Conceived abroad, born in the U.S.A.

In faraway places like Europe, Australia and Israel, Hollywood talent agents are tapping the imaginations of screenwriters and producers, hoping to unearth some Michael magic or Betty brilliance.

No longer confined to Hollywood, or even to sister city London, where many reality franchises have been born, the search for the next Michael Scott and Betty Suarez is on, now that “The Office” and “Ugly Betty” have proved that it is possible to successfully adapt a foreign scripted series for a big U.S. audience.

“I’m sure in London, people are wondering who all these Armani-clad agents are descending on the city, turning over rocks, looking for new formats,” joked Morgan Wandell, senior vice president of drama development at ABC Studios. The studio arm of the ABC network is producing two pilots derived from British series and one from New Zealand as contenders for next fall’s lineups on ABC and CBS. “There is more interest in finding this kind of material because it is one more arrow in our development quivers that help us find the next big thing.”

This pilot season there are more scripted foreign formats being developed than in years past, even though the writers strike cut the typical pilot orders by about half. Of the 50 pilots competing for a time slot at ABC, CBS and Fox, 10 are based on foreign series -- eight from Britain, one from Israel and one from New Zealand.

Additionally, NBC recently announced 12 new series as part of its lineup for the next TV season, including two foreign adaptations. NBC’s version of Australia’s longest-running comedy, “Kath & Kim,” about a dysfunctional mother and daughter, starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair, will premiere in the fall. “The Listener,” a Canadian drama about a paramedic who can read people’s minds, is scheduled to premiere next summer.

By comparison, last pilot season, eight of 112 pilots at the five broadcast networks were based on foreign series. Only two of the eight pilots with foreign roots last year -- CBS’ “Viva Laughlin” and the CW’s “Life Is Wild” -- made it on the air and neither survived. Fox’s game show hit “The Moment of Truth,” NBC’s summer reality show “Baby Borrowers” and CBS’ summer drama “Flashpoint” also were born overseas.

It’s a creative exchange

Does this signal that the Hollywood idea well is running dry, particularly after a disappointing fall in which no new TV series broke out?

Absolutely not, said Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. “It’s that we’re opening our doors to the entire world and we’re not just looking to one place for those ideas. I wanted to bring an entrepreneurial energy to our broadcast channel and work with foreign partners because the foreign marketplace is incredibly rich right now, and if we can come up with ideas that sell globally from the beginning, like ‘Heroes,’ it benefits how you finance them. These partnerships also make sense because our foreign partners will put money into a show, which gives us big, big production value.”

The creative exchange, in fact, works both ways and is hard evidence of a shrinking global entertainment world. Many of the most popular shows in America are also hits around the world -- “CSI: Miami,” “Lost” and “Heroes,” among them. But in most cases the shows air intact, with characters like Det. Horatio Caine (David Caruso) of “CSI: Miami” being dubbed in Portuguese for the Brazilian audience, for example.

“Desperate Housewives” is another story. Several versions of the ABC soap have been remade in Latin America and on Univision, using creator Marc Cherry’s scripts, but fine-tuning the ladies for cultural relevance. Inspiration for a TV show can come from almost anywhere -- existing shows in another country (HBO’s recent “In Treatment” was an almost literal remake of its Israeli original), a book (the CW’s “Gossip Girl”) or movies (Fox’s “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”).

“You never know where the zeitgeist comes from,” said Rick Rosen, an Endeavor Agency partner. “The networks are more receptive to it because they are struggling to find something that is the next breakout hit.”

Like all shows fighting to exist and survive, foreign series purchased for this market go through the same development process as American programs. Often they are altered and adapted considerably.

“In reality and game shows, the formats tend to be exact,” Silverman said. “But in scripted series, they require adaptation for a specific market. It’s a cocktail of perfect proportions and any one ingredient -- the writing, the directing or the casting -- can throw the whole thing off.”

If there is a poster child for the global movement in TV, it’s Silverman, who before he joined NBC last year had been welcoming ideas from abroad for the last decade as a William Morris agent and later as owner of his production company, Reveille. (Silverman sold Reveille in February).

The first foreign show to strike gold at the time was the improv sketch show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” which premiered on ABC in 1998. Silverman had tried to break into the scripted genre with an adaptation of a British show, “Cracker,” that aired on ABC in 1997 but flopped quickly.

A year later, when British import “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” became the hottest show in America, Silverman knew he was onto something. Soon, several game show and reality franchises followed suit: “Survivor” and “Big Brother” in 2000; “The Weakest Link” in 2001 and juggernaut “American Idol” in 2002.

