Televisual articles from June 2006

Televisual archives from June 2006

The fight to be funny hots up as Fincham gets in on the comedy act.(Peter Fincham)(British Broadcasting Corp.)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Peter Fincham has further signalled his intention to put comedy at the fore on BBC1, by greenlighting five one-offs to be screened this autumn. Instead of pursuing the traditional sitcom, the five singles are comedy- dramas, which Fincham...

PCI Fitch is number one for corporate production.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... PCI Fitch has topped Televisual's Corporate Top 50 for the second year, with Jacaranda and Imagination making the second and third spots. The annual survey also takes the temperature of the market. Md Peter Cowie called the last year "an...

IN BRIEF: Short films for charities.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... A host of UK production talent has volunteered time and resources to make 26 short films for charities as part of a Media Trust project. Companies included True North, Fulcrum TV, Pink Films and Twofour. The films will also go out on the...

IN BRIEF: Shed profit.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Shed Productions has posted a 22% rise in first half pre-tax profit and has said it is confident of meeting targets for the full year despite the cancellation of Footballer's Wives. It also said it was looking to expand the business through...

IN BRIEF: Bafta Craft Awards.(Bleak House )(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Bleak House won three prizes at last month's Bafta Craft Awards. Simon Elliott took the production design prize, Paul Knight picked up an editing award and Andrea Galer won the costume design category. Meanwhile, Tsunami/7 Hours on Boxing...

Aardman goes it alone on sales.(Aardman Animations coming up with a new division)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Aardman Animations is setting up its own international distribution arm. Head of broadcast and development Miles Bullough will head up the division and is looking for a head of sales. Bullough said "with the imminent launch of Shaun the Sheep...

IN BRIEF: TV moves.(appointments and promotions)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Sony Pictures TV Productions UK has poached Julia Thompson from Syco to be director of entertainment. A head of drama will also be hired. Tony Yates has been named as coo of RDF USA. Vanessa Brookman has been promoted to controller of...

ITV orders third in its South African UP series.(Independent Television )(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... ITV's director of factual and daytime Alison Sharman has ordered the next film in Granada's UP series with Mandela's Children 21UP. Just as Michael Apted's UK UP series follows a varied group of British people from childhood into...

Cold Feet creator's backpacker drama shoots for Five.(Corner Store Films)(Five)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Filming has kicked off on a new Mike Bullen penned drama ordered by Five and Network Ten Australia. Corner Store Films is producing the six-part Tripping Over written by the creator of Cold Feet and Life Begins The show is a...

IN BRIEF: New drama.(ITV Productions)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... ITV Productions is making a new single drama, What We Did on Holiday, for ITV1. It stars ex-Eastenders star Shane Ritchie as a son who takes his ailing parents on one last holiday to Malta and discovers he has an illegitimate half brother....

IN BRIEF: Rebrand for Kaartje and Ketnet.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Red Bee and The Hive teamed up to create this rebrand for Belgian kids channels Kaartje and Ketnet. The Hive created a variety of characters based on the letter K. They were made in both fully cg and in live- action mixes. Ian Wormleighton...

Ads for Planters Peanuts.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Studio AKA's Marc Craste and Philip Hunt directed two new ads for Planters peanuts that show Planters' Mr Peanut character falling in love in a series of classic love cliches that were created in Xsi. Train and Skyscraper show Mr Peanuts...

Tigress climbs Everest for Discovery.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Tigress Productions is sending an 18-strong production crew to film a team of 11 climbers and their sherpa guides as they make their first attempt to scale Mount Everest for a new series ordered by Discovery US. The 6x1-hour Everest: No...

IN BRIEF: Ad for SNS Reaal.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Blink and The Mill put together this ad for Dutch bank SNS Reaal that shows people surrounded by swarms of butterflies. The Mill created particle systems to mimic clouds of butterflies in flight and hand animated creatures in the foreground...

Tightrope legal drama for BBC.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Tightrope Films, the indie formed by Hilary Bevan-Jones and Shameless writer Paul Abbott, has won an eight-part drama commission from BBC Northern Ireland. Filming kicks off in Salford on The Innocence Project, a series about a group of...

