Televisual articles from September 2004

Televisual archives from September 2004

Red Kite flies high with launch of new feature film division.(Film)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Edinburgh animation independent Red Kite is expanding with the launch of a new movie division, Red Kite Films, and a new feature-length film on the slate. Nocturna, a collaboration with Spain's Filmax Animation and France's Animakids, is...

High Point makes the leap into TV production.(Broadcast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... London distributor High Point Films and TV is launching an in-house production division. It will be headed by Carl Simons, former bead of production and development for companies including Mentorn Films, NVC Arts and Urban Legends. Simons...

TWI.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... TWI has won the contract to distribute Liverpool FC TV, the club's newly-created programming block, overseas. Liverpool FC TV will feature three hours of action and features a week, including a roundup of the week's news, pre-match build-up and...

RTS North West Annual Awards.(Royal Television Society)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The RTS North West Annual Awards returns to Manchester this year on 12 November. The event, to be held at the city's new Radisson Hotel, is timed to coincide with the 2004 Nations and Regions conference, which is now in its seventh year....

Framestore CFC.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Framestore CFC's film department has hired Sandra Scott as senior producer. Scott joins the company from Industrial Light and Magic, where she produced vfx work for projects such as The Mummy, Mission to Mars and Planet of the Apes, working...

All3Media.(hired Colin Cameron)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Lion Scotland, recently acquired by All3Media, has hired Colin Cameron as its md. Cameron is a former BBC Scotland head of production and former controller of network development for BBC Nations and Regions. Cameron worked with Lion previously...

Target reps Keith Chapman's Fifi.(Distribution)(Target Entertainment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Target Entertainment, which launched a kids and animation division at Mipcom 2003, has won a deal to represent Bob the Builder creator Keith Chapman's new pre-schooler, Fifi and the Flowertots. It has also poached Celador International's...

Brief Encounters slate gets longer.(Film)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Entries to this year's Brief Encounters short film festival stand at 1400 international films from 48 countries--and UK entries have risen 25% on last year. Over half the entries are from British directors. The overall International Jury Award...

Paramount stands up for Avalon comedy special.(Broadcast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Avalon Television has picked up a commission from the Paramount Comedy Channel to make a live one-hour TV special of the final show of its Edinburgh and Beyond Comedy Tour. The stand-up tour runs throughout the autumn, beginning at...

Tern recreates world war weather for Discovery.(Broadcast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Scottish independent Tern Television has picked up its second Discovery commission with the 5x30-minute series The Storms of War. The show was jointly commissioned by Discovery Networks Europe's Marian Williams and Discovery UK's Katy...

Passion Pictures' French design/directing team Soandsau have created the promo for Mara Carlyle's I Blame You Not.(Promos)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Passion Pictures' French design/directing team Soandsau have created the promo for Mara Carlyle's I Blame You Not. John Wraight and Matthew Herbert at Accidental Records ordered the three-and-a-half-minute cg-animated video, which shows a diva...

Zenith takes on first toon co-pro.(Animation)(Zenith Entertainment signed agreement with Neptune Films)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Zenith Entertainment has signed up for its first animation co-pro agreement with Neptune Films, Barcelona, on 13x30-minute series King Arthur's Disasters for CITV to air next April. Based on an idea by Patti Parkes and Will Ashurst...

Sumners.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Sumners has put together titles for Feelgood Fiction's upcoming CITV sitcom My Life as a Popat, the story of "Asian Adrian Mole," Anand Popat. The titles reflect Popat's overactive imagination, as his family become magical Bollywood characters....

Icepics.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Icepics took on the formidable task of re-animating Turner's classic characters Tom and Jerry for German tissue company Zewa, with the two warring characters demonstrating the softness of the company's products. The background to the spot is...

Paul Daley.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Written, directed and animated in Maya by Paul Daley, the short film Comfort Within features the voice of Lenny Henry as Stomach, who gives words of encouragement to the child character when he's left home alone. It was produced through The...

CTN bags first broadcast order.(Broadcast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... CTN, the corporate producer part-owned by ITN, is midway through its first broadcast commission Constantine: the King who Lost his Throne. The 60-minute film for Five is about the former king of Greece and is fronted by the Five News...

