TVL Tim Dams's Blog http://www.televisual.com/blogs/28/Tim-Dams.html en-us © 2010 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. Fri, 10 Sep 2010 06:12:00 17 TELEVISUAL | THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR THE BROADCAST AND PRODUCTION COMMUNITY http://www.televisual.com/blogs/28/Tim-Dams.html http://www.televisual.com/images/omw.logo.rss.jpg 403 52 Thompson goes on the offensive
BSkyB. The national press. The terms of trade. These were just three of the targets of Mark Thompson’s ire in a wide ranging MacTaggart speech that saw the BBC director general go on the offensive after months of attacks against the corporation.

It lacked the rhetorical flourish of classic MacTaggart speeches, but in a workmanlike way he set out a convincing case for a BBC that was widely supported and respected by the general public.

“Support for the licence-fee is as high, if not higher, today than it was when Alan Peacock wrote his report on the future of broadcasting for Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Then there were four channels. Now there are hundreds,” said Thompson.

Attacking Sky
Thompson went directly on the offensive against Sky, in particular for failing to invest in British production. “It’s time that Sky pulled its weight by investing much, much more in British talent and British content,” said Thompson, who added that Sky spent around £100m in non-news, non-sport content - “not much more than Channel Five’s UK origination budget this year, despite the fact that Sky’s total turnover is more than fifteen times that of Five’s.”

“Sky’s marketing budget is larger than the entire programme budget of ITV1. As a proportion of Sky’s own turnover and its profits, its investment in original British content is just not enough.”

Thompson also said that Sky should pay public service outfits ITV, C4 and Five to carry their services on the BSkyB platform, which would help raise additional funds for the cash-strapped commercial broadcasters. Currently, the PSBs pay a charge for being carried on the Sky platform.

Thompson commented: “Sky is already a far more powerful commercial counterweight to the BBC than ITV ever was. It is well on its way to being the most dominant force in broadcast media in this country. Moreover, if News Corp’s proposal to acquire all of the remaining shares in Sky goes through, Sky will not just be Britain’s biggest broadcaster, but a full part of a company which is also dominant in national newspapers as well as one of the Britain’s biggest publishers.” It would be, he added, “a concentration of cross-media ownership which would not be allowed in the United States or Australia.”

Thompson said that if Sky invested more in British programming it would help make up for a £300m decline in production funding that has opened up since 2004 as a result of a fall in ad revenue at commercial broadcasters. “Between 2004 and today, the pot is estimated to have declined from around £2.9 billion to £2.6 billion,” said Thompson.

Attacking the terms of trade
Thompson caught the independent production sector by surprise by saying that the Terms of Trade should be renegotiated.

Clearly feeling that the Terms of Trade had had a negative impact on the income of broadcasters and their subsequent ability to spend on commissioning, Thompson said: “The current Terms of Trade did a good job helping to strengthen the indie sector: setting it on the path to its present success, and ending the bad old days when broadcasters held all the cards. However, the current pace of change affecting broadcasters, together with the scale and ownership of the independent sector, means it is the right time to take a fresh look at whether the current arrangements for contracting with broadcasters are flexible enough."

Attacking Contracts Rights Renewal
Thompson went on to speak in support of ITV’s campaign to renegotiate the Contracts Rights Renewal system.

“The UK needs a market in TV advertising which functions effectively, but it also needs to be a market in which ad-funded broadcasters can be confident enough of commercial success that they invest in quality content. Arrangements which risk a downward spiral of falling prices and disinvestment in programming will end up serving no one ⎯not advertisers, and certainly not the British public.”

Attacking the press
After a year of press attacks on the BBC over issues such as executive pay, Jonathan Ross’s salary, the corporation’s pension crisis and bureaucratic waste, Thompson hit back. “Systematic press attacks on broadcasters, and especially on the BBC, are nothing new of course ⎯ the first hostile campaigns began back in John Reith’s day ⎯ but the scale and intensity of the current assaults does feel different,” he said.

“Some newspapers appear to print something hostile about the BBC every week, even though the reporters often freely admit to us that they know the story is ramped up, distorted or just plain nonsense.

