• Radical new reality format produced by Stepping Stone for NPO3
  • Title expands Red Arrow Studios International’s lineup of innovative, channel-defining social experiment shows

Red Arrow Studios International is underscoring its commitment to innovative, social experiment formats with the acquisition of new series My New Mystery Job, in which participants, looking for a life change, sign up for a brand new job…without knowing what it is!

Created by Stepping Stone Productions and currently in preproduction, the series has been commissioned by NPO3 in The Netherlands (local title: Blind Getekend), where it will air in the second half of 2022. Red Arrow Studios International is distributing the format internationally.

Tapping into research that shows a significant number of people are unhappy in their jobs and are looking to make life changing career decisions, My New Mystery Job is a radical and on trend new reality format, in which a group of participants who are bored or burnt-out at work sign up for a career change with a difference; they have to quit their jobs and commit to spending six months trying a new role – without even knowing what it is!

Their skills, aptitude and work/life aspirations are assessed by leading career experts who help find them surprising new jobs. When a good-fit role is identified, each participant is given a contract. However, only basic details such as salary and location are visible; will they take a leap of faith and sign it blind? If they do, they must first resign from their current jobs and prepare to take a step into the unknown! Will a lawyer be faced with retraining to be a shepherd, or a sales executive as an undertaker?

Over the following months, the candidates are visited to see how they are enjoying their new jobs – and their new lives – while VTs capture the thoughts of their family and friends. Then, after six months it’s decision time – will they stay in their new roles, or try to return to their old professions?

Tim Gerhartz, President & Managing Director at Red Arrow Studios International, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Stepping Stone on My New Mystery Job. At Red Arrow we are well known for our thought-provoking, commercially successful social experiment formats and this is a show that captures the zeitgeist perfectly. We are looking forward to presenting it to our clients and partners around the world.”

Duurt Holman, Creative Director at Stepping Stone Productions added: “We had a lot of interest in My New Mystery Job from international distributors, but for us, Red Arrow was the best fit: they are very successful at distributing daring social experiment formats like Buying Blind, Meat the Family and Married at First Sight and we are excited that My New Mystery Job will be in the same catalogue. It literally is a life changing format: changing your job can really change your life.”