Final Thesis

City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Nicoli, Nicholas (2010). Creativity management in original television production at the BBC. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the unspecified version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/1153/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Creativity Management in Original Television Production at the BBC. By Nicholas Nicoli Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy City University, London School of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology April 2010 For my Mum. T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Prologue Page 11 1. Aim of the Thesis Page 13 2. Setting the Scene Page 14 3. Organisation of the Thesis Page 17 Chapter One: Conceptualising Cultural Page 22 and Television Production 1.1 A Historical Account of Cultural Production Page 23 1.2 Contemporary Cultural Production Page 29 1.3 Television Production Page 52 Chapter Two: Conceptualising Organisational Page 61 Creativity Management 2.1 Management Models and the Growth of Creative Management Page 65 2.2 Creative Industries Page 75 2.3 Stimulating Organisational Creativity Page 78 2.4 Definitions of Creativity Page 86 Chapter Three: Methodology and Natural Page 94 History of the Research 3.1 The Methodology Page 94 3.2 History, Historiography and Organisational Studies Page 120 3.3 A Natural History of the Research Page 122 Chapter Four: The Road Towards Creativity: Page 129 The UK Audiovisual Sector and the BBC 4.1 1922-1979 Page 131 4.2 1979-1992 Page 139 4.3 1992-2004 Page 146 Chapter Five: The Television Production Landscape Page 158 from 2004 Onwards: External Policies Affecting BBC Creativity 5.1 The UK Television Production Sector after the Communications Act 2003 Page 159 Chapter Six: Creativity and Accountability Page 172 at the BBC from 2004 Onwards 6.1 ‘Building Public Value’ and the ‘Creative Future’ Initiative Page 172 6.2 The BBC’s New Structure and the Growing Significance of Technology Page 175 6.3 BBC Vision and Commissioning Original Programmes at the BBC Page 180 6.4 The Use of Audience Research in Stimulating Creativity at the BBC Page 197 Chapter Seven: Conclusion Page 208 7.1 Synopsis Page 208 7.2 Concluding Statements Page 210 Appendices Page 218 Appendix A – List of Conducted Interviews Page 219 Appendix B – Semi-Structured Interviews and Pattern-Matching Page 220 Appendix C – Permission Agreement Page 225 Appendix D – Sample Letters of Communication Page 226 References Page 229 2 L I S T O F TA B L E S & I L L U S T R A T I O N S Figure 1.1 The Broadcasting Production Process Page 58 Figure 2.1 Levels of Creativity Page 62 Figure 2.2 Eysenck’s Creative Achievement Model Page 90 Figure 3.1a A Single Case Embedded Design Page 106 Figure 3.1b A Single Case Holistic Design Page 106 Figure 3.2 The Two Design Approaches Page 110 Figure 6.1 BBC Organisational Chart Page 177 Figure 6.2 The Commissioning Cycle at the BBC Page 183 Figure 6.3 The Window of Creative Competition Page 187 Figure 6.4 Average Age and Percentage of Audiences Page 204 Table 3.1 BBC Vision Organisational Breakdown Page 109 Table 3.2 Data Collection Page 119 Table 4.1 Audience Shares 1998-2004 Page 152 Table 5.1 Sales Figures of Television Programmes 2005-2006 Page 169 Table 6.1 Genre Commissioning Breakdown Page 182 A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S I like to think of this thesis as a collaborative effort. It is fair to say that its completion would not have been possible without the support and influence of many people. First and foremost are my two supervisors, Petros Iosifidis and Frank Webster who knew exactly when and how to motivate me. Within the spirit of the thesis, it seems fitting to note that they had an instinctive ability in stimulating my creativity. The fact that I was thousands of miles away for the majority of the thesis never seemed to matter to either of them, and for that, I am extremely grateful. Next, my family in the UK, that took me in whenever I needed to be in London to conduct research or visit my University. I would particularly like to thank Litsa, Michael, little Andreas, big Andreas, Helen and Panayiotis for treating me like an immediate member of their family. I am eternally indebted to them. I would also like to thank my mother Chloe, my sister Melita, and my nephew Andreas for all their support; and my wife-to-be Antonia, for her patience and understanding and never saying once, ‘let’s do something together this weekend’ therefore sacrificing her weekends as I did mine. Thanks also to the librarians at the University of Nicosia and City University, London, for all their support and kindness. All librarians it seems, are always willing to lend a hand, and always, always with a smile. Last but not least, I would like to thank Eva Bognar, my dear friend that got me through the most difficult of times, especially during the insanity of reconceptualising the thesis half way through, and making me realise that my reach exceeded my grasp. It was because of Eva that I produced the better parts of this thesis in beautiful Budapest and Horany. Thank you all. S T A T E M E N T O F A U T H O R S H I P The following statement is included in accordance with the Regulations governing the ‘Physical format, binding and retention of theses’ ( City University , Regulation 25, paragraph 5(e)): I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort, and that it has not been submitted anywhere for any award. Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged. Additionally , I grant powers of discretion to the University Librarian to allow this thesis to be copied in whole or in part without further reference to me. This permission covers only single copies made for study purposes, subject to normal conditions of acknowledgement. Signature: ………………………… Date: ………………………… A B S T R A C T The primary concern of this thesis is to explore how creativity is managed in original television production at the BBC, and to that end, it seeks to make an original contribution to both organisational creativity management and television production discourses. The thesis offers an extensive literature review that connects cultural production, television production and creativity discourses. The thesis is consequently divided in two sections. In the first, it addresses the major theoretical frameworks of organisational creativity management and television production, and also includes a chapter on methodology. The second aims to explore BBC creativity from three viewpoints. These are, from a historical perspective, from how the BBC is affected by external factors, and from how it attempts to manage creativity of original television production from 2004 onwards. Findings suggest that despite the efficacy of numerous policies regarding how creativity is stimulated at the broadcaster, others are open to criticism. One such policy is the Window of Creative Competition (WoCC). The WoCC requires BBC’s in-house production units and the independent production sector to openly compete for approximately 250 million pounds of annual commissions for original television production. The thesis concedes that the WoCC will lead to a progressive decline in in-house television production and possibly to a decline in UK television creativity. The thesis draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources. It combines case study explanatory analysis with long-term historical perspectives on organisational changes at the BBC. Creativity Management in Original Television Production at the BBC. “Public Service Broadcasting has somehow been contaminated by commercial thinking.” Ien Ang, Desperately Seeking the Audience Prologue INTRODUCTION ‘Whenever television is discussed…it seems that creativity is invoked to describe those ways in which television breaks free from its status as product or commodity and rises to the condition of art’ - Edward Buscombe (2003, p. 56) Television is at once a technology, a social influencer, and increasingly, a global industry. Occasionally, as noted in Buscombe’s citation, it can also be considered an art form. Notwithstanding the widespread notion that art and commerce are in conflict with each other (e.g. Williams, 1981; Adorno and Horkheimer, 2001; Hesmondhalgh, 2007), television has taken over from more ‘authentic works of art’ in offering audiences the opportunity to experience ‘polymorphic meanings’ (Adorno and Horkheimer 2001, p. 164). Gorton (2006) reminds us that television is used by audiences in order to ‘experience a journey…that provides an emotional and intellectual engagement with the story that unfolds’ (72). For a television programme to have a chance of being considered an art form, programme-makers aspire to produce work that is perceived as ‘creative’.

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