Televisual articles from December 2005

Televisual archives from December 2005

BBC ups development cash as indies rush to the regions.(British Broadcasting Corporation)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... A regional indie goldrush is in the offing with a host of outfits springing up outside the M25 as the BBC doubles its regional development fund and boosts regional commissioning. BBC director of TV Jana Bennett has upped the Regional...

Flurry of deals to make TV content go mobile.(television )(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... A flurry of deals are being done by TV content owners to repurpose shows for viewing on mobile phones. ITV has hooked up with operator 3 on a one-year deal to put a range of popular shows on the 3G network. Bush Tucker trials from I'm a...

Indie consolidation accelerates.(acquisition report)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Consolidation within the indie sector continued this month with Footballers' Wives producer Shed acquiring Ricochet, the outfit behind Supernanny, in a #30m deal. It marks Shed's first acquisition since floating on the AIM market in...

Winners named for AIR scheme.(Animator-in- Residence)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Four new animators have been named for the Channel 4 Animator-in- Residence Scheme. Each gets three months at Bradford's National Museum for Photography, Film & Television to develop an idea to pitch to Channel 4. Sally Arthur's 2d film Pig...

Peep Show duo get BBC2 pilot for Radio4 show.(British Broadcasting Corp)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Peep Show stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb are to get a TV run-out for their Radio 4 sketch show on BBC2. That Mitchell and Webb Sound is to be made into a 30-minute pilot and will be filmed both on location and in studio during...

Arnold teams with Von Trier for Red Road feature.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... British Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold has kick-started filming on her first feature Red Road in Glasgow, a collaboration with controversial film-maker Lars Von Trier. The movie forms part of Von Trier's "Advance Party" project, where three...

IN BRIEF: Skaramoosh plays with new Paintbox.(Designer Babies)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... The promo for Designer Babies allowed post and animation house Skaramoosh to play around with its new Quantel Paintbox system. Head of design Piers Helm was required to put reflections on to the shop windows that the dummies are standing...

IN BRIEF: Atlantic Rowing Race.(Indie Twofour Broadcast)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Indie Twofour Broadcast is to make an hour-long doc following James Cracknell and Ben Fogle's bid to win The Atlantic Rowing Race 2005. Producer/director Alexis Girardet has filmed the pair for months and the boat has been kitted out with...

IN BRIEF: Promo for Coldplay.(Anton Corbjin Ltd)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors Director Anton Corbjin kicks off his new production company, Anton Corbjin Ltd, with this promo for Coldplay's Talk, the third single from X &Y. The black and white "B-movie," which was...

ITV orders Liverpool 8 row show.(Dominic Crossley-Holland)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Indie producer Outline and Sir Steve Redgrave have been commissioned by ITV's Dominic Crossley-Holland to turn eight kids from Liverpool into champion rowers, for a new show called Liverpool 8. The Olympic medallist will use a full team...

IN BRIEF: Invisible effects.(Absolute)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... With the intention of making the effects invisible, post-house Absolute's Flame team spent over 250 hours working on the new Robbie Williams video, Advertising Space. The VFX producer for Absolute was Sally Heath, and the promo was directed...

Grabsky back to Bamiyan for Five.(The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan)(Indie Seventh Art)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Indie Seventh Art is to make a follow up film to its multi-award winning cinema and television documentary The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Director Phil Grabsky has been commissioned by Five's controller of arts and religion...

CBBC looks in-house for shows as Sharman departs.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... BBC kids in-house production is making four new shows for CBBC, the last commissions by outgoing boss Alison Sharman and the first since an overhaul of in-house commissioning. RU Game? is a new one-hour cross-platform daily breakfast time...

IN BRIEF: Promo for Jetix.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Post-house ArenaP3 has finished work on a 60-second promo for Jetix (formerly Fox Kids TV) that will go out on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. It features a boy with a TV for a head, so Alex Pickering used DS Nitris to track Jetix shows on...

IN BRIEF: Euronics spots.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Directing team Finkbom (Chris Hill and James Boty) from Passion Pictures has completed 1x30-second and 2x10-second spots for retail chain Euronics. Featuring Mr Plug, the spots blend live-action background with cg character animation. Producing...

THE GREEN LIGHT: New Jane Austen adaptations.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... ITV has commissioned three new Jane Austen adaptations, to be screened as a season alongside Emma, which was first shown in 1997. The three new projects will all be made by different producers: Company Pictures will tackle Mansfield Park...

THE GREEN LIGHT: Antiques and travel.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Reef Television is to make a new 15x60-minute series for BBC2, called Sun, Sea & Bargain Spotting. Presented by Angela Rippon, the new series will blend antiques and travel, by setting contestants the challenge of finding bargain abroad...

