Format TV can get very, very nasty. When an uplifting outfit like Matchbox takes the low road to mass entertainment, it must strive to do a much nicer version of Real Housewives… than our kissin’ cousins across the Pacific. We give Kylie Washington, the company’s Director of Unscripted Content a chance to reflect.
When you think of Matchbox, the Australian production company formed in 2008 by Tony Ayres, Penny Chapman, Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon and Helen Panckhurst, the titles that come to mind are ‘quality’ ABC television dramas like The Slap, The Straits and My Place, and feature films like The Home Song Stories, Lou and Underground. What doesn’t immediately come to mind is reality television.