“And that’s true even of the readers of those papers which are most consistently hostile to the BBC. Across the UK population, 71% of people say they’re glad the BBC exists. Among readers of the Daily Mail, it’s 74%. The Telegraph, 82%. The Times, 83%. The Sunday Times, 85%. Not only do these newspapers fail to reflect the view of the majority of the British public about the BBC. They don’t even reflect the view of the majority of their own readers.” Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Thompson-goes-on-the-offensive_bid-120.htmlTue, 31 Aug 2010 14:17:15Hat Trick's Mulville takes aim
One of the most enjoyable sessions of the Edinburgh TV festival was Hat Trick boss Jimmy Mulville’s Richard Dunn memorial lecture.

In a speech about how market research and business consultants are killing creativity in television, Mulville also dealt with Hat Trick’s near collapse in the mid-2000s after an investment bank bought into the Have I Got News For You? producer and the indie took on huge debts.

But the speech was also memorable for Mulville’s asides and jokes about everybody from the BBC to Channel Five and James Murdoch.

Here’s a selection of them:

On the BBC:
“Instituting a vast building programme up and down the land the like of which has not been seen since the days of Mussolini.”

On Channel 5
“They haven’t made a decent show since they started and now they’ve been bought by a porn baron – you couldn’t make it up.”

On ITV:
“Defined to a large degree by its huge entertainment brands. What would happen tomorrow if Simon Cowell went under a bus? God Forbid.”

On Peter Salmon and Salford:
“What is slightly surprising is that Peter Salmon it appears is refusing to sell up down here and buy up north. Really Peter?  As you know, Peter has been anointed Mark Thompson’s representative on earth in the newly created fiefdom in the North West. Odd signal to give the troops.  Perhaps we’ll find out more about the reasons for his decision in his session on Sunday, called ‘Leading From The Back.’ Sorry, that was cheap, but then, so is housing in Salford Peter.

On James Murdoch’s MacTaggart lecture last year:
"Did anyone see James Murdoch last year? I thought Baby Murdoch did quite well. I think Papa Murdoch would have been proud. To be honest, to begin with I struggled with his slightly strange delivery. It was a sort of cross between an American newsreader and the voice of a sat nav. But I did think he made some good sound points about the BBC being in areas it really had no business being in, that its cultural imperialism was choking competition in the area of online news delivery – all well thought out arguments made in a reasonable fashion.
So far so good I thought, but increasingly you had a growing feeling that he was just channelling Papa Murdoch and by the end of the speech as he become slightly more agitated, like some wires were shorting out in the mainframe – I thought I could hear a faint buzzing -  he was sounding like a post-modern Gordon Gecko. The quest for profit isn’t only good, he claimed, it will protect you from a sinister state controlled media and no doubt cure erectile dysfuction. 
I loved his portrayal of the BBC as some infernal state controlled efficient, well-oiled machine. Obviously he’s never made a programme for them. “

On the creative culture of the BBC:
“On a bad day like a 3.2 billion pounded funded parish council.”

On ITV’s new leadership team:
“It will be fascinating to see how things unfold on the South Bank where the two new boys are determined to bring a sharp focus to ITV. Adam and Archie, TVs new Ant and Dec.”


Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Hat-Tricks-Mulville-takes-aim_bid-119.htmlTue, 31 Aug 2010 14:15:56AFP: Goldmine or minefield? Advertiser Funded Programming (AFP) has been around since the 1930s when brands such as Proctor and Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive funded daytime dramas in the US – and the soap opera was born.

Until recently, however, examples of AFP were relatively scarce on British television. In particular, it was mistrusted by commissioning editors who disliked the idea of advertisers being closely involved in programme-making.

The recession has changed all that. Now, jokes one producer, you can barely get a commission at some cash-strapped broadcasters unless you walk in the door with an AFP deal.

In recent months, example, shows such as Five's Chinese Food in Minutes and Family Food Fight, were backed by Sharwoods and Flora respectively. Likewise, More4’s TV Book Club (pictured) was recently funded by Specsavers.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that a session titled The Branded Entertainment: Goldmine or Minefield? was packed out at last month’s Edinburgh TV Festival.

Here the four panellists give their views on the growing area of advertiser funded programming

Paul Day Vp branded entertainment and digital media, Cineflix Productions
Branded entertainment projects continue to grow in both size and frequency. An increasing range of advertisers are looking to connect with consumers in more inventive ways, engagement rather than interruption being the key for many. Cineflix believes that each project must fulfill the usual creative criteria before being associated with a brand. Stakeholders should then be engaged, with content specialists at media agencies working alongside broadcaster and production company to manage brand expectations from a creative and regulatory point of view. It is also key that other media are involved to increase media value across the board.

