Talpa expands and invests in adventure reality
By creating a dedicated, separate division within the company, solely focused on adventure reality, Talpa is investing in the development and production of adventure reality formats. Geraldine Smink and Wim van Dam were added to the team, both with a vast global track record in this genre. Van Dam was one of the co-creators of Million Dollar Island. While that show is successfully traveling the globe, Talpa has just finished recording its next big adventure reality show, in Africa.
Smink has spent the last fifteen years as an executive producer for Strix/Monday Media focusing on factual, survival and reality shows. Van Dam has more than made his mark in producing various adventure reality shows, such as Survivor for over 15 years. Smink is excited: “I’ve been working with Wim for years. It’s wonderful to now have our own adventure reality department within Talpa, an environment where everything is possible, and we can create content beyond compare.”
Several great adventure reality projects are soon to be announced, both originals as well productions resulting from creative partnerships. The first one has just been recorded in Africa. The yet to be announced show is set to air in 2024 in The Netherlands, on SBS6.
Creative Partnerships
The adventure reality show Million Dollar Island is the result of a creative partnership with Monday Media. It’s a highlight of Talpa’s most impactful collaborations to date. The second season of Million Dollar Island just finished in the Netherlands on SBS6 and Amazon Prime, in co-production with Flanders, where the show launched on VTM and Streamz. The format is already on air in Australia and the Middle East & North Africa.
Maarten Meijs, CEO Talpa: “Talpa is an open creative network and with the expansion into Adventure Reality entity, we can further grow our offering across this genre and showcase our international production capability as well as welcoming new concepts to bolster our creative partnerships.” He adds: “At the moment, a third of our formats originate from creative partnerships. With an ever-growing demand for content, we’re looking to team up with creative parties throughout the global industry who want the same thing that we want: to develop exciting new formats and see them hit the screens around the world.”