Comedy on Radio 4

V2 last updated by LL 22.02.21 BBC Radio Commissioning Brief_v1.1_2021 01 19

CONTENTS

SECTION A: RADIO 4 and COMEDY ...... 3 SECTION B: COMMISSIONING OPPORTUNITIES ...... 12 SECTION C: COMMISSIONING TIMETABLE ...... 17 SECTION D: COMMISSIONING PROCESS ...... 18 STAGE 1: SHORT PROPOSAL ...... 18 STAGE 2: FULL PROPOSAL ...... 19 STAGE 3: CONDITIONAL COMMISSION AWARDED ...... 22

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SECTION A: RADIO 4 and COMEDY

Introduction Mohit Bakaya, Controller

Another year, another commissioning round.

Except, of course, it is not really like any other year.

We go into this round in the midst of a global pandemic that has caused 100,000 deaths, dramatically altered our everyday lives and is forcing us to question many of our assumptions about the modern world and the way our society should work. Hopefully, by the time the ideas you pitch to us land in the schedule, we will be beyond the earth-shaking intensity of the virus but we will still be feeling the aftershocks.

Then there is the very different, but some might argue equally disruptive (in relation to our democracy at least), impact of social media. It’s a forum that can, when all the voices are put together, sound like an angry, attention-seeking child, dishing out truths and falsehoods in equal measure, without any guide to indicate clearly which is which. This infant has upended our democratic debate and poisoned the well of truth. It enables parallel communities to thrive where evidence matters less than feeling, where belonging to a tribe of true believers is more important than engaging constructively with naysayers.

And then there is climate change. The biggest challenge of our time.

It is into this uncertain landscape that your programmes will be broadcast, and it is this environment you should be mindful of when thinking up your ideas.

The first and most important thing we will have to get to grips with is, of course, what this seismic shock has done to us all. People have lost loved ones, livelihoods, friendships, routines, their sense of how the world works. They will still be dealing with the challenges brought on by months of lockdown, as well as illness and bereavement. Our collective mental health has been under severe strain. The generations have simultaneously been placed at odds with each other and brought closer together. Think hard about the communities and groups most affected by Covid: the elderly, the poor, those wrestling with long term health conditions. In these groups no life has remained untouched. We are a nation changed.

How do we capture that in a clever, original way? Crucially, how will your ideas complement what Radio 4 will be doing through its live and regular output next year? After a year when we have all gone through a collective trauma, finding different ways to explore the aftermath is going to be a challenge.

An equally big challenge is how can we take the audience beyond the misery of the pandemic? After over a year of unrelenting grimness, they will need a break.

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What are the dramas, comedies, documentaries and podcasts the audience will need in 2022/23?

How can we bring the audience together more, so their understanding of the plight of others improves and the unequal impact of Covid is properly felt? Where, as a result of staring intensely at one story, has our collective gaze not fallen? How can we delight, engage and transport our audience after such a gruelling year? What is brewing out there that we might be able to smell but not yet hear or see? What are the dots that need joining up for the audience to identify the major trends waiting just around the corner?

These are some of the questions I’d love you to explore.

Also, this far out from when programmes will land, what big statements can we make? Can we set the agenda on the issues that will matter most to the audience but aren’t yet apparent? Are there issues that are best explored through comedy or drama? Is there a big literary work that gets underneath our culture today, maybe one from the last 50 years?

Through all of this there are two things that will continue to matter for our audience: truth and wonder.

We have a commitment to truth. It runs through all our programmes and podcasts. I’m talking about the truth implicit in a brilliant piece of political satire, a line of poetry or the plight of a character in the afternoon drama, as much as the truth revealed by an investigative documentary, exploratory interview or brilliant storytelling podcast.

This commitment is more important now than at any time in Radio 4’s fifty year history. I believe we have an absolutely vital role to play in supporting and developing civic well-being and critical thinking. Like social media, Radio 4 is a space where people come together - but to what end? I think we have a role in providing a nuanced, impartial, more evidence based conversation; supplying more light, less heat. More provoking of thought, less stirring up of rage, or (and this is as bad) complacent reaffirmation of strongly held views. We can think through to truth in a civil way.

Our democracy relies on evidence based knowledge, on context and history, on clear analysis and calling out untruths. It requires us to understand the lives, experiences and beliefs of people different to us and to voice our differences through informed, respectful debate.

