July/August 2016

Versailles: French TV goes global : Who benefits? With K5 you can

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3384-RTS_Television_Advert_v01.indd 3 29/06/2016 13:52:47 Journal of The Royal Television Society July/August 2016 l Volume 53/7

From the CEO It’s not often that I Huw and Graeme for all their dedica- this month. Don’t miss Tara Conlan’s can say this but, com- tion and hard work. piece on the gender pay gap in TV or pared with what’s Our energetic digital editor, Tim Raymond Snoddy’s look at how Brexit happening in politics, Dickens, is off to work in a new sector. is likely to affect the broadcasting and the television sector Good luck and thank you for a mas- production sectors. Somehow, I’ve got looks relatively calm. sive contribution to the RTS. And a feeling that this won’t be the last At the RTS, however, congratulations to Tim’s successor, word on Brexit. there have been a few changes. Pippa Shawley, who started with us Advance bookings for September’s I am very pleased to welcome Lynn two years ago as one of our talented RTS Conference are ahead of Barlow to the Board of Trustees as the digital interns. our expectations. To secure your place new English regions representative. It may be high summer, but RTS please go to our website. She is taking over from the wonderful Futures held a truly brilliant event in Finally, I’d like to take this opportu- Graeme Thompson. Another change early July. The subject was how online nity to wish all our readers a happy sees Rob Woodward, CEO of Scottish short-form content is now a force to be and restorative summer break. Television, taking over from Huw Jones reckoned with. The evening’s chair, Pat as representative of the nations. Younge, did a peerless job. I am very I look forward to working with grateful to Pat and to all five panellists. Lynne and Rob. Jane Lighting is also Thanks, too, to a wonderful audience. standing down. A huge thanks to Jane, We have a great line-up in Television Theresa Wise Contents Tony Jordan’s TV Diary Size matters Tony Jordan moves on from Dickensian to Dubrovnik, Short-form video is booming – the challenge is getting 5 but still thinks the BBC allowed a special show to slip 18 your content noticed, says Steve Clarke through its fingers Our Friend in Brussels The price of success for French TV drama James Mates blames wilful British ignorance of the The raunchy Versailles is more than a romp through history, 21 European project for Brexit 6 finds Raymond Snoddy. It is a symptom of digital disruption The lifelong radical A vote for change Tony Garnett made some of TV’s greatest drama. Will Brexit liberate Britain’s TV sector or will international 22 Maggie Brown discovers some painful sources of inspiration 9 media giants now abandon London for mainland Europe? Raymond Snoddy gauges opinion Why working in comedy is no joke An RTS event wrung some laughs from a weighty subject Time to close the pay gap 24 – how to make it in TV comedy. Matthew Bell reports More data and transparency are needed if TV companies 12 are to stop discriminating against women. So why wait, Student Television Awards 2016 asks Tara Conlan The awards ceremony was hosted by Mark Dolan at 28 BFI Southbank on 3 June. The winners and nominees Brand power over four pages As Vice launches its first UK TV channel, Stuart Kemp 14 investigates why having a strong identity is more Breaking out of the box important than ever A new wave of innovation in set-top boxes will see 32 power shift from broadcasters to platforms, predicts Turner turns the corner Nigel Walley Steve Clarke meets polyglot Turner executive 16 Giorgio Stock, whose division is back on top Cover picture: Canal+

Editor Production, design, advertising Royal Television Society Subscription rates Printing Legal notice Steve Clarke Gordon Jamieson 3 Dorset Rise UK £115 ISSN 0308-454X © Royal Television Society 2016. [email protected] [email protected] London EC4Y 8EN Overseas (surface) £146.11 Printer: FE Burman The views expressed in Television Writer Sub-editor T: 020 7822 2810 Overseas (airmail) £172.22 20 Crimscott Street are not necessarily those of the RTS. Matthew Bell Sarah Bancroft E: [email protected] Enquiries: [email protected] London SE1 5TP Registered Charity 313 728 [email protected] [email protected] W: www.rts.org.uk

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 3 Your guide to upcoming national and RTS NEWS regional events

SCOTLAND Local events ■ James Wilson 07899 761167 ■ james.wilson@cityofglasgow- college.ac.uk ■ Belinda Biggam ■ [email protected] SOUTHERN ■ Gordon Cooper DEVON & CORNWALL ■ [email protected] ■ Kingsley Marshall ■ Kingsley.Marshall@falmouth. THAMES VALLEY co.uk Wednesday 16 November Small camera systems EAST Speakers TBC. 6:30pm for ■ Nikki O’Donnell 7:00pm ■ nikki.odonnell@.co.uk Venue: Pincents Manor, Calcot, Reading RG31 4UQ Sky Sports Premier League advert LONDON ■ Daniel Cherowbrier Friday 25 November How is the emergence ■ [email protected] Thames Valley Centre Annual National events of myriad new distribution Dinner Dance platforms impacting on the MIDLANDS This year, we are holding a RTS CONFERENCE commissioning and produc- Thursday 3 November masquerade ball Tuesday 27 September tion landscape? With new, RTS Midlands Awards 2016 Venue: Kings Meadow, Napier RTS London Conference 2016 entrepreneurial approaches to Booking opens in early Road, Reading, Berks RG1 8DF Full stream ahead: production, access to global September. ■ Penny Westlake Commissioning, developing funding and emerging trends in Venue: National Motorcycle ■ [email protected] and producing TV content in consumer behaviour – what are Museum, Coventry Road, Solihull the age of on-demand the real opportunities and chal- B92 0EJ WALES Principal sponsor: NBCUniversal lenges of creating programming ■ Jayne Greene 07792 776585 Wednesday 3 August International for multiple platforms? ■ [email protected] Eisteddfod event: The Speakers include: David Abraham, Venue: Kings Place, 90 York Way, directors of the future Chief Executive, ; Sir London N1 9AG NORTH EAST & THE BORDER Our annual Eisteddfod event Peter Bazalgette, Non-Executive Thursday 28 July is a screening of three short, Chairman, ITV, and President RTS EARLY EVENING EVENT Networking evenings Welsh-language films produced of the RTS; Tina Brown CBE, Thursday 6 October The last Thursday of the month, by young people from Dyfryn Journalist, magazine editor, Anatomy of a hit: Sky Sports for anyone working in TV, film, Nantlle, and a Q&A session with talk-show host and author; Premier League football computer games or digital the film-makers. It will be held Steve Burke, Chief Executive Details TBC ­production. 6:00pm onwards. at Sinemaes (Cinema on the Officer, NBCUniversal; Andrew Venue: TBC Venue: Tyneside Bar Café, Tyne- Maes tent). Please note that Griffith, Group Chief Operating side Cinema, 10 Pilgrim St, New- members will have to buy an Officer and Chief Financial RTS EARLY EVENING EVENT castle upon Tyne NE1 6QG entry ticket to the Eisteddfod Officer, Sky; Dido Harding, Chief Tuesday 1 November ■ Jill Graham field. It is a Welsh-language Executive Officer, TalkTalk Tele- Virtual reality and television ■ [email protected] event but simultaneous com Group; Stephen Lambert, Details TBC translation will be available. Chief Executive, Studio Lambert; Venue: TBC NORTH WEST 2:30pm-4:30pm Kevin MacLellan, Chairman, ■ Rachel Pinkney 07966 230639 Venue: National Eisteddfod, NBCUniversal International; RTS MASTERCLASS DAY ■ [email protected] Castle Meadows Park, Merthyr Tom Mockridge, Chief Executive, Monday 14 November Road, Abergavenny NP7 5DG Virgin Media; Cathy Newman, RTS Student Programme NORTHERN IRELAND ■ Hywel Wiliam 07980 007841 Presenter, Channel 4 News; Ted Masterclasses ■ John Mitchell ■ [email protected] Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Venue: BFI Southbank, London ■ mitch.mvbroadcast@btinter - Netflix; and Sharon White, Chief SE1 8XT net.com YORKSHIRE Executive, Ofcom. ■ Lisa Holdsworth 07790 145280 With burgeoning new models RTS MASTERCLASS DAY ■ lisa@allonewordproductions. of TV consumption, opportunities Tuesday 15 November ■ Charles Byrne (353) 87251 3092 co.uk for content creators and distribu- RTS Craft Skills Masterclasses ■ [email protected] tors are both incredibly exciting Venue: BFI Southbank, London and potentially hazardous. SE1 8XT

4 July/August 2016 www.rts.org.uk Television TV diary

Tony Jordan moves on from Dickensian to Dubrovnik, but still thinks the BBC allowed a special show to slip through its fingers

tart the week with a run, I’ve still got 83 emails about it. Siobhan Finnigan, one of our bril- meeting in Dubrovnik They are a fairly equal mix of furi- liant development execs, comes up about a new project ous teachers and professionals at on the train to talk about a new pro- we are working on. schools and colleges who had seen posal we are working on for ITV. I Although I can’t say young people being driven back to love talking about my new projects much about it yet, I can the books. with smart people. She gives me say that Dubrovnik is They also include members of the loads of ideas. incredibly beautiful, despite people public who don’t understand why it’s Sib heads off and I’m back in the constantlyS pointing at places where not coming back and are moaning shed. I finally crawl into the house at scenes for Game of Thrones were shot. about it. I do think the BBC had the end of a very long day to watch something very special with Dicken- rushes and answer emails. There are ■ Returning to my desk in the Lon- sian and let it slip through their fingers. not enough hours in the day. Maybe don office, back-to-back meetings I should cut out the solitaire. all day, including looking at Red ■ Another afternoon of meet- Planet Pictures’ slate of digital pro- ings alongside Red Planet’s newly ■ Back in the office for more meet- jects. It’s an area I’ve had to learn appointed joint MDs, Alex Jones and ings this morning and to view the about quickly, but it’s stuff all my Belinda Campbell. latest cuts of our new Sky 1 show, kids already know, so it’s making Also manage to squeeze in time Hooten & the Lady. It is a big budget, me feel a bit old. End up with three late in the day to read finalists for our fun action-adventure drama starring new, very exciting ideas. Can’t wait annual Red Planet Writing Prize com- Michael Landes, Ophelia Lovibond, to get started. petition. I am once again impressed and Jane Seymour. by the talent that is out there. I know What more could you want? It’s ■ A quick sandwich, then a minor better than anyone that it can be hard looking brilliant. We’re all super meltdown as I realise that I have to to get into this industry. excited and can’t wait for it to air find time for a trip to LA to talk to I am very proud that we are com- later this year. potential co-producers and a trip to mitted to this competition and help- the set of the sixth series of Death ing aspiring writers to gain a foothold ■ Hit the and decide to in Paradise in Guadeloupe. Already in the industry. work on Saturday. Back in the shed, starting to plan which movies I’ll I’ve got three pages under my belt, 62 watch on the plane. ■ At last, a writing day. In my shed to go. I intend to eat the biggest Sun- This afternoon, we’re discussing in the garden, ready to start writing day lunch known to man and play potential directors and casting for a new script. Spend the first hour Call of Duty. I fall asleep on the sofa Babs, an upcoming BBC film I am playing solitaire while I work out trying to watch all the new TV shows writing and exec producing about how to start my first scene. Write I’ve recorded through the week to the life of Dame . four different versions, hate all of catch up on at the weekend. them and start again. Realise I’ve ■ Months after the BBC decided not spent almost an entire day writing Tony Jordan is a showrunner, who runs to bring Dickensian back for a second three pages. Red Planet Pictures.

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 5 Versailles

The price of success for French TV drama BBC

he tale of two multi-million- ­ “On the one hand, Canal+ is very, euro drama series speaks Canal+ very French but, on the other, it thinks volumes about the tensions it is HBO. At board meetings they ask, and turmoil shaking the ‘Why can’t we do Game of Thrones?,’ French television industry. The raunchy Versailles even though it costs $10m an episode,” One is Versailles, a quintes- is more than a romp says Tavernier, who is French. sentially French historical topic, shot It is obvious why Netflix made Mar- inT France with a French crew but pro- seille, a mayoral succession story, in through history, finds duced for Canal+ in English. The show, French, but why should Canal+ make labelled “primetime porn” thanks to its Raymond Snoddy. Versailles in English? racy portrayal of life at the court of the It is a symptom of The answer is all about budgets, Sun King, was created by an English creative ambition and international writing team and mainly starred digital disruption sales. British actors barely known in France. Cassandre Richard, strategic advisor The other is Marseille, and features To Claire Tavernier, former of to Maxime Saada, CEO of Canal+, says French favourite Gérard Depardieu. It Fremantle’s FMX digital division, the that the French pay-TV company has is a totally French production in every series provide a metaphor for the the same vision as other large TV oper- respect except one – it was commis- tumult in the French TV industry. ators – to achieve the highest drama sioned and paid for by Netflix, as part of “It’s an example of how things are production values, which viewers now the US subscription service’s attempt to changing: big, US-style drama; new US expect. establish a firm foothold in the impor- players coming in; TF1 [the main com- Unlike HBO and Netflix, however, tant French market. mercial, free-to-air channel] acquiring Canal+ does not have a large enough Ironically, it was the French-language a lot of producers, while local, French-­ domestic market to cover the cost of Marseille that was flayed by the critics; language drama has also had a resur- big productions on its own. It has to their reviews of Versailles, dubbed and gence. It’s definitely a market that’s find international partners, such as Sky subtitled for broadcast in France, were shifting,” says Tavernier, who runs Story­ or Mediaset in Italy, and add financing much kinder. Both are believed to TechLife, a digital content consultancy. from international sales. have attracted good audiences in Tavernier sees Versailles as a defensive “If you have a French-speaking France despite their different linguistic move against the Netflix invasion. The show it’s not very difficult to sell and cultural origins; Netflix, of course, project, however, had been around for outside France, but it is very difficult to never divulges ratings information. years in different forms. sell it at a good price,” says Richard, a

