Fox forges first-look pact with ‘Masked Singer’ creator Wonwoo Park

The Masked Singer

Fox Entertainment’s in-house unscripted studio has struck first-look development pact with the creator of hit format The Masked Singer.

Wonwoo Park’s DL Turn and Fox Alternative Entertainment (FAE) will jointly develop series for global territories and the US, with an international format based on Korean talent-competition series Lotto Singer in the works.

The show was created by Park and Seoul Broadcasting System’s content hub FormatEast, airing on domestic network MBN last year.

Allison Wallach, EVP & head of FAE said: “Wonwoo’s ability to identify and develop concepts that are unique in premise and universal in appeal makes him one of the most innovative producers in the business, and we are excited to see where this partnership will take us.”

Park added: “Korea had long been an unnoticed market, but over the last few years formats such as The King Of Masked Singer have been sold all over the world. Many K-Pop singers are massively popular around the world, and Korean production companies clearly have the ability to produce high-efficiency programming. I expect this collaboration with FOX to create more hits; and our team here at DL Turn is ready.”

Fox has aired a US version of The King Of Masked Singer since 2019. It is now into its sixth season Stateside and has been remade in more than 60 countries, including the UK, Mexico, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Israel, Norway and Italy.

Park has also been behind CJ Entertainment & Media’s Top Gear Korea, Mama and The Song Was Born, as well as Million Seller, The Hit and Singing Battle.

The pact is the latest deal for FAE, which launched a $100m international unscripted format fund last month to identify intellectual property for the global market. It also recently produced variety competition program The Big Deal for Ireland’s Virgin Media Television as part of its strategy to expand its global operations.