If people are to make informed decisions at the ballot box and be engaged citizens, Radio 4 has an enabling role to play. That is not just with our existing audience but also those who don’t yet listen to our stuff but could and would … as long as it arrives in a form that works for them. So we need to keep thinking about ways to reach beyond our base, find people where they are with our content so that they, too, have access to all the brilliant thinking and enquiry that we have built our reputation on.

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I want Radio 4 to up its intellectual ambition. And I want us to broaden the range of people we hear from, so that we feel relevant in every corner of these islands.

We also have a commitment to wonder. People need intelligent delight. They want to be transported at a time when travel is hard. They want to feel close to the lives and experiences of others, whilst possibly still having to observe a physical distance. Things will ease over time but we will not be left unaffected. Radio can help with the post-Covid world. We can bring people closer and supply the joy, laughter and escape that have been so scarce in recent months.

I also want us to keep exploring new treatments for our classic genres: arts, drama, comedy, factual. We need to focus more on HOW we tell our stories, how we play with the form to surprise and delight, so we can reach a new audience in BBC Sounds and in the schedule. We’d like you to think about nifty new ways to reach an audience not brought up on speech radio, so that Radio 4 can build on its unparalleled success in Sounds. The mashing up of genres – entertainment with knowledge, drama with documentary – might be worth considering. How can truth and wonder come together to take us to new destinations?

You are our spies in the world. It is your knowledge, experience, contacts and insights that will help us get into the stories that will create compelling audio for our audience – existing and potential. That means we need our supplier base to better reflect and represent the nation we broadcast to, both in terms of make-up and of the questions it asks and the territory it explores.

We must not make lazy assumptions about who the audience is and what matters most to them. We cannot focus only on the issues, preoccupations and lives of some communities, at the expense of others. We must represent the whole country. So we will up our commitment to diversity, in every sense of the word: class, race, religion, gender, disability, region, political perspective. And we will buy programmes from suppliers across the whole UK in the hope that this broadens the scope of the lives we reflect and the stories we tell.

We want ideas that tell us important truths about the world around us, ideas that are clever in conceit so that they can engage new audiences, ideas that create awe and wonder, ideas that reflect the actual country we live in, not just the one we see in the mirror.

Finally, I know this has been a gruelling year. You have all done amazingly. You have made programmes, in incredibly challenging circumstances, to provide the audience with essential companionship as well keep them informed and entertained. And the audience feedback has been extraordinary. On their behalf, thank you.

I understand that working up new ideas for a commissioning round may feel like the last thing you want to do right now, especially as we had to postpone parts of the last round to take pressure off suppliers in the first lockdown and have only recently issued some results. However, the commissioning round is an important creative moment in the Radio 4 calendar. It allows all suppliers to stand together on a level playing field, as we fire the starting gun, setting off a contest which culminates in

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brilliant dramas, comedies, podcasts and documentaries delighting millions of people.

Millions …. It’s worth remembering that, I think. You can make programmes for so many outfits now and it is great that the market for speech audio is growing fast. However, nowhere else will you reach so many people across the UK. Your programmes on Radio 4 affect and influence the national conversation in ways that no other broadcaster does. Your comedies raise more laughs, your dramas move more hearts, your podcasts and documentaries stimulate more brain cells and, as a result, play a crucial part in our functioning democracy. If you care about that, Radio 4 is the place to try to shore up the values we believe in.

And this is not just linear radio. Radio 4 is the biggest network in BBC Sounds, as well as performing incredibly strongly on other platforms. 15 out of the top 20 on- demand shows in 2020 in BBC Sounds were documentaries, dramas, comedies and podcasts commissioned by Radio 4, made by you. If you genuinely want a new audience, listening digitally, to hear what you do, we are the station to make that happen.

Please help us build this bridge between truth and wonder so that the audience have a vantage point from which to make sense of the turbulent world we live in. I cannot think of a time when they’ve needed us more.

Mohit Bakaya Controller, BBC Radio 4 & Radio 4 Extra

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Comedy on Radio 4

Sioned Wiliam, Comedy Commissioning Editor

I want to begin by thanking each and every one of you for the extraordinary work you’ve been doing over the past few months to keep Radio 4 Comedy on air. Maintaining that connection with our listeners has been a remarkable achievement. And it has been entirely down to the brilliance of the studio managers, writers, performers and producers who have huddled under duvets, operated complicated technical machinery in wardrobes and struggled with the vicissitudes of dodgy internet connections. Many of you have been doing this under the most difficult circumstances, coping with enormous stress and anxiety. Remote recording and zoom audiences have become our new normal and I know how much effort and dedication has gone in to making this possible.

