ITV Studios to Expand Armoza Formats Into Israeli Production Arm (EXCLUSIVE)

Posted by Martina Birk on Saturday, August 24, 2024

Avi Armoza‘s 17-year-old company Armoza Formats is becoming the Israeli production arm for ITV Studios, Variety can reveal.

The business, which has specialized in global formats, will expand under the new structure to become Armoza Productions. Meanwhile, Armoza Formats will remain the development hub for new format IP and will continue to serve as the brand used for international distribution.

Armoza told Variety that the company’s expansion boils down to “facing the challenges of the new world of television.”

“With consolidation and the global streamers, and the fact that often you need to sell worldwide rights, how do you complement [your] income? It’s raised the importance of being a production company and being part of a production group,” said Armoza. “It’s a natural development and extension that we get into production.”

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The company will produce all ITV Studios content out of Israel in the future, and is already attached to produce the new season of hit format “Come Dine With Me” for Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11.

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“[The expansion] will enlarge our connection with the creative team in Israel,” says Armoza. “If we were in the past just an export company, being able to work on the productions with the key creative team in Israel will also support our international development and export efforts.”

Set up by Armoza in 2005, Armoza Formats quickly became a known formats player at markets such as Mipcom. The group’s 100-format catalogue spans everything from reality and entertainment shows to holiday programming and scripted. Its biggest hit in recent years has been “The Four,” which was adapted in the U.S. by Fox and ran for two seasons.

The company was acquired by ITV Studios in 2019 — a deal that has allowed Armoza to tap into the distribution powerhouse’s global network of producers. The veteran producer references a recent deal for the company’s format “Marry Me Now,” which was sold into U.S. cable network OWN.

“It’s a show we pitched to OWN directly and got the deal, but at the next stage, they wanted the adaptation,” says Armoza. “In the past when I did ‘The Four,’ I had to spend three months in the U.S. developing the American adaptation. Now, we immediately brought ITV Entertainment on board and together with them we did the adaptation for the U.S market and they also moved on and produced the show in cooperation with us. This is giving us more possibilities and a stronger presence in key markets through ITV Studios.”

Under a new structure at ITV Studios, Armoza Formats is now the purview of ITV Studios’ managing director of international production, Lisa Perrin; however, it will still work closely with Mike Beale, managing director of ITV Studios’ formats-focused Global Creative Network.

Former Endemol Shine executive Lital Berenfeld Levi has also joined the team as head of production to spearhead the new business arm. Berenfeld previously worked at Endemol Shine Israel, where she served as the head of non-scripted productions. Between 2002 to 2017, she worked as the lead producer and executive producer on multiple programs across a variety of genres.

Perrin said: “I know how creative the Israeli market is right now and with Armoza Productions becoming our production arm in Israel, this gives the opportunity for us to develop, produce and travel more formats from Israel, but also to bring more of our catalogue to life for the Israeli viewers.”

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