Televisual articles from February 2006

Televisual archives from February 2006

Graham mulls Wall to Wall future amidst indie deal-making spree.(Alex Graham)(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 20, 2006... Wall to Wall chief exectutive Alex Graham says he is thinking of selling his independent or seeking outside investment in the near future. Wall to Wall, maker of BBC2 hit Who Do You Think You Are? and BBC1 drama New Tricks, is one of the...

Ten Alps moves into Cottage for drama charge.(Cottage Industry Productions)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Indie producer Ten Alps is planning to build up a signficant drama arm through acquisitions and organic growth, following its purchase of drama indie Cottage Industry Productions. The #74,000 deal gives Ten Alps an instant drama slate,...

IN BRIEF: Geographical adventure series.(Great British Journeys from Tern Television)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Scottish indie Tern Television is to make Great British Journeys, an 8x60-minute geographical adventure series for BBC2 presented by Nick Crane. Retracing the footsteps of the country's most influential indigenous explorers, such as Gerald of...

IN BRIEF: New on-screen design for CNN.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Branding and communications agency Kemistry has teamed up with CNN's in- house creative team to develop a new on-screen design for rolling news channel CNN International. Launching in February, the new look "ensures clarity, boldness and a...

IN BRIEF: PCI Fitch appointment.(appoints Peter Cowie)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Leading corporate producer PCI Fitch has appointed Peter Cowie as its managing director. Cowie, 45, moves from fellow WPP operating company JWT London, where he has been responsible for new business development. He will report to PCI founder...

Aardman to create US Creature.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... US broadcaster CBS has commissioned Aardman to produce an American version of its hit series Creature Comforts. Aardman will produce the half hour stop-motion animated series in Los Angeles and its Bristol studios. "We're thrilled to...

Guantanamo's road to Berlin.(The Road To Guantanamo)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Michael Winterbottom's The Road To Guantanamo will premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival on February 14, prior to its broadcast on C4 on March 9. The factual drama is based on interviews with three British prisoners released from...

IN BRIEF: ITV moves.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... ITV has radically changed its commissioning line-up. Director of programmes Nigel Pickard leaves to join RDF as director of family and children's; veteran drama head Nick Elliot is to retire in 2007 and will be replaced by incoming controller...

Lion TV roars about China for Discovery US.(Discovery Communications Inc. Discovery Channel)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Lion TV is leading the charge on the Discovery US HD Atlas series, with the two-hour film Atlas: China Revealed. The $65m Atlas project - championed by Discovery chief John Hendrick - is billed as Discovery's most ambitious HD effort to...

Artsworld to screen its first HD production.('National Trust: National Treasures')(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Artsworld - one of the Sky channels that has been lined up for the platform's HD launch later this Spring - has boosted its schedule with a new 10-part documentary from indie Liberty Bell about the National Trust. National Trust:...

IN BRIEF: Picture of corporate life.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Film company Rubberductions has created a series of animations called DudeCorp. Painting a wacky and violent picture of corporate life, the episodes are online (www.dudecorp.com), and will be available on mobile soon. Rubberductions won the...

IN BRIEF: Depeche Mode video.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Anton Corbijn and VTR have helped Depeche Mode along the comeback road, with the video for their latest single, Suffer Well. Corbijn wanted a "rock photography edge," which VTR's colourist Simon Bourne was happy to provide. Matt Wilmshurst...

IN BRIEF: Animation nomination.("Badgered" nominated for Academy Awards)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Sharon Coleman's hand-drawn 2D animation Badgered has been nominated for the best animated short Oscar. Produced by Tandem Films, the seven- minute graduation short was inspired by the 27-year-old's reaction to nuclear weapons in Scotland. It...

Thumbs Up for Britain's Top Model.(Thumbs Up Productions)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Thumbs Up Productions has been given the go-ahead to produce a second series of Britain's Next Top Model for Living TV. The 10x30-minute series will adopt the same format, with cameras following twelve young women as they learn to cope...

IN BRIEF: New ad for First Choice.
February 20, 2006... Post house Lola has just finished work on a new ad for First Choice holidays, called Sea Rush. Lola's founder Rob Harvey used Flame to composite children running with the various backgrounds needed. Harvey also graded the spot to make the beach...

Suitable Viewing wins first series.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Suitable Viewing - the new indie headed up by Martyn Auty - has picked up its first commission, a 5x60-minute period drama called The Roman Mysteries for CBBC. Based on the novels by Caroline Lawrence and adapted by the Bafta- nominated...