RDF creates brand new nip/tuck show for Five.(Broadcast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The latest factual entertainment format from RDF is an 8x1-hour series for Five that will see members of the public undergo plastic surgery. Brand New You will select a group of UK volunteers to travel to LA for a six-week total...

Cosgrove Hall.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Cosgrove Hall is providing all the animated inserts for Libra TV's 13x15-minute How it Works series for Discovery Kids. The series, which airs in November, will explain how various things work--from mobiles to lavatories and even girls (the...

Baraka.(Baraka Arts and Frame Co. created animations for the Time Pirate show in China)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Baraka has created sfx and animations for projection on to three huge "water screens" rising from a lake in the ancient city of Xi'an in China as part of a multimedia show called The Time Pirate. Show producer LCI creates the 40-foot screens by...

Twofour.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Twofour has picked up a 20x1-hour series commission from Alison Sharman of its pilot Accidents can Happen for BBC1 daytime. The series, fronted by Nadia Sawalha, follows families as they rebuild their lives after floods and fires have wrecked...

Living TV has picked up the UK rights to Buena Vista.(The Green Light)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Living TV has picked up the UK rights to Buena Vista International TV's US format, Extreme Makeover. Scream Films is producing the 11x60-minute series that shows participants transformed by personal trainers, stylists and plastic surgeons....

Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are behind an adaptation.(The Green Light)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are behind an adaptation of Jonathan Ceo's novel The Rotters' Club--in production at Company Pictures for BBC1. Sarah Lancashire and Hugo Spoor star in the story of a group of Birmingham teenagers and...

Footpad Films has started filming in the Czech Republic on Outlaw.(The Green Light)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Footpad Films has started filming in the Czech Republic on Outlaw, a kids' comedy about 17th-century highwaymen. The show follows the adventures of a feared robber, 12-year-old Tom (aka Swiftnick). Footpad is a joint venture between IWC Media...

SMG has picked up orders from ITV's drama head Nick Elliot.(The Green Light)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... SMG has picked up orders from ITV's drama head Nick Elliot for a brand new two-parter and a new series of Taggart for ITV1. The 2x90-minute Missing is written and produced by the Bafta-winning team behind The Cops--Jimmy Gardner and Eric...

Tiger aspect's animated kids show Charlie and Lola.(The Green Light)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Tiger Aspect's animated kids show Charlie and Lola has gone into production following its CBBC commission. CBBC's head of animation and acquisitions Michael Carrington picked up the 26x11.5-minute series based on the books by Lauren Child. The...

New comedy double-act.(Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Five and Paramount Comedy have launched a new homegrown comedy co pro initiative and appointed the BBC's Graham Smith to head it. As commissioning editor, comedy, Smith will develop original comedy series for broadcast on both...

Ads outstripped as TV's main earner.(Broadcast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Subscription revenue has overtaken advertising as the biggest earner for British TV for the first time ever, according to an Ofcom report, with secondary income-streams rising sharply too. The Communications Market Report 2004 found that...

Disney's ABC1 unbadged.(Broadcast)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Disney launches its Freeview entertainment channel ABC1 this month, its first outside the US not to be branded Disney. ABC1 will initially rely on US acquisitions but plans to invest in original UK shows. It will run in daytime-only...

Executive exchange.(Broadcastig industry)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... There are changes at ITV, Channel 4, Endemol and Optomen this month. UKTV's lifestyle head Nick Thorogood moves to ITV to head daytime, working with off-peak head, Steven Andrew. Ex-Five factual entertainment editor Liam Humphreys has...

The regions speak to the nation.(Business News)
September 1, 2004... Having long lobbied for more TV from the nations and regions on UK networks, I believe success is within our grasp, at least from a Northern Irish perspective --which I suspect mirrors many other places outside of London. Local production...

Europe takes to Granada.(Sales)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Granada International has made several more inroads into Europe. In Germany, the new AB Sat channel took 40 hours of wildlife, including Before it's Too Late and Killer Crocs of Costa Rica; Viva has bought science gameshow Brainiac; and...

Fremantle International goes wild.(Distribution)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Fremantle International has made its first foray into wildlife in a deal to distribute two one-hour specials from natural history producer, Nigel Marven. Venom Hunters, which looks at venom as both natural killer and medical life-saver,...

