Fox and Endemol Shine Turn 'Fear Factor' Into Scripted Microdrama

By Elena Vasquez

Fox and Endemol Shine North America will adapt "Fear Factor" as a scripted microdrama series of 30 episodes, each running three minutes, distributed on Holywater Tech's My Drama app. The deal extends the partnership Fox Corp. struck with Holywater last fall and marks the first time an unscripted television franchise moves into original scripted storytelling.

The untitled series will unfold across a week of pre-production on a horror movie set. Ian Nsenga and Yuliia Vyshnevska produce. Thom Woodley and Andrew Beck write. Gabriel Caste directs.

What does the deal signal?

The vertical media market is expanding fast and drawing high-profile properties. "Fear Factor" adds horror-genre heat to a format built for phones. Fox revived the franchise last year as "Fear Factor: House of Fear," hosted by Johnny Knoxville, after the show originally ran as a hit on NBC in the 2000s. The microdrama edition shows traditional outlets and studios mining their archives for new iterations.

"'Fear Factor' has always tapped into something primal: what scares us, how far we'll go and what happens when we're forced to confront our fears," said Hannah Pillemer, head of scripted for Fox Entertainment Studios. "Our friends at Endemol Shine came to us with an inspired way to do exactly that, turning everything audiences love about Fear Factor into the foundation for a completely original horror story."

Pillemer credited Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn and his team with introducing "House of Fear" and Knoxville to a new generation of fans. That response, she said, opened the door to the scripted leap.

How big is the property?

The franchise remains highly visible for Banijay's Endemol Shine unit, with roughly 32 adaptations worldwide. That global footprint gives the scripted vertical version a recognizable brand across markets.

"We're grateful to see our vision of turning My Drama into a trusted platform for studios, creators and IP like 'Fear Factor' come to life," said Anatolii Kasianov and Bogdan Nesvit, co-founders and co-CEOs of Holywater Tech. "This is another step toward expanding the audience and helping vertical TV evolve into mainstream entertainment."

Michael Heyerman, executive VP of unscripted series for Endemol Shine North America, said the format suits the property. "Vertical storytelling is creating a new language for entertainment, one built on immediacy, intimacy and serialized discovery and 'Fear Factor' already speaks it fluently," Heyerman said. "Alongside Holywater, together we're creating a new generation of horror that doesn't just fit the mobile screen but uses it as part of the experience."

Who controls distribution?

The series premieres on My Drama. Fox handles worldwide distribution and windowing strategies. The company laid out its vertical media ambitions earlier this month at the Mipcom content marketplace in Cannes, where it discussed packaging vertical properties for linear and streaming platforms globally.

The vertical boom adds complexity for the largest media outlets, which need mass audiences to support high-end original content. Fox's bet is that archive IP plus phone-native horror can bridge that gap.