Issue 10 April 2018 The maga ine celebrating television’s golden era of scripted programming Scripted OFC Apr18.indd 2 19/03/2018 16:45 FEDERATION_ONENIGHT_TBICOVER_0318_def.indd 1 19/03/2018 16:09 Banijay Rights presents… Bang The Restaurant Versailles A thrilling bi-lingual crime drama about blood, Set just after WWII in a high-end Stockholm restaurant, love and human relationships set in the steel an impassioned family saga about love, conflict and town of Port Talbot. betrayal. Recommissioned for a third series. Occupied Juda In a brand new third season, nothing seems to Return of the critically acclaimed political A low-life hustler is hunted by Romanian vampires, be able to counter Louis XIV ambition to extend suspense thriller that picks up one year Israeli cops and French mobsters whilst running his Kingdom and impose his reign to Europe as after the Russian “Silk Occupation”. from his own fate – what he could become… a whole. CANAL+ CREATION ORIGINALE. MIPTV Stand C20.A banijayrights.com TBI_DPS_MIPTV18_Drama_AW.inddSriptedpIFC-01 Banijay Apr18.indd 2 1 12/03/2018 18:33 12/03/2018 16:12 Banijay Rights presents… Bang The Restaurant Versailles A thrilling bi-lingual crime drama about blood, Set just after WWII in a high-end Stockholm restaurant, love and human relationships set in the steel an impassioned family saga about love, conflict and town of Port Talbot. betrayal. Recommissioned for a third series. Occupied Juda In a brand new third season, nothing seems to Return of the critically acclaimed political A low-life hustler is hunted by Romanian vampires, be able to counter Louis XIV ambition to extend suspense thriller that picks up one year Israeli cops and French mobsters whilst running his Kingdom and impose his reign to Europe as after the Russian “Silk Occupation”. from his own fate – what he could become… a whole. CANAL+ CREATION ORIGINALE. MIPTV Stand C20.A banijayrights.com TBI_DPS_MIPTV18_Drama_AW.indd 1 SriptedpIFC-01 Banijay Apr18.indd 3 12/03/2018 16:1218:33 Scriptedp02 Keshet Vault Apr18.indd 1 21/03/2018 10:49 In this issue E ditor’s ote A radio presenter friend who works for a major organisation recently asked me about the route Amazon and Netflix have taken to so quickly dominate the cultural conversation. Explaining their business strategies any more intricately than, well, extremely broadly is not simple, mainly because they don’t really tell anyone exactly what they’re doing (though a recent leak did shine some light on Amazon’s commissioning process – more of that on TBIVision.com). 4 10 However, my pal’s sentiment about cultural worth got me thinking about how high-end drama and comedy has become the cultural currency of the modern era. Could anyone have guessed that would be the case back in the 80s or 90s, when soaps and cheap procedural dramas were the order of the day? The fact that someone who deals directly with a young, mainstream adult radio and internet video audience – and who is a professional expert in film, by the way – can see and feel the impact of television-style programming, says something about the position the medium is taking in the world of globalised content. Our drama survey, which you can read in the main TBI April/May 2018 issue, shows that those working in the industry see similar trends, and you 1 18 can only surmise that those who finance content are discovering the same things. Similarly, Walter Iuzzolini talks of a new television culture that has allowed his foreign-language service to exist (see page 10). There will be more money flooding into TV as this boom continues to take hold, but how long can it last? Who knows, but feature film was the medium that people looked at the world through for many years. There’s no obvious reason television cannot remain in its current pomp – providing the stories continue to get better and ambitions greater. Netflix and Amazon have indeed been at the forefront of this cultural revolution, and their brassy confidence in their business models (whatever they actually are) gives everyone – even their greatest rivals, I would suggest – faith to keep on with their own original programming agendas. 