6 Marseille Netflix

former UK-based strategist. Versailles could hardly have been a says Wolstencroft. For good measure, She cites zombie drama The Returned, more appropriate project for David he stirred in a generous helping of which was sold to Channel 4 and Wolstencroft, the American-born Brit- Machiavelli’s The Prince, which runs many other broadcasters – but “the ish writer involved in the creation of through the series “like a stick of rock”. price that was paid was really low”. Spooks with co-writer Simon Mirren. Wolstencroft and Mirren and Canal+ Making Versailles in English was sim- Wolstencroft and Mirren were look- provided the creative input. But joining ply the only way to have any chance of ing for a TV project when along came the French production company Capa recouping the cost of around €30m the latest, unworkable, script for and Canadian production partner (£25m) for the 10-part series. ­Versailles. Wolstencroft, a Cambridge Incendo was distributor Zodiak, which Canal+’s strategy, according to Rich- history graduate who had chosen has sold the show to more than 136 ard, involves running “two strings” in Louis XIV as his special topic, and territories. In the UK, the series was parallel. One involves making shows Mirren, who left school at 16, together acquired by the BBC. aimed principally at a single market immediately saw the way forward. “When we arrived in France, we in the local language: Canal+ has had “If you are doing Versailles you want thought it would be like climbing the considerable success with Gomorra, to do it about the king and this crazy, Matterhorn in flip-flops,” recalls Wol- a Sky Italia production, made in the fucked-up love triangle at the centre,” stencroft. “Nothing like this had ever Naples dialect. It worked because been done before, but Canal+ was an European audiences – though not absolute rock star with us and it was American – are a lot more tolerant the biggest supporter of our show and of subtitles today. WHEN WE our vision.” He thinks that he has the The other string involves big, inter- ARRIVED IN making of a business book on how national co-productions made in Versailles was made and what it means English. FRANCE, WE for the current TV industry. “There’s an amazing show coming THOUGHT IT The French crew, he explains, were up in the autumn called The Young Pope, 100% on board but production sched- made by HBO, Sky and us. It stars Jude WOULD BE LIKE ules were longer due to union rules, so Law and is directed by Paolo Sorren- “you can forget 15-hour shooting days”. tino. It’s set in Italy and it’s like a mag- CLIMBING THE Versailles is an important show for nificent, 10-hour movie. We would MATTERHORN IN Canal+, which has 5.9 million subscrib- never have been able to do it unless it ers in mainland France – though the was in English,” Richard argues. FLIP-FLOPS number is gently declining. The �

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 7 Versailles BBC

� service is facing increasing compe- and they want to export beyond the tition for everything, from drama French-speaking world,” Peskine THE ENGLISH to sports rights, from OTT and free- explains. to-air digital services. A second reason that evolution is LANGUAGE IS The company recently lost English more likely lies with regulatory quo- NO LONGER A Premier League rights to Altice, which tas. There is an overall 50% French-­ owns France’s second-largest mobile language quota. Canal+ has to spend a HORROR, AND operator, Numericable-SFR. minimum of 3.6% of its revenues on THEY WANT Earlier this year, in an attempt to scripted series or documentaries – at get more regulatory flexibility on joint least 85% of that with independents TO EXPORT deals for sports rights, Canal+ Chair- and 85% in French. man, the Vivendi industrialist Vincent Mo Hamza, a TV analyst with SNL BEYOND THE Bolloré, threatened to close Canal+’s Kagen, believes that co-productions FRENCH- loss-making pay-TV channels if in several languages “are a trend that losses continued to rise. is definitely on the up”. SPEAKING The manoeuvre failed but Bolloré is However, Bernard Villegas of The WORLD unlikely to carry out his threat because Wit (Worldwide Information Track- Canal+, which also owns movie arm ing) believes that Versailles is neither a Studio Canal, is profitable overall. one-off nor a trend. So, how unusual is it for a major “It’s an experiment,” he says. “If it French series, such as Versailles, to be works and earns , which is not made in English – and is it a harbin- proven yet, then, yes, it could start a ger of things to come? trend. The trend is that French drama, The answer is that it’s not that unu- like drama from every country, is sual – and, if it is a trend, it is a slow-­ now trying to become international. moving one. That is where the trend is now.” Jacques Peskine, who used to run In the battle between Versailles and USPA, the professional association of Marseille history is in the lead. The French TV producers, says that there second series of Marseille was com- has always been a small corridor for missioned last month. Shooting on English-language productions in the second, 10-part Versailles is due to France. In the past, however, French finish around now (in mid-July). broadcasters wanting English-language Season 3, Wolstencroft says, is programmes tended to buy series already “being talked about very from the US. strenuously”. “French producers are learning to And whether Versailles is a trend, a look at programmes in a different shift or an experiment, Mirren and way, but it’s an evolution not a revo- Wolstencroft are also talking to lution. I think that is very clear. The Canal+ about something else – English language is no longer a horror, “something very big”.

8 July/August 2016 www.rts.org.uk Television iStockPhoto.com A vote for change

he “vote” of the UK’s in every way possible to ensure it independent television Economics remains so,” he adds. producers on the EU John Newbigin, Chair of Creative referendum could hardly England and a former Channel 4 have been more emphatic. Will Brexit liberate executive, believes that the creative The poll, conducted by Britain’s TV sector sector is the one most dependent on Pact, producers’ the free movement of labour and the group,T showed 85% in favour of EU’s financial support for innovation. or will international remaining in the EU and 15% against He warns that the current instability – rather different from the UK’s vote. media giants now is deeply damaging. There was no political campaign by abandon London for “No decisions are being made, con- Pact: the results were published but tracts are being frozen or being lost. vanished into the pre-referendum mainland Europe? The Government has to act to reassure maelstrom of claim and counterclaim. people, but, of course, it can’t – Despite the overwhelming indie Raymond Snoddy because we haven’t got a government, preference to remain, Pact CEO John gauges opinion an opposition or a plan,” he laments. McVay has very strong views on what The outlook among those who should happen now: “The people have Potential benefits of Brexit include track the hard numbers and forecast voted. Ultimately, the Government, a leaving behind everything from the the trends is bleaker still. government, has to deal with that. Our EU’s state-aid restrictions to the stric- “It’s a disaster,” says Claire Enders, job in the industry is not to ridicule the tures of the Digital Single Market. founder of research group Enders will of the British people but to make According to McVay, it would be Analysis. She notes that the Brexit sure that things work better for our “a complete own goal” if issues sur- vote immediately knocked £18bn off industry and that there is no long- rounding control of the UK’s borders the value of media stocks in the UK. term damage to our leading position.” were to damage the creative indus- ITV was badly hit because of its reli- Producers want to be able to access tries. The sector is one of the fastest-­ ance on advertising. top talent wherever it comes from growing areas of the economy, Shares can rise as well as fall, but and receive financial support from accounting for 6% of GDP. Enders fears that the loss of three the UK government once Britain is “It is beholden to those of us who years’ worth of stock-market growth cut off from the creative and regional think we do have one of the world’s in the media sector will not quickly development funds of the EU. leading audio-visual sectors to fight be made good. �

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 9 THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES… ARE NOW GOING TO BE IN SERIOUS DECLINE OR…

TURMOIL FAVOURS THE BRAVE.KNOCKS OPPORTUNITY Shutterstock

� A remain vote, she believes, would “Discovery has had big operations in more complicated would be unwel- have added 10% to the value of media the UK for 20 years but it would have come for programme-makers. stocks and the pound. In other words, to move any channel aimed at the EU Following Brexit, Johnston believes the downside is even greater that it first and that’s just one aspect of one tiny that it is “certainly possible” that the appears. Enders predicts other big industry,” Bisson argues. Netherlands could become the sole changes: “A financially weak Govern- Perhaps not so tiny: the revenues HQ of the company. However, a ment is going to have few places to of the digital multichannel television reduced presence in London, rather look for increased income. We will have business in the UK alone passed £5bn than an exit, is more likely. a greater risk of privatisation of Chan- a year in 2015. The Endemol Shine executive adds nel 4 and privatisation of BBC assets.” Big broadcasters, such as the BBC, are that tax credits for drama, an unquali- Guy Bisson, research director of still trying to assess what Brexit means fied success, might be simplified in Ampere Analysis, expects an immedi- for them and are saying little. But for a future because, at the moment, they ate impact on the advertising market “super-indie” such as Endemol Shine have to navigate the EU’s state-aid and advertising-funded television, Group, the worries are already clear. restrictions. “assuming that the predictions of an “We see ourselves as a pan-European On the other hand, Johnston notes economic downturn are correct – and success story,” says Richard Johnston, that the UK’s audio-visual sector has they probably are”. CEO of Endemol Shine UK. “We are received €44m from the EU’s Creative One of his main concerns is the headquartered in the Netherlands and Europe programme, which started in future of London as the centre for inter- London. We have made a success of 2014 – and €100m from its Culture national channel groups dependent on freedom of ideas and people, from programme, which ran 2007-13. the Audiovisual Media Services Direc- predominantly around the EU. That Stewart Purvis, a former ITN CEO tive (and Ofcom licences) to broadcast has been the story of our growth, and Ofcom partner for content and from the UK into all EU countries. which has brought lots of revenue and standards, points to the importance of These international players like the jobs to the UK.” the hundreds of international channels relatively liberal British regulatory London will remain a strong TV licensed by Ofcom in London. regime. Brexit, when it finally happens, market but anything that makes the He wonders what will happen to could cause them real problems. flow of people and ideas across Europe media competition policy and, indeed,

10 Analysis from vox SWOTs the Audiovisual Media Services Direc- Lord Puttnam: instability could affect client spend in tive itself, following Brexit. ‘We are cutting some areas. The UK could gain the freedom to, ourselves off ‘However, ITN’s diverse businesses, for example, develop its own rules on from our most spanning sport, advertising and digital how many advertising minutes are important content, as well as TV programming, allowed in an hour. But he is surprised influence. The mean that we are confident that we that new EU draft rules on the regula- EU supports a are well placed to respond to any tion of online content, which came out huge amount market changes. during the referendum campaign, were of script de- ‘Expansion into the US is a core part largely ignored. velopment of ITN’s 2020 vision and this focus Despite being a passionate remain and European remains unaffected by the Brexit vote.’ supporter, Richard Williams, CEO of co-production. The independent film Northern Ireland Screen, believes that sector relies on this co-operation. the inward-investment side of the UK ‘It’s the smaller, more “British” mov- screen industry can only gain from ies that will suffer, because we will Brexit: he cities an improved exchange become increasingly reliant on Ameri- rate and freedom from state-aid rules. can money.’ The cultural test, in particular, says He adds: ‘The UK was pivotal for the Williams, limits inward investment by creative industries operating in Europe “requiring projects attracting UK tax – we attracted the best talent. Now, incentives to pass a test that they are the best people will end up in Berlin or sufficiently British or European to Paris; they will relocate to Ireland. warrant support”. ‘The creative industries have been But Game of Thrones, so important to the biggest UK growth industries for Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP: ‘Turmoil the Northern Ireland television indus- the past 60 years and now they are favours the brave. Opportunity knocks. try, is safe. In any case, the show no going to be in serious decline. However, Brexit will make things more longer receives EU funding. ‘We don’t own the English language. difficult.’ David Wolstencroft, co-author of A French studio could make an English-­ Versailles, takes a very different, rather language movie in Paris.’ creative approach: “If Brexit was a Charlie Beck- storyline, it would be thrown out for ett, director being too implausible. Why would a of Polis, LSE: country voluntarily hobble itself? First ‘The British TV act is chaos; our second act will be a industry is one roller coaster of instability. What hap- of the most pens in the third is anyone’s guess. But flexible, com- there’s certainly a breathtaking array of petitive and antagonists.” international Fellow author Lord Dobbs, of House in the world. of Cards fame, could have a lively debate It has already with Wolstencroft. “I happen to believe responded with both zeal and success that [Brexit] will be creatively inspiring,” Jane Turton, CEO, All3Media: ‘All3Media to recent technological and market he says. “It’s a global world out there is a global business and we will contin- challenges. and, if we are to continue with the fab- ue to grow and develop the business ‘So it is as well prepared as any ulous success of the British creative by concentrating on producing and for the uncertainty that Brexit brings, industry, we have to look not just across distributing the very best content for ranging from currency fluctuations to the channel but around the world.” our buyers around the world.’ regulatory changes. It is “bizarre”, Dobbs believes, that the ‘But, right now, it is difficult to see UK creative sector should think it is what the opportunities are – such as dependent on contacts and payments John Hardie, new markets to exploit – that were not from the bureaucracy of Brussels. CEO, ITN: there before. I can’t think of anyone in The House of Cards author is certain ‘The impact of the sector who was arguing for Brexit of one thing post referendum: “Politi- Brexit upon the on the grounds of commercial or public cal fiction is now dead. I’m going to UK television service interest. attend the wake. and indie com- ‘At a time of great disruption in “I used to say that you take political munity is not media sectors, this further instability reality and then you water it down to yet clear. is no help in the short term. But in the make it credible.” ‘It is likely medium to long term, the difference it Reality has now become just too that ongoing makes should be marginal, not fatal.’ extraordinary.

