Show of the Week: The Legend

The concept behind The Legend will be fully revealed on Sunday, April 3 at 6pm in the Grand Palais’ Auditorium A during MIPFormats. Distributor Global Agency has planned a secretive screening that company founder and format creator Izzet Pinto believes will attract all key entertainment acquisitions executives.

Of the few details revealed at press time, The Legend is a 15x120mins primetime singing talent competition shows with what Pinto says are “high stakes”.

The key twist setting this apart from the likes of The X Factor, Pop Idol, Rising Star and The Voice is that Pinto has designed it to hand the power to the contestants themselves.

I’ve been making formats for the past six years, and now I know what has been missing. I have created the perfect format – Izzet Pinto

“We’re trying something totally new,” he says. “In most TV shows the audience or judges decide the fate of the contestant. This puts the fate in their hands, allowing them to challenge themselves and push their limits.”

Since the hype around Rising Star fell away amid concerns from major broadcasters over the format and the technology it uses, thinking among formats creators has shifted towards niche concepts such as Lip Sync Battle, but Pinto believes the desire for a huge new entertainment format is as big as ever.

“In the last three or four years everyone has been waiting for a big format,” he says. “We shot the pilot for The Legend with judges known from other shows, who were saying they were sure this was going to be the next big thing.”

Pinto, a man not know for understatement, is planning 19 separate marketing campaigns around the format, which will likely make it one of the most visible shows in Cannes. He says major European broadcasters are already phoning him for more detail, though this will not come before MIPFormats.

“I know our screening will meet expectations,” says Pinto. “Of course, we have got good stuff in the catalogue, but this is the best by far. I won’t be surprised if bidding wars break out.

“I’ve been making formats for the past six years, and now I know what has been missing. I have created the perfect format,” he adds. “The most important thing is to create emotion, and this has lots.”

The show: The Legend
The producer: Global Agency
The distributor: Global Agency
The broadcaster: n/a
The concept: Big budget talent format in which the power rests in contestants’ own hands