And it’s also been a brilliantly creative year – you’ve delivered so much great comedy, helping us make sense of the madness around us, offering comfort and friendship, above all making us laugh.

We don’t yet know when we’ll be able to record a live audience again, although the vaccine must offer us the hope that it will be possible later this year. In the meantime, producers have been coping in all sorts of hugely creative ways, substituting the sound of audience laughter with a more intimate way of storytelling or creating dazzling audio landscapes. And the remote recording of audiences is improving all the time, allowing for a richer sound, as well as a genuinely exciting dialogue between our listeners and the performers. Our listeners have also told us how much they’ve enjoyed this greater and more intimate access to the shows – without having to travel to be part of the audience experience.

We’ve also realised that every show will offer a different set of challenges – there’s no catch all answer here about the merits of having or not having an audience. So let’s keep talking about what best suits your programme – and do feel free to offer new ways of making your shows. Let’s build on the amazing creativity unleashed by the pandemic, a small glimmer of genuine positivity amidst the gloom.

The way in which we tell our stories is as important as the stories themselves and I’m keen to find new and exciting ways to make comedy for Radio 4 in this round. We have a large and loyal group of listeners who come to us via their radios and I am delighted by the continuing success of some of our most familiar shows. But we do need also to attract new listeners and create new comic shapes that help refresh the network and the genre.

Our aim throughout the schedule is to raise the intellectual ambition of the station and the comedy output is playing its part in this. Hugely original thinkers such as Rob Newman, Bridget Christie, Simon Evans and Olga Koch have been grappling with complex themes, managing to make them both funny and thought provoking. And our narrative comedy echoes this ambition too, whether in the spun gold of writers like John Finnemore who revel in fantastically clever conceits or in the acid

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tinged dialogues of Jan Etherington’s Conversations from a Long Marriage. And in stand ups shows too, such as Paul Sinha’s General Knowledge, where a dizzying array of facts sit side by side with some of the best one-liners since Mae West. And this sort of mashup between fact and comedy is crucial to this round as you will see in my shopping list.

I am looking for comedy, then, that is sophisticated and clever and helps us make sense of the world around us, especially at this time of deep social and emotional crisis. I’m particularly glad that in the last round we commissioned several series dealing with mental health issues – which will be a continuing theme in this round.

But there will always be room for the blissfully funny, silly and surreal. As the greatest play by Shakespeare, that greatest of all gag merchants, shows us, the Fool may be the only character to tell Lear the truth, but he also makes him laugh as he does it. And that is our unique and difficult challenge.

A small shopping list

• Quiz/Panel Game

Our listeners love quizzes and parlour games and I’m interested to see if there are other shapes out there, new ways of making these kinds of shows.

Are there fiendishly clever conundrums, puzzles and mind stretching possibilities that we just haven’t yet considered?

Are there formats that show a different side of our comic talent? TV is awash with new kinds of gameshows and I think we could do with pushing the form on radio, too.

Are there new games we could be playing on Radio 4?

Is there new hosting talent we should consider? Names we haven’t even thought of?

Should we throw out the rule book – whether for an intellectually demanding quiz show or a silly parlour game? How do we access a younger and more diverse breed of contestants?

If you have ideas of this kind, please submit them in Brief 47031-18.30 Comedy.

• A Factual Entertainment show

The Infinite Monkey Cage blew open the doors, busting genres and making a show that was both hugely informative and very funny. It’s a magnificent achievement and I’m keen to see how we could use this as a starting point for other entertaining and educational series. We’re already well covered for mashups of comedy and politics and are piloting another show about facts and fake news. What other worlds could we explore? Religion? Economics? The environment? I’d love to hear your

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suggestions. Do feel free to include my colleagues in factual commissioning, Richard Knight and Dan Clarke, in these conversations. Mashups like these cross our genre boundaries and can be submitted to any of us.

Please submit ideas in Brief 47031-18.30 Comedy or in Brief 47058-23.00 Comedy, depending on the nature and tone of the content and talent.

• Specials

Although space is as limited as ever as the competition for slots becomes ever tougher, I am keen to hear about the big projects which excite you and which you think should be on Radio 4. It’s been wonderful having some of our biggest comedy names back on Radio 4, from French and Saunders and Meera Syal to Dame Edna, Lenny Henry and Bill Bailey. Please do consider offering specials to us – many huge names love doing radio and can often fit in a pleasing one-off or special event. Do continue to think big here.

