Madelyn (00:05) Hi, welcome to the Unscripted Files. It's Monday, May 11th, and this is our Monday mini-sode with Emily Wilson, who's giving us the latest in Unscripted Industry News. Welcome, Emily. Emily Wilson (00:15) Thank you for having me. Madelyn (00:16) Absolutely. There's a lot to discuss here. Most interestingly, Deadline hosted a reality TV summit on May 1st in LA. It was just one day, but packed full of a lot of interesting panels, guests, network executives. Andy Cohen gave the keynote. You know, in wake of real screen essentially folding. What does it look like for who's going to sort of come in and be the next tent pole event for the unscripted industry? Emily Wilson (00:44) think it's interesting as we've spoken about that execs from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Peacock, ABC, Warner Brothers, a lot of high-level executives were there and appearing under the deadline banner. So it may be the future where we see more publications hold summits like this. Madelyn (01:05) Yeah, I mean, a lot of those executives haven't shown up at real screen And then a lot of also like big celebrity led panels as well. some really great programming too. Some panels included how to have a hit reality series with Vanderpump Rules producer Alex Baskin, Jeff Jenkins, the company behind Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. So just a lot of, you know, really interesting. content here, a lot of interesting panels and yeah, who knows, maybe they'll extend it to three days next year and this will be our new real screen. Emily Wilson (01:35) I would definitely come to this. I mean it sounds incredible, the content sounds amazing. So yeah, let's see. Madelyn (01:42) The latest in merger news, a really interesting article came out from Peter White over at Deadline just talking about how much of the unscripted real estate market this new formation is going to own between HBO Max and Paramount Plus. Talk to me about what kind of huge chunk of the market they're essentially going to own here. Emily Wilson (02:04) 25 % of unscripted content, which is above what was already a staggering figure at Hulu and Disney +, which was 22%. So yeah, 25 % is a massive number. So many super brands. I, for one, would love to see some of those shows be combined. So crazy spin-off. But I guess we will see. Madelyn (02:28) Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, CBS obviously has a ton of big unscripted players. We've got Survivor, but HBO Max? Like they have a couple of, you know, the great pottery throwdown, but like don't have a ton of unscripted originals. And it relies on a lot of its cable nets for like 90 Day Fiance and Practical Jokers, some Discovery shows that do well, like Naked and Afraid, and of course, ID Slate of like True Crime Docs. And it's going to be really interesting for us as to navigate what those new mandates will look like for 25 % of the market, how they're going to shift and change, who is going to be making the decisions, How are they going to merge all of these brands together? And again, what is that going to look like for the content? What else we got Emily? Emily Wilson (03:14) So we have a new announcement from Fox about Marriage Market, which is a dating reality social experiment. Madelyn (03:21) Yeah, this one looks like so much fun, honestly. I have some friends who have been working on this and are incredibly excited about it. Whitney Cummings, who also just got engaged is going to be hosting. But it's fun. It's essentially, marriage ready singles who allow their families to take control of their dating life. It's giving parental control, like, on a whole new level. ⁓ it's, yes, exactly, exactly. And they actually sort of backdoored this. So it actually launched in Germany and is now coming over and launching in the U.S. But yeah, singles who are putting their love lives in the hands of family members that know them best in an arranged marriage. But also what I really love about this format is that the couples and their families all move in together. Emily Wilson (03:42) It's giving a range to marriage at this point. Madelyn (04:07) So as opposed to a format like Love is Blind where you choose your person and then you guys go off into a, you know, nice hotel and the only other people you're seeing are the other couples. Now we have like all of the families moving in with each other, which I can imagine will make for some incredible story dynamics. So that's a little tweak to this, like twist to this format that I really love. Dating formats and marriage formats are tough. It's tough to break through and find something different and this one seems really fun. Emily Wilson (04:37) Also, Netflix have announced that they are introducing a new feature on mobile phones called Clip. So more like TikTok or YouTube Shorts, they're looking to have more short form previews of their content, specifically for their mobile app. Madelyn (04:54) If I hear verticals one more time, I think I'll cry. I mean, this comes as no surprise. Yeah, it looks like for Netflix, according to Variety, it's a baby step to the vertical video front. So you'll still have to watch full length content in your 16 by nine and rotate your phone, but it's going to start, you're gonna start seeing clips and bits and pieces of their content in vertical, whether that's little scenes or sizzles or promos or whatever. Emily Wilson (04:58) go. an exciting update. think so many people can't tell from a thumbnail. I think that's the big talk on YouTube about seeing a thumbnail and what you want to click on. to have 30 seconds to witness a bit of content you're going to watch, I think it will attract people from short form to long form a lot easier when it's all within the same application as well. Madelyn (05:42) Yeah, apparently it's a personalized highlight reel that helps you decide what to watch or play next without endless scrolling. The latest news since we have been speaking a lot about Secret Lives of Mormon wives, Taylor Frankie Paul on this podcast is that at her last Chicago show, Whitney Levitt announced that she's leaving the Secret Lives of Mormon wives. I think this is a really smart move on Whitney's part. I think sometimes people don't know when to hold them and when to fold them, and I think this was the right move for her. I'm sure we will be seeing a spinoff in the works of her life in New York, her family, maybe some new friends that she has. And TBD on if we will ever see the season of Taylor Frankie Paul's Bachelorette. I hear rumors, I'm hearing certain buzz, not sure where it's going to go or end up, but I don't think that... I don't think that it's just going to end up in a library collecting dust, I'll say that. Emily Wilson (06:29) I'm excited to see what happens. Madelyn (06:31) Well, any other news Emily or you think we covered it? Emily Wilson (06:34) think we've covered it, but what are you looking forward to watching soon? Madelyn (06:38) Ooh, okay, well little personal promo moment, a show that I executive produced and created, just premiered on Hallmark Plus. Mom's the Bride, perfect for this past Mother's Day weekend, so feel free to watch that. And of course, Love Island is coming out in less than a month, and you know how I feel about Love Island, so really excited for that. I can hear the intro like narrator now. It just gives me chills. So that's what I'm most excited about. What about you? Emily Wilson (07:02) There's Kylie Minogue documentary coming out on Netflix which goes through her entire career, her cancer journey and where she is now. So I'm very excited to see that. Madelyn (07:12) Incredible. Love that. I'll have to check it out. Well, thank you so much, Emily, again for joining us. If you don't already, please follow Emily Wilson on LinkedIn, where every Friday she posts unscripted industry updates for you. And then she also has a sub stack so she can put it right in your inbox. is unscripted TV news. And thank you so much again, Emily. We'll see you in two weeks. Emily Wilson (07:31) Thank you.