Orange Smarty to launch three BBC formats
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Editor
| 18 April 2023
In the run-up to the forthcoming MIPTV content and co-production market in Cannes. UK independent distributor and financing house for multiplatform factual content, Orange Smarty, has announced three new format representation deals.
Scarletts Driving School 17April 2023
A new relationship with Zinc Media’s Belfast-based factual production company Tern TV will see a new consumer-health format, Dr Xand’s Con or Cure, added to Orange Smarty’s slate. The 10 x 45’ programme, originally commissioned by BBC One Daytime, follows a TV doctor and celebrity journalist as they scour the country to expose medical fraud, explode false health news and explain topical health issues. Presenting from a mobile ‘health hub’, the pair flag up the dangers of health fads, offer practical advice and answer viewers’ medical questions. They also enlist the help of specialist experts to help audiences separate fact from fairy tale when it comes to health.

The format of another BBC One show, Scarlett’s Driving School (10 x 30’ - pictured), will also available for the first time at MIPTV. The light-hearted series gets behind the wheel with struggling learner drivers and the long-suffering ‘loved ones’ who are attempting to teach them. In an effort to break the cycle of failure, the show sends both learner and ‘loved one’ to a unique driving school, where a top professional instructor puts both parties through an intensive crash course — no pun intended. The original BBC series featured media personality Scarlett Moffat who, thanks to the show, finally passed her driving test on the 14th attempt.

Billed as ‘group dating meets travelogue’, BBC Three’s youth-skewing format Squad Dates, is inspired by the trend for two sets of single friends to get together for a weekend of fun and friendship — with a possible happy ending in the form of a new relationship. From evenings in the hot tub through busy days spent exploring a new city to glammed-up dinner dates, Squad Dates is a fun and flirty fusion of the dating and travel genres.

The deals were brokered by Orange Smarty head of acquisitions Stella Briley, overseen by CEO Karen Young and head of formats Chloe Deadman. Commenting on the new deals, Young said: “Orange Smarty specialises in formats that have the potential to work on a long-term repeatable basis, in any territory and across demographics. The old formats rule book has been ripped up and there’s now a massive demand for talent-driven factual formats that can help build brand identities and can bend and flex to suit any platform, budget or territory.”

Orange Smarty’s MIPTV format line-up also features The Flower Barn from Cardiff-based indie Wildflame Productions. The new six-part series for SC4 shares moments in people’s lives as it explores what motivates us to ‘say it with flowers’. Two talented florists are then challenged to creating stunning floral presentations, put together with creativity, flair — and a lot of love.