Mahoney to C41.(Moves)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... C4 International has appointed Joe Mahoney, former BBC Worldwide senior commissioning editor, as head of commercial development. Reporting to 4Rights deputy md Mike Morris, he plans to secure secondary rights across consumer products and...

Bullseye is a proud parent.(Formats)(Bullseye TV)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Bullseye TV sold its first LE format, The Nation's Most Embarrassing Parents, to Finland's Sub TV and two episodes of the original series to Sfinx for Japanese broadcaster NTV. The format is optioned in Holland, Germany and the US. ...

Paradise sold.(Formats)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... TV Corporation International has sold Mentorn's hit reality format Paradise Hotel to Israeli production company United Studios. Meanwhile, in Sweden the format is due to be produced by Mastiff for TV4.

Do your stateside homework.(International News)(Brief Article)(Interview)
September 1, 2004... Jane Root, controller at Discovery Channel in the US, wants her US audience to be taken seriously by the UK How often do you commission from the UK? Often. We work with a range of UK indies and I expect to do more. Acquiring is not...

C4 and BBC come to terms.(Broadcast)
September 1, 2004... With the new terms of trade finally sorted at Channel 4 and the BBC, it was with some irritation that last month Pact turned on ITV for its delay in finalising its own. To blame is post-merger turmoil at the broadcaster whose deal with...

The Brits may not have racked up the medals in Athens, but one British success was in the bag from day one.(Month In Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The Brits may not have racked up the medals in Athens, but one British success was in the bag from day one. The UK wing of corporate producer Jack Morton (the first non-indigenous outfit chosen to put together the opening ceremony), bagged a TV...

All it took was a "How you doin'?" for Five to fall into a swoon and open its cheque-book for Joey.(Month In Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... All it took was a "How you doin'?" for Five to fall into a swoon and open its cheque-book for Joey. But even the legendary charms of Mr Tribiani couldn't tempt other potential suitors--at that price. ITV, Sky and even C4 decided that, legend...

To balance out this pricey import, Five's other big commission is a UK version of Sweden's The Farm from BB producer Endemol.(Month In Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... To balance out this pricey import, Five's other big commission is a UK version of Sweden's The Farm from BB producer Endemol. Luckily for Five, the format requires every expense to be spared as 12 desperate Z-listers are dumped somewhere rural...

Storyboard.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Th1ng gets sexy with Vargas-inspired idents; Exit Studios take a leftfield look at porn; celebrities drive Mumbai-style for Sixfootsix; Pepsi puppets perform the impossible, courtesy of The Mill; Sherbet dreams of Diesel; Griffilms plays the...

Clarion call to communicators.(Corporate)
September 1, 2004... Your recent item on the IVCA's Clarion Awards (Opinions, August issue) acknowledges our intention to promote effective CSR (corporate social responsibility) communications. Haringey Council's website was chosen by an independent expert...

Post without prejudice.(Facilities)
September 1, 2004... I thought your correspondent who chose to criticise the appointment of Gaynor Davenport as chief executive of UK Post (Televisual letters page, July issue) and express scepticism about her chances of success was unfair. Ms Davenport...

Reputation, reputation, reputation.(Opinions)(Television ratings)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Grumpy old Stuart Prebble said in these pages that a TV commissioner's shelf-life should not exceed three years: "you forget what it's like the other side of the fence. Putting off a decision about a programme for a month costs a small business...

BBC docs-doctor: with the Grierson judges pointing to a "catastrophic decline" in documentary on UK TV, new BBC head of documentaries Alan Hayling will have his work cut out.(Interview: Alan Hayling)(Interview)
September 1, 2004... That the BBC has abandoned the documentary has been a familiar refrain for some time now. So when director of factual and learning John Willis announced there would once more be a head of documentary at the BBC after a three year break without...

A touch of frost: Indian technical expertise and humour are bringing a classic British tale of childhood to life for a BBC Christmas special that combines traditional and cutting-edge animation techniques.(In production: the tale of Jack Frost)(British Broadcasting Company)
September 1, 2004... When scriptwriter-turned-producer Alastair Swinnerton of Corsham Entertainment set out to produce his first animated film, he based it on a new book by renowned children's author-illustrator David Melling. The Tale of Jack Frost wasn't even...