THE GREEN LIGHT: CBBC commissions Tattiemoon.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... CBBC has commissioned a 150x20-minute show for pre-schoolers from new Glasgow-based indie Tattiemoon. Called Me Too! the show will feature ten main characters, and explore the parallel worlds of children-at- play and adults-at-work. Alison...

THE GREEN LIGHT: Pioneer commissioned by C4.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Pioneer Productions has been commissioned by C4 to review this year's weather in a 1x120-minute special called 2005: The Year The Earth Went Wild. The show is due to be screened during late December, and was commissoned by Hamish Mykura. The...

THE GREEN LIGHT: Seven Stones commision.(Seven Stones Media)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Brand new indie Seven Stones Media has won its first commission, a 20x30-minute series for the BBC. Entitled Return to Tuscany, the observational documentary was commissioned by the BBC's controller of daytime, Jay Hunt. The series is due to...

IN BRIEF: Ad for MasterCard.
December 8, 2005... Director Sarah Roper from animation outfit Sherbet is behind the latest TV ad for MasterCard. Called Full House, it required a mix of traditional and cg animation, as well as work in both Photoshop and After Effects. Rachel Matchett was the...

ITV goes headhunting.(appointments)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... CBBC is on the hunt for a new controller and Five is again looking for a new head of acquisitions after ITV tempted two new recruits over to the Network Centre. ITV director of television Simon Shaps has poached CBBC's Alison Sharman,...

BBC names new comedy boss.(British Broadcasting Corp. appointed Lucy Lumsden )(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... The BBC has signalled its commitment to comedy by appointing a controller of comedy commissioning, separating comedy commissioning from the entertainment role for the first time. Lucy Lumsden has worked on independent comedy at the BBC for...

Indies spread their wings.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Last month saw a host of indie launches and expansions. Former BBC docs boss Jeremy Gibson has joined with Denham's Peter Edwards, Mosaic's Adam Alexander and producer Mike Cunliffe to launch south-west based Seven Stones Media. The indie...

Missing the digital boat?
December 8, 2005... Alex Holt, head of media at Energis, asks if broadcasters are embracing digital too slowly Broadcasters are facing a metatrend. They have lost control of viewers and of distribution, and it is a tide they can not swim against. At this...

RDF eyes two first-looks.(RDF Media)(Hanrahan Media)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... RDF Media has signed up another two indies to two-year first-look deals covering their international TV and consumer product rights. The latest two indies are Hanrahan Media and October Films. The first show under the deal with October is...

Rupert Bear's all at ER after buy-out.(Entertainment Rights )(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Entertainment Rights has acquired a majority interest in the rights to Rupert Bear from Express Newspapers. ER now holds worldwide audio visual, licensing and merchandising, publishing, live events and new media rights. Express Newspapers...

Tie up for Sony, BBC Worldwide.
December 8, 2005... BBC Worldwide has signed a first-look agreement with Sony Pictures Television for scripted series in the US. The three year deal gives Sony a first-look option to develop and produce comedy- drama scripted series for the US market together...

ID's US Reef sale.
December 8, 2005... ID Distribution has made the first US sale for lifestyle and arts indie, Reef Television. The 15-part Uncharted Territ ry, a BBC2 show about buying property abroad, has been sold to Scripps Networks' Fine Living, which also picked up the...

Loonland deal.
December 8, 2005... TV-Loonland has sold kids cartoon series Metalheads to Italian broadcaster RAI3. The 26x11-minute series is a co-production between TV-Loonland subsidiary Telemagination, ZDF and CBBC. Previous buyers include Australia's ABC and...

Fremantle plays board games.(Fremantlemedia)(Britannia Games)(contracts)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Fremantlemedia has signed a deal with board game manufacturer Britannia Games to license two of its classic gameshow brands Family Fortunes and Play Your Cards Right. Britannia is to manufacture two games for a summer 2006 launch. Play...

Granada sells to Scandinavia.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Granada International has sold a batch of ITV Production- made docs and reality shows to Scandinavia. My Skin Could Kill Me, a doc about a group of girls suffering from the skin condition Harlequin Ichthyosis, goes to TV Danmark, TV Norge...

Aardman content to mobile.(Crucible Media)(contracts)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Aardman has put together several deals to distribute its content to mobile phone customers. Old Wallace and Gromit material, Creature Comforts, Angry Kid and Rex the Runt are all being made into wallpapers, screensavers and tones to be made...

C4 stands firm in new media war.(Interview)
December 8, 2005... "No, it's not a negotiating ploy, yes, it is a real issue of substance," says Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan. From Duncan's perspective, Ofcom's upcoming television production sector review is nothing less than "an issue of survival"...

Month in review.
December 8, 2005... Red faces all round at Gray's Inn Road this month, as contingency plans for the potential closure of the ITN News Channel were said to have been accidentally abandoned on a printer. Detailing the loss of 25 jobs, the plans apparently...

