Why The BBC?
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been broadcasting TV programmes for eighty years[1] and has become the biggest UK household broadcasting channel to date. In their programming, they are best known for drama and entertainment, they have created the sources of online viewing over the last nine years such as BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer[2], and they continuously take on fresh new ideas - all of these factor into why BBC is suitable for The identity.
The most appealing attribute about the BBC is that while they stick to their values of wanting to create 'distinctive, high quality programmes bursting with creativity and modernity that feel relevant'[3]. They are consistently open to change and new ideas in their programming, making their channels approachable for new ideas and series. For example, the current improvements that the company want to make include the plans that 'Popular drama on BBC One will explore new ideas and approaches ... New ideas and talent will be a focus for investment across a range of services, especially BBC One and BBC Three ... [and] The BBC will take risks with diverse new, young talent and new ideas, giving them room to develop, breathe and, where appropriate, fail in lower-risk environments.'[4] They also plan to 'nurture UK talent by introducing new production, writing and on-air talent to audiences.'[4] In the research that I have conducted on UK broadcasting channels, none compare to how diverse and grounded the BBC are, I feel that this is extremely suitable for an unknown production that features popular talent and a gripping story over three episodes.
The BBC are also keen to know what their audiences want, as after researching, they found that 'audiences do not want a radical change in direction from the BBC, but they are keen for an increase in the amount of fresh and new ideas and for greater prominence to be given to particularly original and distinctive programming.'[4] Meaning that the concept of BBC producing a brand new drama/thriller series would be conventional for their channels, beneficial for the company and appealing to it's audiences.
BBC Programmes
Focusing on their drama programming, the BBC cover a wide variety of styles and themes. Such as classic period programmes (Call the Midwife, War and Peace), crime dramas (Luther, The Missing), psychological dramas (Murdered by My Boyfriend) and thrillers (Hidden, One of Us)[5]. All of which are evidence of the types of series that could be commissioned by the BBC, with very little limitations. These series greatly differ to each other in certain ways, such as plot, era settings, locations, casting, run times etc. but the thing that they all have in common is that they were broadcast on the BBC. This gives each of these programmes a category that they fit into; fresh new dramas that the BBC's audiences will enjoy.
A large reason why I feel that The Identity suits the BBC, is that I feel that I can relate to a number of the above programmes and draw inspiration from them. Including visual inspiration from Luther and Murdered by My Boyfriend, and thriller theme inspiration from Hidden and One of Us.
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| Left: Luther, Right: Murdered By My Boyfriend |
BBC Mini-series
The BBC have broadcast a large amount of one off programmes/short films (such as the above BBC Three Murdered by My Boyfriend) and 3-6 part mini-series. Examples of their mini-series include One of Us, Hidden, And Then There Were None and The Night Manager - all of which were of the drama/thriller genre and broadcast on BBC One.I feel that this is another strong example as to why the BBC and BBC One especially would decide to commission The Identity as a three part series, due to the channel's long standing and recent history of mini-series. I also plan to draw plot structure information from all of the above BBC mini-series alongside other successful ones from other channels and producers.
BBC One and not BBC Two or Three?
When researching into BBC Two, I found that their programming is largely varied in genre, similar to that of BBC One, regularly broadcasting new entertainment, comedy and drama series for example. However, the key difference I found between BBC One and Two were that on BBC Two, the drama programming seems to conventionally be a mixture of period drama or long standing series such as Wolf Hall (period drama) and The Fall (returning for it's second series)[6]. As I feel that a 3-part modern drama/thriller series would not be typical of BBC Two, nor take centre stage as an exciting new show among a large amount of highly anticipated returning series for the channel's audiences, I decided that The Identity would not be as suitable to BBC Two as it would to BBC One.
BBC Three however, does suit The Identity when focusing on the idea of bringing new ideas to the BBC, mini-series or one-off specials. Having aired one-off dramas such as Murdered By My Boyfriend and documentary mini-series including Excluded: Kicked Out of School, BBC Three claim to 'provide an environment for the development of new ideas and talent and for existing talent to take risks, becoming a genuine laboratory for BBC One and BBC Two'[7]. However, I feel that BBC Three have yet to build up a collection of dramas, as most of their current material is predominantly comedy and documentary-based, therefore The Identity could feel out of place on this channel. Another large factor for why I decided to not use BBC Three is their change into an online only broadcasting channel. I feel that this misses the opportunity to broadcast live to television-based viewers and audiences - especially audiences over 40 who would be more unlikely to use online channels.