BBC2 asks for more of Dibnah's best bits.(Fred Dibnah's World of Steam, Steel and Stone)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... BBC2 has commissioned 12 x30-minute series Fred Dibnah's World Of Steam, Steel And Stone. Produced by Leeds indie The View from the North, which made over 40 programmes with Dibnah before he died from cancer in 2004, it will use highlights...

IN BRIEF: English&pockett commission.(by Discovery Networks Italy )(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... English&pockett has been commissioned by Discovery Networks Italy to create a series of idents, bumpers and continuity layouts for theme nights on Discovery Real Time Italy. The fun, informative on-air packaging is designed to appeal to...

IN BRIEF: New mobile content company.
February 20, 2006... Jon Lazarus and producer Tim Osbourne have launched new mobile content company Wiretown to develop mobile applications that can be be synergised with TV shows. Their recent work includes an application for Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, which...

IN BRIEF: Rights to Rupert.(Entertainment Rights gets distribution rights for "Rupert and Friends")(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Five has secured the rights to new animated series Rupert and Friends from Entertainment Rights. Five has commissioned ER for 52x10-minute episodes, which will appear on Five's Milkshake strand from Autumn 2006. Currently in pre-production...

IN BRIEF: Commission for Seven Stones.(BBC Daytime and Seven Stones Media)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... BBC Daytime's Jay Hunt has also commissioned Seven Stones Media to make reality series The Urban Chef. It will follow Ollie Rowe, who trained under Sam Clarke at Moro, as he attempts to open a successful restaurant in London that will use...

IN BRIEF: Orders for two reality shows.(from ITV Daytime and BBC Daytime)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Twofour has received orders from ITV Daytime and BBC Daytime to produce two reality shows. For ITV, the 5x60-minute Nobody's Inn sets two couples against each other as they try to turn a run-down pub into a thriving business. The producer is...

IN BRIEF: Baby Cow given the go-ahead.(Baby Cow Productions' "Saxondale")(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Baby Cow Productions has been given the go-ahead for Saxondale, a 6x30- minute series featuring Steve Coogan as a roadie who reminisces about his life with successful rock bands of the past. Written by Coogan and commissioned by BBC2...

IN BRIEF: Fantasy adventure.(Kudos and CBBC)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Kudos is to produce I Spy for CBBC. The new 10x30-minute show aims to bring the fun of Spooks to a younger audience. I Spy will feature two girls and a boy in a fantasy adventure and will see them tracking down mad geniuses by using...

IN BRIEF: Promo for The Rakes.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Godman directing duo Type2error (Matt Simmonds and Ed Emmerson) have finished work on the promo All Too Human for up-and-coming indie rockers The Rakes. The video pays homage to Lars Von Trier's Dogville by being set explicitly in a studio,...

BBC revamps Factual.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... In a move aimed at strengthening relationships with indies, BBC controller of factual commissioning Glenwyn Benson has assigned executive producers to support the department's five commissioning editors. Charlotte Moore rejoins the BBC...

Channel 4 tunes into radio ambitions.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Channel 4 has hired Capital Radio's former strategy and development director, Nathalie Schwarz, giving her a mandate to explore taking the broadcaster into radio. Speaking at the Oxford Media Convention, C4's chief executive Andy Duncan...

Aardman takes on Moore.
February 20, 2006... Aardman's co-founders David Sproxton and Peter Lord have appointed Stephen Moore as head of features and chief operating officer. Moore will be relocating to the UK immediately, after spending eight years in LA as president of...

C4's new VOD Rose.(Channel 4 appoints Sarah Rose for video on demand development)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Channel 4 has appointed Sarah Rose to be head of channel and VOD development. The post is a new one, and will see Rose spearheading C4's multi-channel portfolio and VOD plans. Rose will report to Rod Henwood, C4's new business director....

Fremantle eyes new platforms.
February 20, 2006... FremantleMedia has promoted Gary Carter to chief creative officer, new platforms. He will be creating new brands for mobile, broadband, game consoles and IPTV. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Independent's day has come.(investors should be careful)
February 20, 2006... Sanjay Wadhwani, director of Ingenious Corporate Finance, says indies must act now if they want to secure City backing 2005 saw a boom in the level of M&A and IPO activity in the independent TV sector and it is expected to continue this...

Is Natpe worth the trip to Vegas?
February 20, 2006... Attendance at the Las Vegas programme market has been on the wane for years. David Wood talks to leading British distributors to ask if they could detect signs of a revival at last month's eventBritish distributors returning from this year's...

Dealing with the download revolution.(television programs distribution)
February 20, 2006... All3Media International md Louise Pedersen says piracy is major issue for UK distributors Right now, for UK distributors, the international market is in pretty good shape. Last year revenue from programme exploitation was just under...

