She is a very well known professional in The Format's business and she has achieved a lot of success in selling CBS's catalogue before the merger with Paramount.
Roxanne Pompa is VP, International Formats for Paramount Global Content Distribution. She has travelled the world selling and producing formats from the vast libraries of CBS, SHOWTIME, and Paramount including scripted series like, Ray Donovan, The Affair, and The Good Wife, to non-scripted titles from the famed reality juggernaut, America’s Next Top Model, to iconic games like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! Her territories include France, Greece, Italy, The Middle East, India and Latin America.
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• What are the formats you are promoting for the next upcoming international events?
For MIPTV, on the unscripted side, we are presenting some new and fresh titles including THE EXHIBIT, TINY HOUSE BATTLE, and AFTER HAPPILY EVER AFTER. The first title, The Exhibit - launched on March 3rd on MTV U.S. as a six-part competition series to find the next great artist. These seven artists compete in weekly challenges for a chance to win a $100K cash prize and a one-in-a-lifetime chance to exhibit their work at the Smithsonian. Tiny House Battle is a high-end reality competition in which the very best amateur builders compete to be crowned the best Tiny House builders in the country. After Happily Ever After features a group of divorced or separated singles, with the help of their former spouses, move into a house to help find love again. The idea that your EX is willing to find you another, for your happiness and well-being could be quite cathartic. We are also continuing to promote formats first introduced at MIPCOM such as PICTIONARY, the original PARTY game show. The Line-Up, a new entertainment game show with celebrities, playing profilers and trying to guess details about people based only on their appearance, now airing on TF1 in France and doing tremendously well. On the scripted side, much of our focus is on dramas.
• What are the key territories for your business?
Our global business with formats has grown exponentially with the addition of more current scripted titles in the catalogue. Our key territories include Greece, France, India, Italy, the Middle East, Turkey, and Latin America. In the Middle East, there is a huge appetite for scripted formats with strong female protagonists, including titles such as THE AFFAIR, CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, THE GOOD WIFE, WHY WOMEN KILL, and DYNASTY. These series and the producers behind them are changing the creative landscape.
• What are the most performing formats in your catalogue?
The stellar and classic game show, WHEEL OF FORTUNE, is one of our most popular formats, which began in 2006 including La Ruleta on ANT3 in Spain now in its 19th season in 2023. The format has been renewed through 2025, which makes it our longest running WHEEL OF FORTUNE outside the U.S. and it continues to garner great ratings in its mid-day timeslot. The legacy brands including NEXT TOP MODEL and JEOPARDY! are known the world over and deliver for our licensees.
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• What are the best performing titles in your scripted catalogue?
THE GOOD WIFE, which was our first scripted title that we launched, is still number one with several territories sold including China, India, Japan, Latin America, Middle East, Russia, Turkey, Korea and Vietnam. Rana Naidu, the Indian Ray Donovan for Netflix launched on March 10th and this is a project I am especially proud to see come to fruition. I worked closely with Locomotive Films for more than two years on the development and launch of this production. They did a brilliant job of adapting the series, from the characters to the back story of Rana, as an outsider coming from the South of India to Bollywood. That culture clash for him and his family is central to the characters and their stories and that was preserved as well.
• Which scripted format have you sold for a local remake?
In the 90’s, CBS led the way licensing scripted formats, I LOVE LUCY, HONEYMOONERS, and THE ODD COUPLE to Fremantle to produce in Poland for TVP. Those series are still in repeats, so you could say that we have been doing scripted formats before there was really a market for it. Last year, a remake of I LOVE LUCY was done for Latin America called TODO POR LUCY, which is a contemporary take on I Love Lucy keeping the essence of true love and hilarious comedy stunts, just like the original series. Another title, The AFFAIR, from the SHOWTIME brand has been licensed to the Middle East.
Season one launched last November on MBC’s streaming service, SHAHID and it was #1 on Shahid / #15 in the region overall.
• What genres are mostly required by the international market?
This business is cyclical, but I think that right now, the thirst for game shows and nostalgia is there, our celebrity game show HOLLYWOOD SQUARES is an excellent example. This is the perfect show/platform for licensees to cross-promote on their channels programming slate and the talent as they can pull from their soap stars, journalists, presenters, comedians, etc. Reality TV for streaming is continuing to build as they look to reach more subscribers. It is a more cost-efficient option and fans of reality are dedicated! I look for smart, compelling reality, that is more “feel-good with positive-reinforcement.”