Who's who at Edinburgh: it's time for the annual Edinburgh TV schmooze-fest again, but who should commission-hungry producers concentrate their schmoozing on? Below are some of the names and faces with the budgets that count.(Edinburgh Who's Who)
September 1, 2004... The cheetah, the antelope, the greyhound--all-pretty fast no doubt, but as nothing compared to the speed of a broadcasting bigwig picking up the scent of new job contract. As usual, it's been a bumper year of job-swaps since last Edinburgh. ...

Broadcast production 100: televisual's annual showcase of the UK's top independent production companies that make broadcast television: which are the biggest, which are the most sought after, which make the most television programming and which --in the eyes of their producer peers--make the best?(Independent Production 100)
September 1, 2004... 100 get in on the act As the benefits enshrined in last year's communications act begin to filter through to independent broadcast producers, our annual snapshot of the business of making television marks the end of an era--or the...

The customer is always right? Every independent producer has a story to tell about how he's been robbed by a broadcast commissioner. In this year's Reputations survey, we ask them to rate those clients as they prepare for the new regime after the communications act.(Broadcast Reputations)
September 1, 2004... What matters most to independents in dealings with broadcaster clients? Is it the budgets on offer, the fees, the rights deals, how easy it is to negotiate with commissioners, or how hard it is to sort out the business department? For...

Saved by the bell: Brook Lapping took a government initiative from the blackboard through to tender and in the process created a new education channel that has given this indie a new lease of life.(Teachers' TV)
September 1, 2004... When the government first approached Brian Lapping in July 2002 with the idea of setting up a state-funded teacher training channel he was, he admits, nonplussed. "We're just a small company and all we know how to do is make TV programmes, not...

Shelf-life or death? The gestation of any production has its nervous moments, but what if the worst happens and the project is shelved?(Commissioning)
September 1, 2004... "Someone tries to write about this every six months and it's a complete non-story," says a weary-sounding ITV press officer. "Productions get left on the shelf all the time, for all sorts of different reasons it's nothing new," she adds. ...

The people peddlers: Channel 4 International is hoping to score a worldwide sales success with its research-based dramatisation of the plight of women captured and sold into the international sex trade.(In production: sex traffic)
September 1, 2004... Based on first-hand research, Channel 4's forthcoming thriller Sex Traffic weaves stories from around the world into one bold narrative, exposing the $7bn global trafficking of young women forced into prostitution. In a medium dominated by...

Power to the people: with more power migrating down to the desktop, high-end suppliers are having to fight hard to maintain their traditional niche in a market buzzing with HD possibilities and challenges from a new breed of creative, small-scale operations.(IBC Preview)
September 1, 2004... Editing "Workflow" and "HD" can claim seniority in the lexicon of buzzwords tirelessly coined by broadcast kit manufacturers. But, up to now, non-linear editing (NLE) systems had either one or the other. At this year's IBC, expect to hear...

The Mill upgrades its workflow.(Facilities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The Mill is re-engineering its workflow to make it easier to send projects back and forth between its bases in London and New York. As well as acquiring an additional NLE Smoke system from manufacturer Discreet, it has also improved the...

Assimilate targets vfx market.(Technology)(Assimilate)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Assimilate, the new US company made up of former Intergraph and 5D staff, is to launch a new workflow system at IBC aimed at film effects houses. The fledgling company's initial product line (as yet unnamed) will target the area of digital...

Icecandy.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Icecandy created the graphics and titles for Slipstream, the film debut of ad director David van Eyssen. The sci-fi plot called for graphic interfaces for a time-travel PDA device that's central to a bank-robbing scam planned by a geek (Sean...

BHP spawns Mac-based spin-off.(Facilities)(BHP)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Sports production outfit BHP is to spin-off its Soho-based facility into a new north London post-house, Final Cut Post, operating around Apple hardware and Final Cut Pro editing. According to general manager Phil Seymour, the facility is a...

Root 6 to unveil reality TV software at IBC.(Technology)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Root 6 Technology, the new product development arm of re-seller Root 6, is to unveil proprietary logging software at IBC aimed at the reality TV market. Ultra is based on a tracking and search technology which enables multiple users to log...

