Production management survey
Televisual's third production management survey reveals all about the likes and dislikes of UK programme makers, from cameras and editing kit through to working conditions
Midway through 2010, we ask four bosses from the indie TV, corporate and commercials production sectors how business is faring. Are things looking up? Or is a double dip recession on the way?
David Green
CEO, DCD Media
The dearth of UK production contracts has bottomed out and, after a disastrous 2009 for the indie TV sector, the worst is definitely over. Although the second half of 2010 remains uncertain, the sales growth in TV advertising for the complete year should be around 5%. As recession-hit UK broadcasters continue to drive down production fees, indies have looked elsewhere to increase revenues: growing their international production footprints; transforming themselves from service providers to owners of their intellectual property; embracing international distribution; and seeking out new ways of doing business such as co-pro and ad-funding.
Katy Eyre
Managing director, Jacaranda
So, what’s happening to the corporate market in 2010? Business is picking up, but not necessarily from traditional sources: public sector work could all but disappear. However, sustainability is still high on the stakeholder agenda, climate change is a hot potato and the Third Sector is alive, kicking and shouting about it. Plus, with digital convergence, we are seeing creative sector boundaries evaporating, hastened along by those who hold the purse strings looking ever more eagerly for creativity, professionalism and the Holy Grail...measurement and return on investment.
James Studholme
Managing director, Blink Productions
It’s never easy to compare years in creative businesses – particularly commercials production. That said, this has been a pretty busy six months for us. Busier than last year. The highlight being Dougal Wilson’s 90-second John Lewis ad that has had the nation’s ladyfolk weeping. It has never been harder to make money though. There is ceaseless pressure to reduce budgets. Clients apply increasingly draconian methods to bring this about. Procurement is purely on cost. The relationship between price and value is completely askew. The commercial production market is becoming less diverse as niche operators are driven out of business.
Laura Mansfield
Joint md, Outline Productions
Midway through 2010, there’s an overall feeling of increased confidence. We are as positive as you can be in an industry where no one honestly knows what’s next. Last year for us, like many TV indies was about putting our heads down and focusing. It paid off, with Outline securing four original and returnable fact ent formats, and getting them into first series, with two already in second series and selling well internationally. Technological change, from 3d TV to the iPad is coming faster than ever, and it’ll be the most imaginative and fast moving companies who capitalise on these emerging opportunities. We’re doing that by forging partnerships with gaming, digital and live events specialists.
10 June 2010 As the World Cup kicks off, here’s a selection of creative work that’s been made by UK producers to coincide with the event.
This isn’t a showcase of the big budget Nike-type ads that you always see around the World Cup. Instead it’s a mixture of virals, commercials, corporate campaigns and music videos that show the myriad different ways that UK producers are riding the footy wave.
First up is a neat HGA Creative Communications viral. It's a promo for HGA themselves - it’s designed to showcase HGA’s ability to come up with ‘creative solutions’ for their clients.
Meanwhile, London and Oxfordshire indie HCA Entertainment has shot this World Cup anthem with Neil Morrissey to coincide with its ITV4 show Men Brewing Badly. A reworking of Tight Fit’s The Lion Sleeps Tonight, it’s got Televisual’s vote for England song of the tournament.
Elsewhere, Jack Morton Worldwide made this smart Nokia viral out of its London office.
It comes with this behind the scenes footage too, which has cleverly sparked an online debate on the authenticity of the featured foosball tricks.
And finally, Wieden + Kennedy London has teamed up with Stink to create this TV spot to raise awareness for The Guardian and Observer’s World Cup coverage. The animation was created by Argentinian rising stars Peppermelon.
02 June 2010 Wildlife filmmakers Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone recently filmed a 3d pilot for a planned 3d theatrical feature film.
Shot for two weeks in Kenya, Distant Thunder follows a family of elephants as they struggle to survive when drought strikes their homeland.
Clearly, shooting in a fledgling format like 3d in the midst of the African bush is not a straightforward matter. Deeble & Stone worked with 3d production outfit Inition on the shoot and, in the q and a below, they describe how they captured fast-moving wildlife scenes in a notoriously slow medium like 3d.
The following q and a is an extended version of an interview running in the June issue of Televisual magazine.
