User blog:Colorband/Scribbles from the Karsis Wiki: Havik

Havik Group B.V. (dba Havik) is an Alliancian multinational television production and distribution company based in Nilverhium. Havik's annual productions run the gamut of scripted and non-scripted content, from reality shows and cooking competitions to 22-minute sitcoms and hour-long prestige dramas. Havik's main competitors in international content production are Banijay, Fremantle and All3Media, which are also based in Eurdecia.

History
Hendrik de Vogel's long career in television started in 1980, when he joined the Alliancian public broadcasting organization TROS. He quietly rose through the ranks until he finally created his first show, the popular game show Domino, for the organization in 1989. The program, which he created under the pen name "Rick de Havik," turned out to be a surprise hit. His rise was cut short when he suddenly found himself fired by the organization in 1991 following TROS' prolonged negotiations with the Saikyo Broadcasting System for the rights to use the Takeshi's Castle format to create his own spin, The Million Guilder Challenge.

After a few months of independent producing, Rick and his friend Daniel van Willenburg decided to join forces and start their own production company. Havik Films & Television was founded on May 5th, 1992 and immediately went to work creating series. Specifically, Daniel would create original formats that Havik would own outright while Rick worked on freeing Domino and The Million Gilder Challenge from TROS' control.

A lot of Havik's formats from around this time failed - ''Snel... maar Goed! met Frankie De Vries being notorious for managing to ruin Frankie De Vries' entire career in the process (although he'd eventually be given a judging position on Sink or Swim'', seemingly as atonement) - and it seemed as if the company wouldn't make it past 1993. But then, on January 1st, things changed.

A+B, a video game competition of a similar nature to the challenges of GamesMaster or the Atlansian TV show Starcade, first aired on RTL6 that day. The show proved to be a rousing success, and it proved Havik wouldn't be a company with big names and no direction. Later in the year, the company encountered its second big victory when Saikyo Broadcasting System managed to strip TROS of its Takeshi's Challenge license, leaving them unable to produce The Million Guilder Challenge.

This was all Rick's doing, of course. Although the original negotiations had been rough, SBS had taken a liking to him, and sympatized with his wish to own his creations - or at the very least, the half he was owed. Suddenly, TROS was in danger of losing a major revenue stream, and had to come crawling back to the man they'd fired barely more than a year and a half ago. Havik was given their share of The Million Guilder Challenge, and full ownership of Domino. In return for their help, SBS were granted the Hokuseiese rights to Domino and a 5% stake in the company. Neither ended up panning out - The Challenge of the Letter Tiles suffered from low ratings and was canned in 1995, while SBS' 5% stake was sold off in 2005. But that didn't matter to Rick. He was no longer tied up in legal knots regarding his work, and could now dedicate all of his focus to working on Havik formats new and old.

Formats
Challenger (formerly The Million Guilder Challenge) - Likely their most popular format, this is actually a renamed and reworked version of the Takeshi's Castle format made popular in Hokusei. Produced in association with Saikyo Broadcasting System, this format (which demands both physical and mental sharpness from its contestants) has been exported to countries all over both Eurdecia and the world in general. Its Atlansian version, renamed "Crusaders" over there to distance the format from the otherwise unrelated Challenger shuttle disaster, is mostly known there for its first version (2002-2003, NBC) being an expensive flop and using a certain song by Rialmanese group Enigma as its theme song long before any Itainian gangstars thought of using it.

A+B - People play video games. Whoever gets the highest score wins. Simple as! The first real format created under Havik, it's mostly remembered in Alliancia for having real sway over who the winner of the console wars for the generation will be over there. Has also been exported to several countries across the globe, including a short-lived but often missed Hokuseiese version where contestants often showed up in cosplay of their favourite video game characters.

'''POP! Goes The Music''' - A multi-part documentary format going into the history of popular music as told by both historians who've studied it and celebrities who lived through it. Most notable for the fact that every production of it thus far has been a multi-national endeavor - the original 2009 version was a co-production between Bluntforce Productions of Anglosaw, EyeSee of Atlansia, and Havik Shooting Star of Neurcasia, while Hokuseiese/Yarean and Roterlanese/Rialmanese/Itainian versions of the series have also been made.