Televisual articles from April 2005

Televisual archives from April 2005

CBBC looks for new controller as Prior goes on cost-cutting drive.(Dorothy Prior)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... CBBC is on the look-out for a new controller ahead of its planned move to Manchester after current incumbent Dorothy Prior announced she was leaving the children's department for a new cost-cutting role at the corporation. The new...

2AM Films sets up broadcast production arm.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Commercials producer 2AM Films has set up a broadcast offshoot that will be led by production talent from Dr Who and Casanova. Doctor Who director James Hawes and Casanova producer Gill McNeil have set up in new premises and already have a...

Disaster strikes production of The Marchioness.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Disaster struck the production of ITV1's upcoming factual drama The Marchioness after the boat earmarked for filming caught fire in dry dock and was destroyed. The two-hour YTV/Chameleon TV drama re-enacts the story of the Thames collision...

Three calls for entries.(contracts)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Three calls for entries this month. First up is the seventh Rushes Soho Shorts, entries by 6 May (sohoshorts.com). The Resfest digital film festival is seeking work to take on its global tour (resfest.com). Straight 8 is back too, with ad...

Glassworks joins forces with Dan O'Rourke.(to set up Dream Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Vfx outfit Glassworks has joined forces with ex-Nexus producer Dan O'Rourke to set up animation house Dream Corp. The company is part- owned by the Soho facility, but will operate as a separate entity. It is looking to hire a small team of...

Bulldog Awards prize giveaway.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... The TV show that the industry most loves to watch is Little Britain - Televisual's Bulldog award-winner that gathered most votes overall (see p14). We asked readers for their top shows of 2004, and over 4000 votes were cast. In a...

Close encounters of the toon kind.(Animated Encounters )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Bristol's Animated Encounters kicks off again this month with guests including Chris Landreth, whose Oscar-winning short Ryan gets its first UK run, and ex-C4 animation commissioner Clare Kitson, who's launching her book on Yuri Norstein...

Maverick hooks up with Peaktime.(Maverick Entertainment, Peaktime Entertainment)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Maverick Entertainment, producer of the CBBC's upcoming Muffin the Mule remake and Snailsbury Tales has hooked up with US kids producer/distributor/rights owner Peaktime Entertainment. The three- year deal will see the two outfits ally their...

BBC Bristol picks 422 South for evolutionary show.(Journey of Life )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... BBC Bristol's 5x60-minute Journey of Life series on evolution has 100 vfx shots supplied by 422 South. The five films - Seas Of Life, Land Grab, Airborne, Living Together and Human Life - tell the story of evolution in live-action...

Avalon picks up orders for quiz show and sitcom.(Facthunt, May Contain Nuts)(Avalon Television Ltd., ITV Network Ltd., British Broadcasting Corp.)(contracts)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Comedy independent Avalon Television has picked up two new commissions: an ITV1 quiz-show series fronted by Pub Landlord comedian Al Murray and a sitcom pilot for BBC3. Facthunt, presented by Murray, is a 7x30-minute series based on the...

Slinky animated promo.(Slinky Pictures)(Sing-Sing's)(contracts)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Slinky director Bunny Schendler's Flash-animated promo features a lonely transvestite who falls in love with a male shop mannequin and ends up taking him out on the town, where he comes to life. The promo was for the band Sing-Sing's single,...

Extreme Entertainment hires Zig Zag.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Zig Zag has been hired by Extreme Entertainment to produce the 2005 6x30-minute series of its global driving event, Gumball 3000. The show is ordered by Europe's Extreme Sports Channel with a pre-sale to Canada's Canwest Global. The 2004 event...

Sherbert handed brief.(United Air Lines Inc.)(contracts)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Sherbet director Sarah Roper (The Apartment Cat) was handed the brief to create an ad that could convince United Airlines' taller customers that the carrier was the last place they'd end up with deep vein thrombosis. The 30-second spot,...

BBC VE-Day show for Wavelength.(Wavelength Films)(contracts)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Norwich indie Wavelength Films has picked up a BBC commission as part of the corporation's 60th anniversary of VE-Day programming. The programme will focus on three personal narratives demonstrating the impact of World War II on those who...

Hawkshead commissioned by COI.(Central Office of Information of United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Hawkshead has been commissioned by the COI to make a recruitment DVD for the Royal Marines. The DVD shows aspects of life in the marines like travel, adventure and career prospects. It was shot on DigiBeta and Sony HDV camera and is directed...