Why is Distant Thunder being made in 3d rather than 2d? Mark Deeble: We think 3d is the ideal medium for wildlife. 3d works well where it heightens an immersion in a subject in an almost visceral way - hence horror and porn. Wildlife and wild places appeal to an audience in a deep-rooted, almost genetically hard-wired way - wildlife subjects and wilderness locations make you want to be immersed in, and experience them . Wildlife in 3d is as close as you can get to the safari experience without buying an air-ticket. When that wilderness immersion and proximity to the animals is combined with good storytelling it is a compelling combination.
Who is funding it? Vicky Stone: The film, a theatrical wildlife story, is being funded by a combination of presales by Hanway Films and equity.
How did Deeble & Stone and Inition come to work together on the project? VS: We have been experimenting with 3d for a number of years. About eight years ago we had a meeting with James Cameron just as he was starting on Avatar. We bought in to his vision and could see that such a high profile release would drive the conversion of cinemas to digital 3d. That gave us the platform to launch a wildlife story in 3d.
We had done tests with various 3d specialists both in the US and Japan and had conversations with Inition early on. It seemed a good fit to combine with top 3d specialists as our story is so well suited for 3d digital cinema. Inition were developing their own solid state field recorder and that, combined with the SI-2Ks, mirror and side-by-side rigs that could be bought off the shelf, meant that all of a sudden, the right tools were available for a mobile and light-weight shoot in a remote location.
What kit did you use to film the production?
Andy Millns (Inition): We had four Silicon Imaging SI-2K mini cameras which we used on a variety of rigs. The small size of the SI-2K mini and convenience of the single integrated 3d recorder body allowed us a great deal of flexibility to shoot in a variety of styles. This was essential as the job demanded us to shoot in numerous locations, sometime vehicle-mounted, sometimes hand-held, and from macro work to wide scenics.
The main rigs we used were the P+S Technik mirror rig, a StereoTec side-by-side rig and smaller custom rigs for hand-held with gyro stabilisation. The P+S Technik rig was used mainly with Canon 6.6 to 66mm with full 3 axis C-motion lens control and motorisation of interaxial and convergence.
For monitoring we used our own custom recorder running the SiliconDVR-3d software which allowed us to monitor in a variety of modes (anaglyph, over-layed, subtractive) whilst we pulled convergence and interaxial in response to Mark's framing. Mark had an electronic viewfinder with split-screen left/right monitoring to allow him to check focus over both eyes.
The SI-2K system is great for power consumption. We would get an hour on a single Anton Bauer Hytron 140 on the handheld rig and over three hours on their Cine VCLX battery. This was powering the cameras, all lens and rig control motors, stereographer and operator monitoring, and the recorder. We shot time-lapse on SI-2K on the StereoTec rig, which allows for interaxials up to 15 inches, and a stills rig which was used for interaxials of up to 30 metres for some shots.
Screening dailies was a very important part of the shoot as it allowed us all to learn and refine very quickly what worked best when shooting wildlife in 3d. We used a 2m screen and DepthQ projector with SpeedGrade. This allows us to view the native Raw uncompressed camera files very quickly and do 3d adjustments where necessary without any rendering.
How did the 3d production differ from a 2d production?
VS: Filming was different to a normal 2d wildlife feature where if you are filming from a vehicle (using it as a mobile hide) you can pare down to a crew of two. 3d meant a bigger crew (stereographer plus digital image technician), more kit, longer set-up times etc. But it was much more manageable than we anticipated and we were very pleased by what we were able to achieve in the two week shoot. More kit and people meant an extra vehicle so we were generally a crew of 5-6 in two landcruisers. What became particularly exciting for us was when 3d left the realm of the purely technical and we were able to use it as an extra storytelling device - in the same way that you might use colour or sound to enhance the narrative and emotional impact.
What were the particular challenges of filming a herd of wild elephants in 3d in the middle of Africa?
