World-Service-Commissioning-Round-2016.Pdf
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1 BBC World Service Commissioning Round 2016 Timetable and Guidelines to making programmes for BBC World Service The Commissioning Timetable Friday 4th March Commissioning Launch in the 7th Floor Learning Zone, New Broadcasting House. Guidelines will be published on http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/radio/what-we-want/world-service.shtml Friday 4th March – Tuesday 5th April (1200 noon) Time period in which you can submit your initial proposals into Proteus. At this stage Commissioning Editors only require THREE LINE DESCRIPTIONS. Please use the SHORT SYNOPSIS box only Tuesday 26th April Pre-Offers Results published in Proteus. Tuesday 31st May (12 noon) Final offers deadline to submit your proposals into Proteus. Early July Results will be published in Proteus. Contacts Mary Hockaday Controller [email protected] Steve Titherington Senior Commissioning Editor [email protected] Joanne Cayford Assistant Editor [email protected] Bethan Jinkinson Digital Editor [email protected] Murray Holgate Network Manager [email protected] Vanessa Morris & Karen Howe Commissioning Assistants vanessamorris&[email protected] 2 Guide Prices Documentaries 35 23’00” and 26’30” £6.6k The Compass Various 23’00” and 26’30” £6.6K The Hour Doc 6 53’00” £11.2K Heart and Soul 12 26’30” £5K Music Docs 4 53’00” £8.2K The Proteus system is used for the submission of offers. All proposals must be delivered in Proteus. We do not require hard copies of any proposals. BBC departments access PROTEUS via http://explore.gateway.bbc.co.uk/GatewayCMS03Live/proteus .aspx Independent companies access PROTEUS via a portal: https://ext-proteus.external.bbc.co.uk/proteus-web/login.action If your pre-offers have been approved by the Commissioning Editors, you can enter your final proposal into Proteus. All final offers must be submitted by 1200 on Tuesday 31st May 2016. Enter in: World Service Commissioning Round 2017-2018 Commissioning Year: 20172018 Commissioning Round: 1 3 World Service English The BBC World Service is a 24-7 network of news, current affairs and rich radio. News programmes include Newshour, the Newsroom, World Have Your Say and Newsday. Alongside this spine of News content we have programmes specializing in sport, business, science, the arts, debate, human interest and analysis. We have a massive global audience (and an important audience in the UK) who all share a sense of curiosity about the world and a desire to connect with that world. Our audience is everywhere. Our surveys show the biggest single audiences are in Africa and the United States, but listeners find us on short-wave, FM, online and mobile in just about every country. And that audience is increasing and now reaches more than 52 million people. Our audience is both discerning and demanding. They are also making a choice to listen to us. In most places there will be increasingly vibrant local media and access to other global media, so we have to be both appealing and relevant. The World Service schedule is flexible so we can adapt to breaking news, but we always try to ensure there’s a broad range of topics and styles on the Network. Five minute news bulletins sit at the top of every hour and a two minute summary of world news at the bottom of every hour, so News is an ever present part of the Network. But increasingly we want to take people on a journey that offers much more in terms of a portrait of the world and how we live. We want programmes that stimulate thought, provoke discussion and offer solutions as well as show problems. We want to be a place where people who care about the world can understand it better – in all aspects of life. We broadcast at least four documentaries every week. They are among the most important ways we show our audience the power of our journalism, our story telling and the range of our interests in the world. They need to be at the forefront of all these aspects; the best journalism, the most innovative storytelling and widest range of interests and voices. At weekends there is a more relaxed feel – programmes with leading authors, exploring science, hearing about history from those who witnessed it, discussing ideas and hearing fresh new music as well as sport. Recently we have launched new programmes which continue to evolve the sound and approach of the network: The Compass; The Inquiry, The Cultural Frontline and The Food Chain. All take a conversational, contemporary and global approach, but are as sharp and rigorous as ever. Radio and Digital Increasingly, we reach audiences via digital and social platforms. This document includes notes on how to make sure your programme will thrive in this arena. We will want online feature material, photographs, clips, quotes, facts, and short form visuals. All designed to bring people to your content. 