EITF AWARDS 2016 BEST PRODUCTION COMPANY STUDIO LAMBERT Studio Lambert was founded in 2008 as a British and American production company based in London and Los Angeles. It grew quickly and the past year has been our most successful. Our UK and US hit shows especially the BAFTA-winning Gogglebox and Primetime Emmy-winning Undercover Boss continue to perform very strongly and this year we have launched more new series than ever before. We have also established a scripted division that has got off to a flying start with several new drama series in development and script funding from the BBC and ITV. With a turnover in 2015 of 46.9m, the company achieved an annual revenue growth of 15%. PROGRAMMES During relevant 12 months, we produced 142.5 hours for broadcast in the UK and 46 hours aired on US broadcast or cable networks. We aired six returning series and six new series. Gogglebox/The People s Couch In the UK, during the relevant period, the multi-award winning Gogglebox won the National Television Award for best factual entertainment series for the second year running, as well as the Grierson Award for most entertaining documentary. With more than five million viewers each week (according to the consolidated ratings), Gogglebox is easily Channel 4 s most popular show and has become the tent pole of its Friday nights, running for 30 weeks of the year. Series 7 completed its seventeen-week run in
June and three more series have been ordered. The Gogglebox format has been successfully adapted in more than 30 territories, including in America where Studio Lambert has been producing it for NBCU s Bravo network as The People s Couch since 2013. A fourth season of twenty episodes of The People s Couch started in January this year. And in Australia, the ESG produced version of the Studio Lambert format won the Logie Award this year for best factual series. Also in the relevant period, Channel 4 broadcast a pilot episode of a version featuring children as the armchair critics. Gogglesprogs aired on Christmas Day to rave reviews and strong ratings (3.5m consolidated). A full series was ordered which started in June this year. Undercover Boss In America, we produced the 100 th episode of Undercover Boss for CBS during the relevant period. Season seven aired between December and May and CBS announced in May that it was ordering an eighth season. It s a remarkable achievement given that the number of successful new unscripted shows on US broadcast television in the last six years can be counted on one hand. Only The Voice has been more successful. Undercover Boss launched in 2010 in the post Superbowl slot and attracted the largest audience ever for a new reality series 38.6 million viewers. After a first season in which it was the most popular new show in any genre on US tv, it has become a reliable banker for CBS on Friday night attracting more than seven million viewers. During the relevant period Undercover Boss was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in the best reality series category. It has been nominated every year since its launch season and has won the award twice.
The Undercover Boss format continues to sell well worldwide and several territories launched their versions of it during the relevant period, including Japan where it was the first factual entertainment format that NHK has ever bought and Brazil where the version on Globo attracted an audience of more than 20 million. Tattoo Fixers During the relevant period, our most successful new UK series was Tattoo Fixers, which launched on E4 in June last year. It has quickly become the most popular show on the channel, regularly attracting more than one million viewers. After the strong ratings of the first series, three more series were ordered. The second started airing in December and in February Channel 4 announced that two spin-off series had been ordered. Tattoo Fixers on Holiday and Body Fixers will both air later this year. A French version of Tattoo Fixers will launch later this year and tape sales of the UK version have been strong in many territories, especially Australia. Four in a Bed Daytime hit Four In A Bed saw its 400 th episode broadcast on Channel 4 this March. Another 100 episodes are currently in production and internationally more than a thousand episodes have now been made. In France on TF1 as Bienvenue Chez Nous it has become a ratings banker forcing M6 to move the French version of Come Dine With Me after they were scheduled head-tohead. The Great Interior Design Challenge Other UK returning shows include The Great Interior Design Challenge, which returned on BBC2 in February for a third series. The ratings for this 7pm series have grown each series and more
than three million watched in the final of this sixteen episode series. BBC2 has ordered a fourth series and has decided to move it to an 8pm slot. How To Get A Council House And we produced a fourth series of the popular documentary How To Get A Council House for Channel 4 during the relevant period. It aired in May this year. Other new series During the relevant period we have produced new series that have aired on BBC One, ITV, BBC Three, Lifetime and E! Doctor in the House introduced a new face to BBC One, Dr Rangan Chatterjee. The series was critically acclaimed and is set to return, bigger and better, later this year. The Danish version of the format has been the biggest hit on DR2. On BBC Three, The Fear sought out young amateur horror film directors to make terrifying short films for a cinema audience. We went on vacation with Travel Guides for ITV, a series where ordinary families travelled to some of the world s most popular destinations to review holidays. We learnt lesson from making it and we are now piloting a new travel series for ITV. Biggest Loser fitness mogul Jillian Michaels agreed to let us make a docu series about her private world and family in an eight episode series for NBCU s E! network called Just Jillian. In the finale she proposed to her long time partner Heidi Rhoades. And Pitched Slapped captured the energy and spirit of competitive high school acapella singing in an eight episode series for AETN s Lifetime network.
In production During the relevant period we developed and sold many other series to British and American networks that have not yet been announced. New shows include an unscripted format that we are making for the BBC and making a US version for a US broadcast network. And we are piloting a new entertainment show for ITV and a US version for another US broadcast network. We have a new food related factual entertainment series in production for ITV. And we are about to launch a new dating series on Channel 4 and a new science format on BBC2. Culture and reputation of the company There is a vibrant and friendly work culture at Studio Lambert where collaboration is encouraged. The entirely open plan office means that even the most junior members of the team have access to the leaders of the business and are fully involved in the creative process. The company invests in young talent; offering career development and a wide range of production opportunities to promising junior employees, which means that our retention of off screen talent is excellent. Frequent social events encourage different production teams and departments to mix - there are monthly office drinks, an annual summer picnic and regular parties to celebrate the success of Studio Lambert shows. In an effort to attract exciting, new talent we also hold regular breakfasts and drinks where people who haven't worked at the company before can meet the senior team in an informal setting.
Work/life balance is very important at Studio Lambert and so is retaining skilled employees so we are supportive of both job shares and part time roles for working mothers across all departments. Studio Lambert is very much part of the industry-wide push to increase diversity in the workplace, liaising closely with PACT and the major broadcasters. Last year we took part in the Channel 4 Production Training Scheme aimed at nurturing exciting new production talent and this year we are involved with the PACT Indie Diversity Scheme, having taken on two trainees who are being mentored by senior Studio Lambert staff. We are also implementing our own internal mentoring scheme to grow new talent. Our commitment to diversity does not stop at entry-level grades. We have actively encouraged a substantial increase in BAME workers across many grades joining our teams in the last 18 months and we currently have a senior producer working with us who is part of the C4 disability programme.