LETTER: The beat must go on.(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 2005... Your feature in last month's issue on music for television was a very welcome read, largely because it threw a spotlight on an under- appreciated but massively important part of the production process. I agree completely that music plays a...

LETTER: Getting ahead in advertising.(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 2005... Lovely to read all the details in your commercials survey last month about the top directors working in the business today. I'm sure they get paid handsomely for all their hard work. Ben Flanagan, Hackney, E9 Copyright: Centaur...

LETTER: The Welsh are coming.(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 2005... S4C chief executive Iona Jones gets a double page profile spread in the pages of Televisual. Welsh indie Tinopolis lodges a bid for London's The Television Corporation. Welsh post-production facility Barcud Derwen snaps up Irish outfit The...

LETTER: World's gone mobile mad.(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 2005... TV on your mobile probably sounds a good idea to producers or mobile phone companies looking for more revenue. But am I alone in thinking that few people will ever want to watch tiny TV pictures on their phones? Louise Hunt, Birmingham,...

OPINION: Change is in the air.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... What does the future hold for television? It's a question producers and broadcasters have been asking with alarming regularity this year and one that came to a head last month with the publication of a UKTV book of essays written by leading...

INTERVIEW - JONATHAN KINGSBURY: New media king.(Interview)
December 8, 2005... Aiming to source 25% of new media content from the indie sector, the BBC has appointed Jonathan Kingsbury to open the corporation to outside suppliers. Poz Hulls meets the BBC's new media gatekeeper The fourth series of Spooks may have...

IN PRODUCTION - HOTEL BABYLON: Carnival checks in.
December 8, 2005... A decrepit supermarket warehouse has been transformed into a high-tech studio for BBC1 series Hotel Babylon. Carnival Films tells Tim Dams how it overcame low-flying planes and planning permission hell to construct a luxury hotel in the...

FUTURE OF INDIES: The indie of the future.
December 8, 2005... How can today's independent production company face up to the challenges of tomorrow's TV world? Poz Hulls asks six indie experts to peer into their crystal balls and tell us what they see As anyone who's ever seen Tomorrow's World will...

DVD SHOWCASE: Disc world in a spin.(digital video disc)
December 8, 2005... DVD sales growth is flattening out, but does that spell doom for the disc? And what of next-gen DVD and the threat posed to discs by video downloading? Televisual assesses the state of a DVD market in flux and, below, presents its annual...

DESKTOP EDITING: Box of delights.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Desktop editing packages are flying off the shelves, making every home a potential post-house. Or are they? Simon Meek looks at the true costs and capabilities of the likes of Final Cut Pro and Avid Xpress Pro It was always going to...

Mobile TV is a turn-off.(television)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Mobile phone users in the UK have given streamed content a massive thumbs down, according to a survey by media lawyers Olswang. The Future of Convergence report finds that the majority (70%) of mobile phone owners don't want to watch TV...

3G figures reach mass-market.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... The roll out of 3G mobile phones will reach "mass market" in 2006, says Informa Telecoms and Media. Analyst Gavin Patterson, speaking at the 3G world congress in Hong Kong, expects 70.6m users by the end of 2005 and is forecasting figures...

Film post sees value rocket.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Post-production now makes up a quarter of all film production spend, according to a report commissioned by facilities body UK Post. This spend is up on 2001, where 13% of budget was on post. The research says the film post industry now...

BBC to trial HD.
December 8, 2005... The BBC is to trial HD broadcasting next year. It plans to simulcast highlights of BBC1's peaktime schedule in HD on satellite and cable, while running a similar technical trial for terrestrial TV in London . Copyright: Centaur...

Stop moaning and get on with it.(Interview)
December 8, 2005... The world is changing and post houses need to get with the times, says VTR Group's operations director Neil Lane. It's time to look beyond the TV set and to other media options We're all aware that it has been a tough year for the post...

IN POST - THE WORKS: Egg's rodent test.
December 8, 2005... Internet bank Egg trials its credit card on a city of guinea pigs in a surreal take on animal testing. Simon Meek looks at the techniques behind the making of this quirky TV campaign "One of the weird things about guinea pigs is that they...

Armchair punter.(Interview)
December 8, 2005... Jim Reid, director of programmes at indie Channel X, likes to get into The Thick Of It, and would love to see Nationwide resurrected with Frank Bough in a gimp outfit What do you watch? Comedy and comedy entertainment for fun and to...

BBC1 and ITV do a Saturday-night switchover.(British Broadcasting Corp)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... The X Factor from Syco and Talkbackthames lost for the first time to BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday 4 November, with ITV managing 7.3m to the BBC1's 8m. But another stalwart from Talkbackthames couldn't be dented on Tuesday 16...