On Thu, May 4, 2023 at 4:18 PM Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> And as to why Ireland, it's either because facilities in the U.S. are
> still being taken up by Peak TV or they're trying to save money (even if
> they have to fly contestants from the U.S. and put them up in a hotel,
> since there aren't enough U.S. expats in Ireland in the key demos who want
> to be contestants).
>

It's surely just a money thing.

While Ireland does offer some significant tax credits to productions -
32%-34% according to https://www.screenireland.ie/filming/section-481 - I
can't see that a US gameshow fits into any of their categories. But I just
bet that hiring out a big studio with all the lights and cameras in place
makes economic sense. Hosts and contestants were going to need some
accommodation anyway, and while it might be more to send someone from, say,
Dallas to Dublin than Dallas to LA, the other cost savings may be more than
big enough to make sense.

See also Ru Paul and Lingo being shot in Manchester (UK) rather than the
US. In that instance there are added savings with the same set doing
double-duty for the UK version, although Ru Paul only presents the
primetime "celebrity" version in the UK with a different presenter doing
the daytime one. And from what I can see, that UK celebrity version has now
been cancelled. Again, while the UK offers significant tax breaks, they
tend to be for dramas and children's shows, not game shows.

These multi-country productions make more sense when there's a really
elaborate set. Wipeout/Total Wipeout had a massive fixed set in Argentina
that many countries used, flying in presenters and contestants to shoot
episodes for a couple of weeks before the next country took over. I
remember once being in Iceland where I saw the national TV company
promoting their  upcoming Wipeout run.  A country of just 250,000 people
would never have been able to produce a series like that on their own.

Similarly, many countries' versions of The Wall game show used a fixed set
in Poland. The UK version definitely flew contestants and the presenter
there. I was left wondering how they filled the audience with enough people
who understood what was going on, could understand the language and had any
interest whatsoever in proceedings...


Adam

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