Tern returns to the spa and finds a husband for UKTV.(Tern Television)(United Kingdom Television)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Tern Television has picked up two series orders from UKTV Style - the 10x60 minute How to Find a Husband and a second 10x60-minute series of Spa of Embarrassing Illnesses. How to Find a Husband sees host Sally Gray date 50 men in 50...

Branding for Nat Geo channel.(National Geographic Channel contracts Devilfish)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Branding for Nat Geo's dedicated HD channel comes courtesy of Devilfish. The company put together idents and a full graphics package. The idents use ultra-macro lenses and filming at up to 2000 fps. Golden Square worked with Devilfish on the...

Promoting Qatar.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... RSA pulled in Absolute to complete this spot promoting Qatar as an international business centre. As many of Qatar's centrepieces are not quite completed, Absolute was brought in to remove cranes and unfinished buildings from the shots. The...

IN BRIEF: Zinkia commissioned by CITV.(Zinkia Entertainment)(Granada International)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Zinkia Entertainment and Granada International's Pocoyo pre-school cg animation has had a second run commissioned by CITV. The series is written by Andy Yerkes (Bear In The Big Blue House), with the English version narrated by actor Stephen...

IN BRIEF: Talent Television commission.(Anne Gilchrist)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Talent Television has been commissioned by CBBC's Anne Gilchrist to produce two sports-themed specials of its children's entertainment show Best of Friends. Both shows will air as part of a week of programming in the run up to Sport Relief...

IN BRIEF: Five signs up Prince Charles.(Five and Empire Media Productions)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Five and Empire Media Productions have managed to sign up Prince Charles to front a show about the history of the Victoria Cross. The twelve living holders of the medal will be interviewed and there will be a mix of archive material and...

IN BRIEF: New code breaking history show.(Diverse Productions)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Diverse Productions has gained access to the British Museum for a new code breaking history show for Channel 4. Presented by Time Team's Tony Robinson, Codex follows teams of code breakers as they attempt to unravel a secret code through a...

IN BRIEF: Billie Piper and Julie Walters to star.(British Broadcasting Corp. contracts the actresses to act in a television adaptation)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Billie Piper and Julie Walters are to star in a BBC1 adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby In The Smoke, the first book in a quartet that charts the adventures of Sally Lockhart (Piper), a feisty young Victorian heroine. It's adapted by...

IN BRIEF: English and Pockett contract.(TV6's advertising contract)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... English & Pockett bagged the contract to create the on/off air branding for new Swedish channel TV6. Aimed at young males, the promos feature a robot who behaves exactly like the target audience, drinking, getting tatoos, partying. The...

THE BUSINESS: BBC buttons up for World Cup.
June 8, 2006... Obituaries have been written for red button technology, but the BBC's interactive World Cup plans show it's keeping the faith. Tim Dams finds out more about the corporation's interactive ambitions Earlier this year, Channel 4 chief...

THE BUSINESS: Sitcom's still coming up smiling.
June 8, 2006... DLT's Don L Taffner Jr says reports of the death of the sitcom are wildly exaggerated Much has been written and said of late about the demise of mainstream sitcom. Nevertheless, My Family's recent sixth series is not only the highest...

INTERNATIONAL: Turning TV shows into brands.(New York Licensing Show)
June 8, 2006... The world's licensing industry meets in New York this month for its annual get together. Among the exhibits will be a fair-sized group of UK TV shows, but will they make the jump from screen to product? This month sees the world's...

INTERNATIONAL: Making a feature of factual.(Jess Search)(Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation)
June 8, 2006... Jess Search, chief exec of C4's new docs initiative, asks Brit documentarians to think big When I go to international film festivals like Sundance, Hotdocs and IDFA, I am often asked "where are the British?" Britain's reputation in...

MGEITF 2006 PREVIEW: Casting Edinburgh.(Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival)
June 8, 2006... Despite having only attended the festival once, Alison Sharman is the advisory chair for this year's MGEITF. Poz Hulls asks her what the annual Edinburgh pilgrimage has in store for TV folk this time It's been a busy year for Alison...

LETTER: Are docs getting too dramatic?(Letter to the editor)
June 8, 2006... I read with interest your feature in last month's issue of Televisual on the growth in popularity of the drama-doc with commissioning editors. There are often good reasons to make a drama-doc - particularly on subjects from eras when...