Please submit any ideas in Brief 47031-18.30 Comedy. You can also send them to me outside of this round, whenever opportunities for big talent suddenly emerge.

Further guidance

As in previous years, I will not be opening the 11.30AM slot because of the volume of returning business. Please contact me directly about programmes that are usually transmitted in that slot.

Please note also that we will keep back a small amount of space for reactive programming.

Space is at a premium in this round but if you have an idea that feels original and distinctive or involves key talent not already on the station, you are welcome to submit your ideas. But please do not offer too many proposals and remember that we have piloted new narrative and sketch pieces in the last couple of rounds. So, although you are welcome to offer us these genres, the competition will be particularly stiff and your idea will need top writers and performing talent to win through.

We want to continue broadcasting comedy that reflects the rich diversity of modern Britain. Do consider this before offering ideas and voices that are already well represented on the station. We’re also keen to know how you are addressing diversity issues in your production teams.

Although editorial excellence will be the major deciding factor in securing any commission, we will look favourably on offers with competitive prices.

Do offer all your returning shows in the round. This gives us an overview of what is on offer and, even if material is shortlisted rather than commissioned, allows us to plan. It may be that shows which are waiting for recommission (because they have

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only recently gone out) can be fast-tracked and commissioned before the end of the round.

Short proposals

In the first stage of the round we'll make a judgement based on the 250 word short synopsis and talent details submitted to us. Please do not exceed this word count. Expressing the essence of the idea in these few paragraphs is a useful exercise and helps focus on what is most important about the pitch. Please do not resubmit ideas that have been rejected in an earlier round.

We are happy to look at ideas that have been previously offered to television companies but please make this clear in your short synopsis. And do ask your writers to reimagine the idea for radio before submitting it to us. Convoluted sight gags and long-winded visual set-ups are not helpful when considering shows for radio.

If you have an idea that has previously been shortlisted, you do not need to reoffer this – it will still be on our list and will not be forgotten. We meet periodically to go through the shortlist and commission from it on an ad hoc basis in our weekly commissioning meeting.

The talent involved in an offer is hugely important - particularly the writers, who must be available and committed to the project. Casting ideas are very useful too, and please let us know if you have a particular relationship with a performer.

Please confirm whether you want your shows performed in front of an audience – even remotely. The tone and pace of an audience show is very different and it's important to note it at the short proposal stage.

Meetings

If your offer gets through the short proposals stage you will be invited to discuss it in more depth. Usually we'll discuss the talent involved and what material you might submit in support of the idea. It may be that a new writer will need to submit a whole script in order to convince us, but more established writers can send in a treatment and maybe some sample scenes. In both cases, a strong sense of where an idea might go next is needed. Please bring your writers to the meeting if at all possible.

Snippets of performance, taster tapes or online content illustrating the talent involved in your offer can be helpful. Do offer up examples of previous work which feels relevant - anything that helps argue your case.

Full proposals

Do remember to re-submit your idea as a full proposal in Proteus! If you don't, I simply won't see it. Remember to submit all supporting material that we ask for in the short proposal meeting. It is useful ammunition with which to pitch this project to the Controller on your behalf.

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Co-production

Radio 4 will continue to explore co-production opportunities for comedy projects and we welcome programme offers that have potential co-financing already attached. Please include any such details in your offer.

What we don’t want

I’m afraid that I’m yet to be convinced (with the honourable exception of the brilliant Austentatious team) that Improv really works on the radio. So I’m not looking for any more at the moment.

I don’t want any ideas featuring impressionists, or spoofs or parodies of broadcast shows. I’m still not looking for literary parodies or new chat shows. We are not looking for more satire at the moment.

We had a fantastic response to our request for new sketch shows and some of those pilots will be progressing to series in the next 12 months. We also have a new set of narrative pilots happening later this year.

Comedy event

Thanks you for responding to this brief in the last round. We are now working on a major event and won’t be developing anything similar this year.

Podcasts

BBC Sounds is the home for Radio 4 podcasts, including original comedy series, which are co-commissioned with Rhian Roberts, the Radio 4 Digital & Podcasts commissioner. If you have an idea which you are convinced is distinctive enough to cut through as a podcast, you should offer it through the 18.30 or 23.00 slots. Stipulate that it is designed as a podcast in your short offer, and again if you are invited to make a full proposal. We have been experimenting with late night conversations as a step in this area. But we are keen also to find ways of making podcasts involving factual entertainment, sketches or sitcoms and would love to hear your thoughts on how this might be achieved. But the bar here is high and we will need to be convinced that it is a very special idea.

