The Scots programme maker behind the controversial Footballers' Wives is hoping to repeat her success with a new drama series in which the viewers will decide the ending.
Eileen Gallagher, chief executive of Shed Media, yesterday described Rock Rivals as "The X Factor meets War of the Roses". The format for the show comes in the wake of recent controversy over televison phone-ins and competitions.
However, Ms Gallagher said calls to Rock Rivals, which will be at the heart of the ITV winter schedule, will be charged at local rates and that the production company would foot the bill.
"We're going to be paying for it," she said. "We have to pay for the calls and we shot two endings. They did not give us any extra money for that either."
She added that script adviser Simon Cowell, the pop impresario, was "great" and an "utter perfectionist". Early scenes had to be reshot when he objected to one of the fictional contestants reaching the final, she said. Last year, Shed Media bought Outright Distribution, now its international distribution arm, to give the company a steady cashflow.
Ms Gallagher estimates that she needs about 10 returnable brands, plus Shed's ancillary rights and distribution businesses, to guarantee sustainable growth. In a newspaper interview, she said: "In the dynamic we're now in, if you're clever and you invent Deal or No Deal, you can do extremely well. I've got no embarrassment about that.
"Companies have to make money. Our ambition is fuelled by being a better investment vehicle to our shareholders. We want to deliver breadth and depth." Ms Gallagher also insisted that companies can still turn a profit without compromising on quality.
She said: "The vast majority of programme makers want to make brilliant programmes, they want to be proud of them, they want to be accurate.
"Just because you're part of an organisation that has to make a profit doesn't diminish that absolute core objective. I'm an old left-winger, so I can say it, but it's an old, naive feeling that profit is a bad thing. If there was no profit in this country, there would be no public sector and no BBC."
For Ms Gallagher, there is "almost a British embarrassment" about "profits and popularity". "I think it's old Britain," she said. "As much as I was brought up as a good Scottish socialist, I'm very much an entrepreneur. I'm proud that we make good profits and have good margins and that we can reward people well."
It has been a difficult time for Shed since it floated, she admitted.
Much of the company's growth had been built on having two long-running, returnable series - Bad Girls and Footballers' Wives. When both were axed in the same year, it was seen as a test of the whole concept of the floated or leveraged independent company.
"It was really tough but I loved the way we recovered from that and kept delivering," said Ms Gallagher.
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