Arthur Essebag’s Satisfaction Builds Momentum on Content Creation, Partners With Keshet International for Non-Scripted Formats (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy
·3 min read

Keshet International (“Trust No One”) and France’s Satisfaction Group have signed a multi-territory deal to form a creative alliance in the non-scripted formats space.

Under the pact, both Satisfaction and Keshet International (KI) will be co-creating IP, as well as teaming up to develop and produce new and existing non-scripted formats through their production labels and hubs in France, Germany, Israel, the U.K. and the U.S.

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In practical terms, KI and Satisfaction will each have a first-look option on all existing and new non-scripted formats from the deal in each of their local territories, including Tresor in Germany, and Keshet 12 in Israel.

The two banners will also share local knowledge and expertise in key markets to secure new commissions. They will leverage their own established talent and IP across top markets, including in the U.S. and the U.K. where both Keshet and Satisfaction have made headway recently. The L.A.-based Keshet Studios recently launched an unscripted division run by Rebecca Mayer and Ben Long.

Satisfaction, the Paris-based outfit founded by Arthur Essebag, an entrepreneur and famed TV host, entered English-language markets last year with a stake in Yes Yes Media, the company founded by Richard Bacon alongside Elisabeth Murdoch’s Sister Media. The outfit has also formed a joint venture with Fulwell 73, the U.K.-based production company behind “The Late Late Show With James Corden.” Satisfaction also brings together the French operations of Sony Pictures Television, including Sony Pictures Television France and Starling, as well as Talpa Netherlands. The group has also recently expanded into Spanish-language content with the launch of Satisfaction Iberia in partnership with Daniel Domenjo.

Essebag, who recently executive produced the documentary “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre,” said the “new alliance with Keshet International,” which he describes as “very well known for its creative power,” “will bring another strong partner to shower the market with new co-developed IPs; where, all together, we will become the hub for independent producers, guardians of creativity and IPs.”         

Keren Shahar, KI’s CEO, said the company are “big fans of Arthur’s creativity, his visionary talents, and his entrepreneurial business approach.”

Kelly Wright, KI’s managing director of distribution, says “this partnership feels perfectly timed, given the growing opportunity for non-scripted programming in the market right now.”

“Tresor and our non-scripted team at Keshet Studios are already developing some Satisfaction formats for Germany and the U.S., while Satisfaction is also looking to acquire some of our existing formats in France,” Wright pointed out.

Some of Satisfaction’s biggest hits include “Anything Goes,” a long-running comedy entertainment format adapted in nearly 40 territories, along with local adaptations of hit formats such as “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire,” “Dragon’s Den,” “Newly Wed” and “Who Bares Wins.”

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