being developed. While visiting dock10 to scout another game show format, Gorman was approached about bringing some of NBCUniversal’s business to the studio.
Gorman said in a recent interview dock10 gave UTAS an advantageous price on the “Wordle” pilot as a way to get the company to sample the facility located in MediaCityUK, a development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal. The NBCUniversal unit had never done a game show overseas before.
“They gave us a great pilot deal so we could see everything their studio and team had to offer,” he said.
But it’s competitive, even among the countries in the U.K. Gorman said he is also considering setting the show up in Ireland, which recently added a tax credit for unscripted programming that would bring the savings to 40%, compared to 30% in England.
Kleid said her preference is to make more programs in California, which is still the home of Fremantle’s “The Price Is Right” and “Let’s Make A Deal,” and television’s two most popular game shows “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” both produced by Sony in Culver City.
“We pray on a daily basis that California will include game shows in their tax incentive programs,” Kleid said. “California is where Hollywood is and that’s what a lot of us came here for. But California has to make it advantageous for us.”
There were no game shows among the 17 programs selected earlier this month for California Film Commission tax credits.
“The Price Is Right” and “Let’s Make A Deal” are not just shows but local tourist attractions. Kleid does not want that to change, but she can’t make guarantees.
“They are iconic Southern California fixtures,” Kleid said. “We really hope to continue producing them here but we’re in a time we have to be open to anything.”
The post TV game shows born in the U.S.A. are heading overseas appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
