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Janice Hadlow on making BBC2 matter

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.

Stuart Murphy's shopping list at Sky1

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

The mood at Mip

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.

Finding funds in the English regions

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

The best way to turn down a pitch

One of the most important parts of a commissioning editor's job is learning the many ways of saying 'no' to programme pitches.

Recently, commissioners have been able to rely on a particularly effective way of turning producer ideas down.

It’s all thanks to the rise of advertiser funded programming (AFP). Cash strapped commercial broadcasters, particularly Five, have enthusiastically embraced AFP to fund shows such as Chinese Food in Minutes (pictured), which is backed by Sharwoods.

Now, instead of simply rejecting an idea, a commissioner can express enthusiasm for the proposal but say there’s no budget and then ask the producer to find an advertiser to fund it.

This is tantamount to a polite but flat out rejection as, contrary to all the industry hype surrounding AFP, it’s very difficult to find advertisers who are prepared to fully fund TV programmes.

AFP specialist Simon Wells of Drum Screen, who played a key role in the resurrection of ITV1’s The Krypton Factor which is backed by IT firm Sage, explains: “A commissioning editor’s answer to a programme pitch used to be ‘yes, no or maybe in six months.’

“Now it’s ‘yes, no, maybe or if you can find money from the advertiser come back’. That’s said in the pretty certain knowledge that it’s very, very hard to find money from an advertiser.”

The lure of South Africa

It's got little to do with the World Cup, but there's a rush on right now for British TV producers to film out in South Africa.

The reason is South Africa’s favourable tax breaks, which have recently attracted the likes of Kudos post apocalyptic BBC1 drama Outcasts and Left Bank’s Sky One drama Strikeback out to the country.

Televisual is putting together a finance special for its April issue, and South Africa is cited as the top destination for producers looking access international tax breaks to help make their production budgets go further.

Stephen McDonogh, head of co-production funding, content & production at BBC Worldwide, gives the following advice:

“I’d say currently the top four tax incentives in TV are of the non-recoupable type based on a return on local qualifying expenditures within the following countries:

1. South Africa: 15% (foreign film - production services) or 35% (co-productions). Good value for money (although ever weakening sterling is reducing this margin!), experienced SA crews and great for winter filming but ZAR10m cap limits benefit on higher budgets.

2. Canada: combining Federal (15%-25%) and Provincial (23%-65%) tax credits (largely limited to qualifying labour expenses only) – rules on higher rates are complex to secure and usually only show a real benefit if there is a significant Canadian broadcaster investment.

3. Ireland: 28% (Section 481) – easy to set up, paid on first day of filming but Ireland remains expensive.

4. France: 20% (TRIPS) – great newcomer, no French language requirements designed for international productions filming in France. Downside - many key expenses are excluded and French labour social security costs remain one of the most expensive in Europe.

The above ‘soft money’ incentives also work very well in combination of each other on a single production (e.g. CAN/IRE or CAN/SA).”

See Televisual’s April edition for full details.

TV and film's big bet on 3d

If you want evidence of the big bet that the TV and film industries are putting on 3d, then a day long European press briefing held by Sony Professional last week provided it.

Sony flew over about 40 journalists from countries such as France, Germany, Sweden and Spain to its Basingstoke HQ to outline its 3d plans and to showcase 3d kit from cameras, OB trucks right through to new Sony Bravia 3d televisions. Senior execs from Sony as well as Sky and OB outfit Telegenic were rolled out to give presentations.

By the end of the day, journalists were left with little doubt that Sony believes that 3d will be a big driver for its business going forward.

Sony will have 3d televisions in stores in Europe in time for this year’s World Cup, where 25 games are due to be filmed in 3d.

The World Cup is expected to give only a modest boost to the consumer take-up of 3d but, crucially, it’s likely that ‘early adopters and status seekers’ will go out and buy the sets ahead of the event.

However, Sony execs believe the real tipping point for mass market 3d TV adoption will come around the time of the 2012 London Olympics.

Sony sets will require proprietary glasses. All manufacturers are looking at creating 3d TV sets that don’t require glasses, but these are long way off yet. “We’re many years away from a really good bright 3d display that doesn’t require glasses,” says Sony Professional’s Paul Cameron.