Producers weigh up Shap's ITV.(Simon Shaps)
February 20, 2006... Simon Shaps has sparked huge upheaval since taking over as director of television at ITV. What do the changes mean for indies, asks David Wood, and will they get a fair deal on new media rights?There's little doubt that the last few months at...

Month in review: February.(United Kingdom Office of Communications)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... TV Corp chief executive Peter Salmon resigned, prompting fears that there could be a mass exodus of staff in the wake of the company's hostile takeover by Welsh indie Tinopolis for #36m. Salmon, a former BBC1 chief, has accepted an interim...

Smith & Foulkes lead BAA nods.(British Animation Awards)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Nexus Productions directing duo Smith & Foulkes head the list of finalists for this year's British Animation Awards (March 9), securing three nominations in the best commercial direction category for Honda's Grrr, NSPCC's Speech Bubble and VW...

LETTER: Taking an HD rain check.(Letter to the Editor)
February 20, 2006... I was very glad to read in your January issue that shooting in HD on the BBC Natural History Unit's flagship project Planet Earth was less than straight-forward. Certainly I think there needs to be a good debate about the headlong rush...

LETTER: Like the sound of mobile TV.(Letter to the Editor)
February 20, 2006... Your feature on mobile TV last month raised many interesting issues and demonstrated that the business model for the smallest screen is starting to shake itself out. Good money, however, will not be made unless producers deliver...

LETTER: Good start to the year.(Letter to the Editor)
February 20, 2006... As an industry, the film business loves nothing better than a good moan. At the risk of bucking the trend, I thought I should write in to point out that things aren't looking so bad right now. British films by Marc Evans and Michael...

OPINION: Indies bank on new media success.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Amid all the press hoopla surrounding last month's Celebrity Big Brother, one paragraph from a front page Guardian piece particularly stood out. "When storylines such as Chantelle's emerge, everyone must see why the master dramatists Richard...

INTERVIEW - ALEX GRAHAM: Pact's new man.(Interview)
February 20, 2006... New Pact chair Alex Graham says he wants the producers' body to establish a more 'grown-up' relationship with broadcasters. At the same time, he's mulling the future of his indie Wall to Wall, he tells Tim Dams Alex Graham's Kentish...

IN PRODUCTION - THE LINE OF BEAUTY: Excess and the eighties.
February 20, 2006... By avoiding the cliches of the decade and casting predominantly unknown actors, a new production from the BBC is aiming to bring the Thatcher era alive in a fresh new way. Poz Hulls finds out more When Alan Hollinghurst's fourth novel,...

Archive's new future.(Broadcasting industry)(Archive libraries)
February 20, 2006... Mobiles and the internet are becoming hot destinations for indies to explore their back catalogues and for archive libraries to sell their clips, but the road to profit is still being drawn up, reports Jon Creamer Producers and...

PLANET EARTH: Secrets of planet earth.
February 20, 2006... Making a landmark series like Planet Earth was never going to be easy. Jon Creamer discovers four areas where the production team had to adapt to survive - in the air, on the ground, in space and in the edit room The view from the air...

CREWS AND CAMERAS: Shooting the cameraman.
February 20, 2006... Lower production budgets, cheaper DV kit and fierce competition are having a disastrous impact on basic craft skills, reports Adrian Pennington. Meanwhile, a unique Televisual survey, discovers which cameras are proving most popular with...

CREWS AND CAMERAS: Televisual camera Hire survey: Market by genre.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Televisual surveyed the UK's broadcast camera-hire market to generate an accurate picture of the sector and the prominence of the various cameras and formats it supplies. The survey, based on a detailed questionaire sent to all UK camera-hire...

CREWS AND CAMERAS: Televisual camera Hire survey: market by Camera Hire.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Standard definition cameras are still the lifeblood of the market, making up for 65% of total-hires and 68% of the sector's turnover. Sony's DVW 790 DigiBeta camera racks up over a third (36%) of total sales and 55% of all SD camera hires. But...

HAMISH MYKURA: Hamish's history.
February 20, 2006... After a strong 2005, C4 has upped its programme budgets. Ready to make the most of this is history, science and religion boss Hamish Mykura, who tells Poz Hulls about the shows he'd like to spend his share of the cash on When Hamish...

Rushes outlines growth plans.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Ascent Media's vfx house Rushes is planning five new suites that will double the scale of its Soho operations. The new suites will be fitted with Autodesk compositing kit, with extra staff brought over from sister company One Post, which...

MacMillion, Sony battle on.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Sony is facing a court battle with London facilities boss Mads Jorgensen over the supply and payment of its XPRI and DNE-2000 editing systems. Jorgensen took purchase of Europe's first XPRI system in 2001, but has failed to complete the...

