Banijay Productions Germany Bosses On AI, Cross-Border Cooperation & Global Ambitions For ‘Villa Of Temptations’

Banijay Germany is flying high off the back of a couple of big commissions – The Summit for Prime Video and Villa of Temptations for Sat.1 and Joyn – but co-MDs Arno Schneppenheim and Katrin Stefanović note it is tough out there for producers.

One issue is the impact on commissioning caused by the commercial nets having to navigate a choppy ad market and wider industry disruption.

“It’s a very tough business in Germany,” Schneppenheim told Deadline. “We’re getting two messages from the channels. The first is: ‘We’re not ordering.’ The second is: ‘If we do continue or restart [commissioning] you have to produce in lower volumes.’”

Against that backdrop, which was also chewed over at Seriencamp last week, he said there’s only one answer: “We have to find new ways of doing things, this is our challenge.”

“We are talking about it with the German Banijay group and with the international Banijay group almost every day. How can we use AI? How can we find more synergies? Is there a spot where we can record reality shows for three, four, five countries? This is what we must figure out now.”

The Summit fits the model. The format sees contestants race up a mountain with rucksacks full of cash and the German version shot in New Zealand alongside several other international editions. It slotted in right after the UK take on the format, which will air later this year on ITV.

Being part of the huge Banijay production and distribution group does off the opportunity to remake international shows for the local market. The Summit comes from the international library as does the evergreen Temptation Island and its spin-off Temptation Island VIPwhich are produced by Stefanović and Schneppenheim’s label for RTL.

It also makes comedy shows as well as docs such as the recently-announced Rudi Völler – The Documentary about the eponymous soccer star.

It’s and import-export business. The three unscripted shows the prodco will make this year from the Banijay library sit alongside locally originated projects that the team hope can be shopped internationally.

Villa of Temptations is one of five locally developed shows the prodco will make this year. Launching this month on Sat.1 and associated streaming service Joyn, the format sees celebrities heading to what they think is paradise. The reality is, however, if they want any luxuries, they need to pay for them out of a Euro250,000 prize pot, reducing the total for the group.

“Everything has its price,” Stefanović explained. “We produced it in Thailand in a big villa and there are celebrities there thinking about a big luxury vacation. But then, bam, after 10 minutes, the host comes in and says: ‘No, you have nothing, and the villa is empty, nothing is in it anymore. Now you can have luxury if you want, but you must pay for everything.’”

The hope is that the show can travel. German unscripted shows do not have a history of selling well, globally, but Schneppenheim hopes the rep his label has for making big international formats will help change that.

“People have started to believe that we can do it, they are buying our paper formats, but because we are Germans it’s very difficult. I have been doing this now for 30 years, and it was always like this, it’s always more difficult to sell a German format.”

Cross-country cooperation becomes more important when market conditions are challenging. Working with Banijay stablemate Screentime for The Summit showed it can work, the Banijay Germany Productions bossed said.

“It’s more cost-effective for our clients, and for us. They’re getting a cheaper show, which is still very high quality, and we’re getting a good margin. It’s a win-win for everyone.”