Rhian also commissions podcasts like Fortunately with Fi & Jane and You’re Dead To Me. We will not commission these often but details of how to submit ideas for longer running, playful factual podcasts can be found on our commissioning website.

I look forward very much to reading all your ideas.

Sioned

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SECTION B: COMMISSIONING OPPORTUNITIES

Who is eligible to offer proposals?

We invite proposals from all BBC departments and from independent companies who can demonstrate considerable experience in radio/audio or TV comedy production at both producer and executive producer level. We are eager to welcome new production talent into the world of Radio 4. If a producer has not made programmes for us before, include their track record in the full synopsis field of your full proposal.

How do I submit an idea?

The commissioning process is all explained in Section D of this document. We hope we have explained it all clearly. If you have further questions, contact Jacqueline Clarke, the Commissioning Co-ordinator. [email protected] But read Section D first!

Which slots are open in this round?

Brief number: 47202 19.15 Sunday Comedy

Brief number: 47031 18.30 Comedy

Brief Number: 47058 23.00 Comedy

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Commissioning Brief no. 47202 19.15 Sunday Comedy

Schedule slot Sunday 19.15

Transmission period April 2022 - March 2023

Duration (including announcements) 28’

Price per episode £11,600

Commissioning Round 2022/2023 Round 5

Editorial opportunity

This critically acclaimed series continues to go from strength to strength and I’ll be commissioning more episodes in this round. As comedy festivals around the UK are being postponed or cancelled, we may have to find new ways of judging the material offered from new comics. But do feel free to submit script excerpts and self-taped material during the commissioning round if it helps convey the specific appeal of your project. Or do suggest other ways of introducing the talent if you think we’re missing a trick here.

The variety of voices, tone and subjects offered in the last round felt really inspiring. Joz Norris used a mesmerising audio landscape to reveal the inner workings of his mind. Jayde Adams paid a funny but heartbreaking musical tribute to her sister. Elvis McGonagall came back to Radio 4 with some blisteringly comic and hard-hitting poetry. Gemma Arrowsmith showed us her range as a fabulous character comic. Many performers took the opportunity to explore a thesis: Rachel Parris looked at Jane Austen’s legacy as a feminist, Imran Yusuf considered the labels which define him, Anna Morris examined her own maternal instinct (or lack of it) and Jacob Hawley told us why his Dad is the best feminist he knows.

We have another series in hand including sets from Tessa Coates, Alun Cochrane, Lucy Porter, George Fouracres, Lyn Ruth Miller, Jessica Fostekew and Arthur Smith.

Please do keep thinking big for this slot, offering up interesting names, arresting themes and new ways of making the specials. Mohit refers in his introduction to some of the big themes we want to address on Radio 4 this year, among them truth, social media and climate change. I’d love to be able to make a comic contribution to those debates.

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Commissioning Brief no. 47031 18.30 Comedy

Schedule slot Weekdays 18.30

Transmission period April 2022 - March 2023

Duration (including announcements) 28’

Price per episode £11,600

Commissioning Round 2022/2023 Round 5

Editorial opportunity

This brief will be open for a small amount of new business, so please do not over submit. There are many returning shows looking for a home here. We are also progressing some sketch pilots from the last round to series.

This slot continues to attract a large and hugely appreciative audience. Varying the voices and comic styles played across the week helps create a rich menu of entertainment for the frequent listener. The slot can accommodate all sorts of genres from parlour games and quizzes to comic lectures or surreal stand-up, to a variety of narrative pieces. You will need to make a connection with the listeners by using strong characterisation, familiar names and well-crafted lines. Quite a few of those listening are also involved in other tasks such as driving or cooking. It’s therefore doubly important that what’s on offer is entertaining and diverting as they wind down for the evening. Live audiences can add energy and excitement to a show. But it has been interesting how many shows have also felt entirely natural without an audience during the pandemic. Our listeners have been happy with both.

Interestingly, narrative pieces have had to move away from audience recordings for technical reasons and again this seems to have been perfectly acceptable to our listeners.

It's important for the personnel involved at this time to be as varied as possible and producers are asked to think carefully about the performers they book for this slot. We have more work to do in extending the range of voices and stories playing at 18.30. Please note that in all chat shows, panel games or topical comedy airing in this slot, talent must be cleared with Radio 4 before they are booked for a recording.

