L-Ispjun 2006 is now in its final stages. If what viewers have seen so far they found exciting, wait for the grand finale to be broadcast. There are still six programmes to go and 40 of the daily snippets broadcast from Monday to Friday at 7:30am and 6:40pm on TVM. These final stages of L-Ispjun will produce the winner of the Lm10,000, a prize never matched before in the history of local TV.
After the next and final elimination from the House of L-Ispjun, which will take place on Wednesday evening on TVM after the 8 o’clock news, five finalists will remain in the house. It is the viewers who decide who of these finalists should take home the Lm10,000 cash prize. The production team has no say, it’s the people who decide.
Besides the five who make it to the finals, there will be a sixth one chosen by the public from among those already eliminated. These are Shana Gafa, Yani Ellul, Svetlana Fenech, Anastasia Meltcina, Martin Zammit, Kevin Debono and the person who will be eliminated next Wednesday.
Following this year’s success, Watermelon Media & Communications Ltd producers of L-Ispjun, have already started working on next year’s adventure promising a bigger and more daring reality show.
During a press conference held at The Fortina Spa Resort a few days ago, L-Ispjun producer Pierre Portelli gave details of next year’s L-Ispjun. “All will depend on the financial support we get,” said Mr Portelli, adding that “this is already very promising since many companies are already seeking information on whether or not there will be L-Ispjun next year.”
Mr Portelli said another decisive factor will be the outcome of the ‘bidding process’ at PBS. Producers have to submit a fresh application each year to get their programmes accepted on TVM’s schedule.
“Notwithstanding this, there are many other options we are looking into including digital and Web TV or a mixture of both,” Mr Portelli said.
The main challenge facing the production team is to produce a 100 per cent live reality show during which participants are locked away for three months and viewers vote them in and out. “We already have many ideas how to produce such a reality show; however the commitment is massive and one has to gauge the response for such an ambitious production,” Mr Portelli said.
Though the market is very small for such a big TV production the interest generated by this year’s edition of L-Ispjun is very encouraging. “We have to cope with very volatile advertising budgets and unfair competition in this sector,” Mr Portelli said.
“The liberalisation of the media, in particular PBS, has brought about growth for independent producers but it still needs to stabilise, defining who is doing what in this sector,” Mr Portelli concluded.