Darlow Smithson solves E=MC2.(E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation (wt))(docu-drama to produce for PBS, Channel 4 Television Co)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Touching the Void producer Darlow Smithson has won a commission to make a feature-length science docu-drama for PBS and Channel 4. E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation (wt) is based on David Bodanis's book, E=MC2, and...

Cunningham and Aphex Twin team on new film.(Rubber Johnny)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Windowlicker and Come to Daddy director Chris Cunningham has again teamed up with electronic composer Aphex Twin to create his new digital short, Rubber Johnny. The film is about a "hyperactive, shape-shifting mutant" teen locked in a...

RSA Blackdog ditches sexy extras.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... RSA Blackdog's Mat Kirkby ditched the usual sexy extras for Basement Jaxx's new Oh My Gosh promo and replaced them with pensioners in a Catford old-folk's home. Real-life street people star as the retirement posse. Even 20-year-old guest...

Landmark Films picks up first Channel 4 commission.(Channel 4 Television Co.)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Landmark Films has picked up its first Channel 4 commission with a 50- minute documentary on Botton Village. The village spreads over 650 acres on the Yorkshire Moors and provides jobs, homes and carers for 200 people with learning...

Chemical Brothers new promo.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... A man is threatened by a car factory robot in The Chemical Brothers new promo. Directed by Dom & Nic through Factory Films, Believe's 3D work and compositing is by Framestore CFC. Live action was shot on DV with cg composited in. The...

Kudos commissioned.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Kudos has been commissioned to make its third prime-time drama series, the 8x1-hour Life on Mars. The team behind Kudos's Hustle - Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan and Ashley Pharoah - has created and written the new show and Bharat Nalluri will...

Monkey orders Five's swinging.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Monkey has bagged the order for Five's first home-grown comedy show. Swinging (wt) is a six-part sketch show about British attitudes to sex and relationships. It was ordered by features and entertainment commissioner Ben Frow. Executive...

Robert Carlyle to star in new drama.(ITV Network Ltd)(contracts)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Robert Carlyle is to star in a new drama for ITV1 currently being shot by indie Zenith. Class of 76 tells the story of a group of schoolmates mysteriously dying one-by-one in the years after graduation. The show is written by newcomer John...

Paul Abbott makes jump into documentaries.(contracts)(ITV Network Ltd.)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Shameless and State of Play writer Paul Abbott is making a jump into documentaries with a new ITV1 series. Abbott will script edit The Survivors, which uses dramatic sequences to tell the real-life stories of people pushed to the limits of...

Bring to life stills of real fatal shootings.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Lost in Space's Dan Capstick and Leo Marcantonio brought to life stills of the locations of real fatal shootings that were taken by Flynn director Ben Ibb for Roni Size's new promo. The 3D virtual locations were then intercut with shots of...

Empire Media signs Jonny Wilkinson.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Empire Media has signed up England hero Jonny Wilkinson to present rugby skills show Wilkinson's Hotshots, a follow-up to the recent Beckham's Hotshots. The ten-parter goes out on CBBC in the autumn. CBBC executive producer is Roy Milani. ...

Fincham takes on BBC1.(British Broadcasting Corp. appoints Peter Fincham as controller)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... After signalling hefty job cuts to its programme-making divisions, the BBC shake-up continues as outgoing Talkback Thames ceo Peter Fincham becomes BBC1 controller. He will be responsible for "reinterpreting and reinvigorating" the...

Hit shuffles board after buyout.(Hit Entertainment Inc.'s Peter Orton and Charles Burdick resigns)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Hit Entertainment chair/founder Peter Orton and ceo Charles Burdick are to leave after a #489m buyout by private equity firm Apax. Apax advisor Greg Dyke is tipped to replace Orton, who nets #29m from the sale. Former Fox Kids Europe head...

BBC swaps facts.(British Broadcasting Corp. commissions three new positions in the company)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... The BBC has filled three new factual commissioning roles created to see that in-house and independent producers have "direct and equal access to the commissioning process." Emma Swain is now commissioning editor for specialist factual;...

Bristol goes Dutch.(Holland's Off the Fence establishes production arm in Bristol )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Holland's Off the Fence is opening a production arm in Bristol headed by executive producer Joe Kennedy. First in a slate of documentaries is Feoddor Pitcairn Productions co-production, Secret of the Humpbacks. Copyright: Centaur...

Wandering star.(Southern Star Group Ltd.'s Simon Willock resigns)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Southern Star head of factual Simon Willock his leaving to set up his own firm. New outfit Swift (Simon Wilcox International Film & TV) will manage finance from "the idea through production and distribution," retaining close ties with...