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 11 Time to close the pay gap

hy, 46 years after She adds that there is also “a promo- the Equal Pay Gender pay equity tion gap because of a cultural difference. Act, are women Women are often segregated in differ- in television still ent areas of the broadcast industry. being paid less More data and Hard news tends to be for men. Men than men? “A transparency commentate on women’s sport but, man at exactly the same grade as me, curiously, it does not happen as much withW far less education and experience, are needed if TV the other way around.” and who joined the BBC after I did, companies are to Riley continues: “The gender pay was paid £10,000 more than me,” says gap is exacerbated by the fact that men one female staffer. stop discriminating stay in the office longer, not because “I am paid £5,000 less than a man on they are necessarily doing better work. the same grade, despite having more against women. We’re still so ingrained in that culture responsibility and having worked So why wait, of long hours. This shows that you’re a more years on the team,” ­complains better employee than someone who another. asks Tara Conlan starts at 8:00am and clocks off at Outside of the BBC, a similar picture 4:00pm to get their kids.” emerges. “Until recently, I earned less The issue has been around for years. Last December, actor Joanna Lumley than half the salary enjoyed by my In 1997, it emerged that Sue MacGregor encapsulated the main problem male colleagues,” comments an was paid £20,000 less than her BBC behind the “evil” pay gap when she employee from the commercial sector. Radio 4 Today colleagues, John Hum- told me: “The difficulty is that practi- “I submitted an equal-pay review phrys and James Naughtie. Meanwhile, cally no actors actually say what they request because I was being paid sub- Sandi Toksvig missed out on fronting get. This is either because it’s such a stantially less than my male peers,” more than two grossly huge amount of money that says yet another staffer. “I was given a decades ago because it was felt that a they know it’s miles more than the raise but am still on less and this extra woman could not carry the show. person they’re talking to – or it’s such money was not backdated.” Catherine Riley, head of communica- a humble and desperately small thing The revelations were made to the tions at the Women’s Equality Party, that they daren’t say.” National Union of Journalists in a survey which was co-founded by Toksvig, says One agent argues that transparency which found that women were more that, despite some progress, “there is a is vital and that it is only when agents likely to be judged on their looks, given gender pay gap in broadcasting. Accord- have male and female clients doing the “softer” stories to cover and that many ing to [jobs website] Glassdoor, men in same job that any disparity is revealed. were earning less than men. the media earn 6.6% more than women.” “It’s impossible to know unless you get

12 Committee’s inquiry into women in economy, there is clearly the money broadcasting reported last year that for equal pay. “discrimination against women, par- Stanistreet says: “An overwhelming ticularly older women, still exists in the message from our members is the industry”, but that “there isn’t enough need for a more flexible workplace, data on the representation of women where people who work part-time are in the sector to fully understand the taken seriously and given jobs with extent of the problem”. responsibility. As a union, we are What there is makes for interesting working and campaigning within reading. Of the 42 BBC presenters broadcasting organisations to bring revealed by website Heat Street in May this about.” to be earning more than £149,000, only ONS statistics highlight another 12 were women. effect of the unequal burden of child- And, according to the Reuters Insti- care on women’s careers and pay: tute for the Study of Journalism’s report younger women, on average, earn “Journalists in the UK”, half of women more than men between the ages of in the sector earn less than £2,400 a 22 and 29 but, by the time they are 41, month, compared with 34% of men. men are paid 4.6% more. The NUJ is sure this is consistent The difference becomes more stark with the situation across broadcasting. the further up the pay scale you go. Its General Secretary, Michelle Stani­ TUC research into the top 5% of earn- street, says: “The Reuters report, and ers, published in November 2015, our own surveys of women working in reveals that men are paid 45.9% more broadcasting, show women getting than women. “These figures show that paid less while doing the same job as the glass ceiling is barely cracked, let male colleagues. Many also miss out alone broken,” says TUC General Sec- on promotion. retary Frances O’Grady. “This is a depressing state of affairs According to City University head of and patently unfair for women. The journalism Professor Suzanne Franks,

iStockPhoto industry is losing out on a huge pool of the issue is “something that employers talent if most of the top, highly paid don’t particularly want to talk about. the facts and figures,” points out the jobs are going to men.” There’s no pressure for them to talk agent. “Women are short-changed. It The NUJ has also called for Ofcom to about it until there’s legislation. does happen to people on screen as monitor “on- and off-screen equality “Naming and shaming and making it well, there’s no doubt about that.” levels in all the media organisations an issue is going to go a long way to Even in situations where there has under its remit”. making people realise that this is not been a woman in charge, this has often As women are more than three acceptable. It’s changing very slowly, not helped female presenters get paid times as likely to be in part-time but when you do dig down and find more, adds the agent. employment as men, it is no surprise anecdotal evidence, it is quite shocking The BBC’s 2014-15 Equality Report that median part-time workers’ hourly what the gaps are. People don’t imagine says that its “overall gender pay differ- wages are far lower than full-timers’ that it still goes on but it absolutely ential” is 8%, down from 8.4% in 2013. hourly pay. Across all industries, female does.” However, 11% of staff had an “unex- part timers do not, on average, earn less Under new legislation, companies plained pay differential” of more than than male part-timers; the problem, with more than 250 employees will 5%, up from 10% of staff the previous rather, lies in why so many women are have to start disclosing the average pay year. The BBC asks its managers to deterred from full-time employment. (including bonuses) of their workforce investigate any gender pay discrep- Riley says the pay disparity ema- by gender no later than April 2018. The ancy greater than 5% that cannot be nates “from a complicated mix of Conservative Government’s plan for a explained by things such as length things” including, “women taking time league table ranking large firms by of service. out for child rearing and caring… so we gender pay gap was long resisted by The most recent figures, obtained by are advocating universal free childcare business groups – and parts of the a freedom of information request, from the end of parental leave at nine Tory party. show that the mean salary of male and months up to schooling age”. Riley thinks that the Government’s female full-time staff employed by the Perhaps if women invoiced for the pay reporting plans are good but com- BBC in May 2011 was £41,816 for men childcare, cooking and cleaning they ments: “There’s no reason that couldn’t and £36,827 for women. do, things might change. According to start tomorrow. Pay data is already A BBC spokesman says: “The BBC a 2010 Office for National Statistics aggregated in companies.” takes its responsibilities under the (ONS) study, if parental childcare were She also wants the legislation to Equality Act 2010 very seriously and we paid at a commercial rate, it would be extend to companies with more than conduct equal-pay reviews on an the equivalent of 23% of GDP. House- 50 employees: “We all need to be hon- annual basis. Pay is determined individ- hold laundry would add a further 6% est about what we’re getting paid and ually, based on a range of ­factors includ- of GDP. what we’re getting paid for. Secrecy ing grade, role and responsibilities.” With the creative industries now and protection serve to prop up The House of Lords Communications worth £84bn per year to the UK unfairness.”

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 13 Brand power

Vice show Gaycation

he youthfully cool Vice awareness,” says Adrian Wills, general Media, famous for its Multichannel TV manager for Drama, Yesterday and Alibi guerrilla-style coverage at UKTV, the channel provider owned of war zones and drug by BBC Worldwide and Scripps. “When busts, has built its brand As Vice launches its we launch a new channel, we always online. Yet it is about to first UK TV channel, start with the content first. We think of launchT a traditional TV channel in the the product first and [then] how we UK and plans to make it available in Stuart Kemp make the [channel] brand fit with it.” 44 countries via different partnerships. Viceland is available in the US and It’s almost as if Apple had suddenly investigates why Canada as a channel on A+E Networks. unveiled a record deck minus any kind having a strong It boasts content such as: Gaycation, with of connectivity. Or is it? Ellen Page and Ian Daniel; Huang’s Vice – reportedly a $4bn business – identity is more World, with Eddie Huang; F*ck, That’s is to roll out a 24-hour linear TV channel, Delicious, with Action Bronson; and programmed, developed and produced important than ever Balls Deep, with Thomas Morton. It also entirely in-house by the company’s has Vice on HBO, a weekly news maga- creative team. Named Viceland TV, it As a content studio producing huge zine show now in its fourth season. will arrive in September in the UK via quantities of premium video and origi- While is keeping its cards a non-exclusive carriage deal with Sky. nal programming for a host of partners, close to its chest ahead of September’s It also plans launches in Russia and Vice has already established itself as a launch, it is understood that its UK France (with pay-TV operator Canal+) non-­linear, multi-platform brand. channel will mix its US shows with later this year. With about 40% of all UK households newly minted content aimed at British In today’s complex world of content subscribing to Sky, the highly sought audiences made in the same vein as consumption, where it is not always after 18- to 35-year-old audiences, the videos available online. easy to identify whether channel who might normally catch Vice on a An example of the flavour of what’s brands or content brands are king, night bus via their mobile phone or via to come is the documentary UK’s Scari- Vice’s move suggests that there is still a the YouTube channel on a tablet, will est Debt Collector, featuring a British lot to be gained from operating a chan- be invited to tune in on television. former gangster who runs a gym and nel, even when your intended audi- “Vice is a non-linear operator going debt collection business in Warrington. ence are digital natives. to a linear-TV brand with a high Available via the online strand Rule

14 Identity brand values mix trix Britannia, it has scared more than mistakes in the past at UKTV, where in recent times was the launch of Dave 15 million viewers to date on YouTube. we’ve come up with content and in late 2007, which North was respon- Vice Media chief Shane Smith, the wrapped a brand around it that doesn’t sible for. G2 was reborn as lad-friendly potty-mouthed founder and energetic quite fit.” Dave and made available for the first driving force behind Vice, describes When UKTV decided to brand every time on Freeview. The shows, most the TV channel as the banner’s “biggest channel in its portfolio as a standalone notably Top Gear, and the scheduling move yet in our long love affair with brand, it renamed UKTV People remained the same, but the audience our British and Irish audience”. Blighty. It staggered on for years before and awareness of the channel soared. The deal with Sky gives Vice a swing the axe fell. There was simply not “Nothing had changed from a view- at an audience that, hopefully, will be enough content to live up to the chan- ing standpoint apart from the brand,” lured by the brand’s reputation. There nel brand’s promise of celebrating notes North. He adds: “Everyone talks is also a tilt at generating cash from the being British and all the quirks and about the internet taking over and it lucrative UK television advertising foibles that this encompasses. being all about on-demand. All of those market. “The brand was more exciting than big players that have made themselves Sky’s sales force, which enjoys an the content, so there was a bit of a successful in the online environment, enviably steely reputation, is looking to misalignment there,” Wills admits. however, continue to boost Vice coffers – and its own – by move into linear selling Viceland’s television. airtime. Vice could “Vice is another exam- also receive a per- ple of an on-demand, Sky-subscriber non-linear service ­carriage fee for its moving into that linear channel, although world – because it is in the details of the deal very good health and remain under wraps. not dying.” In return, Sky will The total UK televi- get exclusive rights sion audience (defined to some Viceland by Barb as anyone shows for its own aged four or over in a on-demand services. household with a TV) Where Vice might reached 58.7 million fall down is the EPG this spring, compared

page number it appears Viceland with 58 million a year on. Too far down the earlier. Vice show F*ck, That’s Delicious list and casual engage- The TV advertising ment grows ever more market also remains buoyant: revenue unlikely. in the UK totalled £5.27bn in 2015, up “The holy grail for any channel is to WE THINK OF 7.4% on 2014, according to Thinkbox, get the people surfing through the list THE PRODUCT which represents UK commercial TV to start watching often enough to broadcasters. The figure represents all begin to recognise the channel and FIRST AND the money invested by advertisers in then for them to remember and go by [THEN] HOW commercial TV across linear spots and default to see what’s on,” says one sponsorship, broadcaster VoD, and industry analyst. WE MAKE THE product placement. Rivals will be watching to see [CHANNEL] Viceland seems like a no brainer for how Viceland performs in the ultra-­ BRAND FIT Smith, and his modest ambition for competitive British TV sector, where Vice to become “the biggest fucking channels remain central to how con- WITH IT media company in the world” should tent is accessed. naturally include television. Significantly, this year saw BBC While insiders insist that Vice has no Three closed and relaunched as an Steve North, fellow UKTV general intention of becoming a TV company online-only service. Across town, manager for Dave, Gold and W (UKTV – that’s way too old school – it does Channel 4 and Global Series Network rebranded Watch to W earlier this year), intend to build audiences for pro- partnered to launch Walter Presents, says that building a brand can create grammes that embrace the company’s a branded, ad-supported online and audience loyalty and trust – provided reputation for edgy, sassy, youth- on-demand free service. that the content is up to scratch. friendly content. But how does a channel brand gen- “If you’ve given audiences great Time will tell whether young people erate loyalty among a promiscuous and programming in the past they will turn on in large enough numbers to fickle audience of channel-hoppers in believe that you’ll deliver great shows the latest eye-widening move by the a multichannel, on-demand age? Col- in the future. But you have to keep one-time punk-culture magazine lective industry wisdom suggests that delivering great shows to keep that publisher. Certainly, having such a pushing a brand with unsuitable con- brand trust up and keep then coming coveted brand ought to give Vice a leg tent is a recipe for failure. back,” says North. up in the evolving landscape of TV Wills says candidly: “We’ve made One of the most successful rebrands channels.

