Thirty years ago, formats consisted of a few studio game shows. In the intervening decades, formats spawned reality television, and became the huge money making powerhouses that built mega multinationals and made multi millions for their creators and producers. During this time, genres of programming in formats changed to include all sorts of things like talent competitions and social experiments. At the same time, platforms changed to cover online and mobile apps.

Now, when we look at developing formats across different genres, platforms and screens, the process of developing formats is akin to creating tomorrow’s global entertainment brands. But, for most, this business of big brands is ruled by just a few who are big enough to operate on a global scale. Who are those ruling tastemakers, how can newcomers break in, what is a “format” anyway, you may ask yourself.

Yet, against such dazzling possibilities, some things remain unchanged: Hits are scarce. Everyone is searching. It always begins with someone somewhere who has an idea; a good idea, of course. First of all, it’s about smart people with good ideas; people who know how to make their ideas become reality.

During four full days in London, our DEVELOPING FORMATS Master Class will explore the core skills and business savvy needed to create, develop, commercialize and protect great ideas as they are taken from scratch to screen and beyond, from your original thought to a sellable format that you can trade around the world.