LETTER: Maverick in Birmingham.(Letter to the editor)
June 8, 2006... We read with great interest the 'Best of the Regions' article in May's edition. However we were slightly alarmed to see that Maverick Media, an ad agency with a W1 postcode, made it to the listings! Could you clarify for us and your...

OPINION: Laughing all the way to the bank.(television comedies)(Column)
June 8, 2006... Maybe it's just a coincidence. Back in March, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell urged the BBC "to take fun seriously" when she published the white paper on the future of the BBC. Since then, press releases about brand new comedy commissions...

INTERVIEW - RICHARD KLEIN: A singular vision.(British Broadcasting Corp.)(Interview)
June 8, 2006... Promoted last year to run BBC documentary commissioning, Richard Klein is a fan of the single doc and says he wants the corporation to be a home for directors that 'have a voice'. Tim Dams reports The BBC's documentary department is...

INTELLIGENT TELEVISION FESTIVAL: Factual fights back.
June 8, 2006... Is this a golden age for factual TV? And what does the future hold for documentaries? Tim Dams takes in the debates at The Intelligent Television Festival If documentaries were a share, now would be the time to buy" said Robert Thirkell,...

COMEDY REPORT: Competing for the biggest laughs.
June 8, 2006... It's a good time to be in the laughter business with all channels stepping up their ambitions to secure the big comedy hits. Katy Elliott finds out what the leading TV comedy players are plotting next Comedy, it seems, is the new black....

COMEDY REPORT: BBC.(conversation with Lucy Lumsden of British Broadcasting Corp.)(Interview)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Lucy Lumsden, BBC controller of comedy commissioning, is looking for more laugh out loud shows and is in thrall to UK comedy heritage What recent show are you most proud of? Grown Up (BBC3) for being a new sitcom that has struck gold on...

COMEDY REPORT: ITV.(conversation with ITV PLC's Paul Jackson)(Interview)
June 8, 2006... Paul Jackson, ITV head of entertainment, is inundated with scripts about single fathers and is on the lookout for a sitcom, talk and sketch show What are you currently looking for? We have committed to the schedule one or two half-hour...

COMEDY REPORT: Five.(conversation with Graham Smith of Five TV)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Graham Smith, Five comedy controller, says it's an incredibly fertile time for UK comedy but laments how hard it is to get people to connect to a new show What recent show are you most proud of? Suburban Shootout. It was our first big...

COMEDY REPORT: Channel 4 (C4).(conversation with Shane Allen of Channel Four Television Company Ltd.)(Interview)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Shane Allen, Channel 4 comedy editor, only wants projects with brilliant ideas, shit hot writing and amazing talent and has up to #280k per half hour to spend What recent show are you most proud of? Soon to come out new character comedy...

CORPORATE 50: Corporate high life.
June 8, 2006... Televisual's annual survey of corporate production finds a sector enjoying rising turnover and confidently branching out into new areas. Poz Hulls sifts the data and speaks to the players For the past three years, stock markets around the...

Top corporate 50.(television production companies)(Table)
June 8, 2006... TOP 50: THE METHOD Televisual sent a questionnaire to corporate production companies around the UK, asking them to provide us with extensive details about their business over the last year. For a place in the Top 50, companies are...

STUDIOS: Making a song and dance of it.(Light Entertainment)
June 8, 2006... Light Entertainment is all the rage again, and that's good news for TV studios, many of which are booked up for the year, says Jake Bickerton The flurry of all-singing, all-dancing talent shows that have graced our screens of late have...

STUDIOS: Sky builds on HD studio upgrade.(British Sky Broadcasting Group PL, high definition television)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Sky is the only UK broadcaster to regularly broadcast shows in HD. It kicked off at the start of the football season with all the Premier League matches going out in HD, and has since broadcast other key sports events in HD too. Its first...

THE WORKS: Film Masters for Narduzzo Too.(Kaurus)(Eyeframe)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... M2 has purchased two Nucoda Film Master grading systems for its Vince Narduzzo-fronted Narduzzo Too TK/DI wing (see comment, page 51). The way the Film Master tracks objects around a shot without the need to place hundreds of points was...