IN BRIEF: Absolute Post expands.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Commercials vfx house Absolute Post has expanded its operations into an additional floor at its Poland Street premises. Flame operator Daniel Morris leaves The Mill to join Absolute. Morris will run the facility's fifth Flame suite, which is...

Facilities boost HD investment.(high definition )(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... London facilities are emptying their pockets to finance HD kit in preparation of a year of new business spurred by BSkyB's HD service and movement in this direction from the BBC. Rapid Pictures is spending more than #100k on an Avid...

Lipsync Post relaunches vfx department.(Stefan Drury appointed)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Lipsync Post is relaunching its vfx department with a new head of film effects poached from MPC. The facility has hired Stefan Drury - ex-MPC senior producer - to head up LFX, which has grown out of a #3m investment by Lipsync in digital...

IN BRIEF: Compositing release.(The Foundry launches Furnace 3 for Shake)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Vfx developer The Foundry has launched Furnace 3 for Apple's compositing platform, Shake. The product release brings an additional 10 plug-ins for Shake users. These include a DeBlur solution, which automatically removes motion and out of focus...

IN BRIEF: Post moves.(VTR appoints Steve Morahan)(Blue appoints Angela Parkinson)(Beam.tv appoints Tom Horton)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... VTR has bolstered its management team with the appointment of Steve Morahan as head of post-production. Morahan joins from TV consultancy Captive People. VTR's sister facility Blue takes on a new producer, Angela Parkinson, who joins from...

TVP hires Gage to push JCA TV.(Marcus Gage)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... TVP Group's post-production facility JCA TV is being given a push with the hiring of ex-Ascent Media business development manager Marcus Gage. JCA TV has expanded its service offering into restoration and HD since its acquisition by TVP...

Pepper Post in ballet Riot.(Riot at the Rite)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Pepper Post has completed post on BBC2 single drama Riot At The Rite, about the notorious 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Senior colourist Chris Beeton completed the grade via the wetgate C- Reality. "The first half, which...

IN BRIEF: Granada uses Forscene.(Granada Media PLC)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Granada Media has used Forbidden Technologies' web-based editing tool Forscene on Extreme Ghost Stories, due to air this year. It's the second time the broadcaster has used the Forscene system for logging rushes remotely. Last year, the...

Adobe bids for pro post.(Adobe Production Studio)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Adobe has released its new Production Studio - featuring Premiere Pro 2.0, After Effects 7.0, Audition 2.0, Encore 2.0, Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator CS2 - in an attempt to gain back ground on rivals Avid and Apple. New feature Dynamic...

First Blu-ray and HD DVD replication.(Technicolor Creative Services alliance with Sonic Solutions to launches high density digital videodisks)
February 20, 2006... The first Blu-ray and HD DVD format discs have been replicated by Technicolor Creative Services in an alliance with Sonic Solutions. The titles - Chronos and a corporate disc for DTS - were authored at Technicolor's Burbank facility using...

ATG helps Nat Geo go HD.(National Geographic Channel pacts with ATG Broadcast for going high definition)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... ATG Broadcast is kitting out the National Geographic Channel's in-house facility, ahead of the plan to broadcast in HD via BSkyB. The contract includes the installation of a Sony HDCam-SR deck and HD monitoring kit, plus a 5.1 Genelec...

BBC kits up with wireless cameras.(orders Link Research's LinkXPs wireless camera systems)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... The BBC has invested in Link Research's wireless camera systems, ordering LinkXPs for thirteen news crews. An HD version of the wireless system, LinkHD, was used with Thomson's LDK 6000HD camera heads at the West Asian Games in Doha....

The business is people.(about The Family, a new post production agency)
February 20, 2006... The Farm Group's joint md Nicky Sargent explains why the company is launching The Family, a post-production agency In the good old days of post-production the equipment was reassuringly expensive. And the kit seldom worked, which was...

IN POST: Walking with Toumai.
February 20, 2006... An ambitious new project from Gedeon Productions seeks to explore the life of our oldest ancestor, Toumai. Simon Meek finds out how Skaramoosh brought the past back to life Seven million years ago, the human race's oldest ancestor,...

A unique aspect.(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 20, 2006... Paul Sommers, head of the factual group at Tiger Aspect, stays relaxed by watching the many conquests of Judge John Deed and repeats of The Good Life. Just, please, don't mention darts. What's the best thing on TV right now? Judge...

High drama for Box TV, Kudos in January ratings.(television programs)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2006... Box TV and Size 9's drama Sweeney Todd carved up the competition on Tuesday 3 January, averaging 6.5 million at 9pm on BBC1. Kudos' Life on Mars took off on BBC1 with 7m and a 27% share on Monday 9 January, before settling at 6.3m on...