MS: Many of the challenges came from having to react to events, rather than predict and control them as you might in drama. It is what we are used to in 2d, but it meant that convergence and interaxial had to be adjusted on the fly. It meant having to film in dust or being unable to clean a water drop off the mirror in the middle of an essential piece of action - it was crucial to capture the action as fast and and well as we could while it unfolded. In wildlife filmmaking this can mean rapidly repositioning the car to get another angle, while holding on to the rig and then rolling the moment the engine has stopped, while the stereographer either chases the interaxial and convergence or does a rough setting for the type of shot he imagines the DoP/ operator will go for next.
This style of shooting requires rapid communication and a director completely in sync with the operator and stereographer. Luckily Vicky and I, and assistant director Etienne Oliff, have worked together for 20 years and Andy and Campbell, from Inition, were both fast, and very professional. It made for a great team.
How does the editing differ in 3d from 2d?
MS: We found that we had a slower cutting pace - averaging c. 6-7 seconds per shot. We didn't set out with this as an aim - it was what felt right in the final edit. I think there can be a delight in 'dwelling' longer in 3d, particularly in the wide shots, where there is the desire to look around more. We checked the shots in 3d in the field every evening, playing out from a P&S Technik 'Onebox' with embedded Speedgrade to a DepthQ projector, with a 2m screen with active shutter glasses, so we knew the material worked. We then edited in 2d back in the UK, then rough assembled in 3d and did a first pass correction for colour and stereo alignment in Speedgrade - all the while checking any corrections on a large screen at inition. We finished the film at Apuntolapospo in Barcelona.
What kind of advice would you give to a producer/director wanting to film in 3d?
VS: Don't be frightened of it, it can be an extraordinarily exciting medium, but think whether your film will really benefit from 3d - not all subjects do. Your life will be a lot easier if you can work with a good stereographer / 3d supervisor and we would highly recommend Inition. Ensure that the team is united in the 3d 'feel' you are trying to achieve - you don't want a DoP and stereographer who are at odds. Think about what producing in 3d will add to your budget, the uplift might only be 15-20% for heavily scripted shoots, but it will be significantly more for unscripted 3d. 3d will only get easier - every month there are exciting new developments in hardware and software.
You’ve made the pilot – what happens next?
VS: We start shooting the film knowing exactly which equipment and people we want to work with, how long it will take and all the other details which were impossible to know prior to doing a test shoot.
11 May 2010 Here's a list of the big US feature films shooting in the UK this year.
With Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood opening the Cannes Film Festival this week, it’s a good time to note the amount of production business coming from Hollywood to UK shores. A Universal Studios film, Robin Hood shot at Pinewood and on locations in Surrey and South Wales.
This year, there’s a raft of big Hollywood productions being made in the UK including the final Harry Potter films, a new Martin Scorsese feature and Tim Burton’s latest. They’re attracted by the UK’s film talent and facilities, as well as the favourable exchange rate and our film tax break which is worth 20% of budget.
This list is courtesy of the Office of the British Film Commissioner, which has been instrumental in attracting big studio shoots to the UK. Last year, US studios spent a near record £728.5m on film production in the UK. Film commissioner Colin Brown thinks it’s likely to be around that level in 2010.
In Production:
The final instalment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Warner Bros. Pictures) is currently being filmed at Leavesden Studios, Pinewood Studios and on location in the UK. It is directed by David Yates, with David Heyman and David Barrron producing.
John Carter of Mars (Walt Disney Pictures) has just finished a shoot in the UK. It was filmed between late January and April 2010 and has now moved to Utah for the final leg of filming. John Carter of Mars was filmed at three studios in the UK – Shepperton, Longcross and Greenford. The film is directed by Andrew Stanton, with Colin Wilson producing, and is Pixar’s first live-action feature film.
Frankenweenie (Walt Disney Pictures) has just started production at 3 Mills Studios. It is directed by Tim Burton and produced by Allison Abbate. The story is the feature-length version of Tim Burton’s 1984 short film of the same name.
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight Pictures) recently started filming in the USA. It tells the story of a mountain climber who becomes trapped beneath a boulder. It is directed by Danny Boyle, with Christian Colson and John Smithson producing. The film is being shot entirely in the US with post-production in the UK.
Pirates! (Sony Pictures Entertainment/Aardman Animations) went into production in April. It is a stop frame animation with CGI elements and is directed by Peter Lord. Arthur Christmas (Sony Pictures Imageworks/Aardman Animations) also recently entered production. It is a CGI feature film, with CGI being undertaken in the US. Substantial animation and post production work is being completed in the UK. It is directed by Sarah Smith and Barry Cook.