Silverman used his overseas travels as research. He asked taxi drivers and doormen what they liked to watch on TV, and he took note of the shows that captured his attention, such as Ricky Gervais’ version of “The Office.” In 2003, during his tenure at Reveille, Silverman made another attempt with the British sitcom “Coupling,” which NBC canceled after two showings. He also bought the rights for and produced versions of “The Office” and “Ugly Betty” a few years later.

“Part of the problem with ‘Coupling’ is that it was kind of a format of ‘Friends,’ ” Silverman said. “We’d kind of done it in America, whereas with ‘The Office’ or ‘Ugly Betty’ or now ‘Kath & Kim,’ you’d never seen that.”

This year, the pressure in the massive sprint that is pilot season intensified because of production delays caused by the strike. “The world is a smaller place and some of that is manifesting in the fact that you’ve got concepts that work across markets,” said Tim Spengler, president of ad-buying firm Initiative Media. “ ‘Ugly Betty’ is an example. The greatest telenovela ever, right? Just because of that, does it mean it’s going to be a success here? It’s not a guarantee, but it’s probably worth the consideration.”

To that end, ABC is producing pilots based on two British comedies, a British drama and a drama from New Zealand. Fox has two British-based comedy pilots. CBS has a British-based comedy, two British dramas and a drama from Israel.

“The nice thing about formats is they’re tangible,” said Ted Miller, head of the TV literary department at Creative Artists Agency. “ You can understand how it’s performed in its home territory. Has it attracted an audience? Has it garnered awards?”

CBS is sticking close to the British original of “Eleventh Hour,” a mystery about a scientific advisor to the government, starring Rufus Sewell, even though the original was a four-part miniseries, not an episodic drama.

“It’s a little more challenging in the context that there are very high expectations going in because the network knows what the series is and expects you to deliver on that,” said executive producer Jonathan Littman, president of Jerry Bruckheimer Television. “By the same token, it’s easier because you’re not starting from scratch. You have a basis to work from and improve and make it better.”

If history is a teacher, executives should take note that, so far, the two scripted series from abroad that have succeeded in broadcast TV underwent many changes, said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president of ad buying firm Starcom USA.

Indeed, it took four years to develop “The Office,” which premiered on NBC in 2005, became a hit in its second year and won the Emmy for outstanding comedy in 2006. The Steve Carell-led ensemble retained its mockumentary style but not its story lines. Creator Greg Daniels and his writing staff basically came up with their own show after the pilot.

Three writers took a stab at “Ugly Betty” before ABC settled on Silvio Horta’s take on her Cinderella story. America Ferrera’s “Betty” still has the bushy eyebrows and braces of her Colombian counterpart, but she’s a U.S. Latina with immigration problems.

Silverman’s new baby, “Kath & Kim,” has been in the works for four years. Five revisions of the pilot script took place before Molly Shannon committed to playing the lead. “If you’re using international formats to accelerate the process, you’re in danger of delivering an inferior product,” Silverman said. “It’s a super long process.”

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maria.elena.fernandez@latimes.com

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Foreign intrigue -- and laughs

This pilot season, it’s all about international flavor. Of 50 pilots in contention at CBS, ABC and Fox to become series for the next TV season, 10 hail from foreign formats. Here is how the competition is shaping up. (NBC has two foreign adaptations in its fall lineup, which it has already announced.)

ABC

Good Behavior: A New Zealand dramedy centering on a family of burglars whose matriarch mandates that they go straight after the father is jailed.

Life on Mars: A BBC series about a 21st century detective who is mysteriously transported back to the 1970s.

Roman Empire: A single-camera comedy based on the BBC series about a family man and self-made millionaire who is as possessive about his businesses as he is about his three daughters.

Never Better: A single-camera comedy and British import about a recovering alcoholic who tries to be a good husband and father.

CBS

Ny-Lon: An epic romance based on the British series about a passionate love affair spanning 3,000 miles between a New York woman and a London man who have a chance meeting on the streets of London.

Mythological Ex: A dramatic series based on an Israeli format about a woman who tracks down all of her exes after a psychic tells her that she has already met the man she is going to marry.

Eleventh Hour: Based on a four-part British miniseries, the drama follows a scientific advisor to the government who troubleshoots threats stemming from or targeting scientific endeavor.

Worst Week: A single-camera comedy series based on the British limited-run series about a couple’s nightmarish week before their wedding.

Fox

Outnumbered: A comedy series based on the British BBC series about a family in which the parents are “outnumbered” by their three children. The parents follow scripts; the children improvise.

Spaced: A British import, this comedy series is about two twentysomethings who meet by chance while apartment hunting.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez