UNIT 8 (Understanding TV & Film) TASK 1B

UNIT 8 (Understanding TV & Film) TASK 1b

Many TV programmes & Films are produced by third party organisations for a broadcaster or are sold to a broadcaster after the programme has been produced. Many production companies have now merged to form large groups of different production companies, all of which specialise in different genre of production.

Primrose Studios, HEADQUARTERS 109A Regent’s Park Rd, London, NW1 8UR OWNER 21st Century Fox The Shine Group is a UK based group of FORMATION production companies of which has worked on many productions worldwide and was founded in March 2001 by Elisabeth Murdoch. The group was acquired by News Corporation (now 21st Century Fox) in 2011 for £415 million and currently consists of 27 production companies of which are based in 11 countries globally. Brown Eyed Boy – Sit-coms OWNED COMPANIES Bossa Studios – Social Gaming ChannelFlip – Short Form Online Video Dragonfly – Factual Television Kudos – Scripted Content Lovely Day – Drama Princess Productions – Primetime, Factual and Topical Daytime programming Shine TV – Factual Shine North – Broadcast TV & Branded Content Shine International – Sales and Distribution Shine Network – Internal Formats Shine 360 – Rights Management Shine Pictures – Feature Film Production Shine America – Various Genre Shine Nordics – Various Genre Friday TV – International Production Filmlance – Swedish TV Production Meter Film & Television AB – Entertainment Metronome Denmark – Danish Factual Shine Finland – Finnish Lifestyle and Factual Metronome Spartacus – Norwegian Drama Rubicon TV – Norwegian Drama, Entertainment and Comedy Production Studios A/S – Nordic TV Facility Company STO-CPH – Swedish Animated Comedy and Scripted Entertainment Shine France – TV Programming for French-speaking territories Shine Germany – Various Genres Shine Iberia – Various Genres Shine Australia – Factual and Entertainment The Shine Group is managed by an MANAGEMENT Executive Board of which has been ultimately chaired by Elisabeth Murdoch since the group was founded in 2001. The Executive board also consists of the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Group Finance Director, Chairman Northern Europe & Shine 360, Director of Human Resources, Director of Communications and the CEO of Shine’s Children’s Venture. Each production company also has its own management teams, many of which also support the general operations of the entire group. The company gains funding in many FUNDING different ways including:  Financial backing for parent company, 21st Century Fox  The distribution and the selling of TV formats around the world  The production of TV programmes on behalf of broadcasters (sub-contracted)  Private financial investment WELL KNOWN PRODUCTIONS  MasterChef (Shine TV)  The Island with Bear Grylls (Shine TV)  One Born Every Minute (Dragonfly)  Broadchurch (Kudos)  Got to Dance (Princess Productions) The company advertises careers on a CAREERS dedicated page on its website and posts jobs in the form of vacancies of which prospective applicants can apply for depending on what suits them best. The company has a range of careers available including office-based staff and on location staff, although a lot of technical crew are outsourced freelancers. The company’s roles vary from selling shows to international markets, exploring business ventures, marketing, financial opportunities and production roles. The company also have good employee benefits and facilities and monitor the progress of employees with annual reviews of which makes sure that each employee is progressing and developing in the business. It is also mentioned that many employees have progressed their careers from an entry level position and have worked upwards in the business as well as seen a development of knowledge and skills. Employee benefits in the company include an annual awards ceremony, charitable events and leisure trips to places such as the cinema! Each employee has 25 days of annual leave, private healthcare, pension, life assurance, childcare vouchers, cycle to work, eye care, season ticket loan and an employee wellbeing service. This also includes pub quizzes, early screenings of new shows, wine tasting, parties and much more. The group also has its own football team, fitness boot camp, massage therapist and birthday celebrations. The group also has its own internal programme of learning, sharing, coaching, and training opportunities and wellbeing events. The company also has an apprenticeship scheme and leadership programme. (Shine Group, N/A) (Wikipedia, 2014)