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 15 Identity brand values mix trix International Steve Clarke meets polyglot Turner executive Giorgio Stock, whose division is back on top

or a case study in how legacy brands can adapt to a changing media environment, look no further than what Giorgio Stock is achieving at TurnerF Broadcasting System. “This is going to be the best year ever for Turner. The company is enjoy- ing a fantastic moment,” says the Pres- ident of Turner EMEA, speaking from his spacious sixth-floor Soho eyrie. His office overlooks a remarkable roof terrace straight from the pages of a high-end style magazine, an image at odds with the quietly spoken Stock. He looks dapper, dressed in a grey Italian woollen suit. “I feel very good about this year, despite the referen- dum,” adds the Rome-born executive. Stock holds both Italian and German passports. “I have two passports but I could probably ask for more,” he laughs. Ah, the referendum that his side narrowly lost. “I was a little puzzled by the referendum,” Stock says with cal- Turner turns culated understatement. Fluent in seven European languages (Italian, German, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch), the former Disney executive is a commit- the corner

ted European down to the soles of his International Turner highly polished black loafers. Let’s not dwell on the result too Middle East and Africa. Today, he is in across the business. CNN (in 200 mil- much, but here’s what he says about charge of a much improved business. lion EMEA homes) has defied sceptics the future prospects of the UK televi- His region appears to be outpacing TBS who thought that rolling-news chan- sion sector as it braces itself for Brexit: on its home turf in the US, where cord nels were sitting ducks in the age of “The UK has benefited from a world cutting has hurt the business. CNN, . And another vulnerable area, that is open, not closed. My hope is however, boosted by the US presiden- kids’ TV, is also back on the front foot. that whatever is decided in the next tial primaries, has just enjoyed its Across 276 million homes in Europe, two years will keep the UK as the kind most-watched quarter in seven years. the Middle East and Africa, the Cartoon of place that attracts the best talent the Earlier this year, Turner’s new US- Network and Boomerang channels world has to offer and where IP and based Chief Creative Officer, Kevin have raised their game online as they content can travel freely. Reilly, told Variety that it would take up embrace new modes of connecting “When it comes to the creative to three years to transform the TBS and with youngsters. industries, I hope things don’t change TNT cable channels in the US. An example of this is that Turner – much, because people might not realise In the face of fierce digital competi- in common with the BBC and Viacom how good it was.” tion, Reilly, formerly of Fox, hopes to – has negotiated a presence on the When Stock arrived at the London attract a younger and more passionate newly launched Sky Kids app. HQ of TBS three years ago, he found audience. Investment in content is “I look at my own kids, aged nine a company failing to fully exploit and being ramped up. and 12. They are clearly consuming a protect its assets across Europe, the In Europe, the picture looks upbeat lot of their content outside traditional

16 television, but TV is by far the most through to marketing and selling mer- prominent access point,” observes chandise in Disney stores. And, on top MY FIRST YEAR Stock. “In some markets, such as the of all that, there were the theme parks. AT TURNER UK, there is a migration away from Cartoon Network is part of what linear TV. To protect our ratings, we Stock claims is “the world’s biggest WAS NOT FUN have gained market share. We have indoor theme park”, opening soon in BUT IT WAS displaced other players in the market- Dubai. The city was chosen because of place to maintain our lead.” the millions of tourists who fly into its NECESSARY... WE Cartoon Network and Disney Junior two international airports. WERE SPENDING are the top two kids’ channels in the There will be a dedicated Cartoon UK for children aged four or over, Network zone within IMG’s Worlds of A LOT OF MONEY ahead of Nickelodeon and Disney, Adventure, which opens for business ON STUFF according to Barb. on 15 August. Shows such as Ben 10, Another development is wider dis- Adventure Time, The Powerpuff Girls and THAT WAS NOT tribution of TBS’s Adult Swim network, The Amazing World of Gumball will all APPRECIATED BY including a deal with Spotify. The aim have attractions in the park. On top of is to turn Adult Swim, very popular these, there will be branded restaurants OUR AUDIENCES with millennials in the US, into a global and stores. success. What about retail in the UK? “We are Even Turner’s general-entertainment not actively looking at physical, bricks- stations TNT and TCM appear to be and-mortar retail stores in the UK and weathering the storm. Despite digital the ‘old world’, rather the emphasis is competition, they are adding audiences on e-commerce, a major growth driver across the EMEA region, claims Stock. that was neglected in the past,” says Back in 2013, Turner’s London-based Stock. operation was in a state of flux. Turner He spent 15 years at the Mouse International’s new President, Gerhard House, much of it as Executive VP and Zeiler, announced that a third of its staff General Manager of Disney Consumer would lose their jobs. Costs were cut at Products, Publishing & Retail EMEA. the same time as regional operating “It was very hard to leave Disney,” power across EMEA was enhanced. he says. “It was a fantastic company. “My first year at Turner was not fun Everything I know about television but it was necessary... We were spend- and brands, I learnt at Disney. I was ing a lot of money on stuff that was not stimulated by the idea of being able to appreciated by our audiences,” Stock use that across not just kids, but a recalls. “There were moments, three broader spectrum. Turner has a desire years ago, when I looked at Gerhard to surprise. At Cartoon Network, we and said, ‘You could have told me the say, ‘Expect the unexpected’.” full picture.’” So how does he regard the threat Overall, a more coherent approach from Netflix? “We want to be a con- to producing, marketing and distribut- sumer-centric company. Netflix has ing content is now in place. “Our ad looked at consumers and seen things sales have doubled and our margins that weren’t being offered to them and have increased dramatically,” says made it happen. Stock. More money has been ploughed “To some extent, Netflix has taken into content and marketing budgets. advantage of inertia… The user experi- For the past two years, Turner has ence has been rather poor compared boosted what it spends on original with what Netflix is offering them… It shows by 24%. has provided flexibility in terms of In Britain, Turner commissions the pricing and consumption, which other Bafta- and Emmy-winning The Amazing companies weren’t providing… World of Gumball (recently green-lit for a “I think we need to learn from Net­ NETFLIX HAS sixth season), virtual-reality games and flix… and not necessarily suffer the LOOKED AT a lot of content for CNN. Technology has consequences.” been another priority for investment. Finally, Brexit aside, what does Stock CONSUMERS Stock’s reinvention of Turner’s regard as the biggest threat to his busi- AND SEEN child-oriented businesses inevitably ness? His big fear is the consequences owes much to Disney, where he once that would flow from failing to “stay on THINGS THAT worked. Disney wrote the rulebook on the cutting edge of creating the kind of WEREN’T BEING how to monetise the full length of the products that our audiences care about. value chain. This involved commis- We must not take our success for OFFERED TO sioning and making shows, securing granted. Many companies do. We have THEM AND MADE rights, distributing content via its own to be innovative in terms of how we TV channels and third-party platforms, distribute our content.” IT HAPPEN

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 17 Size matters

hort-form online content that works on the platform. Think is booming. YouTube RTS Futures about what kind of imagery will repre- depends on it. Channel 4 sent the series. On all platforms, most and BBC Three are of the audience switches off in the first showcasing short films Short-form video 15 to 20 seconds. You’ve got to hook unsuited to conventional people in. linear-TV schedules. Brands, wary of is booming – the “The statistic that I am most proud adS blocking, are in the market for of is our completed viewing rate for challenge is getting short-form content, too. the short-form video that I’ve been These were some of the conclusions your content noticed, commissioning over the past two of a wide-ranging and packed RTS says Steve Clarke years. It is above 90%. On YouTube, Futures panel discussion, “Size matters: it is south of 25%.” A provocative look at short-form con- Randel Bryan, director of content tent”. The session was chaired with of online short films, it was important and strategy at Endemol Shine’s erudition and flair by Pat Younge, to consider carefully how audiences Beyond UK, agreed that aspiring co-founder and Managing Director discover and watch online content. film-makers needed to work out how of Sugar Films. “From the beginning of the develop- audiences would locate the videos For wannabe film-makers immersed ment process, we think about how they’ve produced. in digital culture, there was positive we’re going to sell them,” he said. “You are much more than a film- news from the experts. “What’s new at “Think about a title maker now. You have to BBC Three is short-form. We see that be a one-stop shop. as a massive opportunity to work with You need to under- new talent,” said BBC Three content stand how to mar- editor Max Gogarty. ket, how to use “Since we launched in February, social media to get we’ve tried out some 10 new, on-screen people to find you,” faces.… Our door has never been more he said. open for both on-screen and off-screen Andy Taylor, talent.” CEO of digital Adam Gee, multi-platform and specialist Little online video commissioning editor at Dot Studios, Channel 4, also offered encourage- ment to the Futures audience. “The commissioning editors have very direct relationships with all sorts of people, not necessarily people who are massively experienced. They’re very easy to find,” he said. “I spend a lot of time going out to find film-makers all around the UK and beyond, and to develop relationships with them. “Different commissioners have different­ balances. My colleague who covers entertainment and com- edy tends to work more with traditional indies. “I hardly work with traditional indies at all. I work with weird and wonderful tal- ent, fresh talent that’s emerging.” Gee pointed out that, due of the glut

18 From left: Kelly Sweeney, Andy Taylor, Randel Bryan, Pat Younge, Adam Gee and Max Gogarty Paul Hampartsoumian Paul revealed that much of his staff’s time is Kelly Sweeney started out in con- spent persuading websites to embed THERE’S NO ventional TV production. In 2007, clients’ videos. she was employed by social network “The biggest challenge is getting your FORMULA FOR Bebo. There, she worked on its content seen. Something like 400 hours GETTING VIDEO ground-breaking drama Kate Modern. of content is uploaded to YouTube She is now director of production at every minute,” he said. “People expect TO GO VIRAL.… Disney-owned Maker Studios. celebs such as Gordon Ramsay and SOMETIMES THE Younge asked her whether working Graham Norton to get millions of views. in a more corporate environment was It’s not so. THING YOU REALLY reining in her creativity. “If anything, it “You’ve got to get yourself into the has enabled it,” she replied. “We have a head of the person who is going to find BELIEVED IN fund to create our own IP, so we can that piece of content. For an entertain- DOESN’T TAKE OFF create content for our channels with- ment show, it is all about embedding.” out someone having to commission it. For factual content, such as recipes That is the direct result of being part of or parenting advice, Little Dot’s job is massively exciting,” stressed Gogarty. a big organisation.” to slowly build up the numbers via “We don’t have to fill an hour or a What were the most common social media and to get people to share half-hour [in the schedule]. It’s hugely ­mistakes people made when they the content. liberating for producers. I’ve spoken to approached producers with their The majority of all short-form video a lot of directors who’ve been working ­content, Young asked the panel. is consumed on mobile and aimed at for BBC Three for a long time. [In the With 2,000 people applying to Maker digital-savvy­ millennials. past] They’ve told me that they can’t each day, Sweeney said that wannabes The newbies were shown a selection cut down a film to the required length, needed to show that their videos were of short-form content. This demon- but now I say, ‘That’s absolutely fine’.” achieving at least 1,000 subscribers. strated the variety of content available At Channel 4, Gee’s commissions “Avoid copycatting,” she recom- at the swipe of a screen. The range include Drones in Forbidden Zones, The mended. “The model is still very new. encompassed sombre material such Black Lesbian Handbook, Oh Shit I’m 30! There isn’t that tried-and-tested way as BBC Three’s Drugs Map of Britain and and the previously mentioned Naked of going for it.” comedy items such as Maker Studios’ & Invisible. Gogarty advised potential BBC Three James Bond parody in the Epic Rap He said: “I think we’ve helped refine short-film makers to familiarise them- Battles of History strand. There was also a certain kind of film-making and selves with the network. the brilliant Nude in Newington Green found an audience for it.… I love mak- “The most common mistake,” he from All 4’s Naked & Invisible series. ing it. It makes regular TV extremely said, “is being ignorant of what we’re “At BBC Three, we’re no longer wed- difficult to watch afterwards, because about and where BBC Three is heading, ded to a linear-TV schedule, which is it’s so flabby.” and not following us on social �

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 19 Are UK broadcasters spend­ Qing enough on short-form MY HOPE IS THAT QUESTION content? Andy Taylor: My hope is that IN TWO YEARS’ & ANSWER A in two years’ time budgets TIME BUDGETS AT at Channel 4 and BBC Three will be significantly higher.… We’re CHANNEL 4 AND Should you do one thing making short-form video for BBC THREE WILL Qreally well – YouTube or Scripps in the US and the budget Instagram – and build from there? is 10 times bigger. BE SIGNIFICANTLY Kelly Sweeney: Do one thing Scripps is funding it because it HIGHER.… OUR A really well, find your platform knows that it can go and talk to and, as your brand evolves, you Unilever. It will pay 10 times what TIME IS COMING can look at all the other social broadcasters in the UK will pay. space. Find the place where what Our time is coming here. you are doing is resonating. Adam Gee: With an insider’s Andy Taylor: You have to A view, I’d say that is absolutely � platforms. If you genuinely want to A decide whether you are bang on. If anything, it’ll happen make content in this space, the best on social because you want to before two years’ time. thing to do is to know what we’re develop a significant following commission­ing, what we’re making and channel because it is your How important and the tone of voice.” business – or whether are you Qis authenticity? However brilliant your film is, don’t creating short-form with a view to Kelly Sweeney: It is key; you expect 5 million views overnight, creating opportunity for yourself. A need to have a body of work. warned Bryan. He stressed the The truth is, the economics of Randel Bryan: What I always importance of knowing the correct distributing short-form on You- A say about YouTube is that it’s way to market content. Tube do not stack up yet.… If you’re a platform for people to go and But where do newbies learn this on social to be a presenter, you find relationships they might not skill, asked Younge. “There is a You- need to be doing it across a range have in everyday life. Tube playbook, which is a great start,” of platforms to demonstrate Adam Gee: I worry that we replied the Endemol executive. you’ve got an underlying skill. A have a default YouTube vision. As for the type of content that The world is bigger than that. attracts eyeballs, Gee suggested I’m a presenter and producer Max Gogarty: I totally agree. avoiding “stuff that’s too quiet” and Qof online content. I feel that A There are amazing new “too talkie”. He added: “It’s a very if it was on a bigger platform it platforms emerging, which are noisy world out there. It’s better to could have a bigger reach. But much more geared towards the see material that is driven by action how do commissioners see it? film-maker. We should credit and actuality.” Sometimes, a film I’ve spent a lot that. It’s not all about staying in What about quality? probed Younge. of time on doesn’t get anything your bedroom or monetising it. Would it matter if the microphone was like as many hits as a video I’ve It’s about having an outlet for in shot or if it was framed properly? quickly uploaded to YouTube. film-makers and new talent to “All creatives are not made equal,” Max Gogarty: That’s the get seen and have a break. We said Sweeney. “A lot of people in the A nature of the internet. I share shouldn’t lose sight of that. UK are making really beautiful films. your pain. Adam Gee: Look at Notes “In South-east Asia, we see a big Pat Younge: Maybe, when A on Blindness. It started as trend towards writers, comedians A something that you haven’t a short-form film, became a and satirists. Young people don’t spent a lot of time crafting takes feature and now it’s a VR project. have a platform for self-expression off on YouTube, it’s because it’s Andy Taylor: TV is expensive in Singapore due to government topical and is zeitgeist. Maybe, you A to make and then you talk censorship.­ They use YouTube for should position yourself there. about short form.… There is a self-expression.” Kelly Sweeney: It’s not massive space in the middle that At the end of the 90-minute session, A mutually exclusive. You could no one has really grabbed. We’ve Younge offered some advice to the use the stuff that gets the eyeballs got to be careful that, in five years’ Futures audience: “I think a common to take people to the other content. time, people aren’t watching theme has emerged this evening. It is: Andy Taylor: There’s no US-commissioned, US-produced go and do it. Find a way of making it A formula for getting video shows on most platforms. That happen, even if it’s only a scene. It’s a to go viral. We did a comedy could well happen. great way to show that you can write, series, which we thought was a Someone needs to get in and act or direct.” great idea; 48 hours later, it had grab that middle ground. That is about 300 viewers. But, suddenly, less about being seen on YouTube ‘Size matters: A provocative look at someone embeds it and it’s gone.… and more about the BBC and short-form content’ was an RTS Futures Sometimes­ the thing that you Channel 4 getting behind short- event held at The Hospital Club in Lon- really believed in doesn’t take off. form storytelling. don on 4 July. The producer was Danielle Lauren, a producer at Sugar Films.

