How The Block was pitched to Nine
Originally called Blockbuster, see the original pitch document for the hit show that has been running for 20 seasons.
- Published by David Knox
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EXCLUSIVE:
It took less than a week from concept to commissioning for The Block to become a reality, and a show that would still be a smash hit 20 seasons later.
But the show was very nearly called Blockbuster -except Nine’s lawyers were worried they would be sued by the video rental store.
Creators Julian Cress and David Barbour settled on The Block in 2002 with plans to film their show in the summer in Bondi and screen it in the winter of 2003.
Cress tells TV Tonight the idea for the show was dreamt on a Thursday, crafted into a pitch document over a weekend and pitched to Nine’s executive in charge of Reality TV genre on the Monday.
“We pitched it to (news exec) Peter Meakin, who, at the time was the head of Reality and Current Affairs. Reality was brand new. It had only been around for a year. When they were looking for an executive to put in charge of it they decided News and Current Affairs would be best, so they gave it to Peter Meakin and he saw merit in it immediately,” Cress recalls.
“He literally got up from his desk, left us in his office, and went straight up to (CEO) David Gyngell’s office and pitched it. Gyngell loved it and said, ‘We’re going to do this’ and it was commissioned, like 24 hours later.”
“I went up and saw David Gyngell and he was really enthused by it,” media veteran Peter Meakin confirms.
“Gynge gets a lot of the credit in my book for getting it commissioned because as I recall, Kerry Packer wasn’t terribly optimistic about the prospects for the show. Kerry couldn’t get his head around lifestyle programs. He didn’t understand them. But in any event, Gyngell backed his judgment and it turned out to be a triumph. I was out the door shortly after.”
The original pitch drew upon other hit TV shows for inspiration including Renovation Rescue, Sylvania Waters, Survivor and even Melrose Place.
Central to Cress and Barbour’s pitch was a document printed on A1 paper which, at 594 x 841 mm, is around 3 times the size of A4 paper.
“Peter Meakin said, ‘Why is it so big?'” Cress explains. “And we’re like, ‘Well, A, it’s a big show, and B, you can’t put it in your filing cabinet.’
“We were sick of pitching shows that just went into filing cabinets never to be seen again!”
“It was a fairly rapid approval process in those days. I recall the pitch document didn’t come in the usual format….. they came up with a document that was so big that it was impossible to file away anywhere. But I was enthused by it anyway,” says Meakin.
The initial pitch also suggested the winner of the auction would win the entire amount in cash. In the end 2003’s Adam & Fiona kept their profit of $156,000 plus the $100,000 prize, not the $751,000 sale price.
Language.
The first season in 2003 on Nine drew an average of 2.24 million with the auction finale at 3.11m -and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I’m really proud of my tiny role in getting it to air. But I give huge credit to Julian Cress, David Barbour and David Gyngell,” said Meakin.
“It’s nice to be associated in some small way with a show that is a triumph of Australian television.”
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11 Responses
I must say I prefer the original rule of the contestants being more hands on. Every time I tune in nowadays the contestants are off doing a ridiculous challenge.
The second season in 2004 they doubled the number of episodes making it feel like it was dragging on compared to the first, even releasing the DVD for the 1st half of the season before it had finished airing. (I still have the DVD set for the first season – how different the show was back then). Not until 2010 it came back once a week for just 9 weeks. Wasn’t until 2011 they started stripping it to become what we have today.
On the one hand, I feel sorry for network executives who will now be flooded with truck loads of giant paper props; on the other hand, I am hopeful because Australian TV is ‘in a death spiral’ and needs more uniquely Australian formats to save the industry.
Now that the Block has reached 20 seasons it must be time for them to revisit those early Block renovations which surely must be due for a re-fresh by now after 20 years!
That’s a good shout. A “Back to the Block” special seems obvious. Be particularly interesting to see what’s happened to property values in the meantime.
Love the role Impact font had in this. Iconic! Great story. David do you know what the story was behind the resting of this show for a few years before it was returned in a stripped format? First season was huge, second season didn’t do as well but it wasn’t a flop and I still don’t know why it was off air for a few years.
A good question.
It should be noted that the the first and third seasons (2003 and 2010) were weekly shows. The second season (2004) was twice a week.
I had no idea about that. Thanks for sharing. All I remembered from season 2 was the scandal when the convicted criminal was cast and the media carried on like the sky would fall in. Ultimately it led to the casting of arguably the biggest contestant turned star- Dr Andrew Rochford
Long story short… When Eddie McGuire took over as Nine CEO after Gynge left for the US, he threatened to tear up Julian and David’s contract, so they quit 9 and followed Gynge to the states. Eddie failed to get the series up again without the 2 creators (despite threatening that any number of on staff producers could make the show, it didn’t need to be Julian and David). Once Gynge returned to Australia he brought Julian and David back to make series 3. There’s almost a chapter on this story (it’s far more salacious) in the book Who Killed Channel Nine.
There was also The Chopping Block in 2008.