With submissions in five Emmy categories, indie streamer Dropout is playing to win with its hit comedy panel game show Game Changer. Among the gongs it’s gunning for are outstanding game show and host for Sam Reich, who believes their success is partially fueled by the fact that they’re based in Los Angeles — and that won’t be changing.
“I can’t imagine a version of the show, or Dropout, that isn’t in L.A.,” he enthuses of the Eastside studio space where they film many of their shows, including fellow Emmy contender Very Important People. (Game Changer, he notes, is filmed at various studios throughout Los Angeles — “It all depends on what chaos the season calls for!”)
“We live here. It’s a community project, and it’s nothing without its community of talent,” Reich adds. “If we were to move to Canada or Austin, it would be a different group of people.”
However, Reich, who is also the streamer’s CEO, wishes he could say that the city has been “at all helpful” in terms of tax breaks, lamenting, “They have not offered us a dime.”
Game Changer is exactly what its name suggests: It’s a game show where the game changes every episode. Not only that, but when the game starts, the players — an assortment of stand-up comedians and improv actors selected by casting producer Jazzy Collins (The Bachelorette, The Traitors) — have no idea what the rules are and have to figure them out as they chase a win. The show has already run for seven seasons. Its eighth premiered May 18, and the ninth is underway, much earlier than usual.
