Ryan Seacrest is adding another singing competition series to his crowded résumé.
Through his Ryan Seacrest Productions, the “American Idol” host has sold 13 two-hour episodes of the variety competition format “Duelo Musical: Super Estrella” (SuperStar Showdown) to Spanish-language network Telemundo. Seacrest is set to peddle the series via video during the network’s upfront presentation to Madison Avenue buyers May 14.
The shiny-floor format revolves around two music artists competing head to head, with the loser having to fulfill a gentlemen’s bet. Each episode will feature challenges, mystery acts and big musical performances — plus two new stars. As on Seacrest’s other music competition series, viewers will decide who wins.
The push into the Hispanic media market has been a priority for RSP CEO Adam Sher, much as it has been for companies including ABC, which with Univision this year will launch Fusion, a network targeted at English-speaking Hispanics. “Latin America has always produced incredible musicians who have influenced global pop culture. Because of this, RSP has been focused on developing programming to reach the Hispanic audience for some time,” Seacrest tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Another RSP goal achieved: owning an unscripted format, which the company will look to sell to territories worldwide. The news comes some two months after Sher suggested in an interview with THR that the desire to lock down a saleable primetime format was the thing that kept him up at night. In this case, a deal with NBCUniversal sibling NBC came together before the straight-to-series order was given at Telemundo. NBC is currently working to cast an English edition of SuperStar Showdown as a special.
Duelo Musical is part of a growing slate of originals at RSP, which also produces Bravo’s Shahs of Sunset, E!’s Married to Jonas, the long-running Kardashian franchise and the upcoming The Wanted docuseries, titled The Wanted Life. On May 10, RSP landed its first scripted series: ABC’s Mixology, a high-concept comedy about a group of friends that takes place at a Manhattan bar during a single night.
Seacrest is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson. [Billboard.biz]