In Pre-Production:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (GK Films) is Martin Scorsese’s first feature to be filmed in the UK. Adapted from the children’s novel by Brian Selznick, it has been in pre-production at Shepperton Studios since February and is due to start shooting in early June. It is produced by Graham King, Christi Dembrowski, and Tim Headington.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Walt Disney Pictures) is the fourth instalment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It began pre-production at Pinewood Studios in February. It is expected to film at Pinewood Studios and on location in the UK in August 2010. It will be directed by Rob Marshall, with Jerry Bruckheimer producing.
Films which shot in the UK and which are undertaking post-production in the UK:
The first instalment of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (Warner Bros. Pictures) is in post-production at Framestore, Cinesite and Double Negative.
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) is in post-production at Molinare.
Your Highness (Universal Pictures) is in post-production at Framestore CFC.
Inception (Warner Bros. Pictures) is in post-production at Double Negative.
Never Let Me Go (Fox Searchlight) is in post-production at Ascent 142.
Films which DID NOT shoot in the UK and did not qualify as British (thus did not obtain tax credit) but which are undertaking VFX in the UK: Marmaduke (Twentieth Century Fox) at Cinesite Battle: Los Angeles (Columbia) at Cinesite Iron Man 2 (Marvel) at Double Negative Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Univeral) at Double Negative Salt (Columbia) at Framestore The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Walt Disney Pictures) at Double Negative Naked Beauty: A Love Story That Feeds The Earth (Disney Nature) at Cinesite Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (Fox 2000) at MPC Leap Year (Spyglass Entertainment) at Cinesite
Possible shoots in 2010: Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures). Dark Shadows (Warner Bros. Pictures) Sherlock Holmes sequel (Warner Bros. Pictures)
New Batman project (Warner Bros. Pictures)
27 April 2010 What are the five things that define BBC2? No, this isn’t a media studies exam question. But it’s something that BBC2 controller Janice Hadlow has clearly put a lot of thought into.
At a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch today, she gave a talk about the five things that make BBC2 what it is. It was a good insight into how Hadlow sees the channel, and provided a useful frame of reference to understand how her commissioning decisions are made.
Here are the five points she outlined:
1. Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence. Hadlow defined BBC2 as, first and foremost, the home of intelligent thinking in terrestrial television, a place where big minds and big ideas come together. It’s for an audience that “relishes the opportunity to brain up rather than dumb down,” she said. Unsurprisingly, she pointed to Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Solar System as a good example and said that BBC2 would soon see historians Mary Beard and Amanda Vickery front a pair of new factual series on BBC2. She named Andrew Marr, Simon Schama, Michael Moseley, Dan Snow and Alice Roberts as key BBC2 faces, arguing that they are “engaging, articulate proselytisers for what they know…they have genuine, unimpeachable, real knowledge." Hadlow added: “I think there is a bull market on cleverness out there if we have the will to grasp it."
2. Curious about the world. Hadlow reckons that BBC2 is a good place to make sense of great events. As an example she cited The Love of Money, last year’s series about the financial crisis. BBC2 can also open up hidden worlds. She’s a fan of Welcome to Lagos, calling it “ a truly conscious-altering observational documentary…it shows that BBC2 is about challenging our picture of how the world works as well as seeking to explain it.” Hadlow added that Lambing Live is perhaps the show she’s most proud of, arguing that it opened up a dimension of British life that doesn’t often a look in on TV.
3. Culturally engaged. Hadlow wants to showcase arts docs and feature “confident expressions of expertise across a heady variety of subjects” on the channel. Citing last year’s poetry season with Simon Schama on John Donne and Armando Iannucci on John Milton, she said there was an upcoming season of opera programmes as well as a series on literature presented by Sebastian Faulks called The Secret Life of The Novel. Meanwhile, Melvyn Bragg is working on a series about culture and class that will air in a couple of years. Music seems to be a particular priority. “I’m keen to find ways of giving documentaries about popular music a more confident presence on the channel.” Above all, she’s after “grown up, witty interrogation of popular culture.”
