The German-Dutch pairing is proof that working together pays off. The advantages of international TV cooperation are clear: “ProSieben has booked the studio, including equipment, for eight weeks,” says Stefan Thul, who heads the Group Content Production unit at ProSiebenSat.1 and keeps his eye on the money. “If ProSieben were to produce the show on its own, the studio would stand empty for four out of seven days a week. Because of the cooperation with SBS 6 we’re fully booked.”

In addition, the crew has to build the stage and design the set only once, and since the same people handle the technical part of both shows, the camera and lighting crew get into the routine the second time around. “The crew knows exactly what to do and doesn’t have to start all over for each show,” says Thul. Yet cost is not the only advantage. The shows also gains in quality. “By themselves, our stations could never afford such expensive sets,” says Eric van Stade, Managing Director of SBS 6.

One production, multiple countries

Last summer’s merger between ProSiebenSat.1 and the SBS Broadcasting Group resulted in the second-largest TV broadcasting corporation in Europe. As a result, ProSiebenSat.1 now owns 26 free TV stations and 24 pay TV stations in 13 countries. Joint productions like “The Next Uri Geller” play a key role within the new Group. In the future, the company will produce between five and ten new shows a year that can be shown in several different countries.

TV2 in Hungary will air “The Next Uri Geller” as early as the spring of 2008. “We reap enormous benefits from the shared experience of SBS 6 and ProSieben,” says Managing Director Zoltán Várdy. Large-scale, groundbreaking ideas are not the only ones in the pipeline. For example, TV2 uses promotional photos of Geller that were taken during a ProSieben shoot. And “The Next Uri Geller” will be advertised on air in both Holland and Hungary with an animation produced in Munich.

“If possible, I bend the spoons back into shape"

The basis for the show’s success lies in the kitchen. Uri Geller’s most important tool can be found in the cutlery drawer, as Jürgen Sommerfeld quickly found out. He is in charge of crew catering and every evening he makes the rounds of the set, collecting spoons that went missing over the course of the day. No matter whether Holland or Germany is in the producer’s chair, everyone wants to see Geller melt a spoon.

Over 40 of them disappeared during the first three ProSieben shows alone. Sommerfeld is a pragmatic man at takes it all in stride. “If possible, I bend the spoons back into shape. If that doesn’t work, I keep them as souvenirs.” Uri Geller’s lunch has just arrived: fish and salad. After the meal, the dishes and cutlery returned to the kitchen unharmed.