Adapting Format: The Transferral and Translation of Televised Format Productions

In the transnational media-scape, focus of this chapter, global format templates and films or televised productions which are successful enough to gain world viewing, would to all purposes appear to feed into the concept of globalized media consumption if it weren't for the fact that such products must necessarily undergo a process of modification to fit into the national contexts within which they are to be broadcast. In the case of televised or cinematographic productions, this modification process goes by many names: localization, customization, adaptation, indigenization, tailoring, domestication, and consists in moulding the audio-visual product to suit local taste. The term 'taste' is employed here in a generic manner to indicate all that is considered desirable, acceptable and necessary within a national scenario in terms of culture, ideology, historical background, genre and language. In this chapter we will begin by investigating the term 'Format' and subsequently investigate its evolution over time. We will illustrate the manner in which a format production effectively stands at the crossroads of the global-local nexus and is thus necessarily both inter-textual and inter-discursive