Small is beautiful - and profitable.(new terms of trade turns big profits for television production companies)
April 12, 2005... Patrick McGrady, director of independent Wavelength Films, says the new terms of trade mean that fresh ideas needs defending more than ever Winning our first BBC commission under the new terms of trade this month set me thinking again...

THE BULLDOG AWARDS.(television industry awards)(Illustration)
April 12, 2005... For the first time Televisual rewards the Best of British TV with the help of the TV industry itself. We asked our readers to pick 2004's top programmes; fuller credits and runners-up appear in the Mip brochure that goes out to all readers...

Terms kick in for Mip.(Mip-TV)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Ahead of Mip-TV, the catalogues of some major UK sales houses have been transformed by producers' ability to use their distributor of choice. BBC Worldwide is selling ITV dramas including Red's Jane Hall's Big Bad Bus Ride, Ecosse's...

ABC picks BBC WW as dance partner.(American Broadcasting Companies Inc. signs production agrement with BBC Worldwide Ltd.)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... BBC Worldwide has inked a production agreement with ABC, taking its Strictly Come Dancing format to the US. The deal - a first for BBC Worldwide - sees the BBC entertainment production team who made the UK show producing the US version. ...

S4Ci to close.(S4C International)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... S4C International is to be wound up after Mip and its business put out to tender. The move follows a review of S4C commercial activities. Wyn Innes, md of S4C commercial division Masnachol, is leaving to set up his own company, Greenfield...

Celador sets up brand arm.(Celador International)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Celador International has set-up a "brand alliances" arm aimed at helping brand owners to exploit their rights. The division is headed by ex-ad agency boss Mathew Freer. Its first project will be to attract sponsors for November's British...

FID has a kid.(Fremantle International Distribution signs licensing agreement with Platinum Films )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Fremantle International Distribution (FID) has entered the kid's market. A deal with UK format owner/creator Platinum Films sees FID pick up worldwide distribution and licensing rights to Planet Cook, a live-action cookery show. ...

Artful docs for long dark nights.(interview with Leena Pasanen of YLE Teema)(Interview)
April 12, 2005... Leena Pasanen, head of programmes at YLE Teema, on her remit for discerning Finns What types of programmes run on your channel? We're a digital channel dedicated to arts, culture and science. We run single documentaries - cinema...

Television at the tipping-point.(terms of trade and broadcasting, forecast and analysis)
April 12, 2005... Years ago, back in the mists of time before the new terms of trade came into force, the broadcasting pecking-order was simple to understand. Broadcasters were at the top, with their in-house production divisions given the lion's share of...

MONTH IN REVIEW.
April 12, 2005... Made-for-mobile telly is an unproven area of the TV industry, but one which many are trying to get their heads around. The question is, what will people watch on such a small screen, for a relatively short amount of time? Fremantle Media's...

Letter: Changeling places.(Letter to the Editor)
April 12, 2005... I've just been reading your coverage of our work on In the Womb (alternative title for Life before Birth, In Post in March's Televisual), and I'm a little disappointed about one thing. Of the four pictures you used, the top left-hand...

Letter: Sex, lies and Doctor Who.(Letter to the Editor)
April 12, 2005... A "younger and sexier" cast indeed! (The Good Doctor, Televisual March issue). Peter Davison was approximately thirteen when he became the Doctor (or at least that's how old he seemed in comparison to Tom Baker). Andrew Guinness,...

OPINION: Independents reap their rewards.(survey of independent production companies' employees' pay package)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... #5.5m apiece isn't a bad result for the guys at Shed for the disposal of half the company. And Shed's arrival on Aim is another reason for the City to look with interest at the independent production sector. That and the zeros attached to...

INTERVIEW - ELAINE BEDELL: BBC's indie enforcer.(independent executive )(Interview)
April 12, 2005... BBC independent executive Elaine Bedell knows all too well indies' gripes about the BBC, but claims the content supply review will result in a new commissioning body welcoming indie pitches She was appointed to champion the needs of the...

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: Life, the universe.(movie production management)
April 12, 2005... Ann-Marie Corvin checks out the big-screen genesis of a much-loved British sci-fi classic Producer Nick Goldsmith and his directing partner Garth Jennings were on their converted barge in Islington when the screenplay for Hitchhiker's...

PAY SURVEY: Of independent means.(survey of television industry workers' wages and salaries)
April 12, 2005... Do you get the going rate for your job? Give your pay-packet our annual reality-check In last year's pay survey, Televisual was able to congratulate TV industry workers on having maintained an average wage of (just) over #40k for three...

