In het kader van Eurovision TV Lab werd aan het begin van het nieuwe televisieseizoen ook geëxperimenteerd in Duitsland en Slovenië. We vroegen onze internationale TV Lab collega’s naar hun ervaringen.

ZDFneo, de jongerenzender van de Duitse Publieke Omroep ZDF, programmeerde net als wij in Nederland een week lang pilots op tv. Hoe was de eerste keer TV Lab in Duitsland? Frank Zervos en Christina Hese (ZDFneo): “Fabulous!!! We expected a lot more challenges due to the short period of preparation. When we decided to join the EBU TVLab project we had four months left to produce our pilots and to realize the online part. It went all very well. We had a lot of publicity and our audience appreciated our enthusiasm about the Lab.”

De Publieke Omroep van Slovenië (RTVslo) programmeerde een selectie formats uit Nederland, Duitsland en België. Het resultaat: 1 avond TV Lab op de Sloveense televisie. We vroegen Natalija Gorscak hoe dit precies in zijn werk ging en hoe er werd gereageerd door het publiek.

Natalija: “TV Lab was an interesting experience for us - as we are a typical old-fashioned public TV, with no profilization of TV-channels and almost no contact with young audience. We had a live TV-show from 19.40 (before, there was a basketball game Slovenia- Lithuania) to 2:30 in the morning. Two presenters were in fact a little provocation: a very cute popular presenter and a half-African news-presenter with a big sense of humour.

They made their own comments on programs and after No place like home (Weg van Nederland) telephone lines collapsed as we had so many phone calls - half of them didn't understand that it's a parody, half of them were crazy about the program, saying, "It's a picture of a real life." There was a e-mail from one female viewer saying: "It's nothing strange that a presenter of this kind of shows (Weg van Nederland), is a immigrant." The presenter was joking: " I'm an immigrant yes, twice, from a home town of my mother Slovenj Gradec (small town in Slovenia) to Maribor (second biggest city in Slovenia) and then from Maribor to Ljubljana (the capital). Ljubljana is full of immigrants, isn't it, Bernarda (his colleague presenter), you're also an immigrant from Brežice (town in Slovenia) to Ljubljana."

Het leukste aan TV Lab?
Frank en Christina (ZDFneo): “We were really impressed by all these extraordinary pilot-ideas we got. The TVLab is like a creative space in which everything is possible. Producers are aloud to creat ideas without boundaries. We finally developed ten fresh and unique pilots. That is a tremendous offer to our audience.”

Natalija (RTVslo): “A new wind on our television. The technical stuff was crazy about doing it - they said, these are the programmes which should be shown at public TV, provocative, constructive, with a critical view towards society.”

Welke formats werden het best beoordeeld door het publiek?
Frank en Christina (ZDFneo): “All Formats had a lot of publicity. But this year the comedy show "Teddy's Show" won the competition. It's a stand up show about migration and integration in Germany with an unique comedian, a new talent. But other formats like "Moviacs" (film magazine) or "German Angst" (hybrid-magazine about minorities in the German society) were also highly regarded.”

Natalija (RTVslo): “German Angst and Room 9 were best rated, but the biggest amount of comments was made on Thank you, Holland (Weg van Nederland).”

Wat hebben jullie geleerd?
Frank en Christina (ZDFneo): “There are a lot of creative ideas out there in the production companies and inside ZDF. You just need to give them some free space to grow.”

Natalija (RTVslo): “The audience needs provocative programmes and modern television, with innovative editing and fast and inventive storytelling.”

Verbeterpunten voor de volgende editie?
Frank en Christina (ZDFneo): “We will start earlier to have more time for the productions. It also would be a great experience to enhance the international exchange of formats with all EBU partners.”

Natalija (RTVslo): We won't have only one programme but a week of programmes.

Wat zijn de plannen voor 2012?
Frank en Christina (ZDFneo): “Right now we are thinking about the "Next Big Thing" for the ZDFneo TVLab 2012. We just started to collect all learnings to improve our concept for the next year. So there might be some great ideas for 2012.”

Natalija (RTVslo): “Having a week of TV Lab with at least three domestic pilots for adults and three for children/youth, having a pre-choice for viewers and, if possible, thematic evenings, of course, live.”