20 July/August 2016 www.rts.org.uk Television OUR FRIEND IN BRUSSELS

James Mates o we are where we are blames wilful the wilful ignorance of the way that and no one is quite the institutions of the EU work. It is sure where we go next. British ignorance that which has allowed politicians to But when – if – we of the European claim they are being dictated to by ever get our bearings, “unelected bureaucrats” and to blame there is going to have project for Brexit “Brussels” when the fault is often to be an inquest into entirely theirs. how we got here. A lot of this stems from the press SWhen looked at from continental and TV journalists simply not know- Europe, the referendum result was ing enough about the workings of the less of a mystery than it was to many EU and about political opinion on the people in the UK. continent to be able paint an accurate In Brussels, Paris and Berlin, they picture. Caricature is much easier. have watched with polite bemuse- Many even struggle with the differ- ment the way they are caricatured in ence between the European Court of the British media; the ignorance, the Justice in Luxembourg, which is the misapprehensions and sheer indiffer- final arbiter of EU law, and the Euro- ence of the UK’s press and public to pean Court of Human Rights (ECHR). the politics of Europe. This sits in Strasbourg and has noth- Every newsroom in the land must ing to do with the EU. take a share of the blame for that. It’s When the ECHR ruled that British almost a rite of passage for foreign prisoners must have the vote, in Brit- correspondents and desk editors to ish minds that was just another out- know every detail of the US political rage imposed on us by “Brussels”.

system, but Europe has always seemed ITV How ironic it would be it we started just a bit too foreign. concentrating on the politics of the EU And yet, as we are discovering, it’s maroon, while she claims it is blue,” is only after we had left it. Already, we getting Europe wrong that can really perfectly balanced, but deeply unsat- are finding we need to pay attention. muck you up. isfactory journalism. Article 50, anyone? We’re suddenly Lord Puttnam, a Fellow of this par- But the world didn’t become “post- all experts on that little-known clause ish, has spoken out about the damage factual” overnight. Press and politicians of the Lisbon Treaty. done by excessive impartiality during have been complicit in portraying We now know that it’s a brutal and the campaign. He described the BBC “Brussels” as an undemocratic mon- uncompromising conveyor belt to the coverage, in particular, as “constipated”, ster for decades. exit door that puts any member state for giving an ill-deserved credibility to If you tell people for long enough wanting to leave in an extremely weak the promises of the Leave campaign in that something is out to get them, negotiating position. How clearly was the name of balance. perhaps you shouldn’t be surprised that reported before we voted? He has a point, but – as the US when, in the end, they believe you. It would have been better, surely, to media is discovering with Donald I am not talking about bent bananas have known about this – and a whole Trump – it is very hard to be both or the “threat” posed by Brussels to lot more – before we cast the biggest balanced and sceptical when politi- British delicacies such as the prawn- vote of our lives. cians repeatedly say things they know cocktail crisp. That’s just froth. to be untrue. “He claims the sky is Much more debilitating has been James Mates is Europe editor, ITV News.

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 21 The Wednesday Play: Up the Junction BBC The lifelong radical

ony Garnett, now 80 The Day the Music Died: how his painful childhood subsequently and still a republican A Life Lived Behind the inspired his work and creative decisions. socialist, arrived with Lens, by Tony Garnett, Up the Junction was broadcast in 1965 as a bang as a standout is published by Consta- a bill to legalise abortion was going producer of television ble, priced £20. ISBN: through Parliament. It was accompa- and film drama in the 978-1472122735 nied by Garnett’s GP listing the avoid- 1960s.T He made his mark with power- able deaths caused by criminalisation. ful, campaigning programmes such Back then, Garnett told no one, not as The Wednesday Play’s Up the Junction even Loach, about his childhood. “I and Cathy Come Home, which exposed Book review wanted no more unnecessary deaths the horrors of backstreet abortions and or orphaned children,” he says in this family homelessness. Tony Garnett made memoir. “Those shocked by my ruth- He reinvented himself in the 1990s less deception at the BBC had no idea as an independent producer, running some of TV’s greatest of its roots. I would have cut off my World Productions. There, he backed arm to get that in front of the public.” new talent with the edgy Between the drama. Maggie Brown After being orphaned, Garnett and Lines, The Cops and, most famously, This discovers some painful his brother were taken in by separate Life. The latter was a frank drama about branches of the family. He lived there- the personal lives of young lawyers. sources of inspiration after in a state of frozen watchfulness. Written by the then-unknown Amy He says that he survived by immersing Jenkins, it made a star of Daniela Garnett sold his house to help make himself in books. He won a grammar Nardini. Jenkins landed the role after Kes. At the premiere in Doncaster, he school place and discovered an ability she told him that she hated the Beatles attacked Roy Mason, MP for Barnsley, to act. and the 1960s. whom he didn’t want to see there: “He The memoir also doubles up as an Garnett formed a lasting friendship was an ex-miner, a right-wing Labour act of homage to the lost culture that and professional rapport with director turncoat who became Northern Ire- shaped him, the great strengths of the Ken Loach. Their most famous col- land secretary. I despised his politics, matriarchs and verbally laconic Brum- laboration was Kes, which, in common his betrayal of his own people. I was mie “mechanicals”.­ These were skilled with a lot of Garnett’s work, mixed out of order. Not for the first time.” toolmakers, men who loved the quiet well-known actors alongside unfamil- In an interview (with me) in 2013, escape of fishing at the weekend, Aston iar faces and gritty location shooting. he revealed how, aged five, his life had Villa and, by the 1950s, their motor cars. Kes, released in 1969, was shot in been upturned when his mother died of Garnett took a degree in psychology Barnsley and was a spectacular suc- a botched abortion over Christmas in at University College London, a cover cess. The American studio boss Eric 1941, during a night-time bombing raid for a burgeoning career as a jobbing Pleskow, who backed it, hated the on . His heartbroken father, actor: a part in Dixon of Dock Green went regional accents, and asked for subti- who had been at work, committed down best with his family. tles. He remarked at a preview: “I suicide 19 days later. Yet, just when his life was on the would have preferred it in Hungarian.” This book is the fuller story, about crest of a wave, further ­tragedy struck.

22 The actress Topsy Legge, who became Garnett casts a cool eye over his BBC used the local rate for a week’s paper his first wife, was on the verge of star- bosses: “I worked in secret, never tell- round and paid that for each stroke. dom in the film version of Billy Liar ing management what I intended to The boys loved the money, the scene when she became mentally ill. Her produce, or I lied about it.” was authentic, and their hands stung. treatment was a barbaric regime of He was no fan of Dennis Potter: “The I had mixed feelings. How far can one electric-shock therapy and drugs; her more I got to know him, the less I liked legitimately go? experience inspired his 1971 film, Fam- him. He was laughably arrogant, liter- “Had upsetting Carol [White’s] chil- ily Life. He says: “Topsy had brought me ally asserting he could walk on water. dren at the end of Cathy Come Home back to life, so I shut down again.” He would deliver a slipshod first draft – by tearing them from her arms – After suffering from depression, then defend every word as if he was a been justifiable? I defend these scenes, Garnett was picked up by the BBC and barrister for the defence.” but I know I am on thin ice. Would we there he embarked on the career as a Garnett sums up Potter’s ability to commit torture for realism?” It all drama producer that made his name. wring a final, posthumous, two-play comes down to knowing where to The searing brand of screen realism that deal from the BBC and Channel 4: “He draw the line, he concludes. he stood for was backed up by steeliness was a controlling, manipulative, egotis- His late-flowering mellowness comes and determination to ensure that his tical self-publicist to the end.” through in the final paragraph of what plays reached their intended audience. His book gives an insight into how is by any reckoning an absorbing mem- Although he had dealings with the scenes were obtained from child actors. oir. “I have had an interesting life, full of Trotskyist Gerry Healy – who “threw The boys who are caned in Kes really privilege and chances, family and good me when he said I was important were. “Ken felt that, if we cheated in friends. Sure, it’s been a painful journey. because I was the Goebbels of the the caning scene, it would be phoney, Everyone’s passage through life is. I movement” – he never fell for the so we negotiated,” says Garnett. “We remain 51% to 49% an optimist.” Workers Revolutionary Party, as some of his acquaintances did. He writes of his “suspicion of grand, all-encompassing, continental theory and a liking for the tradition of English scepticism. It was not that I rejected theories or ideologies, but I wanted them tested against evidence.” He goes on to say: “I felt that the reality was that Gerry and the cabal decided everything. I’ve seen this in many organisations, from the Labour Party to the BFI, but it seemed suffo- catingly tight under Gerry.” Garnett describes his approach to his work in the following passage: “The only interesting landscape is the human face. I’m fascinated by three sets of connections: conflicts within an individual; face-to-face negotiations, that is, the personal politics of small groups; and the major forces in society, which affect everyone. Complex sto- ries are made from the relationship between all three”. Unsurprisingly, this pragmatic realist writes that he finds conventional screen drama traditions of special effects and fantasy boring. Ironically, he sat out Thatcherism in Hollywood. Garnett didn’t thrive there – a second marriage broke down – but the expe- rience was an education: “Alan Parker joked that I was the only person he knew who could produce four movies in Hollywood and make no money.” There is much to savour about his television career. He recounts his friendship, a meeting of minds, with Sydney Newman, the Canadian head The Wednesday Play: of BBC Drama, who acted as a father Cathy Come Home figure to him in the 1960s. BBC

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 23 Why working in comedy is no joke

From left: Rick Edwards, Daniell Morrisey, Lucy Armitage, James Farrell, Carol Baffour-Awuah and Gavin O’Grady Paul Hampartsoumian Paul

RTS Futures Good, bad and bizarre CVs An RTS event wrung some laughs from a weighty subject – how to make it in TV James Farrell: ‘If it’s more than one page I’m bored – two pages at the comedy. Matthew Bell reports most.… To the point and personal is good.’ unny ha ha? The serious marked the end of Armitage’s broad- business of working in casting career, but losing her job Daniell Morrisey: ‘If you want to TV comedy” offered proved fortuitous. work in comedy, say that you like invaluable advice to an “I became a marriage, births and comedy on your CV – [too many] audience of wannabe deaths registrar and got a call from people simply copy and paste emails comedy producers and someone who was writing a comedy about how they are hard-working, ‘writers.F The panellists, expertly chaired set in a registry office – that’s how I vibrant, blah, blah blah.’ by Rick Edwards, the writer and got my first job in telly,” she recalled. presenter of ITV2 Safeword, Comedy entertainment producer Rick Edwards: ‘I interviewed demonstrated that there are many Carol Baffour-Awuah had her own someone the other day who runs routes into the genre. radio show at university. After gradu- a digital marketing agency. He got BBC Comedy head of talent Daniell ating, she secured a one-year place- one CV delivered by an owl… but Morrisey started out in TV as a trainee ment at Princess Productions on the he didn’t give the person the job.’ floor manager on BBC One drama Creative Skillset trainee scheme. Casualty. He recalled this being “a mas- Edwards was part of the same Skill- Daniell Morrisey: ‘The weirdest CV sive baptism of fire at the age of 20”. set initiative. Having left university, I’ve had was printed on a cushion – Lucy Armitage, producer of ITV hit with no plan for the future, he found I sat on it for a few weeks.’ Benidorm, began at BBC Radio 1, before himself tutoring broadcaster Ruby being made redundant. It could have Wax’s children in maths and science.

24 Lucy Armitage All pictures: Hampartsoumian Paul Top tips from the experts

Daniell Morrisey: ‘Develop [your own] taste by watching lots of comedy.’