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This is purely a clash-checking process to avoid having contributors on more than once a week in the highest profile slots.

Last year’s round included new shows for Bridget Christie, Olga Koch, Daliso Chaponda, Darren Harriott, Jayde Adams, Henry Normal, Simon Evans, John Finnemore and Dame Edna. My Teenage Diary with Rufus Hound is set to return later this year and there are new outings too for Simon Rich, Dr Phil Hammond and Alex Edelman.

I am not looking for new narrative pieces for this slot as we have many shows returning this year as well as pilots for new shows playing out later this year. Sketch shows too are well covered after a season of pilots in late 2020. However, if you have an outstanding piece of talent (that is not yet on Radio 4) writing or performing in these genres, please do feel free to offer them in this round.

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Commissioning Brief no. 47058 23.00 Comedy

Schedule slot Weekdays 23.00

Transmission period April 2022 - March 2023

Duration (including announcements) Mostly 28’, some at 14’

Price per episode £11,600 for 28’; £5,800 for 14’

Commissioning Round 2022/2023 Round 5

Editorial opportunity

As ever, this slot can accommodate a range of shows – late night storytelling, mesmerising sound pictures, surreal sketches, or sleepy bedtime chat. It’s also a great slot in which to try out new talent. This slot often houses comedy that may need a late night placing because of form or content and it’s a place in which comedy with a younger feel can be curated.

In the last round we commissioned new shows from Heidi Regan, Helen Lewis, Njambi McGrath, Geoff Norcott, Jamie MacDonald, Rhys James and Twayna Mayne. Ruby Wax will be back with a four part series on mental health and Athena Kugblenu will be discussing Cancel Culture. I’m delighted that after a successful pilot last year Michael Spicer will be bringing The Man Next Door back to Radio 4 along with the award winning Agendum written by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley. Lastly the dream team of Tim Key and John Kearns will be bringing their new show to Radio 4.

I was delighted that in spite of not being able to physically get to the Stand in Newcastle, Fred MacAulay still managed to bring us a wonderful combination of new and star names in his late night comedy showcase. Remote recording of audience and performers worked well in this slot,

We’re still interested in late night conversations. The Likely Dads made a strong start, offering brand new voices with chat that was relaxed and funny but also informative and sharp. Do offer us more ideas – especially those with a younger feel. I’m looking for the relaxed, unfettered tone of a podcast but with a tad more production and substance than we sometimes hear in these.

There is a huge amount of returning business in this slot so think hard about what you offer – try and bring us new voices. Try and think of something we’ve never done, that you’ve never heard on Radio 4 – and give it a go this round.

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SECTION C: COMMISSIONING TIMETABLE

Stage Dates Activities Commissioning Mid February Publish commissioning brief documentation briefs published and open round in Proteus.

Webinar 23 February The commissioning team brief programme briefing makers by zoom.

1. Short 12:00 noon Deadline for short proposals in Proteus. proposal Late submissions cannot be accepted. Thursday 25 March If you have questions that you need answered before submitting short proposals, send them to the commissioning co- ordinator well before the deadline. Week Commissioners shortlist proposals and notify commencing producers of outcomes. Full proposals 19 April requested from those proceeding to next stage. 2. Full proposal Week Opportunity to discuss re-requested short commencing proposals (by phone or zoom) prior to 26 April submitting full proposals. to week commencing 17 May 12:00 noon Deadline for full proposals in Proteus. Thursday 20 Late submissions cannot be accepted. May 3. Conditional Late July Comedy results released. commission Commissions offered, subject to contract. awarded Editorial specifications and price agreed.

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SECTION D: COMMISSIONING PROCESS

We hope this section explains the process clearly. If you have further questions, contact Jacqueline Clarke, the Commissioning Co- ordinator, [email protected]. But read the next bit first!

Everything in this commissioning round is open to competition. There is no formal eligibility questionnaire. If you are registered on the BBC supplier database it is assumed that you satisfy the basic eligibility requirements. If you are not registered but would like to be, contact [email protected].

We invite proposals from BBC departments and independent companies who can demonstrate considerable experience in radio/audio or TV comedy production at both producer and executive producer level. We are eager to welcome new production talent into the world of Radio 4. If you have not produced programmes for Radio 4, please include your track record in the full synopsis field of your full proposal.