4. The importance of being mainstream. BBC2, reckons Hadlow, is about a mixed economy of programmes that can intelligently entertain and authoritatively inform. Popular formats like Victorian Farm can “become something of real substance” on BBC2. She thinks the old dichotomy between high and low brow is much less apparent now, pointing out that the same person can effortlessly move between Masterchef and the documentary Great Ormond Street.
5. Entertaining. “A big channel cannot live by factual programming alone,” said Hadlow. “Audiences want a channel to have a heart as well as a head. That’s why comedy and drama are so important to BBC2.” Comedy is key to Hadlow, although she thinks it’s been marginalised recently. Recent highlights included The Thick of It and Miranda, with the latter in the tradition of the good-hearted 1970s classic The Good Life. Meanwhile, single drama will continue to be important to BBC2 but she wants a greater presence for series and serials. Here Hadlow cited Our Friends in the North as an example of the kind of “thoughtful, ambitious stories that reflect modern experience” that she is after. She also plans to open up the market for literary adaptations, looking beyond 19th Century classics of English literature to French and Russian novels as well as contemporary British novels. But it doesn’t have to be high literature - it could mean genre fiction such as clever thrillers or thoughtful sci-fi.
22 April 2010 Televisual is running an interview with Sky1 director of programmes Stuart Murphy in the May issue. It’s almost a year since Murphy joined Sky from indie Twofour.
In part of the interview, Murphy sets out his programme shopping list for the year ahead. The biggest opportunities, he says, are in factual and features.
Although it’s best not to pitch ideas where an expert host is the star. “I am bored of seeing those expert shows where they walk up the garden path and knock on the door. And I’m also slightly bored of seeing a self-consciously controversial host who is more of focus in the programme than the members of the public.”
Sky1 hit Pineapple Dance Studios has made its mark in terms of commissioning at the broadcaster. “Pineapple Dance Studios has really shown that with a bit of silliness but high production values you can really break the mould of fly on the wall documentaries. I’d love to have conversations with producers about what are those genres we can mix with other genres. Is it that we do music and cookery, for instance (we’re not planning that!). I’d love to have that creative discussion about the mixes.”
Sky runs three big entertainment shows a year and is currently booked up in terms of the genre. “We probably don’t need that many more big entertainment shows,” says Murphy. Likewise, Sky’s not on the hunt for new daytime shows.
Meanwhile, Sky is moving on in terms of drama. It’s had good success with book adaptations recently such as Martina Cole’s The Take and there’s the upcoming Terry Pratchett adaptation Going Postal and Chris Ryan’s Strike Back. But, says Murphy, he’s now looking for dramas that “aren’t necessarily based on book adaptations.”
For full interview and further details see Televisual’s May issue
06 April 2010 There’s a degree of cautious optimism ahead of this year’s annual TV programme sales market, MipTV (April 12-16).
The mood going into 2010’s Cannes market is certainly different to last April’s edition, which was held in the depths of the recession.
There’s likely to be a particular focus on drama and new formats. If you have new drama at the market, it’s going to be very much in demand as there’s not been an awful lot of new drama commissioned over the last year. The formats market is still buoyant too. But there’s been very few new formats hitting screens recently - mostly it’s been recommissions.
“I get a sense that for the right show, there is definitely more of a buzz around than there was six months ago,” says Louise Pederson, managing director of All3Media International.
Televisual canvassed several distributors for their take on the market for our April edition. Here’s what they had to say:
Jane Millichip
Chief operating officer, RDF Rights
One thing that will be an issue at this year’s MipTV is programme supply. There is likely to be a shortage of new format ideas, because last year commissioning was risk-averse with more re-commissions and fewer original ideas. There’s also been a big shift in the market – the distinctions between high end cable buyers and terrestrial buyers are beginning to disappear. Last year we had an absolutely fantastic year with high end cable channels, because they were more insulated from recession. Our top 15 clients for in 2009 were dramatically different from the previous year - which is very unusual.
