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New ELEVEN project still awaiting outcome

Hello or goodbye? Has the winner of TEN's 2010 pitch initiative, "ELEVEN out of TEN" become a victim of management changes?

Have management changes at TEN put projects on the backburner?

Last September ELEVEN announced an initiative to uncover new local television projects, “ELEVEN out of TEN.”

The search was looking for a new television series or special, in comedy, observational documentary, light entertainment or drama, as long as it held appeal to a youthful audience.

At the time David Mott, TEN’s chief programming officer said, “Young producers, fresh new ideas and a unique voice are things ELEVEN will celebrate and this development grant is the perfect way for us to kick start what we think will be a long and successful project for our premium new channel.”

On offer was the chance for finalists to pitch their concept to a panel of judges during the SPAA Conference in Sydney in mid-November.

Five finalists received a full 3-day registration with travel and accommodation.

The winning pitch was a news-based comedy by Shannon Marinko, best known as one of the co-creators of community TV show The Bazura Project then entered into a development phase, with a pilot made in January.

A TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight, “The scheme identified a couple of interesting projects and some very impressive talent. We’ve had discussions with a couple of the finalists, and we’ve done quite a bit of work with the winner, Shannon Marinko, to help develop his concept.”

Marinko speaks highly of TEN’s enthusiasm and support.

“They were incredibly keen and supportive and accommodating towards me and the concept. They busted a gut to get everything scheduled, budgeted and produced as soon as possible. I couldn’t be happier with how everything went, really. Lot of fun,” he said last week.

But after some five months later there are also questions about whether the project has fallen victim to changes in TEN management, which reached a crisis in February.

“Everyone at TEN seemed pretty happy with it. But the regime change seemed to put the kibosh on a lot of projects in development, including mine,” he says.

TEN has denied the show has stalled due to management changes and says it is still under consideration.

The original promise of the initiative never guaranteed a project going into production, despite is sounding like it was the ultimate target.

Meanwhile, Marinko is busy with The Bazura Project which has been picked up by ABC2 to air later this year.

13 Responses

  1. Nothing Youthful about Nine anymore which is sad really.I kind of miss the days of Cartoons before the News and suitable other shows for after school between 4 and 6pm.This was of course years before Eddie came along and destroyed everything.

  2. And @ franz chong: what about Ch9 has ever screamed “youth” to you? Do you think they’re interested in dropping money on a market they’ll never achieve loyalty with? Pointless son, pointless!

  3. @Goonies I’ve actually really warmed to Labby and Stav. Couchtime is pretty awesome… If it’s gone, Eleven wouldn’t be the same. It’s all kinda silly, but perfect for the channel.

  4. Nine could do with some fresh original product.

    Home Grown Sitcoms would be a good start,An Australian Version of your 90210 type shows that would be relevant for the young and youth of today too and please no more Eddie game shows or quizzes and no to any more Crime/Cops/Medical or Legal Shows please.

    A 21st century Sex and the City would be nice.OH I Forgot Seven already have such a show in Winners and Losers.

  5. @ Ryan. Yes couch time should be scrapped. I would replace it with kids shows which Ten has the rights to. so from 3pm to 6.30pm i would have kids block of programing and then Neighbours, or if neighbours ever returns to the main channel then i would much rather have a prime time episode of Vieo Hits at 6.30pm running for 2 hrs. This change due to management changes was always forseeable.

  6. Wasn’t the whole point of the competition to find young, new talent? I’m sure the winner is very talented but wouldn’t it have been better to have someone new to television? Also, I’m kind of surprised a news program won over a drama or a comedy!

  7. I think Eleven’s priority should be scrapping “Couch Time”. The show is horrible and the hosts even laugh at their own lame jokes. How can anyone enjoy watching these guys? Definitely puts me off watching Eleven!

  8. Mr. Do-Bee I don’t think Nine would be wise to commission any fresh, original product – they need to go back to the basics and start with simple, but well executed ideas to build their fan base again. Nothing to scare the horses too much, but of course preferably no cops, medical or legal. They’ve got a long way to go – maybe a few years – before they’re going to get a big following, big numbers for anything

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