22 2 Just before we went to press, Netflix created its own branded font. As my radio pal notes, TV has become the cultural currency of today. Contents Jesse Whittock 4 Interview: Steve Coogan Editor Jesse Whittock • [email protected] Deputy editor Kaltrina Bylykbashi • [email protected] • @bylykbashi 10 In the spotlight: Walter Iu z olino Sales manager Michael Callan • [email protected] Art director Matthew Humberstone • [email protected] 1 Feature: drama acquisitions Marketing manager Marita Eleftheriadou • [email protected] Commercial director Patricia Arescy • [email protected] 18 On location: A r t i c C i r l e Published by KNect365 TMT, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7AD Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 5000 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.tbivision.com 22 Script to screen: D a s B oo Printed in England by Wyndeham Grange Ltd, Southwick, West Sussex BN4 4EJ © 2018 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved 2 ABC’s T e R oo i e Reproduction without permission is prohibited 28 Writer’s room: David Farr @ TBImaga ine TBI Scripted | April 2018 3 Scriptedp03 Contents Apr18jwKBjw.indd 3 23/03/2018 15:49 Scripted interview: Steve Coogan Coogan comes home Actor comedian Steve Coogan is bringing his alter ego, Alan Partridge, back to the BBC. He tells esse Whittock how the iconic character has evolved over 2 years 4 TBI Scripted | April 2018 Scriptedp04-06 Partridge Apr18jwKBjw.indd 4 05/04/2018 15:13 Scripted interview: Steve Coogan teve Coogan’s working life has been a “People used to ask if I was going to kill Alan off, tumultuous one, smattered with massive but they don’t any more because he’s become part of successes on TV and the big screen, and the furniture,” says Coogan. “He’s gone beyond a battles with the press in the UK and the US. Harry Enfield character and become more of a Barry SThe one constant throughout that time has been Humphries character.” (Enfield is known for his popular the character he is best known for – the iconic Alan sketch show characters, while Australia’s Humphries Partridge. Despite, the character’s numerous flaws – has focused on building Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les tactlessness, close-minded opinions and an ego not Patterson into national treasures.) matched by talent – he has found a unique place in The relationship with the public is now set to go one British television viewers’ hearts. level deeper. Partridge is this year returning to the BBC TBI Scripted | April 2018 5 Scriptedp04-06 Partridge Apr18jwKBjw.indd 5 05/04/2018 15:13 Scripted interview: Steve Coogan for the first time in a quarter of a century through an The new show will see the character, whom Coogan upcoming mockumentary series, This Time with Alan describes a “classic Little Englander”, parachuted onto Partridge, which is a satire of the free TV magazine a BBC evening magazine show akin to long running format. The BBC debuted the concept to international series The One Show to present alongside a co-host buyers the BBC Worldwide Showcase in February. (played by Susanna Fielding). The Partridge character began life on radio in 1991. “It’s a satire of the modern format of the couple Coogan and The Thick of It and Veep writer Armando presenting,” says Coogan. “The format will look Iannucci created him – initially as a sports presenter for familiar, but it is the content of the show and what’s BBC Radio 4 comedy show On the Hour, which became going on behind the scenes that you decipher. You don’t seminal Channel 4 satire The Day Today. He presented see what’s going on, but you will hear conversations a spin-off chat, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan off air and become aware of them through comments. Partridge. This became the character’s first BBC television The observant will be able to piece together what’s format, and was followed by sitcom I’m Alan Partridge. happening off camera.” After a gap of eight years, Partridge returned to With the UK in the midst of leaving the European television in 2010 through a series of YouTube comedy Union, and the positions of those for and against Brexit shorts, Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, still poles apart, the series will incorporate Coogan’s which were initially financed by beer brand Foster’s trademark satire of British politics through the prism during a prolonged marketing campaign to support of the happy-go-lucky couch format. Partridge will in British comedy content. effect be a ‘voice of Brexit’, though his self-preservation These shows, following the character back in radio and broadcasting instincts will likely see him temper broadcasting after his TV presenting career has failed, his more extreme opinions. were later picked up by pay TV “Alan has always been someone who tries to move service Sky, with two seasons with the times, and half succeeds and half fails,” says ultimately going out. Coogan. “He realises, almost cynically, that to move A feature film co-financed by with the times you have to reflect modern opinions. BBC Films and StudioCanal, At heart, he’s a traditionalist and a reactionary, but is Alpha Papa, was next in 2013, smart enough to know to cannot appear to be a stick followed by TV specials Alan in the mud.