Mark Wood
Founding partner, Krempelwood
The will is there for the UK AFP market to grow from an estimated £15m in 2010 to £150m+ within five years. Successful TV shows are difficult to conceive. Creating them from a brand brief as a start point is an immense challenge. The vast majority of AFPs will find their way to air via producers charged with finding the funding for programming that broadcasters want to commission. Producers need to get their programmes in front of brands and demonstrate how the brand can be integrated into the programme and effectively market the brand. Krempelwood was formed specifically to fulfil this function and in the process build a conduit for brand briefs to the production community.

Nuno Bernardo
CEO, beActive Entertainment Branded entertainment is becoming more and more important as audience habits shift from live, linear broadcasts, to an On-demand, PVR based or Internet based consumption of moving images. With this paradigm shift, audiences are now able to skip ad breaks. Branded entertainment and product placement are two ways of putting the brands inside the content, so audiences can’t skip through them. But the big advantage is that if the brand is really integrated with the content, the impact will be higher than the traditional 30 seconds ad. As audiences tend to love shows and their characters, audiences will then start to engage at an emotional level with brands and products.

Katherine Marlow
Content partnership planner, ITV Commercial
Branded content has been around since the original “soaps” but it is enjoying a renaissance thanks largely to the current economic climate and the possible product placement changes. Projects with ITV have ranged from CITV to ITV1 peak, from factual to sport. The only limitations are the number of advertisers with the desire and understanding to take on projects and the quality of ideas generated – ultimately the job is to entertain our audiences. Branded content delivers better results if a client buys into a wide media strategy, of which a branded entertainment programme is just one part. We always urge clients and producers to come to us in the early stages of development to ensure it is something of interest to ITV’s commissioners before further work is undertaken. Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/AFP-Goldmine-or-minefield-_bid-118.htmlThu, 26 Aug 2010 15:23:12What's the climate like for docs?

Four documentary commissioning editors gave their verdict on the state of docs at Televisual’s Intelligent Factual Festival last month. Surprisingly, they were uniformly upbeat, despite the downturn. Here's what they had to say:

Simon Dickson
Channel 4, deputy head of documentaries
We’re feeling incredibly buoyant about docs at Channel 4 and I think the BBC has got every right to feel pretty buoyant as well in many ways. It’s a golden age for docs. There are different ways of making them, there are different ways of getting them to the audience and there are different ways of funding them. As well as the special BAFTA winning singles that everybody loves that make a splash, we’re doing bigger, longer runs of more dynamic and innovative series than I can ever remember doing before. I would say that there’s no need for doom or gloom.  I think quite the opposite is true and docs are in rude health.

Emma Willis
BBC, commissioning executive for documentaries
I genuinely believe that this is a really amazing time for docs and it’s no coincidence, because we are probably living in the most interesting time in Britain since Thatcher. Frankly, it would be pretty grim if we couldn't attend to it and interrogate it. There’s so much to interrogate – the welfare state’s collapsing and the reason people are coming to real stories, unmediated, is that they’re living it, and they want to know a little bit more about it and put it in context. There are two things going on: people want to see themselves, like in C4’s One Born Every Minute, and they want to see other worlds like BBC2’s Welcome to Lagos. You can have both.

Anna Miralis
More 4 / True Stories, commissioning editor
True Stories is a strand that showcases the best films from around the world. I think digital television has provided a platform for those films to exist. We commission 40 films a year for True Stories and I think it would be difficult to imagine that they would exist on a terrestrial broadcaster, so I think digital has grown that opportunity. The platforms have created a new market. In terms of the content, it’s fantastic. I’m extremely optimistic. We can find those 40 films quite easily. There are just so many films out there, and we can give viewers a chance to experience those documentaries.

Lina Prestwood
Current TV, director of content
We’ve basically opened up the whole channel to new filmmakers. As well as the very esoteric passion projects that are normally associated with first time filmmakers, we’re encouraging people to come to us with format ideas and series. I would love to have a returnable format on the channel. I see Current as a real stepping stone. I don’t see our channel necessarily as a massive contender for the larger channels. It would be foolish to think that, but I strongly believe we exist to kind of give new television producers a slice of the broadcast pie that they may not have had before. That’s important for creating diversity within the industry.
Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Whats-the-climate-like-for-docs_bid-116.htmlThu, 05 Aug 2010 12:36:06How's business this year?