26 Aybrook Street, HEADQUARTERS London, W1U 4AN OWNER Comcast Corporation PARENT Universal Studios (NBCUniversal) Working Title Films is a UK based film FORMATION production company of which is fully owned by Universal Studios and its parent, Comcast. The company was founded in 1983 and has worked on over 100 films such as Les Miserables and Fargo of which have grossed nearly $6 billion worldwide. The company’s work has won them 35 BAFTA awards as well as prestigious prizes at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals. The company has also worked with many well-known directors including the Coen Brothers, Paul Greengrass, Edgar Wright and Ron Howard. The company is also extending its reach into TV production and has produced a number of productions both for UK TV and American TV networks. Similarly to most production companies, MANAGEMENT Working Title Films is operated by an executive board of which is currently chaired by film producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner who have both worked on productions such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The World’s End, Rush and Fargo. The company gains funding in many FUNDING different ways including:  Financial backing for parent company, Universal Pictures and Comcast  The distribution and the selling of TV formats around the world  The production of TV programmes on behalf of broadcasters (sub-contracted)  Private financial investment As with Shine, Working Title Films CAREERS advertises its jobs on a dedicated page on its website. As with Shine, a lot of technical and on set staff are freelancers brought in for the production. Working Title also offers an apprenticeship scheme called Action! At the time of research, there were no vacancies available at the company although there is an opportunity for prospective employees to submit their CV’s to the companies TV section for the possibility of employment. (Working Title, N/A) (Wikipedia, 2014)

The Licence Fee

The BBC’s Licence Fee has been subject to a number of controversies in the past and is still an important issue raised by news channels and the public today. In 2004, the BBC reported that almost 70% of the UK wanted change to the way the BBC is funded. A poll also showed that 31% were in favour of the existing licence fee system, 36% said that the BBC should be funded by subscriptions and 31% said that advertising should pay for BBC programs (Wikipedia, 2014). Many complaints have been made about the way licence fee has been enforced, using intimidating adverts and heavy handed enforcement tactics from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport of which has gained condemnation from the media, public and celebrities (Wikipedia, 2014). Many newspapers are also reporting that other broadcasters should be made entitled to some form of funding from the licence fee and the BBC should stop investing in ‘copycat’ programming such as The Voice, of which is mainly aimed at competing with rival broadcasters such as ITV. ITV claims that some of the £3.3 billion a year raised should be available for ‘contested’ funding for rivals to bid for. ITV also say that "The BBC's pursuit of audience share regardless of distinctiveness or innovation has been evident where the BBC has rushed to commission or produce almost identical programmes to those by ITV ... we can see no obvious justification for the BBC commissioning existing formats such as The Voice for the UK audience" (The Guardian, 2014).

BBC Budget Cuts

As with many public organisations the BBC is being forced to make budget cuts in most areas of its operations. In 2010, the chancellor George Osborne announced that the BBC’s budget would be cut by 16%, which is similar to many other government organisations (The Guardian, 2010), but the licence fee would remain frozen until 2017. Cuts at the BBC have included reduced live sport shown with the rights to sports like MotoGP being sold to other broadcasters and the future closing of BBC Three on TV and making it an online only channel. This significantly differs from commercial broadcasters such as ITV who have reported no loses in funding and limited cost saving strategies in order to adapt to current financial conditions. In 2014, it was reported that culture secretary, Sajid Javid was outlining to decriminalise the non-payment of the TV licence as making it a criminal offence not to pay it wasn’t working (The Guardian, 2014). The Guardian also reported that in one London court, 158 no payment hearings had been listed and in the course of the day, only 20 people turned up. Many who attended were reportedly on low incomes and many filed means-testing sheets in order to lower the maximum fine for not paying the TV licence (The Guardian, 2014). By decriminalising the non-payment of the licence fee and due to the lack of people who turn up to face the punishment for not paying the licence fee, this will encourage more and more people not to pay the £145.50 fee and this will overall lead to a heavily reduced budget for the BBC.

