MTV looks to UK teenage dramas for inspiration

MTV is remaking itself as the place to go for hip and funny teen dramas and its inspiration has come from the UK. From the much-anticipated remake of Skins, which starts on MTV early next year, to a planned redo of scabrous school comedy The Inbetweeners (a deal is being finalised), MTV executives are betting that audiences have had enough of the polished "everything works out in the end" school drama and they are putting their money on British teen formats.

"When there's a great show there's a history in America of adapting other countries' formats," says David Janollari, MTV's executive vice president of scripted development. "A good show with a unique point of view and a distinctive voice is always what we're looking for, wherever it comes from."

Philippe Dauman, the chief executive of MTV's parent company Viacom, told the Wall Street Journal last week: "The idea is that we should diversify our programming. If you limit yourself to one type of show, you're playing with one hand behind your back."

The main reason that MTV has begun to turn around its once sagging financial fortunes around recently has largely been because of the success of cheap reality shows such as Jersey Shore, The Hills and 16 and Pregnant. Is this the right climate to abandon the reality format for scripted drama?

MTV's executives are convinced the answer is yes. "Reality shows tend to burn bright and then burn out," says Tony DiSanto, president of programming. "Scripted shows have more legs."

That attempt to diversify may not be as easy as the network hopes. At last year's New York auditions for the US version of Skins some teenagers said they were worried that a US channel would never be able to show characters behaving as they do in the UK version.

But Janollari says: "We're extremely excited about Skins. It's a show known for quality storytelling, and our viewers respond to great, compelling stories and characters that draw you in. The frankness and real depiction of teen life that is a hallmark of the UK series is something that we believe will resonate with our viewers as well."