STAGE 1: SHORT PROPOSAL

Complete your short proposal in Proteus. Please ensure in good time that as a registered supplier you have access to Proteus. Don’t leave it until the deadline. The Proteus team can help with any issues [email protected].

Fewer, stronger ideas are more likely to get through. In slots where each commission is for multiple episodes, the number of commissions will be far fewer than the number of individual programmes available.

We welcome proposals from suppliers who wish to group together in a partnership, as long as this is clear in the proposal. A joint proposal should be entered only once.

All proposals must be submitted by the deadline in Proteus: 2022-2023 Round 5.

The following must be entered for each short proposal:

Title (of your proposal, not the slot) Titles of proposals filter down to programme titles and are public facing, so please ensure you use Title Case. It is fine to use w/t for working titles.

Commissioning Brief number This number is at the top of each commissioning brief. Enter each proposal in one slot only. If we consider it suitable for another slot, we will transfer it.

Delivery date Enter an estimated delivery date e.g. 01/09/2022.

Price per episode This will default to the guide price, unless you say otherwise. If you think the price will be different, enter this in the ‘Price per Episode £’ field.

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We will not consider bids above the guide price unless the editorial idea clearly justifies it. Although submitting a lower price may help your chances of a commission, the editorial proposition is always paramount.

Number of episodes State the number of episodes.

Duration The total allotted airtime per episode, including continuity announcements and credits, for example 14’ or 28’ (not 15’ or 30’).

Short synopsis: This is where you sell your idea at this stage. Maximum 250 words.

If you prepare proposals offline to paste into Proteus, keep the format simple: bold, underline and italic only. Proteus will remove other formatting, including bulleted and numbered points, as well as converting your font to the equivalent of Arial size 11.

To prevent corruption issues, use the Proteus “T” icon pasting tool located just above the text field box to paste into Proteus. Once in the synopsis field you may need to rearrange your paragraphs and subtitles.

Full synopsis: Do not enter anything in this field at this stage.

Short proposals are evaluated by the commissioning team who shortlist those which they wish to see as full proposals.

We release the results in Proteus. Proposals will show as ‘Rejected’ or ‘Re- requested’. Re-requested means the idea has been shortlisted to go to the full proposal stage. We regret that we cannot give feedback on rejected short proposals.

STAGE 2: FULL PROPOSAL

If you reach the next stage, you will be invited to discuss your shortlisted ideas with a member of the commissioning team, by phone or zoom. We will not discuss ideas that have not already been submitted as short proposals.

If a proposal is re-requested in Proteus, do not re-create it from scratch. Just edit it to reflect the requirements of the full proposal and then re-submit it.

While it is possible at this stage to submit fresh offers which have not been discussed, experience shows that few ideas that were not offered as short proposals get commissioned.

All proposals must be submitted by the deadline in Proteus: 2022-2023 Round 5.

The following must be entered for each full proposal:

Title If your idea is commissioned you must not later change this title without the written agreement of the commissioning editor. Titles of proposals filter down to programme titles and are public facing so please ensure you use Title Case. It is fine to use w/t for working titles.

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Commissioning Brief number Submit each proposal once only. If we think it suitable for another slot, we will transfer it.

Delivery Date (linked to anniversary / event dates where relevant). This information is important and will be used when scheduling a commissioned programme.

Price per episode This will default to the guide price, unless you say otherwise. If you think the price will be different, enter this in the ‘Price per Episode £’ field.

We will not consider bids above the guide unless the editorial idea clearly justifies it.

Producer Include CV in full synopsis field if the producer is new to Radio 4.

Executive Producer Include CV in full synopsis field if the executive is new to us.

Number of episodes State the number of episodes.

Duration The total allotted airtime per episode, including continuity announcements and credits, for example 14’ or 28’ (not 15’ or 30’).

Short synopsis For the final proposal this must be under 50 words. Its purpose is to convey the essence of the idea and enable us to find it quickly in our records. Think of it as a fledgling Radio Times billing.

Full synopsis This is where you sell your idea. It must not exceed 2 x A4 pages of size 11 type.

Supporting material When we publish the results of Stage 1 we will advise you on how to deliver any materials (show reels etc) in support of your full proposal. We do not require any supporting materials with short proposals.

Key talent Any intended writer/abridger/performer/presenter etc. should be shown in the full synopsis. You do not have to secure talent agreement before submitting an offer but you should let us know the degree to which named talent has expressed an interest in the project or has intellectual ownership of it.