Therefore, BBC One was the obvious choice for me. Alongside existing reasons for why The Identity is suited to BBC One including the fact that it states to be 'competitive, high-impact, and distinguished by quality. The channel should showcase Britain's best talent and the nation's most talked-about and loved programmes.'[3] - something I feel that The Identity can keep up with and become a strong example of. The BBC also recently summarised the direction that BBC One is headed in: 'Television drama, underpinning the reputation of the BBC and reaching out to a broad audience. BBC One in particular will invest in a unique range of drama, from long-running and new, contemporary series to period adaptation, single films and event serials'[4]. All of which are exactly what The Identity will be clarified by and aiming towards as a finished project.
BBC UK and not BBC America?
When considering the fact that The Identity will be based in both America and in England, as well as consisting of an American and British cast, I needed to decide where and how the mini-series would be broadcast. After making my decision of using the co production of BBC and AMC, I considered the idea that on the BBC side, the show could be a BBC America Production, resulting in the series only being originally aired in the US. This is not uncommon in a series that features a wide cast variety and a number of locations (both including America and England) as an example of this is Orphan Black, a North American/Canadian thriller/sci-fi series produced by BBC America and not currently aired in the UK[8].
However, when deciding to use a real British cast and real American cast, I realised that the mixture of AMC for USA broadcasting and BBC One of UK broadcasting allows for a perfect balance of international viewership, appealing to a wider demographic.
Audiences & Viewership
When researching statistics on BBC and BBC One in order to find out their target age groups, demographics and viewership figures, I found the following information...
As of July 2014 (most recent BBC Trust report)[9] ...
- 'Around 81% of individuals in the UK watch BBC television each week'
- 'The UK still watches a lot of television. And it watches the vast majority of it live and on a television set'
- BBC One appeals to both ABC1s (higher income demographic) and C2DEs (lower income demographic)
- BBC is working on 'appealing to younger, BAME [black and minority ethnic] and lower
- income viewers'
- Although 'BBC One has lost slightly more reach amongst lower income viewers'
- BBC's age groups are listed as 16-34, 35-54 and 55+
- BBC One (including BBC One HD) reaches 40.5 million viewers on average per week
This research provided me with a varied amount of useful information. Firstly, the statistics of 81% of UK viewers / 40.5 million viewers watching the channels shows that the BBC is still a highly popular broadcasting company with a large amount of viewers, and that BBC One appeals to both low and high income demographics along side an extremely large age group of 16-55+.
However, the fact that in recent years the channel is facing a slight decline in appealing to younger viewers, the lower income demographic and BAME viewers, I feel that The Identity, if broadcast by BBC One, would appeal to all of the above. Targeting an age group of approximately 16-45 year olds, appealing to both low income and high income households and BAME viewers due to the characters and cast involved in the series. Therefore, I think that not only does The Identity suit the audience and viewership data of BBC One, but it allows for improvement on this.
Online Broadcasting: BBC iPlayer
Another important reason for why I chose to broadcast on the BBC in the UK is the fact that BBC iPlayer allows viewers to watch almost all recent (and less recent) programmes on demand. I think that this further allows for The Identity to appeal to a younger audience, as evidence shows that younger viewers watch more television content online. As BBC's own report states that 'consumption of television online is much greater amongst younger users: around a quarter of 16-24 year-olds use iPlayer each week'[9].
Another positive outcome of broadcasting The Identity on demand on iPlayer after it's initial teleivision broadcast is that the series will still be available at any time for it's current audience and anyone that may have missed the series and is interested in watching it. This is also supported by a BBC fact; 'a steady growth in the proportion of television viewed as catch-up or on-demand. The BBC iPlayer is now used by 14% of adults each week in the UK and watching programmes on it accounts for 3% of all viewing of BBC television'.[9]
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| [9] |
Promotional Material
Conventionally, BBC as a whole do not release promotional material such as posters. However they do release in-house trailers (on their own channels) for their upcoming series on advertisement breaks between programme scheduling. BBC also advertise their trailers on BBC iPlayer[17], their BBC YouTube channel[18] and on each programme's individual page on the BBC website[19].
With this is mind, as I cannot create a promotional trailer for The Identity that includes the famous cast (for obvious reasons), I plan to create the following BBC promotional materials...
- A The Identity fake website page in BBC One's conventional style - presented in a 'screenshot' form (this would be done by heavily editing a screenshot of a BBC series page and replacing each element with my own series' pictures, text etc.). Including a home page, episodes page, clips page and characters page.
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| Example of The Missing's BBC One website page |
- A fake YouTube trailer on the BBC's YouTube channel, also presented in a screenshot style. This would also be created in the same way as creating the website page.