Tips for shooting in 3d came thick and fast on the day. Key lessons included:

1. It’s much easier on the viewer’s eye if the 3d action takes place behind the screens, rather than leaping out at them.

2. You don’t need as many cameras to shoot 3d sports events. Sky took five 3d cameras to film Usain Bolt’s 100m dash in Manchester last year, but only really needed two.

3. Camera positions are really important. High and wide shots that look down from a long distance in football stadiums, for example, are very disappointing.

4. Rain is a big problem. If you get a drop of rain on one of the camera’s dual lenses, it messes up the image.

5. Cameras shooting a subject at an angle give a great sense of depth, compared to cameras that shoot directly in front or to the side.

6 You can cut 2d and 3d footage together - the interplay between the two does work.

Both Sky and OB outfit Telegenic are clearly betting big on 3d.  Telegenic has already built one 3d OB truck from the ground up. Telegenic’s Eamonn Curtinn said, “We are so confident that 3d is going to work that we have commissioned a second 3d truck to be ready in July.”

The big push by manufactuers, broadcasters and producers into 3d also means that suddenly there’s a huge demand for skilled 3d workers, in particular stereographers. “If anyone knows any or where I can find them, I'm desperate for them,” said Sky Sports director of operations Darren Long.

Is TV a young girl's game?

If you look at the upper echelons of TV, there are plenty of women at the top table, from Dawn Airey at Channel Five through to Lorraine Heggessey at Talkbackthames, Jay Hunt at BBC1 and Janice Hadlow at BBC2.

On the surface, TV is one of the most open and accessible industries to women, with the glass ceiling well and truly smashed. Yet Skillset's 2009 Employment Census Report is due to reveal real differences between men and women in the TV workforce, with particular evidence that women aged over 35 are women leaving.

The issue is being discussed up at a MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Edinburgh TV Festival/BAFTA debate later this month, titled Is TV a young girl's game?, which will look at what barriers are being faced by women and ask whether the industry is institutionally ageist and sexist?

Ahead of the MGEITF/BAFTA debate, Televisual picked up on the subject and asked four senior female execs if TV is a young girl's game? Here's what they had to say:

Karen Smith, joint md, Shine TV
"I bloody hope not! And speaking as a female md, that's part of a group run by women, I really don't think so. The brutal truth is that life is easier if you get yourself well established before you have children. It is also hard work and long hours but, if you're talented, TV is probably more forgiving than most industries. Men in TV often have as many childcare issues as women - a commissioner meeting was rescheduled recently because he had to pick his kids up from school - nobody minded. Good people are the key to any company thriving and are hard to find so must be cherished. If that's not your experience, you're working at the wrong place."

Anne Morrison, director, BBC Academy
"We need the life experience of older women reflected on our screens, yet the insecurity, long and erratic hours of our industry mean that too many women are still having to decide between family life and working in TV. When I started in the BBC in the 1980s it felt like a gentleman's club. Over the years, family friendly policies have meant that now half of BBC Vision's workforce are women. However, being a freelance director and a mother requires as much creativity in working out support systems at home as goes on screen. Take my tip and consider finding a supportive stay at home partner. It's made all the difference to me."

Eileen Gallagher, chief executive, Shed Productions
"Simple answer is it shouldn't be - but the stats seem to prove the point. Looking at Shed Media's employment stats (PAYE only, so not counting the armies of production staff) I was surprised to find that 60% of our staff are female, but the average age of men and women was virtually the same (male 34yrs; female 33.2yrs). Women in our company seem to fare well in terms of employment and don't appear to be discriminated against as they grow older. Our HR department works to support staff in their life choices with enhanced parental benefits and opportunities to work from home. It's the right thing to do morally but also makes sound economic sense."

Sue Davidson, executive producer, The Apprentice, Talkbackthames
"I don't want to be negative because I am enjoying my TV career and consider myself to be 'in my prime'. And as I am working in an indie run by successful women there doesn't seem much to complain of. But I have a deep, niggling worry that one day soon it will all come to an end, not because I have run out of ideas and energy but because I might look older. A bit like our on-screen counterparts, women are perceived not to age as well as men. I do fear this prejudice and even commenting here is a bit like 'coming out' and feels risky."

Working in TV: is it a Young Girl's Game?, presented by MediaGuardian Edinburgh Int'l TVFestival and BAFTA, takes place on 17 March at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly. See www.bafta.org