Lucy Armitage: ‘Or read or listen to comedy… [eventually] you will find your niche. If everyone does the same thing it gets a bit boring.’

Rick Edwards: ‘Getting your foot in the door is the most important thing, and then showing what you can do when you get the opportunity.’

James Farrell: ‘Finding someone to support and mentor you is [helpful] – it’s certainly been good for me.… SAY YES TO THINGS… HAVE You have to find someone who’s CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF willing to take a chance on you.’ AND YOUR IDEAS Carol Baffour-Awuah: ‘Say yes to things… it can lead to something Carol Baffour-Awuah [better] happening.… Have confi- dence in yourself and your ideas. Wax “sat me down and asked, ‘What But there were sobering words If you think it’s funny, the chances are you doing with your life?’ She said among the laughs. Farrell, who boasts are that other people will, too.’ I should apply for this scheme.” Mrs Brown’s Boys among his credits, Gavin O’Grady wanted to be a direc- warned that “comedy is the most diffi- Gavin O’Grady: ‘If you pitch [an tor so he “hounded the first assistant cult genre by a mile to get into and idea] confidently, people will take director of the Harry Potter films”. His make”. However, “the flip side is that you more seriously.… Build rela- persistence paid off and he worked on there are very few people who are tionships with the people you work a Potter film, before moving into music good at it, so, if you’re talented and with – if you’re nice and you’re videos and commercials. tenacious, then you will make it”. good, people want to work with Work experience on T4’s Popworld O’Grady, whose recent directing you again.’ followed, which gave him hands-on credits include Sky 1 panel show Duck experience of filming. Quacks Don’t Echo and Channel 4’s Alter- Rick Edwards: ‘Preface every pitch The panel offered a mix of sage native Election Night, advised: “Make with [the words]: “This is fucking advice and one liners to the RTS Futures your own stuff – don’t wait to get a job.” funny.”’ audience. BBC Comedy producer James If the work is good, O’Grady added, Farrell, who joined the corporation after it will find an audience: “The great Lucy Armitage: ‘Don’t be a cunt… graduating, advised: “Surround yourself thing about comedy is that it’s much and don’t wing things – don’t be with brilliant people and make best easier for it to go viral. afraid not to know something.’ friends with .” “People much prefer watching �

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 25 QUESTION & ANSWER

Is there a lack of risk- Qtaking in modern British comedy? James Farrell: The idea A that commissioners don’t take risks is a myth perpetuated by people who don’t get their stuff on television.

How can you best Hampartsoumian Paul Qself-critique a script? Lucy Armitage: If you’ve � five-minute funny things at their “but, if you’re not careful, it eats up A got three or four friends desk at work than depressing things. your entire life.” whose judgement you trust – If you can make people laugh, it has a She added: “What I love about and I’ve done this, so I know much greater chance of being seen. comedy is that it is so pointless – how hard it is – get them to “There are so many comics out nobody needs to be doing it.” read it out loud. Nothing else there who are dying for some Baffour-Awuah has a number of ever makes you realise how upcoming director/producer to offer hits under her belt, including BBC unfunny words can be. to direct a short film with them.” Two’s and James Farrell: It is how “The job of a TV comedy producer BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Big Show. A we make a real TV show, is to find and nurture talent, whether She reinforced Armitage’s warning as well – we do a read-through. they are performers or writers,” about the demands of the job: “There argued Morrisey. are times when I’ve been working on I’m 28 and work in “See lots of live comedy to spot the a script at 4am and then filming it a Qeducation – is it too late people that you may be producing in few hours later. If you’re on a free- to work in comedy? a few years’ time. Comedians such as lance contract, then [the production James Farrell: Just do it – Miranda Hart and Brendan O’Carroll company] has bought you for that A nobody’s stopping you took years to get from A to B but they time.” apart from yourself. did it with the help of producers on Aspiring comedy writers should Lucy Armitage: It’s the that journey.” fire off scripts – people will look at A other way around – you’re Armitage admitted that comedy them, said the panellists. “I read in the perfect place to start. was a highly competitive genre, but everything I get sent”, claimed Farrell, Daniell Morrisey: added that “you will know in your although, he admitted, “not all of A Jo Brand was a nurse… heart if you’ve got what it takes” to everything I get sent”. Rick Edwards: And Greg succeed. By and large, unsolicited scripts are A Davies was a teacher. However, the panel agreed that not pounced upon and made into There are countless examples. desire is not enough. Research, espe- comedy series but, if they contain a cially before an interview, doesn’t go few laughs, they can get a new writer I work in entertainment amiss. “I interviewed about 30 radio noticed and taken under the wing of Q– how can I switch to producers last week and hardly any a producer. scripted comedy? of them could tell me what radio And, sometimes, persistence can Lucy Armitage: Don’t shows we make,” said Morrisey. pay off. “Lots of people got pissed off A be afraid of starting as a “Throughout my entire career, from with Ricky Gervais coming into the runner in comedy, even if you the most junior to the most senior BBC, because he was a real nuisance,” are further up the ladder at jobs, in every genre, the biggest prob- recalled Armitage. “Only one person the moment. It often makes lem is that people are incapable of ran with it and, all credit to him, it sense to go downwards when telling me about the shows we make, made The Office happen.” crossing over to another or they name shows from other chan- department. nels,” he said. “[If they] do mention a The RTS Futures event ‘Funny ha ha? James Farrell: Script- list of shows they like, they [often] The serious business of working in TV A reading is something you haven’t got any critical analysis of it.” comedy’ was held at the Hallam Con­ could do at the same time as And, having broken into TV, com- ference Centre in central London on having a normal job. edy is not always a barrel of laughs. 28 June. The producers were Carrie Britton “It’s a fantastic job,” said Armitage, and Iestyn Barker.

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Conditions apply to these benefits: see RTS website for details The winners were announced at a ceremony on 3 June at the BFI Southbank RTS Student Television Awards 2016

UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS UNDERGRADUATE CRAFT SKILLS Undergraduate Animation Camerawork Dresslocked The Switch Domareen Fox,Teesside University Olly Philpott-Smith, Lauren Brown, “Successfully deals with the issue Sam Okell and Faisal Muhammed, of body dysmorphia in a visually The Manchester Film School at The interesting and rewarding way.” Manchester College Nominees: “With very good lighting and design, ◗ Bluebarry, Tommy Vad Flaaten and this ambitious and technically accom- Markus Vad Flaaten, Kingston University plished film used a succession of Host: Mark Dolan ◗ The Armadillo and the Earwig, Ben clever shots to set the mood.” Cresswell, Edinburgh College of Art Nominees: Undergraduate Factual ◗ An Unfortunate End: The Boy & the Undergraduate Comedy Eat, Then Wait for the Night Fairy, Jordanne Richards, University of & Entertainment Jing Zhao, Teesside University South Wales Valentines Park “An accomplished piece of filmmaking­ ◗ Tehzeeb, Myriam Raja and Eloise Rudd, Leah Revivo, Joseph Mills, Bradley Kiel that stays with you… brilliant casting.” Arts University Bournemouth and Oliver McMillan, University for the Nominees: Creative Arts ◗ Dipper from the Water of Leith, Kris Editing “Truly charming… this used real voices Kubik, University of Edinburgh Bluebarry to tell a moving love story.… Variety ◗ La Deriva Dei Continenti, Pietro Tommy Vad Flaaten and Markus Vad and pace, lip-synching and the way Novello and Alexander G Simpson, Flaaten, Kingston University disagreements in the dialogue were all Arts University Bournemouth “Great timing, fantastic pacing and amusingly incorporated into the visuals.” consistent throughout. Timing in Nominees: Undergraduate News comedy is a very difficult skill to ◗ ICT, James Webb, Reece Ronan, Lauren Sexabled master but the editing in Bluebarry Griggs and Curtis Mahony, Sheffield Kin Hang Lee, University of Sheffield definitely showcased this skill.” Hallam University “A very moving and powerful film Nominees: ◗ The Switch, Olly Philpott-Smith, about an under-reported issue. With ◗ Eat, Then Wait for the Night, Jing Zhao, Lauren Brown, Sam Okell and Faisal high production values, this film Teesside University Muhammed, The Manchester Film tackled a challenging subject in a ◗ Starfish, Louise Dawson, Dayna School at The Manchester College sensitive and accomplished way.” Baptie and Fergus Thom, The Royal Nominees: Conservatoire of Scotland Undergraduate Drama ◗ Wars on the Moors, Alexander James Tehzeeb Nicol, Plymouth University Sound Myriam Raja and Eloise Rudd, Arts Bluebarry University Bournemouth Undergraduate Open Tommy Vad Flaaten and Markus Vad “Strong writing, great performances, An Unfortunate End: The Boy Flaaten, Kingston University stunning visuals and lingering shots & the Fairy “A very funny and playful soundtrack left you wanting more. A very strong Jordanne Richards, University enhanced the film, which was brought film with a beautiful simplicity and a of South Wales to life by the humour displayed within very evocative ending.” “A dark fairy tale, written with origi- the soundscape.” Nominees: nality and enhanced through excellent Nominees: ◗ Gnomes, Josh Mullins, Mike Priest, production design.” ◗ Eat, then Wait for the Night, Jing Zhao, Colin Donaldson and Shani Vizma, Nominees: Teesside University Liverpool John Moores University ◗ Fridge Wars, Rebecca Daniel, ◗ The Switch, Olly Philpott-Smith, ◗ Starfish, Louise Dawson, Dayna University of Lauren Brown, Sam Okell and Faisal Baptie and Fergus Thom, The Royal ◗ Insert FILM TITLE here, I guess, Urmas Muhammed, The Manchester Film Conservatoire of Scotland Salu, University for the Creative Arts School at The Manchester College

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1 Dresslocked 2 Eat, Then Wait for the Night 3 The Switch Undergraduate Animation Undergraduate Factual Undergraduate Camerawork Domareen Fox, Jing Zhao, Olly Philpott-Smith, Lauren Brown, Sam Teesside University Teesside University Okell and Faisal Muhammed, MFS

4 Valentines Park 5 Sexabled 6 Bluebarry Undergraduate Comedy & Entertainment Undergraduate News Undergraduate Editing and Sound Leah Revivo, Joseph Mills, Bradley Kiel Kin Hang Lee, Tommy Vad Flaaten and Markus Vad and Oliver McMillan, UCA University of Sheffield Flaaten, Kingston University

7 Tehzeeb 8 An Unfortunate End: The Boy & the Fairy 9 Chair of Judges Undergraduate Drama Undergraduate Open RTS Student Television Awards Myriam Raja and Eloise Rudd, Jordanne Richards, University Phil Edgar-Jones, Arts University Bournemouth of South Wales Director of

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 29 The RTS Student Television Awards 2016 reward outstanding work produced during the 2014/2015 academic year. Undergraduate entries were first judged at a regional level by their local RTS Centre in the winter of 2015. The winning films from each RTS Centre, along with all postgraduate entries, were then judged nationally in April 2016.

POSTGRADUATE CRAFT SKILLS Camerawork Fractured City Sean Murray, Queen’s University, Belfast A very strong film with beautiful

Richard Kendal camera work. The boldness of some of the shots really helped the audience POSTGRADUATE AWARDS Postgraduate Factual feel connected to the story and The Heart’s Scar characters. The use of natural light also Postgraduate Animation Thuy Le and Tiago Espirito Santo, enhanced the atmosphere of the piece, Mr Madila Bournemouth University with tremendous performances Rory Waudby-Tolley, Royal College of Art “Poetic style, sensitivity and an epic captured brilliantly.” “A confident, well executed piece that story… it’s many compelling moments Nominees: is both funny and feasible all at once. A were held together with expertise.” ◗ Edmond, Nina Gantz and Emilie Jouffroy, very assured animation and rewarding Nominees: National Film and Television School use of sound and visuals.” ◗ Chasing Dad, Philip Wood, Goldsmiths, ◗ Group B, Nick Rowland, Alexandra Nominees: University of London Breede and Joe Murtagh, National Film ◗ Edmond, Nina Gantz and Emilie Jouffroy, ◗ Esta Vida (This Life), Lyttanya Shannon, and Television School National Film and Television School National Film and Television School ◗ Fulfilament, Rhiannon Evans, Joe Editing Murtagh and Alexandra Breede, National Postgraduate News Chasing Dad Film and Television School Brits in Poland Philip Wood, Goldsmiths, University Anna Senkara, Goldsmiths, University of of London Postgraduate Comedy London “The material was used exceptionally & Entertainment “A very unusual take on the story… well to tell this incredibly powerful and Monster Hunters a great range of voices and original personal story. The editing choices Brigitta Szaszfai and Jonathan Dakin, reporting. A very punchy and enjoyable were bold and unconventional at times National Film and Television School news piece that was professional, and only enhanced this excellent film.” “This has the most potential to turn humane and a joy to watch.” Nominees: into a long-running TV hit… fresh, Nominee: ◗ Esta Vida (This Life), Lyttanya Shannon, funny and supremely confident.” ◗ Cloning: Tailored for Success, Anna National Film and Television School Nominee: Lidster, Goldsmiths, University of London ◗ Fractured City, Sean Murray, Queen’s ◗ The Life of a Sober Man, The Team, University, Belfast Bournemouth University Postgraduate Open Crunchy Sound Postgraduate Drama Simon Cartwright and Jacob Thomas, Fulfilament Group B National Film and Television School Rhiannon Evans, Joe Murtagh and Nick Rowland, Alexandra Breede and Joe “An excellent collaboration between all Alexandra Breede, National Film and Murtagh, National Film and Television departments to create a wry, clever Television School School piece. It gets across its message “The incredible detail of sound design “A very well executed film with great effectively through excellent attention and score involved to create the world performances.… The film-makers to detail, strong visuals and well-con- and characters was wonderfully showed great energy and commitment ceived subversion of the setting, handled.” to this truly gripping drama.” drawing in the viewers and then Nominees: Nominees: shocking them.” ◗ Group B, Nick Rowland, Alexandra ◗ Fractured City, Sean Murray, Queen’s Nominee: Breede and Joe Murtagh, National Film University, Belfast ◗ Office Romance, Rebecca Gibson and Television School ◗ Sick, David Winstone and Josh Lowe, and Katherine Pearl, National Film and ◗ Mr Madila, Rory Waudby-Tolley, Royal National Film and Television School Television School College of Art