UNSCRIPTED
• What are the formats you are promoting for the next upcoming international events?
For MIPTV, on the unscripted side, we are presenting some new and fresh titles including THE EXHIBIT, TINY HOUSE BATTLE, and AFTER HAPPILY EVER AFTER. The first title, The Exhibit - launched on March 3rd on MTV U.S. as a six-part competition series to find the next great artist. These seven artists compete in weekly challenges for a chance to win a $100K cash prize and a one-in-a-lifetime chance to exhibit their work at the Smithsonian. Tiny House Battle is a high-end reality competition in which the very best amateur builders compete to be crowned the best Tiny House builders in the country. After Happily Ever After features a group of divorced or separated singles, with the help of their former spouses, move into a house to help find love again. The idea that your EX is willing to find you another, for your happiness and well-being could be quite cathartic. We are also continuing to promote formats first introduced at MIPCOM such as PICTIONARY, the original PARTY game show. The Line-Up, a new entertainment game show with celebrities, playing profilers and trying to guess details about people based only on their appearance, now airing on TF1 in France and doing tremendously well. On the scripted side, much of our focus is on dramas.
• What are the key territories for your business?
Our global business with formats has grown exponentially with the addition of more current scripted titles in the catalogue. Our key territories include Greece, France, India, Italy, the Middle East, Turkey, and Latin America. In the Middle East, there is a huge appetite for scripted formats with strong female protagonists, including titles such as THE AFFAIR, CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, THE GOOD WIFE, WHY WOMEN KILL, and DYNASTY. These series and the producers behind them are changing the creative landscape.
• What are the most performing formats in your catalogue?
The stellar and classic game show, WHEEL OF FORTUNE, is one of our most popular formats, which began in 2006 including La Ruleta on ANT3 in Spain now in its 19th season in 2023. The format has been renewed through 2025, which makes it our longest running WHEEL OF FORTUNE outside the U.S. and it continues to garner great ratings in its mid-day timeslot. The legacy brands including NEXT TOP MODEL and JEOPARDY! are known the world over and deliver for our licensees.
SCRIPTED
• What are the best performing titles in your scripted catalogue?
THE GOOD WIFE, which was our first scripted title that we launched, is still number one with several territories sold including China, India, Japan, Latin America, Middle East, Russia, Turkey, Korea and Vietnam. Rana Naidu, the Indian Ray Donovan for Netflix launched on March 10th and this is a project I am especially proud to see come to fruition. I worked closely with Locomotive Films for more than two years on the development and launch of this production. They did a brilliant job of adapting the series, from the characters to the back story of Rana, as an outsider coming from the South of India to Bollywood. That culture clash for him and his family is central to the characters and their stories and that was preserved as well.
• Which scripted format have you sold for a local remake?
In the 90’s, CBS led the way licensing scripted formats, I LOVE LUCY, HONEYMOONERS, and THE ODD COUPLE to Fremantle to produce in Poland for TVP. Those series are still in repeats, so you could say that we have been doing scripted formats before there was really a market for it. Last year, a remake of I LOVE LUCY was done for Latin America called TODO POR LUCY, which is a contemporary take on I Love Lucy keeping the essence of true love and hilarious comedy stunts, just like the original series. Another title, The AFFAIR, from the SHOWTIME brand has been licensed to the Middle East.
Season one launched last November on MBC’s streaming service, SHAHID and it was #1 on Shahid / #15 in the region overall.
• What genres are mostly required by the international market?
This business is cyclical, but I think that right now, the thirst for game shows and nostalgia is there, our celebrity game show HOLLYWOOD SQUARES is an excellent example. This is the perfect show/platform for licensees to cross-promote on their channels programming slate and the talent as they can pull from their soap stars, journalists, presenters, comedians, etc. Reality TV for streaming is continuing to build as they look to reach more subscribers. It is a more cost-efficient option and fans of reality are dedicated! I look for smart, compelling reality, that is more “feel-good with positive-reinforcement.”
