Word: fuller
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This TV show doesn't exist yet, but it just might by summer. If there's one thing reality TV has confirmed, it's that people will do almost anything for 15 minutes of shame. Fuller, 42, a British entertainment entrepreneur, exploits this as well as anyone. He's the creator of Britain's Pop Idol, its offshoot American Idol in the U.S. (also a hit) and the current Germany Seeks the Superstar, which drew almost 7 million viewers to its most recent episode and gives up nothing in schmaltz to the U.S. version. A recording of the show...
...Fuller has become rich by putting fame-hungry performers in front of audiences eager to see them squirm. His web of privately held entertainment companies, known as the 19 Group, is estimated by industry analysts to be worth more than $300 million. But with reality TV looking ripe to go the way of prime-time soap operas and other fads, the genre must evolve to survive. And Fuller knows it. "In England the bubble's already about to burst," he says, even as he oversees Pop Idol's second British series, a global rollout in China, Norway and other countries...
...Fuller is a master of blending music, television and manufactured celebrity. In the mid-'90s, he managed the top pop confection known as the Spice Girls. In 1999 he launched the TV band S Club 7 (renamed S Club after a member left), a collection of British twentysomethings who have belted out 10 Top 10 pop hits in Britain and made four TV series. Next came a youth offshoot, S Club Juniors. Naturally, Fuller is planning to create the American Juniors--or the AJs--five U.S. kids ages 8 to 14 whom he will find, groom and turn into...
...discerning crowd currently likes the American Idol format, which spends several months publicly culling the herd to about 10 finalists and then launches a series of up-close-and-personal, sudden-death sing-offs. This is the brainchild of three Simons--Fuller came up with the concept, but it was fine-tuned with the help of Simon Cowell, a music-industry executive (and the acerbic judge in the U.S. and British versions) and Simon Jones, head of FMusic TV, part of FremantleMedia, the company that jointly owns and produces the Idol format globally. South Africa and Poland have had their...
Idol not only helps Fuller discover new talent but also lets him feed all the various parts of his mini-conglomerate, including an artist-management company, a TV-production company and a music publisher. He has first option to sign whoever wins (indeed, whoever makes the top 10), taking a 15% to 20% cut of the winner's income. He can then deploy one of the songwriters he manages--including Cathy Dennis, who with Rob Davis co-wrote the Kylie Minogue hit Can't Get You Out of My Head--to pen tunes for his singers. (Dennis helped write Clarkson...