Alex Kempner and Bart Frank, co-founders of innovative production company Objekt, have established a strong track record in digital first content creation. Here, Alex offers some insights into Clone Heads, an innovative and irreverent two-part comedy game show for Channel 4.0.
I’ve spent the last 24 months banging on about how the digital landscape is shifting. TV has struggled, and now with young consumers needing to fork out an ever-increasing chunk of their pay packet each month to keep up with the plethora of different streamers, YouTube is in cruise control. More attention, more people watching on their TVs, more long-form content, and more formats appearing everyday.
I see YouTube as the ultimate playground for brands, broadcasters, and talent building audiences through digital entertainment. One of the big movers here is Channel 4.0, which is committed to building a loyal audience and serving them consistent, high-quality YouTube programming.
Objekt, which I co-founded with Bart Frank in 2014, has long straddled branded content and digital entertainment. Our first forays came on Snap with StevoTheMadMan Show & Mukbang Dates, leading to a steady stream of digital-first ideas. We’ve piloted shows before with C4.0 and created Spitting Fire, a TikTok-first freestyle-chilli-eating-rap show. This time, the steer was to go big and memorable. So that’s what we did with Clone Heads, a comedy game show with a post-apocalyptic twist.
The initial premise was this: what if two of the biggest YouTube influencers had an army of 100 of their own clones and had to go up against another competing army of 100 influencer clones? That quickly became apparent as unfeasible for anyone other than Mr Beast. We settled on 10 vs 10.
The C4.0 team immediately ‘got it’. One of the most notable parts of the process was the commissioning speed. The decision to move forward with the show was swift. That’s not to say there wasn’t development—there was a lot. The heads, the games, the format were all developed after they agreed to take on the show. Huge props to Cat White (commissioning editor) and Sacha Khari (head of digital commissioning) at C4 for experimenting at this scale.
Influencers are king/queen with digital audiences. So we had to go for great talent to land this new concept and establish the Clone Heads world. It was key to make the audience feel like they were in the friendship group. Gamesmanship, strategy, and banter baked into the format were essential to give the talent space to do their thing. Darkest Man competed in the first two episodes, taking on King Kenny and then GK Barry. We brought in Specs Gonzalez to host the show.
So what are the key lessons we learned from producing Clone Heads? Here are a few:
Scale matters to talent: Last-minute dropouts from talent are not uncommon in the digital world. One of the challenges we faced was getting talent committing 100% to a shoot date so we could be confident producing 20 clone heads for them (making the heads was a two-month process, working with Plunge Creations). Having a project at this scale was essential to get agents & talent excited.
Location choice is crucial: From a production perspective, we needed a location that could do a lot of the heavy lifting from a design perspective. We ended up making the most of the incredible hangars and airfield at RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk.
Agility is key: Budget constraints meant we had one day to make two episodes. This meant simplifying the gameplay, big time. Games testing involved the whole team (senior execs included) running around Archbishop’s Park with McDonald’s bags on our heads, seeing if a hide-and-seek game was feasible.
All for one and one for all: There is a different mindset regarding roles and remits on shoots like this. All the crew needed to roll up their sleeves. Some of the junior team are on camera as “minions.” Creative solutions, which need to be found at every turn, can come from anywhere.
Post can add onscreen value: While we had a host of ideas that we had to strip from the shoot to keep it realistic, we wanted the show to feel big. One decision made quite late was to bring in Platform Post to help add a VFX layer to the gameplay to build tension and a layer of polish to the overall format.
Who knows what’s next for Clone Heads? We are exploring potential international adaptations and further expansions of the format. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, so does our approach to content creation, ensuring that we stay ahead of the curve and continue to deliver innovative and engaging programming for our partners and their audiences.
