'Carpool Karaoke's' producer tells us how Apple's version will differ to 'The Late Late Show With James Corden'

Carpool Karaoke

Apple Music's "Carpool Karaoke" will shift the spotlight away from musicians and hand the mic to movie stars and other high-profile figures to showcase their vocal talents, according to show's producer.

Ben Winston, the co-founder of Fulwell 73 Productions, told us that the Apple show will be about "broadening out to different talents" in a way they are reluctant to do with "The Late Late Show With James Corden."

He said CBS's programme is almost exclusively reserved for musicians, with Britney Spears that latest artist to appear on the viral sensation. Michelle Obama's appearance was a rare exception to this rule.

"If a movie star was to call up and say 'can I do 'Carpool Karaoke'?’' the answer would always have been 'no' because it’s specifically for musicians. Now on this new show, we’re broadening that out to different talents. More in a documentary-based way," Winston told Business Insider.

The deal with Apple was announced last month. Corden is executive producing, but not hosting the series and Winston said Fulwell and CBS Studios are close to finalising a presenter. "We've cracked it," he said, but refused to reveal any further details.

Winston said the 16 episodes Fulwell is producing will differ in lengths, in the same way the segment runs to different times on "The Late Late Show."

"We’ve got a format that can get longer or shorter depending on what makes the best television," he explained.

"I remember when we did Adele and we thought there is no way we could it for 13 minutes. In the end we just did it and I’m glad we did because people loved it. It’s the highest-viewed clip in the history of late night television in America. It was good we didn’t cut those minutes."

Asked whether the Apple series will dilute the "Carpool Karaoke" section on Corden’s CBS show, Winston said: "Of course that’s something people will say, but we’ve just got to make sure the product is good." He added that the CBS show will only feature "Carpool Karaoke" once a month to keep the quality high.

The British producer said the Apple deal came about after he got to know Jimmy Iovine, the driving force behind Apple's music streaming service. Winston said:

"I’ve come to know Jimmy Iovine quite well and Apple Music is looking for more and more content. They’re big fans of James and the work that we’re doing and we started talking about ideas we could do together.

"We had an idea of how 'Carpool' could be a series without James, which we’re working on at the moment, and Jimmy was very insistent that Apple has first option on that. I was very happy with that. I think it’s an amazing brand."

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