4 What we are looking for? Documentaries on the BBC World Service make a major statement about who we are and our relationship with our audience. They shape our schedule; they are ambassadors for our output. Whether single programmes, a powerful pair or a landmark series, we promote documentaries heavily as flagships of the network and they will appear separately online and on re-broadcasters. They need to be clever, conversational and inclusive. They should be effortlessly international and stand up to scrutiny from the people or country being discussed in the programme as well as relevant to a world audience. Our mission is to connect, explain, inform and also to celebrate great radio and fantastic stories. We need to be funny as well as serious, challenge preconceptions, reveal a world which is exciting as well as sometimes frightening, and allow space for deeply personal views and experiences to be expressed. We will put serious money into making what we do the very best there is. We want great story- tellers and broadcasters. We let people speak. We love sound and the sense of place; being there matters. We want engaging, challenging ideas. We welcome collaboration; building home grown talent and trying something new. Be bold. 5 Slot Title: The Documentary Commissioner: Steve Titherington Editor: Various Duration: Two durations 23’ and 26’30” TX: Tuesday 90 CHARS Minimal billing World Stories SPOKEN BILLING A ‘rip and read’ description of the programme. ‘The Documentary is where the BBC gives new insight into important global issues and events, it explores why people do what they do, and what the consequences are.’ DESCRIPTION A summary for partners. High impact, topical and highly produced single documentaries or series dealing with important and arresting global issues. With cutting edge reportage and the best production values, it’s compelling listening. OBJECTIVE “How does this programme help the listener?” Helps listeners to understand the world they live in and to unravel complicated news stories and events. Provides a truly ‘world view’ on what’s going on, however local the story Gives vital background to help understand daily news coverage on the BBC World Service Makes big issues more accessible. CONTENT, FORMAT & The ‘design brief’ for programme makers. STYLE There is no prescribed format for these series; they use whatever documentary formats suit the story most and will inform and entertain the listener to best effect Presentation is crucial to The Documentary. Often the reporter is going on a journey of discovery along with the listener, and his/her experiences are relevant to the story. Clarity of purpose is a key component for the World Service audience – clearly spell out the journey the listener is about to go on. Programmes use a rich range of material including a high proportion of location recordings. Rigorous investigative journalism where necessary, brings revelation and new understanding to a story BBC branding within the programme 6 Slot Title: The Documentary – One Hour Commissioners: Stephen Titherington Editor: Various Duration: A clocked hour TX: Weekends 90 CHARS As it appears on digital radios World stories SPOKEN BILLING A ‘rip and read’ description of the programme. ‘This special hour long Documentary offers an in-depth look at the way people live around the world offering insight into the global issues and events of the age we live in. It explores why people do what they do, and what the consequences are.’ DESCRIPTION A summary for partners. High impact, topical and highly produced documentary series dealing with important and arresting global issues. With cutting edge reportage and the best production values. It has to be compelling listening, held together by a strong narrative structure which holds the audience across the hour. OBJECTIVE “How does this programme help the listener?” As for The Documentary but also provides a real “immersive” experience allowing time for discovery reflection and understanding. CONTENT, The ‘design brief’ for programme makers. FORMAT & STYLE This is high calibre documentary making of the highest order. It has strong use of sound throughout. It uses personal testimony to the fore and has strong character led story lines. The presenter must be able to hold the audience through sharing their own personal experience and conviction. The listener must be clear as to what they will gain by hearing the whole hour. The second half must have fresh material – characters, themes or locations or all three. It must be made clear in the first half of the programme what the purpose of the second half is. In the second half it must be made clear where we are with the story. The Billboards at the top and the bottom of the hour must serve as continuity to wed the listener to the format.