Phil Gurin


Singing Bee returning to old haunts

Much-travelled karaoke format The Singing Bee is heading back into Romania and Indonesia after almost a decade away from both. The deals to bring the show to Antena TV in Romania and RCTI in Indonesia comes as the resurgence of several classic gameshows continues. Antena is planning new primetime episodes for the show, which first […]

FRAPA membership grows 35% in a year

Formats industry body FRAPA has grown its membership 35% in the past year. This spike comprises 50 new members in the last 12 months, and comes after The Gurin Company’s Phil Gurin and Missing Link Media founder Jan Salling (pictured) became co-chairmen in March 2015. Among the new members are Korea Creative Content Agency, South […]

Salling, Gurin replace Absolutely’s Geneste at FRAPA

The Format Recognition and Protection Association has replaced Patty Geneste as chair, with Nordic World sales COO Jan Salling (left) and The Gurin Company’s Phil Gurin now sharing responsibility for running the industry body. FRAPA said Geneste (below, right) is stepping down for personal reasons. She sold her formats business to Nordic World last year. […]

CBC forges formats deal with Gurin

Canadian public broadcaster CBC has partnered with US producer The Gurin Company to develop new international formats. The deal, which is a first for both sides, will see the pair co-develop formats for the North American market, which will then be taken international. “By partnering with CBC we will be able to work with some […]

Gurin takes US rights to Wanna Bet?

ZDF Enterprises is working with LA-based prodco The Gurin Company to adapt German entertainment show Wanna Bet? for the US and international markets (excluding German-speaking territories). The pair will adapt the format, which has run in Germany since 1981, as a daily format. Each episode will see contestants making bets on the outcomes on a […]

ZDF plans Anne Frank miniseries

German pubcaster ZDF has commissioned a two-part miniseries about famous teenage World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family. German producer Oliver Berben is attached the helm the project, which production group indie Constanin Film and Moovie are coproducing. Screenwriter Andrea Stoll will write the scripts. The mini is slated to go to air […]

News brief: Mattel and Gurin making gameshow based on Uno card game

Toy company Mattel and gameshow producer Phil Gurin (pictured) are teaming to make Uno: The Game Show, a series based on the popular card game. There will be a half-hour daily show and weekly one-hour primetime version. The daily show will have a US$100,000 jackpot and its weekly counterpart US$1 million. The Gurin Company has […]

East meets West as Japan opens its Treasure Box

The double whammy effect of not importing formats and lengthy primetimes filled with original shows means Japanese broadcasters are prolific producers of entertainment series. Takeshi’s Castle, Dragon’s Den, America’s Funniest Home Videos and Iron Chef are huge properties that originated in Japan, but the number of hit international formats is small in proportion to the […]

Gurin teams up with Japanese broadcaster Fuji for formats

US producer The Gurin Company has joined forces with Japanese free-to-air broadcaster Fuji TV to create reality TV and gameshow formats. The pair have two projects underway, Objects of Desire, a Japanese-inspired dating format, and League of Extraordinary Teams, in which teams from around a given country compete in a studio-based show to be crowned […]