The Digital Divide

With a clear shift onto online operations due to our ever-growing online culture, many broadcasters are becoming heavily involved with Internet based services. The BBC has had a significant online presence since 1994 and features many of its operations such as BBC News, BBC Sport, BBC Weather plus many others (Wikipedia, 2014). The BBC’s website currently has an ALEXA rank of 64, making it the 64th most visited website in the world and the 6th most visited website in the United Kingdom (Alexa, 2014). In 2007, the BBC launched the iPlayer, which allowed users to watch any program (radio & TV) that had been on the BBC, in the last seven days. Since then, it has grown to become a major hub for BBC programming with the introduction of mobile versions, game console versions and smart TV options, making it highly accessible to not just many in the UK but to international viewers as well (Wikipedia, 2014). The iPlayer’s functionality now includes live streams of the BBC’s channels and the ability to download programmes. This introduction of the iPlayer has had a dramatic affect on the way we watch TV, making it accessible in isolated locations and at anytime for the consumer. Watching programs via the iPlayer is also popular for individuals such as students as watching programs, not at the point of original broadcast makes you exempt from having to pay a licence fee (Wikipedia, 2014). The introduction and success of the iPlayer has also sparked other broadcasters to launch equivalents such as ITV Player, 4oD and Demand 5. Other than on-demand services from mainstream broadcasters, new catch-up and streaming companies have also been set up online such as Netflix which allows customers to stream various programmes and films to their device after the payment of a monthly subscription fee. This has also allowed many programmes from countries such as the United States to become big hits in countries like the UK (Wikipedia, 2014). Although a lot of programming is moving to an online format, many people such as the older generation will not be as familiar with the technology and could create a boundary to what they may be able to watch. With channels such as BBC Three moving to an online only format in order to save money (DigitalSpy, 2014), this will make it harder and harder for the older generations needs to be met in a format of which is suitable yet economically reasonable. Other issues regarding the uses of websites such as BBC iPlayer include the issues of people viewing live TV without a valid licence fee and never being checked. This is seen as a significant issue for licence fee payers whom many feel that people are evading licence fee payment by watching programs live on BBC iPlayer and no checks being conducted. Other issues involve the ability to watch BBC programming for free internationally is also a concern for on-demand service. Much of this new online broadcasting techniques will be making it harder for the older generation to enjoy television, as many have not been brought up with such technology. With a reduced knowledge in technology, this may jeopardise the future capability of the older generation being able to access certain online material, particularly in more channels decide to revert to an online only format in order to save money. However, just because the older generation have not been brought up with the technology available now, it is becoming more a more accessible to them and technology gets simpler and opportunities for learning are provided such as the Barclay’s Digital Eagles (Barclays, 2014). The Barclay’s Digital Eagles is an initiative set up by the bank Barclay’s of which offers support services for anyone who is unfamiliar with the Internet. The initiatives include how-to-guides, support videos and also free support sessions (Barclays, 2014). Initiatives such as the Digital Eagles help to improve the confidence of not just the older generation, but anyone who is unfamiliar with using the internet and this may make it more accessible to more people.

