Vision
De Filistijnen creates new content in entertainment and fiction for the Belgian and international market.
Over the past years all shows have been created with the in-house creative team.
Our aim is to combine the highest creative values with a fair share of the general audience. Most of our shows have at some point or other broken through the mythical barrier of one million viewers in a market of 6 million inhabitants.
Working for a small market, we’ve always made our shows internationally and universally translatable, so they can travel beyond our borders.
History
It all starts in 2004 with The Newest Quiz (De Nieuwste Quiz), a quiz about current affairs, hosted by Bruno Wyndaele. Together with daily game show Friend or Foe (Vriend of Vijand), hosted by Thomas Vanderveken, De Filistijnen specialize in entertainment for the public broadcaster Eén.
In 2006 our new show Best Friends (Beste Vrienden), becomes the first Filistijnen show to break the one million viewers barrier, also a novelty for a weekday show on broadcaster Eén.
In 2006, on Canvas, the second public channel, De Leeuw in Vlaanderen premieres, a culture talk show hosted by Dutch singer and writer Rick De Leeuw.
In 2008 De Filistijnen have a new ratings success with Eternal Glory (Eeuwige Roem), a newly created gameshow where former sports stars compete against each other to see who deserves eternal glory. The high production value gets noticed by other territories, it sells internationally At it's MIP TV première.
Bounty Hunters (De Premiejagers), a fun daily quiz show, airs for the first time in the summer of 2008 on Eén and becomes an overnight success, reaching over 50% market share, (network average 31%) and 1,2 million viewers. Bounty Hunters quickly becomes one of the strongholdders of the national network Eén.
Public broadcasters SVT in Sweden and NRK in Norway produce their version of Eternal Glory in 2009, with market shares up to 70%, thus starting the international career of the show and of De Filistijnen.
In 2010 two brand new shows air for commercial broadcaster VTM: The Monday Show, a daily prime time magazine about local and international celebrities, and The Stronger Sex, a celebrity game show trying to answer the question: who is the stronger sex? The Stronger Sex was an instant success with ratings up to 35%, upping the channel average with 10%.
In 2010 De Filistijnen joins forces with Woestijnvis and founded the distribution company Primitives. Primitives is a distributer for non-scripted Flemish formats and ready-mades.
In 2012 a new program launches on Eén, Taste. A food show that steers away from cooking itself and yet leaves the public mouth wathering. And Bounty Hunters Deluxe, an extensive weekly Bounty Hunters with teams of Flemish celebritie, adds to the Bounty Hunters success on Eén.
In 2013 Hall of Mirrors airs on Eén, a brand new prime time entertainment quiz, revealing the preferences of the nation. Hall of Mirrors was recorded in the Flemish Parliament, an all-time first.
Since 2014 new territories have been added to the international success of Eternal Glory. De Filistijnen are involved in the line production, organizing the games on location. Eternal Glory is now an international proven format and has been aired in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark.
In 2014 The Stronger sex also makes it to Norway on TV2. From its first episode, upping the market share of the channel. The 28,9% share was the best première since 2003 in the channels history.
In 2015 Eternal Glory airs in two new large territories. the UK (ITV) and Germany (VOX), thus making the succes of the series even bigger. De Filistijnen provide line productions for the German series.
In Belgium new series have aired of Bounty Hunters (7 seasons), Best Friends (5 seasons) and Eternal Glory (4 seasons).
In 2016 Best Friends is picked up by KRO/NCRV on Dutch television.
In 2017, Siska Schoeters opens the doors of her club room for the summer quiz The Club. Each episode, a famous person challenges the club members with the aim of securing a place in Siska's club. The program is immediately renewed for a second season the same year.
De Filistijnen together with film production company A Private View found a new company in 2018: Mockingbird Productions. This new production compagny specializes in television fiction. Three projects are initialized; Mister Paper (Meneer Papier), Rintje 2 and A good Year (Een goed jaar).
Also in 2018 Bruno Wyndaele invites one exclusive guest to a summer outdoor location in Flanders in a new daily talk show This is Summer (Het zomert met). In 2019 the first series for Mockingbird productions is recorded: A good year. The series is written for VTM by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem and Pierre De Clercq and directed by Kadir Balci.
Eternal Glory builds on its success in Germany and after 4 editions, also gets a winter version in 2018, filmed in Lapland.
In 2020 the first documentary series of De Filistijnen, Desire to have children (Kinderwens), runs on Eén. It’s a personal and recognizable quest for the reason to have children or to remain without.
In 2020 De Filistijnen also start to develop own scripted material. Two series receive VAF support for scenario.
The international career of Eternal Glory continues. It is still on air in Sweden, Norway and Finland and several new territories are exploring options.
In 2021 mockingbird productions' series Mister Paper launches on Ketnet.
in 2022 mockingbird' series Rusty 2 and A good year première. Childrens' animation series mister Paper is sold internationally and receives an ensor for best animation series.
The Filistijnen Group consists of De Filistijnen and hh107. The production capacity now lies within prodco HH107, named after the former address of the offices. The Filistijnen Group is owned by Bruno Wyndaele and Jes Van Gaever, both experienced producers and creators of innovating content for television.