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7 8 9 All pictures: Richard Kendal

1 Mr Madila 2 The Heart’s Scar 3 Fractured City Postgraduate Animation Postgraduate Factual Postgraduate Camerawork Rory Waudby-Tolley, Royal College Thuy Le and Tiago Espirito Santo, Sean Murray, Queen’s University, of Art Bournemouth University Belfast

4 Monster Hunters 5 Brits in Poland 6 Chasing Dad Postgraduate Comedy & Entertainment Postgraduate News Postgraduate Editing Brigitta Szaszfai and Jonathan Dakin, Anna Senkara, Goldsmiths, University Philip Wood, Goldsmiths, University National Film and Television School of London of London

7 Group B 8 Crunchy 9 Fulfilament Postgraduate Drama Postgraduate Open Postgraduate Sound Nick Rowland, Alexandra Breede and Simon Cartwright and Jacob Thomas, Rhiannon Evans, Joe Murtagh and Joe Murtagh, NFTS National Film and Television School Alexandra Breede, NFTS

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 31 he humble set-top box is poised to become the first of a new generation of domestic media servers at the heart of the next stage of the home entertainment revolution. Many in our industry persistT in seeing STBs – originally introduced more than 20 years ago as simple devices for decoding broadcast signals – as a mere “techy” sideshow. They have, however, emerged as one of the most important device classes in the consumer media landscape and, once again, they are driving disruption and strategic change. In the early years, viewers used them to complement their “normal” TV viewing, turning on the box when they wanted to access their pay-channels. But, over two decades, they have mor- Breaking out phed several times. The first big change was when they moved from decoding analogue to digital signals. New software enabled on-screen menus, and the electronic programme guide (EPG) was born. This of the box drove a massive change in viewer behaviour. For the first time, a majority of users stayed in the STB to watch the free-to-air public service broadcasters. What seemed a small shift had two audience evaluation. A new science consequences that still affect the TV Technology dissected the “how” and “when” of the market today. The first was that the way that people watched recorded “platforms” benefited from the percep- shows, and the acronym Vosdal tion that they deliver and manage the A new wave of (viewed on same day as live) was free-to-air­ channels (which, techni- innovation in set-top dumped on the industry. Taking their cally, they do not) – to the chagrin to destiny into their own hands, the the broadcasters ever since. boxes will see power broadcasters began to build on-de- Second, by delivering improved user mand players accessible via PCs and functionality (in this first case, via an shift from broadcasters laptops – and away from the plat- EPG) the platforms could affect viewer to platforms, predicts forms’ control. The audience measure- behaviour around content. This put the ment industry had to add a “where” to platforms in the driving seat in deliv- Nigel Walley its reporting. ering TV innovation. In response, the platforms built The second major STB evolution was on-demand capabilities and launched the introduction, around 15 years ago, of catch-up services within their systems. the personal video recorder – the PVR. In the UK, we have ended up with two Despite predictions that they would distinct types. On Sky and Virgin, these kill off television, people came to real- are closed systems where the platform ise that PVRs could be symbiotic with controls the software and the func- broadcast, if only we could solve the tionality (with a couple of exceptions). commercial issues. PVR functionality On the free boxes, browser-based quickly spread from the pay-TV world open systems accommodate the to free boxes, such as those for Freeview broadcasters’ own players. and Freesat. Neither has reached an ideal state. Their wider impact was felt in the Until the most recent generation of world of TV measurement and boxes, it was fair to say that on-demand

32 on-demand assets Within this mix, we will see increas- have been able to ing pressure on broadcasters to allow build businesses networked PVRs (nPVRs), where the because they hard drive sits in the Cloud. don’t need to Consumers are being educated to support concur- use Dropbox and iCloud. They will rent use by large come to realise how useful a TV version numbers of of those could be. Real power over people. catch-up content is shifting from the However good broadcasters to the platforms. Breaking Bad on Home networks are the other area in Netflix­ might be, which PVR manufacturers have quietly the viewing numbers been evolving their boxes’ capabilities. have only ever been in Over the past decade, the number of the low tens of thou- homes with broadband and wi-fi has sands for any particular rocketed by more than 80%. show at one time. Those Increasingly, these services are sup- companies still focused on plied by the same companies that building large, concurrent audi- deliver our TV and set-top box. For the ences for nationally important TV first time, we can envisage TV services have stayed with broadcast. that connect from the main box to every All the while, PVR innovation has screen – fixed or mobile – in the home. been proceeding slowly in the back- The idea is that, whichever screen ground. The most important trends you are using, you will be running have involved memory and capacity. software on it from the company that The early Sky+ boxes, which launched provides the box in your lounge. The 15 years ago, could record 10 to 20 consequence is that all these networked standard-definition programmes. The devices can access every type of content latest generation of boxes can record available on your STB. 400 HD movies as well as offering an Sky Q is the first attempt at intro- increasingly interesting array of options ducing this system. The set-top box is, on the pay-boxes looked terrible but and functions. in effect, morphing again into a new worked well, while it looked better on Recording functionality has consist- device class – this time, the first in a the free boxes but didn’t work as well. ently improved. Series linking has new generation of home media servers. During this period, a misguided become ubiquitous, and operators For consumers, this is bringing new consensus emerged that on-demand such as Tivo offer auto-recording functionality, new access to content capability meant that we would no based on recommendation. New and improved ease of use. For broad- longer need PVRs. This has proved boxes, such as Netgem’s device for the casters, it signals another round in the incorrect for a couple of reasons. EE service, take this further and record turf war with the platforms. Each func- First, consumers continue to prefer every programme from your favourite tional innovation will push viewers to their PVR to on-demand when both channels on a rolling, 24-hour basis. use the platform’s software to access are available. Research shows that this This is allowing platforms to think content, rather than a broadcaster’s app. is about control and selection. Con- constructively about offering full These developments raise significant sumers say that they see PVR content catch-up services via their PVRs, questions about the long-term viability as “theirs”. rather than having to depend on the of the broadcaster-owned players and The debate about PVR obsolescence broadcasters to deliver on-demand apps for pay-TV customers. They also was fuelled by the arrival of Silicon services. raise difficult questions about whether Valley-funded on-demand operators. The problem for the broadcasters is the broadcasters’ shareholders will Over the top (OTT) services, with a that catch-up delivered from the PVR allow the free platforms they own to vested interest in talking down the role works better and quicker than innovate in these areas just to stay of the set-top box, have pressed the catch-up delivered via on-demand competitive. case for a Cloud-based TV future in services. You press “play” on a pro- We are entering another period of which there is no need for consumer gramme and it starts. creative disruption in the TV market. recording in the home. Looking into the future, the only Far from becoming irrelevant, the set- The problem with this network-­ thing we can say for certain is that top box is at the centre of the revolution. based vision of the future has been its hard-drive capacities will continue to currently inadequate delivery capabil- expand and functionality will become Nigel Walley is MD of digital media con- ity. Companies offering sporadic use of ever more sophisticated. sultancy Decipher.

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 33 RTS NEWS Denmark hosts talent summit

ustaining talent was MediaCity. However, Danish the theme of a two- television’s first big attempt day workshop in the at a regional series, Norskov, Danish port of Aarhus, had poor ratings and was Sthe country’s second city and recently axed. the location of Film Village, University of South Wales which houses more than lecturer Ruth McElroy sug- 60 production companies. gested that TV had a vital role The June workshop, the in defining the cultural iden- third in a series of events tity of small nations. Refer- exploring the challenges faced ring to a quote by former ITV by the TV industries of small Director of Television Peter nations, was organised by the Fincham on foreign travel, universities of Aarhus and she said: “You only have to South Wales. It featured con- turn on your hotel-room TV Danish drama Norskov

tributions from RTS Wales, TV2 Danmark to realise that you are truly Glasgow Caledonian Univer- abroad. TV is one part local sity, University, tive Pádhraic Ó Ciardha said the output more distinctive,” and one part global.” Irish-language broadcaster that commissioners “need he argued. Some of the workshop TG4 and Welsh-language S4C. vision and mentoring ability Danish TV has tried to participants had taken part Talent, agreed the partici- – they have to be tough but develop regional talent out- in an RTS Wales event in pants, should be broadly also engender trust”. side Copenhagen, where the November, held in conjunc- defined, taking in content S4C factual commissioner country’s broadcasters are tion with the first small-­ creation, production, craft Llion Iwan emphasised the based. Comparisons were nations workshop in Cardiff, skills and commissioning, as importance of diversity in made with initiatives else- which examined the success well as on-screen performers. recruiting and managing where, such as Glasgow’s of “Nordic noir”. TG4 Deputy Chief Execu- on-screen talent. “It makes Pacific Quay and Salford’s Hywel Wiliam

television, vastly improving tion was not as high as their contrast and detail to enhance marketing suggested. HDR, the viewer experience. however, improved contrast Wilson dismissed some of and hence the viewer’s percep- the myths that have built up tion of detail and resolution. about the new technology: The two emerging HDR namely, that tube cameras technologies of perceptual and cathode ray tube televi- quantisation and hybrid log sions did not have HDR; and gamma, said Wilson, were that the first innovators of this simply modifications of the technology provided charge- curves and compression coupled devices (CCDs) for knees used in the first charge- post-tube cameras. coupled device (CCD) cam- HDR: before and after

Montague In fact, it was transfer knees eras, albeit greatly refined and and slope processors that significantly more efficient. compressed highlights and The challenge in using Thames Valley tunes in stopped bright detail from these technologies, he added, blowing out, providing better was in mapping between peak definition for standard these curves and transpos- to high dynamic range television sets. ing the underlying metadata More controversially, Wilson types that describe the two n Society of Motion Picture dynamic range (HDR) to RTS told the audience that, although systems, especially in live and Television Engineers fellow Thames Valley in mid-June. 2K, 4K and 8K systems had transmission programmes Peter Wilson offered a com- HDR is the next major higher pixel counts and gave such as news and sport. pelling presentation on high development in Ultra-HD/4K greater resolution, the resolu- Tony Orme

34 he teams behind the BBC One dramas Happy Valley and Jonathan Strange T& Mr Norrell returned home well rewarded from the RTS Yorkshire Awards, which were held in Leeds at the end of June. Red Production Company’s Happy Valley won the Filmed in Yorkshire Award, while Sally Wainwright took home the Writer Award. Sarah Lancashire was named Best Actor for her performance as The winners from BBC One drama Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

a no-nonsense police ser- All pictures: Photography Harness Paul geant in the second series of the hard-hitting drama. “This was pure, unadulter- ated Yorkshire, warts and all,” Yorkshire hat trick said the judges. “The budget was used to great effect and the series showed exceptional storytelling.” for Jonathan Strange Historical fantasy drama Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, made by Cuba Pictures and the broadcast business with Channel 5); and Tarun Bhar- Studios collected the Inde- Feel Films and supported by his personality and his pro- tiya who travelled from India pendent Spirit Award for its Screen Yorkshire, also won fessionalism,” said the judges. to Yorkshire to pick up the contribution to the produc- three prizes: Director – Fic- The awards took place at Best Director – Factual tion industry in Yorkshire. tion (for Toby Haynes); Pro- the Royal Armouries in Award for India’s Frontier James Martin picked up fessional Excellence (for Leeds and were presented by the Presenter Award for production designer David Mark Charnock and Laura Home Comforts at Christmas Roger); and Animation and/ Norton from the ITV soap (BBC Bristol for BBC One) or Visual Effects (Milk VFX). Emmerdale. and Christine Talbot was Praising Haynes’s direction RTS Yorkshire also cele­ named Best Reporter for her as “a tour de force”, the brated the 60th anniversary work on Calendar. The ITV judges said that he “made of the Emley Moor transmit- regional news programme sense of [Susanna Clarke’s] ting station. In 1956 a tower also won the Best News Pro- challenging novel and trans- was erected to provide ITV gramme Award for The Clo- formed it into a visual broadcasts to the region. sure of Kellingley Colliery. spectacle with beautiful, “I think we did Yorkshire Mark O’Brien from Made intimate moments”. proud and celebrated our in Leeds was named the One The Drama Award went to incredibly diverse and suc- to Watch. The local TV chan- This Is England ’90, the latest cessful TV industry, which nel also won the News instalment of Shane Mead- has a great future. But we also Report Award for Christmas ows’ Channel 4 series. The celebrated our proud past by Flooding: On the Aire. Warp Films/Big Arty produc- honouring two national treas- The other winners on the tion had “stories and charac- ures, Emley Moor and Terry night were: Forced Marriage ters that stayed with the Ricketts,” said Lisa Holds­ Cops (True Vision for Chan- judges, [with] never an inau- worth, RTS Yorkshire secre- nel 4), which took the Made Tarun Bhartiya thentic moment”. tary and chair of the Awards in Yorkshire Award; E Stings The Yorkshire Centre Committee. 2016 (Rocket/4creative/Spred- Award was made to sound The factual prizes went to: Railways: The Last Train in Nepal fast for E4), the Second engineer Terry Ricketts, Peter Kay: 20 Years of Funny, (3Di-TV for BBC Four). Screen Award; and Welcome to whose credits include Whick- Best Programme (Shiver for The Last Train in Nepal also the Northern Powerhouse (Motiv er’s World and Emmerdale. “For BBC One); Body Donors, Best won the Professional Excel- Productions), Best Promotion more than half a century, Series (Daisybeck Studios/ lence: Post-Production or Commercial Production. Terry Ricketts has brightened GroupM Entertainment for Award, while Daisybeck Matthew Bell