Leila Monks
Director, TVF International
One really interesting area is ad funded programming. I don’t think I’ve seen so many ad agencies going to MipTV as I have this year. With the guidelines becoming more relaxed it’s an area producers need to be taking notice of. There’s no doubt that overall the tide has turned and this year’s MipTV will be much busier. That’s going to be true for factual in particular, a genre which has tended to fare better in the downturn because programmes can be made more cheaply and can be turned around relatively quickly. The kind of shows which buyers have responded to internationally are those with an upbeat theme.
Justin Judd
Managing director i-Rights, Digital Rights Group
We expect to see a surge in demand for 3d at this year’s MipTV, driven by the launch in 2010 of 3d channels at a time when there’s not a huge amount of 3d content available. We are interested in making strategic investments in 3d content. But at this stage it’s so early in the whole evolution of 3d it’ll be more about levels of interest rather than actual sales. The key driver will be the availability and affordability of the 3d sets to consumers. In a depressed economic environment where a lot of people have replaced their TVs in recent years, take up is more likely to be gradual rather than there being a stampede at retailers.
Cary Fitzgerald
Managing director, Highpoint Media Group
I’m quite optimistic about this year’s MipTV being at least as busy as last year’s Mipcom - which was fantastically busy, particular when compared to MipTV in 2009. This time last year the market was really flat – we had an empty stand opposite us which was really depressing! The last quarter of 2009 saw an enormous surge in business and I expect that trend which has been going on for the last six months to continue. On 3d I’m going to wait and see. The number of times I have heard that 3d is the next big thing and six months later nothing has happened. The one thing about 3d is that it has to be fantastic quality. I did see 3d promos in Berlin where the quality was questionable and you can’t sell rubbish.
30 March 2010 English regional screen agencies have been an important source of financing for producers in recent years, helping fund projects such as Married Single Other, Red Riding, Inspector George Gently and The Unloved.
Unsurprisingly, however, there’s a big question mark over how much longer the largesse of English screen agencies will last. With government finances under severe pressure, the traditional backers of the nine English regional screen agencies – the UK Film Council, Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) – are facing their own funding problems.
Many agencies struck fixed term funding deals several years ago with their RDAs or ERDFs which are now coming to an end.
For example, Screen Yorkshire has been one of the most high profile funding agencies in recent years, backing acclaimed dramas such as Red Riding, Lost in Austen and Married Single Other. Its £10m four year funding programme from its local RDA, Yorkshire Forward, comes to an end in a few months and it now has its own funding applications in with unnamed organisations to secure further financing.
Similarly, EM Media is coming to the end of a £6m fund from the ERDF which allowed it to back features such as Shane Meadows' This Is England, Samantha Morton's The Unloved and Anton Corbijn's Control. It's also had further investment to the tune of £500k from its local RDA and it is coming to the end of that. It too is involved in delicate re-funding negotiations.
Meanwhile, Northwest Vision+Media no longer directly gives funding for productions but, says sector lead for broadcast, music and publishing Maureen Walker, it will help producers and directors find and exploit what funding is out there, citing the North West Venture Capital Loan Fund which launches later this year with a dedicated fund of between £15m and £30m for the digital and creative industries.
On the flip side, Northern Film and Media have just launched a £2.4m fund. In a first for a regional screen agency, it's teamed up with a venture capital firm NorthStar Equity Investors to manage the cash. This public/private model is being eyed up with interest by other regional screen agencies.
And Screen East have just launched a £3.5m Low Carbon Fund which aims to invest in a minimum of 15 productions.
See the April edition for Televisual for further details
As the World Cup kicks off, here’s a selection of creative work that’s been made by UK producers to coincide with the event. 
Wildlife filmmakers Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone recently filmed a 3d pilot for a planned 3d theatrical feature film. 
Here's a list of the big US feature films shooting in the UK this year. 
What are the five things that define BBC2? No, this isn’t a media studies exam question. But it’s something that BBC2 controller Janice Hadlow has clearly put a lot of thought into. 
Televisual is running an interview with Sky1 director of programmes Stuart Murphy in the May issue. It’s almost a year since Murphy joined Sky from indie Twofour. 
There’s a degree of cautious optimism ahead of this year’s annual TV programme sales market, MipTV (April 12-16). 
English regional screen agencies have been an important source of financing for producers in recent years, helping fund projects such as Married Single Other, Red Riding, Inspector George Gently and The Unloved.