IVCA AWARDS: The standard bearers.(International Visual Communication Association)
April 12, 2005... 2005's IVCA winners: top business communicators whether via film, video, disc, the web or live events MOTIVATIONAL TRAINING Gold Mental Health in Prisons producer Hawkshead client NHSU Silver Can we Risk It? producer CTN client...

HIGH-DEFINITION: The here and now of HD.
April 12, 2005... High-definition is no longer pie-in-the-sky technology for TV producers. As more and more people take the plunge, Simon Meek asks when is it viable to shoot on HD and what is it like to use? High-definition will replace standard-definition...

Previz role for Painting Practice.(graphic design firm to enter post-heavy production business)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... New previsualisation outfit Painting Practice is seeking to reclaim territory it sees being poached from art departments by vfx facilities for post-heavy productions. Set up by commercials/film design duo Joel Collins and Dan May, it...

Scramble invests #2m in video kit.(Scramble Sound enters into video production business with a new facility and a new name)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... London audio-house Scramble Sound is making the leap into video post- production with a #2m kit investment, relocation and company rebrand. Two vfx suites with Autodesk Smoke and Flint are being built as part of the expansion, which sees...

Avid Technology to buy Pinnacle Systems.(acquisition)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Avid Technology is to buy Pinnacle Systems and form a consumer video division in a deal worth #320m. Avid ceo David Krall says he wants to "tap into the next generation of video editors." Pinnacle, which has shipped more than 10m household...

Games market eyes up Soho talent.(Sony Corp. and Electronic Arts Inc. plans to contract post- production companies)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... A "fatalistic synergy" between vfx houses and games developers could cause a bidding war for cg artists, industry players are warning. Gaming giants like Sony and Electronic Arts are eyeing the post- production market as a source of...

Post-production staff want walk-in training centre.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Facilities' staff are in favour of a walk-in learning centre where they brush up on new skills, according to research carried out for the Learning and Skills Council. Later this month trade union Bectu is to publish survey results that...

Rebekah Hay joins VTR Media Services.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Rebekah Hay has left Red Post to join VTR Media Services, while VTR and The Mill lose colourists to each other: Kai Van Beers joins VTR as Seamus O'Kane heads off to The Mill. Golden Square Post Production has appointed its fourth Fire and...

Discreet to rebrand.(software firm changes name to Autodesk Media and Entertainment )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Discreet is rebranding as Autodesk Media and Entertainment in a bid to tap into its parent-company's client base and present its software to a wider market. The move coincides with the formation of a bespoke consultancy service for new...

Major London spends on DI kit.(spending for better digital grading in movies)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... An sustained increase in digital-grading work has prompted major investment from two London vfx outfits. Men from Mars has spent #750k installing an end-to-end FilmLight work- flow: a Northlight film scanner and Baselight Four finishing...

First outing for OpenFX softens HD.(visual effect plug-in platform to be used in high definition project)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... The Foundry's OpenFX plug-in development platform has been used to create a custom diffusion-spark for The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes, a theatrical project shot entirely in HD; this is the first OFX project to be completed. The film is a...

Aquarium to buy Moasaic Pictures.(acquisition)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Audio post-house Aquarium is buying Soho's Moasaic Pictures in a bid to break into the video-editing market. Aquarium has worked on projects including Prime Suspect VI for Granada and The Lost Prince (above) for Talkback/BBC. Sister...

NAB - wish you were here?(National Association of Broadcasters' convention and exhibition)
April 12, 2005... With more than a thousand exhibitors to work through, Simon Meek makes a few suggestions of who you should visit and why There are a few reasons to go to Las Vegas: to gamble and win big-time, to get hitched courtesy of Elvis, or just to...

TIBETAN BOX: A box of delights.(Passion Pictures and Golden Square Post makes commercial for Pier 1 Imports Inc.)
April 12, 2005... The first major job for Golden Square's fledgling 3D department was to create a surreal world full of lush rolling hills, wooden fish, unfurling flowers and a rather nice Tibetan box Beautiful is the word that springs to mind when...

TV brand-loyalty.(Sharon Wheeler of Turquoise expresses his views on television brands)(Interview)
April 12, 2005... Sharon Wheeler, md of channel-branding company Turquoise, is squeamish when it comes to televised surgery, but has a stronger stomach for moustachioed men and David Hasselhoff How much TV do you watch a week? About three hours at the...

TV diet of diamonds, docs and dinners.(television audience ratings of television programs)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2005... Granada's Diamond Geezer made a name for itself as the highest-rated drama for ITV1 so far this year, with a peak of 9.8m (40.8%) at 21.30. The two-hour drama averaged 9.4m (42.6%) and gave ITV1 its best overall peaktime share this year...