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| Example of The Missing's trailer on BBC's YouTube channel |
Why AMC?
AMC Networks Inc. (AMC) is an American cable network that has expanded more and more in over a decade. Beginning as the American Movie Classics Channel, in October 2002, AMC 'changed its format from a classic movie channel to a broader-based movie network to appeal to a larger audience, including younger [viewers]'[11]. Now, as a film and TV network, AMC owns some of 'the most popular and award-winning brands in cable television; AMC, BBC AMERICA, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, IFC Films [and] AMC Networks International'[12]. Allowing the company to collaborate on a number of successful television show projects, such as Orphan Black with BBC America, and Rectify with SundanceTV.
As a largely known and popular American broadcasting company, well known for co producing and funding international series, AMC is a suitable choice for pairing with BBC One on broadcasting The Identity. Not only does the channel have similar values for their programming as BBC; '[we] produce and deliver distinctive, compelling and culturally relevant content that engages audiences across multiple platforms'[12], but they have also had a strong collaboration with one another since entering into a partnership in 2014.
When discussing their deal with AMC, BBC director general Tony Hall said the deal would 'help us reach new audiences in the US, strengthen BBC America's position for the long term and create opportunities for the UK creative community', also stating that the 'partnership means we can produce even more top quality drama together'[13]. Both of these statements explain exactly why the partnership is incredibly suitable for broadcasting The Identity to both the UK and USA, as well as why they are a great collaboration for working on drama TV together. Also, with a currently two year long partnership, the co producers are building up a successful programming history together.
AMC Shows
AMC produce and broadcast a large amount of popular and successful TV shows that are shown in the US and internationally, including The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad and Mad Men[14]. But when focusing on drama and international collaborative work, AMC's notable programmes include Humans with the UK's Channel 4, Orphan Black, Doctor Who, The Honourable Woman and The Night Manager, all with the BBC[13][14].
With a large amount of examples behind the collaboration of AMC and BBC, I feel that The Identity fits extremely well among these programmes, both in broadcasting channels, genre and series length - with The Night Manager as a key example...
AMC Mini-series
With The Night Manager as a key example of an AMC and BBC mini-series, consisting of a drama/thriller genre, a variety of international locations and a varied cast including American and British actors, this serves as my main inspiration for why The Identity suits this co-production so well. The mini-series was also very well received by both channel's audiences and heavily featured as one of AMC and BBC's main shows at the time of broadcast[15]. Alongside this, AMC are well known for broadcasting other successful original mini-series including The American West and The Making of the Mob.
As well as using British BBC mini-series for inspiration on plot structure and style, I will also use AMC's mini-series for this, mostly focusing on The Night Manager.
The Night Manager Trailer
Audiences & Viewership
While I could find little research on AMC audiences and viewership, I discovered some key information from December 2015's Nielsen report in America. This being that 'AMC moved up three spots in the year-end network rankings to place fourth in prime time 18-49 viewers' and 'AMC’s average 18-49 viewership for its original series in 2015 (3.92 million) is highest among all television networks'[16]. This tells me that similar to both BBC's target audience for watershed drama, and my own target audience for The Identity, AMC aims for ages 18-49 year old and are increasingly successful in appealing to them. This also allows me to create promotional material that appeals to a younger market.
Promotional Material
From my research, I have found that AMC most typically promote their TV shows by creating promotional posters featured on their website[20] and all over the internet. Similar to BBC, they also create pages for each series on their website[21]. With this in mind, my AMC promotional material will consist of...
- A promotional poster created with the conventions of other AMC example posters. The poster will suit the channel as well as the series' style and provide key information on the show's release date.
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| AMC's offical poster for The Night Manager |
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| A rough mock poster example for AMC's The Identity, created using a photo of Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany and edited in Adobe Photoshop |
- A The Identity fake website page in AMC's conventional style - the same as my BBC fake website page, this will be presented in a 'screenshot' form. The page will include a home page under 'episodes', an exclusives page, cast & crew page and about page.
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| Example of The Night Manager's AMC website page |
I feel that the combination of my BBC and AMC promotions and marketing would create a highly anticipated build up for the series in reality while simultaneously fitting the advertising conventions of both broadcasting channels.
After conducting thorough research into both broadcasting channels, I feel that I can now move ahead in every other element of the series without lacking knowledge in the conventions of the BBC and AMC and feel completely certain that The Identity is suited to this co production.
References
11. AMC: FAQ
12. AMC: About Us
14. AMC: Shows
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