Appendices After setting out your idea, please add the following appendices in the full synopsis field (in addition to your 2 page allowance):

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Appendix A Confirmation of acceptance of the key BBC contract terms:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/25pj6s2n6N9yVjxgbXThbNW/a greements-contracts

Appendix B Risk management: identify any specific risks and the processes or systems that will be put in place to manage these.

If you have any questions that you need answered before you submit your full proposal please contact one of the commissioning co-ordinators well before the submissions deadline.

If you make a mistake

If you submit a proposal in error do not create a duplicate. Contact the commissioning co-ordinator before the deadline. They can return it to you for editing.

Digital commissioning

Beyond the standard metadata and possible clip requirements, we do not require any extra digital deliverables to be offered for these commissions.

The digital commissioning editor will look at the slate of commissions along with the genre commissioning editors and assess the potential for any additional digital content, and whether it merits additional funding. The programme maker will have the first option to offer to supply this if it is required and if they have the capacity and ability to do so.

We are open to ideas that producers think will work as digital-first or podcast, followed by broadcast in the linear schedule.

Evaluation

We evaluate all full proposals against the editorial brief and commission those which most successfully fulfil the brief and contribute to the most varied, original and balanced schedule for the Radio 4 audience.

The following people will evaluate your proposal:

Mohit Bakaya, Controller Sioned Wiliam, Comedy Commissioning Editor

Other members of Radio 4 management (e.g. finance, scheduling, digital, editorial standards) may be consulted.

Commissioning decisions will be communicated in Proteus. Brief feedback for rejected proposals will be given there.

At any stage of the process, we may need to come back to you to seek clarification. Your answers will be factored into the evaluation process as appropriate.

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STAGE 3: CONDITIONAL COMMISSION AWARDED

Confirmation of all commissions is conditional on the issues listed below. Radio 4 is not responsible for any costs incurred prior to full agreement. There will be important information included in the feedback field in Proteus which will not be communicated through other means so it is vital that you read this and share it with colleagues.

Price

Each conditional commission will be made with a fixed price offer judged as value for money by the commissioning, finance and business teams. Most will be at the published guide price but we reserve the right to negotiate an alternative price if we believe it appropriate. If our price is accepted in writing by an independent company there will be no need for a detailed budget. Contracts will be issued immediately.

If you wish to challenge the offer made, a detailed budget in Proteus will be requested and scrutinised by our finance and business teams with the aim of reaching agreement. Conditional acceptance may be withdrawn if agreement is not reached within a reasonable period.

Rights

Radio 4 requires an appropriate set of rights dependent on the type of programme. This will vary only in exceptional circumstances. The guide price is based on buying the standard set of rights for that programme. If fewer rights are bought, the price may be reduced.

Radio 4 will welcome proposals with co-production funding.

Schedule and delivery dates

Each proposal should include your ideal delivery date although our conditional acceptance will not necessarily be able to reflect this date. We are unlikely to issue precise transmission dates for programmes not pegged to a particular anniversary or season but will give the calendar quarter in which we intend to place them. If you cannot deliver to meet the given transmission quarter, notify Amanda Benson (Schedule Planning Manager) within 14 days of results publication. Precise delivery dates will be confirmed well before the start of each calendar quarter.

Editorial

A conditional acceptance might have specific editorial conditions attached to it, e.g. that a particular presenter or actor is available. Fulfilment of them must be confirmed before the commission is finalised and before you start work. If they turn out to be unavailable we may accept a substitute but this must be agreed with the commissioning team.

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Compliance and BBC Editorial Guidelines

You will be required to deliver programmes in line with BBC Editorial Guidelines and be able to adapt to changing BBC editorial and business needs during the period of the commission.

Proposals must be submitted in accordance with instructions and information contained in this document and on the commissioning website (via links below). Proposals not complying may be rejected by Radio 4, whose decision will be final.

The BBC reserves the right at any time prior to award of a commission, and without incurring any liability to the affected suppliers, to accept or to reject any proposal, or to annul the commissioning process, rejecting all full proposals.

By submitting your proposal, you confirm acceptance of the key contract terms. Please refer to this important information supporting your proposal. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1zfTRpfbKBQCTD7ptzDwSlz/full-proposal- submission-supporting-information

More information relating to all commissioning briefs and rounds can be found on the Pitching Ideas page of the Radio Commissioning Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4fC4NcVXqkZntJv8ZHpClD8/pitching- ideas

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