Winner of SMALL WORLD. BIG IDEAS competition of entertainment format ideas announced

On September 17 under the aegis of KYIV MEDIA WEEK 2018, an international forum which started in Ukrainian capital, the final round of the 4^th SMALL WORLD. BIG IDEAS competition of entertainment format ideas took place. Five contestants competed for the victory at the final stage; they pitched their projects in front of an international jury. This year the finalists were totally different by genres, themes, and forms, so the jury had a really hard time judging these top five and selecting one project deserving international coverage in a catalogue of Small World IFT, one of the most creative format distributors.  

The first ones to pitch their idea were Andrey Babkin and Olga Royenko (Ukraine) presenting  F*ck-Up and Win! This is a show where “experts” will analyze the most incredible “fails” and mistakes of the participants. Figuratively speaking, the more you’ve failed, the higher are your chances to win. 

After that Evgenia Zinko (Ukraine) presented  The ‘At One’ Club. The project’s main idea is to gather 12 different people with different professions, knowledge and aspirations in an attempt to achieve the goals each of them has set. Once a week the participants will get together at a brainstorming session where they will discuss the actions to take or the experience to obtain to succeed. During the week the characters film a video diary how they do what was decided at the meeting. They publish these video diaries on the internet, and the audience observes this for nine months; it also has a chance to give recommendations to the participants.

The next one taking the stage was Pavel Linevich (Ukraina) with the presentation of  Son of Me Mother’s Friend. Five project participants (young guys and girls) will live together for several months in a separate house. Each of them will try to “prove his/her mom” he’s better than “son of her friend.” For somebody this would mean starting a business, another will be proving that “singing hip hop” is also a serious thing, etc. They (if they wish so) will help each other. Ideally, in the end of the project moms will understand that their children are the best. But if the “children” fail, they will have to go work in the field their moms have wanted to see them in all along.

Then another finalist took the floor; it was Viktor Bulyga (Ukraine) who presented Brother for Brother, Sister for Sister. The main characters of these projects will be pairs of identical twins. One of them will be “active” and the other one, “passive.” The active twin will fulfill different tasks in the skin of his/her twin brother/sister. The main task is not to reveal oneself before the people around the “passive twin.” The “active” participant will be given tasks by “provoking celeb” who will sit with the “passive twin” in a van nearby. If for the whole day the people around won’t be able to “blow the cover”, the twins win a prize. 

Finally, the last one to pitch was Jokin Etcheverria from Spain with President Me. For twelve weeks, the participants of this reality show will travel around the country and campaign among the people to vote for them as the future President. The participants will analyze the problems a neighborhood/town/city faces. There will be new programs of country development, active debates of participants and everything happening during the elections, only without the risk to elect a wrong head of the state for the nearest years. 

Let us note that this year about 40 applications were submitted to the competition from different countries of the world. The maximally open competition format allows to present an idea in any form – from a written concept to a finished and already broadcast product. Plus any person can compete, as it doesn’t matter where he/she works (both students and retirees participate), it is only vital for the idea to be fresh and fascinating. And the stakes are high as three formats (two from Ukraine and one from Israel) which won at previous competitions have become known to the whole world and caught the attention of numerous international broadcasters. This year, the winner formats were joined by Brother for Brother, Sister for Sister, a project by Viktor Bulyga.