Promax UK.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... This year's Promax UK awards are to be sponsored by post house Evolutions Television. The event--to be held at Grosvenor House on 6 November--will be hosted by comic Matt Lucas appearing as one of his Little Britain characters. Entries can be...

Sweet High-Definition.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The first Sweet High-Definition festival will run in Edinburgh to coincide with the TV Festival. The event aims to "bring art and technology together" with panel discussions, specialist screenings of films such as Deep Blue and Dogville...

MPC.(APPOINTMENT)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... MPC has poached award-winning senior visual effects artist Bill McNamara from Rushes. Auckland-born McNamara's recent Inferno work includes Basement Jaxx's Good Luck promo and the new commerical for All State Bank. He also had a hand in the...

Radical restructure at VTR.(Facilities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... VTR plc subsidaries Blue, VTR, The Machine Room and Clipstream are to be stripped of their "Ltd" status and become divisions under one united entity, VTR Media Services. Machine Room managing director Danny Whybrow will head up Blue Post...

Soho artists monster challenge.(Facilities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Framestore CFC has completed 159 vfx shots on UK director Paul Anderson's October release, Alien v Predator. The Fox film was mastergraded at the facility's Digital Lab; Cinesite also worked on key sequences, including one in which a Predator...

Alias to buy Kaydara.(Graphics)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... 3D graphics outfit Alias is to buy fellow Canadian company Kaydara, a developer of real-time character animation and motion-editing kit. While the latest version of Kaydara's previsualisation tool Motionbuilder 6 is to be rebranded as Alias...

Avid's M-Audio deal for Digidesign.(Audio)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Avid is to expand its audio division Digidesign with the pending acquisition of digital audio manufacturer M-Audio. The deal will see Avid pay $80m in cash, issue around 2m shares of Avid common stock, and assume all outstanding M-Audio...

Molinare recruits more editors.(Facilities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Molinare has taken on four new editors, bringing its in-house total to 11. Compositor Stuart Highsted has joined from M2 and Laurence Thripp, Jason Morton and Martin Sole (all senior Avid editors) have left Oasis to work at Space,...

Bectu scrutinises London training.(Training)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Bectu is currently studying the training needs of postproduction workers in the capital and examining whether a learning centre in the area would be viable. The study, which will look at a number of companies, is being carried out on...

High-definition and then some ...(The Business)
September 1, 2004... In their haste to jump on the HD bandwagon, asks Pepper joint md Shane Wardon, have manfacturers forgotten the all-important periferals? OK, so now we are all experts on HD, are we? It was four IBCs ago that Pepper bought its first HD...

Hteavy metal: the new promo for Chichester-based group Hope of the States (Hots) is directed by honorary band members and directional hotshots Type2Error. Rushes provided industrial-strength 3D.(Hope Of The States)
September 1, 2004... Rushes' producer Vittorio Giannini keeps an eye peeled for new directors so, when the Cannes-nominated best newcomers Type2Error asked whether he'd help to create a visually-explosive promo for rising the UK band Hope of the States, be leapt at...

The index.(For The Production Community Listings)(Directory)
September 1, 2004... THE KIT COMPUTER GRAPHICS SERVICES AND SYSTEMS NORTH * MGB FACILITIES LTD SGI based Softimage Extreme 3D Graphics, Combination and Paintbox Express. Quantel Editbox--Non Linear On-Line Editing, HD Cam, Digital Betacam & Betacam SP...

Somethin' on TV.(In My View)(Interview)
September 1, 2004... Jez Nelson, who called his indie Somethin' Else after a Jazz FM radio show he once fronted, now makes a living making music programming for W as well. But he won't say no to a spot of football... How much TV do you watch a week? And what?...

Makeover and reality make way for sport.(Winners And Losers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Big Brothels nastier mix of fights and sex paid off as the final on Friday 6 August peaked at 9m viewers and a 43% share. Well up on last year's 6.6m, it was Channel 4's second-highest rating this year after Friends, and a snub to those who'd...

September TX guide: a producer's guide to the month on the box.(The End)
September 1, 2004... Steel River Blues from Wednesday 1 September, 21.00:ITV1 A new seven-parter from ITV is built around a team of northern firefighters played by (among others) Corrie's Charles Dale and Midsomer Murders' Daniel Casey. Written and created by...