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. Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Hows-business-this-year_bid-102.htmlWed, 16 Jun 2010 15:41:22World Cup production fever 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.

Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/World-Cup-production-fever_bid-97.htmlThu, 10 Jun 2010 17:10:55How to shoot wild elephants in 3d 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. Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/How-to-shoot-wild-elephants-in-3d_bid-93.htmlWed, 02 Jun 2010 10:34:52Hollywood shoots flock to the UK 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) Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Hollywood-shoots-flock-to-the-UK_bid-88.htmlTue, 11 May 2010 11:18:54Janice 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. Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Janice-Hadlow-on-making-BBC2-matter_bid-85.htmlTue, 27 Apr 2010 18:19:08Stuart 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 Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Stuart-Murphys-shopping-list-at-Sky1_bid-82.htmlThu, 22 Apr 2010 18:40:22The 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. Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/The-mood-at-Mip_bid-73.htmlTue, 06 Apr 2010 12:52:07Finding 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 Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Finding-funds-in-the-English-regions_bid-68.htmlTue, 30 Mar 2010 10:17:21The 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.” Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/The-best-way-to-turn-down-a-pitch_bid-67.htmlThu, 25 Mar 2010 18:02:53The 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. Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/The-lure-of-South-Africa_bid-65.htmlTue, 23 Mar 2010 14:48:25TV 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.

Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/TV-and-films-big-bet-on-3d_bid-63.htmlTue, 16 Mar 2010 12:56:34Is 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 Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Is-TV-a-young-girls-game_bid-60.htmlThu, 11 Mar 2010 20:14:47Can Pineapple Dance Studios save factual TV? Sky1’s formatted doc Pineapple Dance Studios is a “ground breaking TV format” that points the way for producers looking to reinvent factual and entertainment formats.

So thinks Alex Connock, the boss of one of Britain’s biggest factual TV producers, Ten Alps, which owns blue-chip documentary makers Brook Lapping and Films of Record.

Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch today Connock said: “Pineapple Dance Studios is frivolous docusoap about a Covent Garden dance company. In a nice way it’s a load of old nonsense, but a groundbreaking TV format. They [producers Pulse Films] have invented something called the performance doc.”

“The world of TV formats is in a constant state of evolution but in the last few years it’s been in stasis because of the whole panic over factual TV. But I think you are going to see a new explosion in factual formats over the next couple of years and Pineapple Dance Studios is right at the cutting edge of it. Everybody who works in TV loves it because it is so innovative and there is so much joi de vivre about it.”

For the record, Connock is not involved in the production at all and says he doesn’t know the production company behind Pineapple Dance Studios, Pulse Films.

Connock thinks the big challenge in TV in the years ahead is to create new entertainment formats. “All the big formats of first decade of 21st century are at the end of their shelf life. Big Brother has been decommissioned while judging shows like The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent are being sustained by the charisma of Simon Cowell. The big challenge that the BBC, ITV and Sky face is what is next global entertainment format. That is the elixir - that is what they are after.”

Reinventing formats that sell abroad is one of the ways that Connock thinks that British media can help the UK export itself out of the recession.

To help boost British media exports, Connock also called for the BBC to create an online equivalent of the BBC’s Window of Creative Competition (WOCC) and open up the BBC’s online activities to outside producers and organisations.

“The WOCC has been a genuine success. You could build on that success online. So you could have situation where the BBC says lets have a Shakespeare presence and would put that out to tender to BBC drama and the Royal Shakespeare Company
and may the best man win. Say the RSC won because it had a better proposition, you’d strategically put all BBC Shakespeare on the RSC site. That would be a real serious value builder for the UK."

He added that if the BBC created strategic partnerships with other cultural organisations in the UK, as suggested by BBC director general Mark Thompson last week, it could create valuable assets for Britain.

If organisations like The National Gallery, The Royal Opera House and the Tate Gallery could get access to the BBC’s programme library and resources “they could take tentative steps to become broadcasters in their own right”, he said.

Total Comments : 0 ]]>http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Can-Pineapple-Dance-Studios-save-factual-TV_bid-57.htmlWed, 10 Mar 2010 18:51:50