DRG announces that it has licensed its popular social history format “Born On” to Kan in Israel, with the public service broadcaster also taking an option for the ground-breaking social experiment format, “No More Boys & Girls”. Kan is producing “Born On” as a 6 x 60 series, to air in the summer of 2020. The show was originally created by Monster for NRK in Norway and has won a number of awards, including the 2016 Gullruten Award for Norway’s Best Participant Show, and a Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival International TV and Film Awards in the same year.
In each episode, “Born On” tells the story of three different people, one of whom is a celebrity, all born on the same day in history. Tracking their individual life stories from birth until the present day, the format examines how, from the same starting point, their lives evolved in different directions and how their fates are linked to large and small events in our shared history. The show explores how these events and moments in time define us as people and also how countries are ultimately shaped by the product of individual’s stories.
Four seasons of “Born On” have been commissioned in Norway, as well as Lithuania, and it ran for two seasons in Spain and Switzerland. In the UK, BBC One aired the format as Born on the Same Day, with explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 1960s’ model Twiggy, and The Royale Family actor Ricky Tomlinson as the celebrity participants across the three episodes.
Kan has also taken an option for DRG’s “No More Boys & Girls”. Originally produced by Outline Productions for BBC Two, the series uses a pioneering approach to investigate if creating gender-neutral schools can help close the gender gap in adult life. This acclaimed social experiment idea has already been produced locally by ZDF Neo in Germany and Movistar+ in Spain and remains under option in the Netherlands.
Jack Watson, sales manager at DRG closed the deals with Kan. He comments: “Kan has a terrific reputation for successfully localising titles in the social history, heritage and social experiment space, having previously produced ‘Old People's Home for Four Year Olds’ and ‘You Can’t Ask Tha’t’ in Israel. This experience, coupled with real curiosity about what our formats can deliver for their audiences on both linear and digital platforms, makes them a perfect partner for these shows in the territory".
"Work on ‘Born On’ is well underway and there is every hope at Kan that this title develops to become an enduring and ratings-winning fixture in the schedules,” conclued Watson.