International Insider: ‘MAFS’ Scandal Widens

Hello again, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. It’s been a scorcher of a week here in London, but even hotter is the fact Deadline’s Reality TV Summit is coming to SXSW London on June 2. There are still very limited places available if you don’t want to miss out. Sign up to attend through this link.

‘MAFS‘ Scandal Widens

Behind the camera: It’s been nearly two weeks since BBC News’ shock revelations about rape and sexual misconduct on Married At First Sight UK (MAFS). Rather than quietening down, if anything the debate around the scandal this week has widened. As Channel 4’s two external reviews rumble on and the police continue to ask victims to come forward, Deadline revealed complaints over welfare on another well-known UK version of a famous reality show, Love is Blind, which is also produced by MAFS maker CPL Productions. A contestant from Season 1 alleged that welfare workers on the show are not sufficiently independent from producers to act in the best interests of participants. As with the MAFS saga, this brings into question the very nature of the show, for which audiences thirst for drama and villainy.  “We’re puppets to them,” Catherine Richards told Deadline. “They say [there is] welfare, but it’s not welfare.” Unsurprisingly, the debate then extended to behind-the-camera crew. BBC News spoke to people who worked on MAFS and complained of a “toxic” culture (something CPL denies), before we had exclusive research from the Talent Trust setting out what was termed a “silence gap” between those who work on TV shows feeling mistreated and a refusal to speak up through fear of reprisal. This, the research suggests, gets to the nub of poor welfare behind the camera. These plethora of issues are sprouting in the UK, but they apply to any set around the world, and many of these shows are huge franchises with multiple international versions. The ramifications for reality telly – and potentially all unscripted productions – could be wide.

Pope Warns Over AI

Deus ex machina: Everyone and their dog has an opinion on artificial intelligence, but few are heard as clearly around the world as the head of the Catholic Church. That’s why much has been made of Pope Leo XIV’s warning that AI in the wrong hands could spell disaster for humanity. Its usage “threatens to normalize an anti-human view,” warned Leo in his encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ (‘Magnificent Humanity’) released this week. Even “a more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few,” the Pope wrote. That feels pretty pointed at the tech giants leading on its rapid development. He was joined at the Vatican by Christopher Olah, the co-founder of AI firm Anthropic, suggesting some are heeding his words, at least publicly. A patron saint of film, Steven Spielberg, also waded in on the AI debate this week, saying he is “withholding judgment” until he has a better understanding of how it’s being used, but he’s “not willing to substitute” an AI tool for a creative role usually filled by humans. (Spielberg’s new film Disclosure Day has been getting rave ‘first reactions,’ btw, so you can still place your faith in the master filmmaker).

Deadline’s Reality TV Summit

Reaching the Summit: Next week at the second SXSW London festival in the UK, Deadline’s first Reality TV Summit outside the U.S. will be held at the Shoreditch Tab Church on Tuesday, June 2. The line-up is sparkling with the top names from unscripted TV in the UK, with Netflix’s Syeda Irtizaali – best known for commissioning The Traitors while at the BBC – set to deliver a keynote. Max will be chairing a state-of-the-nation panel featuring leading execs from Studio Lambert, UTAS, Banijay, Fremantle and Twofour and I’ll be leading a talk on the secrets behind true crime. AI is also getting covered and unscripted funnies will be provided later in the evening through Taskmaster creator and host Alex Horne, who’ll deliver a masterclass. I can’t stress this enough, as it’s so rare in the expensive reality that we live in: The event is free for those who sign up here. Gratis, gratuit, nada. We’re also hosting a live festival studio, where some of the biggest names in front of the camera and behind it will be dropping in for intimate chats with our journalists.

The Insider Interview: Wil Aime

You might not have heard of Wil Aime, but it’s unlikely it will remain that way if you’re interested in European film. Aime is one of the biggest Francophone digital creators out there, with more than one million Instagram followers alone. Zac spoke with him about his decision to stop posting so regularly and build his own full-service production company. They discussed Who, a globe-trotting feature-length thriller he wrote, directed, starred in and self-funded. It’s currently on theatrical release in Europe and next headed for Disney+ in France.  >>> Read The Interview

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: A TV drama chronicling the early life of Céline Dion, Growing Up Dion [working title], is in the works at L.A.’s Diamant Rouge Entertainment.

🌶️  Another Hot One: The Sidemen are cooking up culinary competition series Sidemen Presents: SideMenu, a culinary competition series that will get an unusual staggered launch on both Prime Video and YouTube.

🔥 Hot, Hot, Hot: Samantha Bee will play an unorthodox Canadian diplomat working in Bulgaria in sitcom The Ambassador for the CBC.

🤑 Agents: Gersh has launched a soccer agency after buying UK outfit PLG, merging it with You First Football. The new agency, Gersh Football, will rep the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jarrod Bowen.

🤝 New job: Former Fremantle exec Shirley Bowers has joined The Jim Henson Company as VP of Global Distribution.

😴 Earned the rest: All3Media International‘s long-serving Australian sales exec Julie Dowding is set to retire.

🌴 Post-Cannes: A bunch of deals followed the festival, including Paramount’s $36M acquisition of Florence Pugh’s The Midnight Library.

🤖 Rendering: Jake’s latest column explores why the editor of seminal BBC sitcom The Office found an AI fix for a punchline problem that was too icky for the industry.

😮 Unexpected: Japanese filmmaker Masashi Kawamura revealed how his viral stop-motion short Hidari attracted Keanu Reeves for a full-length feature version of the film.

🧩 Restructure: Heated Rivalry producer Accent Aigu Entertainment has reset its management structure.

🍿 Done deal: Private equity firm Goldenpeak has acquired influential UK-based entertainment analysis business Ampere Analysis, which is turn bought PlumResearch.

⚽ Extra time: IMG’s Barney Francis and John Hollywood addressed the future after the TKO-owned company lost its contract to produce Premier League soccer coverage after 22 years.

Photo of the Week

‘Wind’ In Her Step – Hungarian leader Péter Magyar with his new chief of staff, Claudia Sümeghy, a filmmaker who produced Spring Wind – The Awakening, the doc championed the rise of Hungary’s new leader.