Madelyn (00:05)
Hi and welcome to the Unscripted Files. This is our Monday mini sode full of unscripted industry news. It's Monday, November 2nd, with none other than Emily Wilson. Welcome, Emily.

Emily Wilson (00:14)
Hi, thanks for having me.

Madelyn (00:16)
Of course, a lot to cover today. But first, how was your Halloween weekend?

Emily Wilson (00:21)
It was a busy one. I mean it's definitely not as big over here as I'm guessing that it is over there. but yeah, still a lot happening and and now Christmas decorations are coming here because we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. So it's a very quick switch I would say.

Madelyn (00:38)
Well, it's quick over here too, because I was in Target yesterday and the Christmas stuff is already up. So the retail cycle is

Emily Wilson (00:45)
my goodness.

Madelyn (00:46)
the same as you guys apparently. But it was a fun weekend. It really felt I don't know, because it was on a Saturday this year, it just felt like it was a whole new thing and it was a lot of fun. I put some fangs on and and had a good time. speaking of

scary.

We have some news on Fear Factor. this is really interesting one because we have this unscripted IP that Fox is taking and flipping it into a scripted micro drama. Tell me more about this.

Emily Wilson (01:13)
I mean, we've been talking about the scripted to unscripted pipeline for a long time, with shows like Squid Game becoming unscripted, but this is the reverse. a vertical fear factor spin-off. No date confirmed yet, but through Endemol Shine North America and Holy Water's Tech My Drama platform.

And thirty three minute episodes for mobile first audiences, taking the thrills, tension and terror synonymous with Fear Factor, and reimagining the franchise as an original fictional horror story.

Madelyn (01:46)
Very curious how this is going to go and if y like I said, we're gonna see more of the reverse on scripted worlds in forming these scripted verticals.

Emily Wilson (01:54)
Absolutely.

Madelyn (01:55)
speaking of scary, the looks maxing doc on Hulu. They're calling it a true crime doc, which I think is like so funny.

And maybe that's because something unravels, but I'm also like, yes, it is a is it is a crime. This entire interior sinister world of looks maxing that also has overlap with incel culture, is it a big thing across the pond where you are? Is this or is this really more of an American phenomenon?

Emily Wilson (02:19)
there's definitely been a lot of commissioning around this, I would say. There was the Louis Thoreau Manosphere documentary, which really blew up over here and has caused a lot of conversation. So I'm not surprised to see this not only on Hulu and Disney Plus in the US, but internationally. and as you mentioned, the horror of it, I mean, it's a provocative and intimate psychological autopsy of male influencer culture.

and I think these discussions into culture and in the good and bad parts of culture are really important to see.

Madelyn (02:51)
Yeah, looks like it's coming out next week, November 10th, Hulu Disney Plus,

it's not just a system that also is damaging and to women and oppressive to women. Like this system of like who can be

The most macho male, whoever that is, is is damaging to men too. It's a three-part series. I will probably sit down and not get up for hours because I'm fascinated by this. just understanding what the what the motivation is and who who are

these people trying to impress. And 'cause I don't think it's women. I actually think it's other men, which is a whole other interesting discussion about this world.

Real quick executive update on the Sky Dance Warner Brothers merger.

Tell me what's happening.

Emily Wilson (03:37)
Yeah, so George Sheik's formalised his division executive structure. We've got Channing Dungey as head of Warner Brothers TV Group and the combined Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery Cable Networks. We have David Stuff as head of CBS Studios and Matt Thornell as head of Paramount TV Studios.

Madelyn (03:59)
Yeah, a lot of shifts, a lot of movement happening there. and again, just wild that we're seeing so much consolidation just in the past couple of months. so we'll continue to keep you updated there. some new commissions on the Bravo side. We've got two we've got like a spin-off, right? We've got a new season of next gen New York.

a spin-off of Next Gen Atlanta, and then we also have Small Town Trouble, Texas. Talk to me about talk to me about these series. What's going on?

Emily Wilson (04:28)
Yeah, so next gen NYC is going into season three, as you mentioned. And it has been having a ratings uptick, so it's not surprising that they are spinning this out into Atlanta. I'll be excited to see how much this actually expands because we've been speaking about, I guess, different states in the US having these regenerations. Like you spoke about Arizona quite a bit, and there was the Arizona Hot Series, I believe it was, that was commissioned recently.

It looks like it will be a similar premise following a close group a close knit group of friends. and then on the other side, small town trouble, Texas.

Folllows a charming yet unconventional group of mothers and social insiders and their husbands as conservative small town values collide with forbidden attraction, messy friendships and shocking secrets. That one sounds messy to me. Even though everyone says that Gen Z are the messy

Madelyn (05:19)
yeah.

Emily Wilson (05:22)
ones, I'm I'm here for the drama on small town trouble.

Madelyn (05:25)
Agreed. It feels like Mormon Wives all over again. So I'll be very curious to see this one I just watched the teaser. It's coming out on November eighteenth. so yeah, looks looks like a lot of drama, a lot of fun. and it looks like there's kind of a

cast member from Big Brother, who has a bit of a controversial reputation, who's going to be on. So that'll be interesting. As far as next gen NYC and it's been off in Atlanta, super excited for that. Atlanta is such a hotbed of Southern culture, hip hop, entertainment, sports. I grew up about two hours outside of Atlanta. So it's a beloved city for me and I'll be really excited to see how they add to the franchise. You know, similarly to how Real Housewives of Atlanta enriched the Housewives franchise.

So

So that'll be really, really fun. I think the last thing we'll cover is Instagram is rolling out 90-minute horizontal video. Really interesting. They're just doing it with a couple of limited creators. I'm sure this is to pull.

even more podcasts, vodcasts, back into the platform. But you know, I mean, gosh, verticals, horizontal, long form, midform, short form, micro. I mean, Emily, I can't keep up.

Emily Wilson (06:34)
I think what's interesting about this is it's very much content that Instagram want you to consume on TV. As much as it's in app, it's also in their television app, which is on Apple TV. And I I think we're seeing that more as well, like Substack launching for TV. This kind of long form coming back, but everyone's watching it on bigger screens. so yeah, it it couldn't be more different.

between the very quick microdramas to the long form horizontal content. It's trying to serve every audience.

But the interesting thing about this is that according to Variety, Instagram won't be paying creators a share of ad revenue.

Madelyn (07:13)
Yeah, I mean, how can you compete? When you have when you have YouTube when you have Netflix offering crazy deals to creators, very curious how Instagram is going to keep this competitive. I mean, other than how convenient it is to click on a short form reel or a clip from a podcast and not have to click on y link in bio and open it in YouTube or open it in Spotify. You know, yes, there's a convenience to watching it in app, but I mean they're going to have to figure

a better deal here to to be competitive. I know that they've been trying out serialized content called series, where you can kind of create like serialized episodic things within the app, which I think is really interesting. from from 90 second microdramas to ninety minute horizontal, I mean, it it we are just seeing such a crazy shift in the media landscape trying to double down on

where everyone's attention is and it's it's pretty wild to see. So thank you for always keeping us up to date on all the things. You can follow Emily Wilson on LinkedIn where every single Friday she posts the latest in unscripted industry news or you can get it directly to your inbox via her Substack unscripted TV news. Thank you, Emily.

Emily Wilson (08:23)
Thank you.