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 35 RTS NEWS Ireland recalls a great satirist

purpose was to inform, edu- cate and entertain. “Hall’s Pictorial Weekly had all this in spades,” he said. The programme ran for more than 250 episodes from 1971 to 1980. It is fondly remembered to this day as an irreverent show that was unafraid to poke fun at Irish politicians. It featured satiri- cal sketches on current affairs, politics and popular culture, song parodies, car- toons and spoof TV formats. Hall, who was born in Newry, Northern Ireland, in 1921 and died in 1995, was a journalist, broadcaster and, in Peter McEvoy discussed the life of the late Frank Hall later life, a film censor. He joined Teilifís Éireann hroughout the 1970s Hall’s Pictorial Weekly – was the day. The actors included at its inception in 1961 as a in Ireland, the distinc- the subject of producer and Frank Kelly, who went on to reporter in the newsroom. tive theme tune of director Peter McEvoy’s play the foul-mouthed priest After interviewing the Beat- Hall’s Pictorial Weekly presentation to June’s Father Jack in the Channel 4 les before their 1963 Twas played by the Cork Butter Republic of Ireland Centre sitcom , which aired gig, he famously predicted Exchange Band, introducing event, “Frank Hall: a timely on RTÉ Two in Ireland. Kelly that the group would not last. another episode of RTÉ reminiscence”, which was died earlier this year. Hall presented The Late Late Television’s much-loved, held at RTÉ in Dublin. McEvoy, who directed Show in 1964 and then News- weekly satirical programme. Hall’s Pictorial Weekly cast many editions of the show, beat until 1971. From 1978 to The life and work of the actors and comics, in various believed it was the embodi- 1986, Hall was Ireland’s late Frank Hall – presenter, guises and disguises, to mimic ment of BBC founder Lord national film censor. scriptwriter and editor of and satirise the politicians of Reith’s belief that television’s Charles Byrne ONLINE at the RTS n If you couldn’t make it to this n We also interviewed digital year’s RTS Student Television content producer Candace Awards, you missed out on a Moses, whose clients have fantastic display of new talent included Sky, the BBC and Kew from across the UK and Ireland. Gardens, to find out how to make Comedian and broadcaster digital content that dazzles. Find Mark Dolan was a brilliant host her tips on creating content for for the day. Luckily, you can digital at www.rts.org.uk/candace. catch up on all the highlights from the awards and hear from n Elsewhere, Pippa Shawley the winners themselves at www. caught up with Sir Tony Robinson rts.org.uk/studentawards2016. to discuss his Discovery Channel Alok Jha

BBC documentary marking the cente- n As well as hearing from nary of the Battle of the Somme, industry newcomers, we’ve been science correspondent Alok science news story. Having a his return to comedy in Greg on the road gathering advice Jha, who recently presented strong book of contacts is key to Davies’ hit sitcom Man Down, from those who have already BBC Four’s Storm Troupers: The finding out about new develop- and his upcoming autobiogra- made it, for the latest in our Tips Fight to Forecast the Weather, ments, he says. See the rest of phy. Read the full interview at in 60 Seconds videos. ITV News explained how to source a his tips at www.rts.org.uk/alok. www.rts.org.uk/tonyrobinson.

36 he distinguished and ITV’s formative years, Morley painstaking producer achieved a reputation for his and documentary-­ meticulous and perceptive maker Peter Morley documentaries. In 1959, he hasT died, aged 91. He was interviewed Paula Wolf and best known for directing others who knew Hitler. ITV’s acclaimed coverage of “They came in one by one the state funeral of Sir Win- and I did these interviews,” ston Churchill in 1965 and for he said. “You could see that conducting the only interview all of them revered [Hitler] with Hitler’s younger sister, without embarrassment. It Paula Wolf. seemed perfectly natural to Morley was one of the them to be still very much pioneers and innovators of under his spell. Brtain’s nascent television “What they said wasn’t industry. The son of Jewish earth-shattering but... they refugees from Nazi Germany, gave enough to get a little in 1956 he joined Associated insight into the Führer. Hit- Rediffusion as a director. ler’s sister was very shy. It Over three years at the new was quite difficult to get ITV company, he produced things out of her.” more than 80 plays. The programme Tyranny:

As a programme-maker Features Rex The Years of Adolf Hitler was working in an exciting new ITV’s first one-hour docu- medium, he was able, from mentary and was seen by the beginning, to adopt his 10 million viewers. Its suc- own approach. “There was cess enabled Morley to per- nobody to tell you what to do Peter Morley suade ITV to transmit a or how to do it,” he recalled. studio production of Benja- “Everything­ was live… video, min Britten’s opera The Turn let alone video-recording, 1924 – 2016 of the Screw. The programme hadn’t been invented.” was shown without any Jeremy Isaacs, in his auto- commercials. biography, Look Me in the Eye: Steve Clarke explores the Masterminding ITV’s cov- A Life in Television, described erage of Churchill’s funeral – Morley as a “tall, thoughtful, achievements and struggles of a live, five-hour transmission calm” man “with dark eyes, a pioneering documentarist – won Morley a Bafta and the a long face and bony jaw”. 1965 Cannes Grand Prix. The pair worked together In 1978, he made the four- at Rediffusion. Morley was a founded in 1933 by Anna Dominion Theatre in Lon- part Women of Courage and producer on its influential Essinger. She had relocated don’s Tottenham Court Road. multi-award-winning Kitty: current-affairs series, This her school – and her mostly The job involved carrying Return To Auschwitz for York- Week, which was launched in Jewish students – from weighty cans of celluloid to shire Television. 1956. As Isaacs relates, Morley southern Germany as the an outside projector. He was appointed OBE in wanted to direct “proper Nazis consolidated power. Following military service 1969. In the same year, the films, longer documentaries”. Morley’s first documentary, in France and Germany with RTS presented him its Silver Morley was born in Berlin Once Upon a Time, focused on the 8th (Irish) Hussars tank Medal in recognition of his in 1924. His father exported Essinger and her school. Parts regiment, Morley attempted 13-hour documentary series, women’s clothes and spent a of it would subsequently form to find work in the British The Life and Times of Lord Mount- lot of time in London, where important components of film industry. Eventually, he batten, which he produced and he had an office. His parents, later films about the Kinder- was employed as a projec- directed for Rediffusion Tele- fearful of Hitler’s ascent to transport efforts to rescue tionist, earning £5 a week. vision. It was broadcast by power, arranged for Peter Jewish children before the He found it very hard to Thames Television. and his brother and sister to Second World War. establish a career, and had In 1979, he was made a move to England. From an early age, Morley to work as a tea boy before Fellow of the RTS, and was a There, they were educated wanted to work in film. After finally securing a job as a valued member of the RTS at Bunce Court, a progressive leaving school, he secured a film editor. History and Archive Group boarding school in Kent, job as a “rewind boy” at the Working for Rediffusion in from 1999 to 2011.

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 37 OFF M E SSAGE

he Silly Season is The subject? Yes, you guessed ■ Several influential voices have now officially dead correctly – how Pact thinks the leave argued that the BBC’s coverage of the and buried. As if the vote will affect the UK production EU referendum was not the corpora- news agenda wasn’t sector. There’s nothing like a deadline tion’s finest hour. already overheated, to concentrate the mind. The DCMS Did the BBC apply its own impar- thanks to Brexit and wants the report delivered by August. tiality rules too strictly and therefore the leadership crises let the politicians off the hook? at Westminster, media hacks had to ■ Belated congratulations to the In trenchant terms, David Puttnam pickT the bones from the changes at eternally youthful Roger Graef, who and Peter Preston have said that this Broadcasting House. recently celebrated his 80th birthday is what happened. It’s an open secret that Tony Hall’s with a party at Bafta’s London head- Off Message recommends a blog on latest shuffling of the pack was quarters. openDemocracy by Attentional’s delayed repeatedly to ensure that not The drink flowed, as numerous David Graham, who once worked as a too many noses were put out of joint. dignitaries dropped by to salute one of Panorama producer. Well, he got there in the end: cutting British TV’s greats. Jon Snow and David Graham repeats the charge that the the number of top jobs from 16 to 11. Abraham were spotted at the soirée. impartiality rules allowed the politi- There appears to be disquiet in the Across London, the mood at ITV’s cians to set the TV agenda. He advo- nations and regions. As you will have summer party was a good deal more cates more passionate television read, the directors of Wales, Scotland sombre. The damp weather added to journalism undertaken by seriously and Northern Ireland are all losing the post-Brexit gloom. The remain rigorous, probing reporters of the their seats on the Executive Board. MPs who attended could at least Paxman-Day school. How heartening to have the BBC’s drown their sorrows. Expect this one to run and run. first female Deputy Director-General By the way, one of the TV jewels of in Anne Bulford. Not before time. ■ It’s that man again – that man the campaign was Channel 4’s sca- Readers will recall that the Beeb has being Peter Bazalgette, the newish brous political satire Power Monkeys. been minus a deputy DG since Mark ITV Chairman. More please. Byford exited in 2011. More than 15 years ago, when Baz It’s intriguing that Charlotte Moore’s was creative director at Endemol, he ■ And, finally, we all know that empire keeps on growing. Under the had the foresight to sense which way elements of Fleet Street like noth- new restructuring, she takes on “over­- the digital wind was blowing. ing better than finding evidence of sight of BBC Sport”. Andy Taylor, erstwhile head of wasteful practice at the BBC. Off Message hopes that the revolv- digital at Channel 4, revealed how, So how’s this for recycling at Aun- ing doors at New Broadcasting House back in 2000, there was anxiety over tie? It might be some distance from stop rotating at least until the sum- putting Big Brother online. Suffolk to Somerset but it’s all in a mer is over and execs return from Some feared that audiences would day’s work for a BBC outside broad- their Tuscan retreats. stop watching Big Brother on TV if the cast crew. show was available on the internet. The power cables used to transmit ■ Spare a thought for Pact’s tireless “It was Baz at Endemol who said, ‘I this year’s live broadcasts from leader, John McVay. On the eve of his think we should let everyone watch it Springwatch were the same ones summer trip to Portugal, Whitehall online,’” recalled Taylor at the recent put into action subsequently policymakers asked Pact to write a RTS Futures event on short-form at Glastonbury. paper for John Whittingdale. content. The rest, as they say, is history. Well, is a songbird!

38 July/August 2016 www.rts.org.uk Television RTS PATRONS

RTS Principal BBC Channel 4 ITV Sky Patrons

RTS Discovery Networks Turner Broadcasting System Inc International Global Viacom International Media Networks Patrons NBCUniversal International YouTube

RTS Accenture Enders Analysis IBM S4C Major Amazon Video EY IMG Studios Sargent-Disc Patrons Audio Network FremantleMedia ITN STV Group BT FTI Consulting KPMG UKTV Channel 5 Fujitsu McKinsey and Co Virgin Media Deloitte Huawei Pinewood Studios YouView

RTS Alvarez & Marsal LLP ITV London ITV West Quantel Patrons Autocue ITV Meridian ITV Yorkshire Raidió Teilifís Éireann Digital Television Group ITV Tyne Tees Lumina Search UTV Television ITV Anglia ITV Wales PricewaterhouseCoopers Vinten Broadcast ITV Granada

Who’s who Patron President CENTRES COUNCIL History at the RTS HRH The Prince of Wales Sir Peter Bazalgette Lynn Barlow Don McLean Charles Byrne Vice-Presidents Chair of RTS Trustees Steve Carson IBC Conference Liaison David Abraham John Hardie Dan Cherowbrier Terry Marsh Dawn Airey Isabel Clarke Sir David Attenborough OM Honorary Secretary Alex Connock RTS Legends CH CVO CBE FRS David Lowen Gordon Cooper TBC Baroness Floella Tim Hartley Benjamin OBE Honorary Treasurer Kingsley Marshall RTS Technology Bursaries Dame Colette Bowe OBE Mike Green Nikki O’Donnell Simon Pitts Lord Bragg of Wigton Fiona Thompson John Cresswell BOARD OF TRUSTEES Graeme Thompson AWARDS COMMITTEE Adam Crozier Tim Davie Penny Westlake CHAIRS Mike Darcey Mike Green James Wilson Awards & Fellowship Greg Dyke John Hardie Policy Lord Hall of Birkenhead Huw Jones SPECIALIST GROUP David Lowen Lorraine Heggessey Jane Lighting CHAIRS Ashley Highfield Graham McWilliam Archives Craft & Design Awards OBE David Lowen Steve Bryant Cheryl Taylor Ian Jones Simon Pitts Baroness Lawrence of Graeme Thompson Diversity Television Journalism Clarendon OBE Jane Turton Marcus Ryder Awards Rt Hon Baroness Jowell Rob Woodward Stewart Purvis CBE of Brixton DBE PC Early Evening Events David Lynn EXECUTIVE Dan Brooke Programme Awards Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Chief Executive Alex Mahon Ken MacQuarrie Theresa Wise Education Gavin Patterson Graeme Thompson Student Television Trevor Phillips OBE Awards Stewart Purvis CBE RTS Futures Phil Edgar-Jones Sir Howard Stringer Donna Taberer

Television www.rts.org.uk July/August 2016 39