Studio 1’s Gamble For New Quiz Show “Lucky 13” Turns Into Nightmare
Earlier this summer, Disney released a brand new quiz show on ABC, Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ in the United States called “Lucky 13”, which went onto become one of the most-watched summer premere with 2.7 million viewers.
Co-hosted by Shaquille O’Neal and Gina Rodriguez, “Lucky 13” is a high-stakes primetime game show that’ll have viewers on the edge of their seats while shouting answers at their screens. From the creative who introduced the world to “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” “Lucky 13” tests contestants’ knowledge with 13 true-or-false trivia questions but with a cunning twist: Just how well do they know what they know … and, just as importantly, how well do they know what they don’t know? If they can accurately predict how successfully they’ve answered 13 questions, they could take home a $1 million cash jackpot.
While the show did well in terms of ratings, ABC opted not to continue with a second season. Due to the unique way this game show was funded, it has gone on to become a nightmare and highlights the difficulties in creating game shows in a streaming world.
“Lucky 13” is produced by Studio 1, which has previously developed “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, pre-funded the show in return for a share of ABC’s advertising and product placement sales; however, when the revenue fell well short of projections, it has left Studio 1 with some major financial problems.
According to Deadline, Studio 1 is now reportedly being chased for up to a million dollars as they’ve not paid contractors, co-hosts, and other workers on the show. The show wrapped in June, and those working on it were expected to be paid within 30 days.
The unique way in which “Lucky 13″ was funded has caused major issues for many companies, with one company founder telling Deadline that “It’s a nightmare” and another stating:
“We’ve been strung along quite a bit by the producers. They’ve told us over the past couple of months that payment was coming, and they were picked up for Season 2. The story we got was that one of the financiers dropped out, and they were reconnecting with a new source of financing.”
In a statement last week, Studio 1 CEO Adrian Woolfe said: “We are in the process of taking proactive protective steps to restructure the Studio 1 business and to unlock and protect the value of the now-proven Lucky 13 IP. Rather than it being a direct commission, the unique commercial model on which the debut series was launched in the U.S. was underpinned by advertising revenues which, given well-publicized market conditions regrettably, but unavoidably, fell acutely short of forecasts.”
Studio 1 created two new limited companies in the United Kingdom, Lucky 13 Holdings and Studio 13 Entertainment, which are now subject to British rules for going into administration. Menzies, an accountancy company in the UK, is now overseeing the administration.
The contestants on the show are also having to wait for their winnings, as hundreds of thousands of dollars of winnings are due to be paid out among all of the different participants. These are not supposed to be paid until 120 days after recording, which is coming up. However, both ABC and Studio 1 have said they are confident cash prizes will be honoured.
ABC has stated that they are working to ensure that the presenters, O’Neal and Rodriguez, who are also executive producers on the show, will be paid.
Roger’s Take: While the show might be called “Lucky 13”, it seems like it’s been anything but. Studio 1 took a risk in trying to get this game show off the ground, but unfortunately, their gamble hasn’t paid off, and unfortunately its the workers and companies who were brought in to help create the show are the ones that are now having to wait to be paid. Hopefully, the situation will get sorted out soon, and those who are impacted will get what they earned. If all else, Disney’s ABC needs to step up and sort the situation out, not just for the presenters but for everyone else. It might not be their responsibility since that sits on those at Studio 1. While game shows might be cheap to produce, they no longer pull in the audience numbers that they used to, and it seems like ABC got offered a show on the cheap and took it, but with the advertising market suffering, that gamble has backfired for everyone involved.
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Roger Palmer
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