Social Interaction

Many programs are now accompanied by significant conversation of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and occasionally some programmes have become the subject of global conversation. Some programs have now also feature contributions and interactions with the program from the comfort of their home. One such programme was Channel 4’s, ‘The Singer Takes it All’ which saw prospective singers sing live on Channel 4 while being judged by the public at home using an app on their smart phones and tablets to decide whether the contestant would win a significant cash prize or be eliminated (Wikipedia, 2014). Although the programme got poor reviews and lacklustre viewing figures (The Guardian, 2014), it was reported that the app was downloaded over 35,000 times and over 1 million votes had been cast, making the live interaction element appealing to a large audience. In 2014, the BBC released a special interactive version of its World War One drama, ‘Our World War’, which allowed viewers to make their own decisions, and influence how the story would continue. A score and feedback would then be given to the viewer, commenting them on the effectiveness of their decisions. Other programs of which are increasingly seeing viewer interaction is programmes such as The X Factor and sister show, The Xtra Factor where viewer’s comments and questions are voiced on air and are put to the relevant cast on the programme. Another example of an increasing viewer interaction trend is through programmes such as Free Speech on BBC Three, which sees live debates on mainly political topics, of which usually, involves a panel of guests and a large audience who ask the questions (BBC, 2014). This has now grown to a social media addition with live polls being conducted on websites such as Twitter and questions being asked by people on social media websites. A lot more programmes across many topics now include some sort of interaction from the public using social media websites although this is now expanding to fully interactive shows such as The Singer Takes it All. Shows such as The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing also continue to do well with a strong public interaction through its voting systems. As well as increased public interaction with TV programmes through social media, technology and talent contests, other forms of interactive TV are also becoming increasingly popular such as consumer produced TV. This can include shows like You’ve Been Framed and Channel 4’s hit show, Gogglebox. Both of these shows heavily involve the production of content of which is made by the consumer rather than the a production company and in this case, who’s role is to move the consumer made material onto the TV in some sort of format/story. The highly popular consumer made Gogglebox has rose from strength to strength since it was first broadcast in March 2013. The show, in which cameras are fitted to a number of families/couples living rooms and show their reactions to some of the weeks biggest programmes, has recently been moved to a prime-time Friday night place from its original Thursday night slot (Wikipedia, 2014) and has large viewing figures, usually wiping aside most ITV and BBC programmes. Many of the people featured on the show have now gone on to become highly popular individuals across the UK. This programme has gone to show how by simply filming the reactions of people watching TV has become highly popular to watch in itself and programming in which is made by the consumer is increasing in popularity.

Bibliography Alexa, 2014. bbc.co.uk. [Online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/bbc.co.uk [Accessed 23 October 2014]. Barclays, 2014. Digital Eagles. [Online] Available at: http://www.barclays.co.uk/P1242671738729 [Accessed 23 October 2014]. BBC, 2014. Free Speech. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s4sk3 [Accessed 23 October 2014]. DigitalSpy, 2014. BBC Three moving online is good, says head of BBC Trust. [Online] Available at: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a605014/bbc-three-moving- online-is-good-says-head-of-bbc-trust.html#~oUztCxFrKEqK7W [Accessed 23 October 2014]. Shine Group, N/A. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.shinegroup.tv/ [Accessed 24 October 2014]. The Guardian, 2010. BBC budget cut by 16% in spending review, George Osborne confirms. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/20/bbc-cuts-spending- review [Accessed 17 October 2014]. The Guardian, 2014. A day in court for non-payment of the TV licence: ‘What do they want us to do, kill ourselves?’. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/24/in-court-non- payment-tv-licence-television-desperate-cases [Accessed 24 October 2014]. The Guardian, 2014. ITV: BBC licence fee should be 'top sliced' to fund rival news services. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/14/itv-bbc-licence-fee- top-sliced [Accessed 17 October 2014]. The Guardian, 2014. Minister outlines plan to decriminalise non-payment of TV licence fee. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/09/decriminalise-non- payment-bbc-tv-licence-fee-mps-sajid-javid [Accessed 24 October 2014]. The Guardian, 2014. The Singer Takes It All is the worst TV singing contest of all time. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and- radio/tvandradioblog/2014/aug/07/the-singer-takes-it-all-is-the-worst-tv-singing- contest-alan-carr [Accessed 23 October 2014]. Wikipedia, 2014. BBC iPlayer. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_iPlayer [Accessed 23 October 2014]. Wikipedia, 2014. BBC Online. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Online [Accessed 23 October 2014]. Wikipedia, 2014. Gogglebox. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogglebox [Accessed 24 October 2013]. Wikipedia, 2014. Netflix. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix [Accessed 23 October 2014]. Wikipedia, 2014. Shine Group. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shine_Group [Accessed 24 October 2014]. Wikipedia, 2014. Television Licensing in the United Kingdom - Opinion Polls. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom#Opinion _polls [Accessed 17 October 2014]. Wikipedia, 2014. The Singer Takes It All. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singer_Takes_It_All [Accessed 23 October 2014]. Wikipedia, 2014. Working Title Films. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Title_Films [Accessed 24 October 2014]. Working Title, N/A. Home. [Online] Available at: https://www.workingtitlefilms.com/ [Accessed 24 October 2014].