Simon Cowell: We drive the networks mad

Talent is a rare thing - as Simon Cowell well knows. He and the judges of the Got Talent format around the world have had to sit through a lot of deluded performers to find the very best dancing dogs or unlikely Scottish singers that have the power to attract millions of viewers.

But another skill is equally important for Cowell: the ability to take what is fundamentally a traditional search-for-a-star format and maintain its position at the top of the most competitive TV markets for many years.

So do Syco and the format’s coowner Fremantle Media have a secret? Hard work and not being afraid to be honestly self-critical, according to Cowell. “Post mortems are everything,” he says. “Two years ago, we had a very flat year [in the UK]. You could argue - and many people did - that this was the beginning of Got Talent’s demise. Our view was that we could improve the show, taking into account what had happened on other reality shows, across all of TV, and on the internet.

“This year’s show was brilliantly produced, the talent was great and it’s become the template we copy around the world.”

The continued global success of Got Talent is “miraculous”, Cowell believes. He admits he was surprised when Fremantle and Syco head of international George Levendis sold the format to another nine territories in 2012, taking it to 54. Cowell says it is crucial to put faith in committed partners such as Fremantle, which helps ensure Syco doesn’t need to get too big. “My focus is on retaining Syco’s engine, which is the development department and the music company. I physically keep the record label in the same place as the TV company and the two integrate very well.”

And his willingness to work constructively with partners extends to international broadcasters and producers too. “George and I had a conversation yesterday about The X Factor - the producer in a certain territory wanted to make some changes. These guys are smart, and it’s a smart territory, so sometimes we’ll say ‘ok, give it a go, let’s see if you’ve got a better idea than us’. I like that they want to try different things.

“The problem, if you don’t change, is that you end up like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, where you have seven or eight years of spectacular success that then falls off a cliff.”

Demanding innovation

The balancing act between retaining the format’s identity and being open to change is a tricky one. But broadcasters around the world have come to accept (and, most importantly, pay for) the innovations Cowell demands. “We drive the networks mad because we’re constantly asking them to change the judges, the producers and the setto stop it becoming stale. Putting new [production] people together can create a new show.”

One innovation was the way Twitter was incorporated into the most recent series of Holland’s Got Talent. The show ran anonline competition and the winner sat in the audience during live shows to act as a conduit between the host and the activity on the social media platform. Fan feedback and opinions became genuinely part of the show, but in a curated and personalised way. Cowell expects the trend to continue.

“Twitter and Facebook are like running a focus group every hour, and you ignore them at your peril. We communicate, digest what comes back, and pass it to producers.”

Cowell is clearly very hands on, despite his myriad commitments on- and off-screen, especially with Got Talent in the UK and US, which are effectively its standard bearers. He happily admits he is obsessed with detail. “Syco’s philosophy is that we don’t have to keep making productions to stay alive, it’s about great new ideas - which take a year or two to develop fully - and making the current shows bigger. We could sell two shows a week if we wanted to, but we make a commitment. We know every lightbulb, every piece of music, the microcosm of detail that goes into each show.”

He says he spent three months analysing America’s Got Talent to help reinvigorate the format and was due to present his plan in person to NBC last month. With Red Or Black? ending with a ratings whimper on ITV1 last week, a more extensive overhaul may be required.

It’s partly the competition that drives Cowell on. ITV execs are used to phone calls from him at any time of day or night to explain his next idea or talk through tweaks that will keep his shows ahead of the competition.

“Credit to The Voice, they came up with a twist with the spinning chairs. Where shows like that or Strictly and The X Factor benefit each other is that they have to improve to keep pace with one another. The budget going into Strictly now means it is a completely different animal - and these are good signs for all the shows.

“I see no end in sight [for the talent search formats]. If you’ve got the budget and the appetite for reinvention, I see no reason they can’t be like Christmas - something you always look forward to.”

Inspirational year

Cowell takes inspiration from many places, most recently the huge national events of 2012. Having looked ahead, he claims he recognised that the combination of the Jubilee and London 2012 Olympics would put people in a celebratory mood, and decided to make this year’s BGT more upbeat in tone.

“No one could have predicted 12 months ago how good the Olympics would look, from the Opening Ceremony to the event itself, or how many gold medals we were going to win. But that determination and mind power, the pride and optimism, changed our country, our city, our team,” he says.

Cowell drafted in David Walliams as a judge, fresh from his eight-day Comic Relief swim, and went for a more optimistic feel that chimed with how the summer panned out. “There was so much cynicism beforehand, but I saw an amazing news bulletin of 40,000 people in Hyde Park watching on the gigantic screens. People were holding up flags, and saying they were talking to each other on the Tube. If you set your mind to something and believe your show next year will be the best thing since sliced bread, then it’s do-able.”