THE WORKS: The BBC's HD media transfer.(High definition radio)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... BBC Post Production and Siemens Business Services have for the first time managed to move HD media between BBC sites in real-time, using the BBC's existing SD infrastructure, without requiring the installation of expensive HD lines. The...

THE WORKS IN BRIEF: Britain's Worst Weather.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... The offline, online and grading of a forthcoming C4 series that reconstructs lightning storms, floods and other extreme weather conditions has been completed by Rainbow Post. The 4x60 minute series from Pioneer Productions is called Britain's...

THE WORKS: Skaramoosh streamlines service.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Animation and post house Skaramoosh plans to lose seven member of staff in order to "scale back down to a more boutique model." The company, formed in 1997, currently has 31 members of staff, but md Daniel Slight says he wants to run as...

THE WORKS: Ascent assist the Army's ascent up Everest.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Ascent Media and communications and design company PCI Fitch have joined forces to make it possible for people to follow the Army's attempt at climbing the West Ridge of Everest. Every day video clips, up-to-date reports and diary entries from...

THE WORKS IN BRIEF: Surround sound audio library.(appointment of Joss Gardner and Craig Loftus at Wave)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... London-based audio post house Wave has employed sound engineers Joss Gardner and Craig Loftus to travel the world for two years recording interesting sounds for its 7.1 surround sound audio library. It's alright for some, eh? The pair are...

THE WORKS IN BRIEF: Post moves.(Blue)(Capital FX)(appointments)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors The VTR Group has made new appointments at both VTR and Blue. Producer Amanda Duncan joins VTR from Smoke and Mirrors and dubbing mixer Phitz Hearne joins Blue to work on drama and docs....

THE WORKS: New media tips from post house.(Baggy Shorts set up by Qi Commercials)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Golden Square Post has teamed up with production company Qi Commercials to form Baggy Shorts, which will offer advice to commercials agencies about how best to produce content for the Internet, mobile phones and the latest generation of...

THE WORKS: It's an Absolute sin, sin, sin.(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Robbie Williams' latest video is a throwback to the psychedelic era, featuring colourful mirrored kaleidoscopic effects last seen in pop broadcasts from the '60s. Robbie plays the leader of a dubious religious sect who, against a tripped-out...

THE WORKS IN BRIEF: Reissue of All Mod Cons.(The Jam)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... The 3-disc reissue of The Jam's influential album All Mod Cons comes with a 'making of' DVD put together by London post facility Dubbs. The DVD features archive footage, new interviews and live performances from Paul Weller. Dubbs offline...

BUSINESS THE WORKS: What size to survive?
June 8, 2006... It's more competitive in the post industry than ever before and medium- size facilities in particular are feeling the squeeze. After the closure of TSI's post production wing last month md Simon Peach warned facilities to super-size,...

BUSINESS THE WORKS: A new era for broadcast grading.(Digital Intermediate process)
June 8, 2006... Top Soho colourist Vince Narduzzo unveils plans for Narduzzo Too, which aims to bring DI flexibility to TV work Up until now colourists have put up with clunky linear tools with limited functionality. In my early days in the lab, grading...

IN POST THE WORKS: From four to five.(Five)
June 8, 2006... It's all-change for TV's cricket coverage with Five now the home for terrestrial highlights. The idents for its peak-time show mark a change in direction from Channel 4, reports Jake Bickerton When England regained the Ashes last summer,...

IN MY VIEW: Some raw truths.(Raw Cut Television)(Interview)
June 8, 2006... Steve Warr, co-founder of Raw Cut Television and former producer of The Cook Report, is not a fan of Panorama and, as an ex-Sun journo, thinks tabloid spoof Hot Metal is the best ever TV comedy How much TV do you watch? I love TV and...

WINNERS AND LOSERS: Big Brother's return damages rivals' vital signs.(market share and rankings of television comedies)(Brief article)
June 8, 2006... Miserly complaints proved more compelling than comedy at 10pm on Friday 19 May, with Liberty Bell's Grumpy Old Men drawing 2.7m on BBC2 (a 13% share) up against the end of Talkback's second series of Green Wing on C4, which managed 2m (11%)....