Televisual articles from September 2005

Televisual archives from September 2005

Barcud Derwen and Parthenon take reigns at S4C International.
September 8, 2005... Welsh TV facilities giant Barcud Derwen has teamed with wildlife producer/distributor Parthenon Entertainment to win the three-year contract to run S4C International. The new company launches at Mipcom and keeps the S4CI name. The fate of...

Chambers outlines Five's #13m thirst for drama.(Dan Chambers., Channel Five Holdings Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Five boss Dan Chambers has outlined the drama he wants to buy with his #13m windfall that came after the recent Family Affairs' cancellation. Chambers says he is on the hunt for both drama series and two-hour singles for a young upmarket...

IN BRIEF: BSkyB.
September 8, 2005... BSkyB has outlined the launch line-up for its upcoming HD TV service. A Sky Sports channel, Sky1, Artsworld, a Sky Box Office channel and two Sky Movies channels will be the initial offerings when it launches in the UK and Ireland in 2006....

IN BRIEF: BBC3.
September 8, 2005... Following the recent previews of comedy series The Mighty Boosh on broadband, BBC3 is again trailing a new TV comedy series on an alternative platform, this time on 3G. The new series of Julia Davis's Baby Cow show Nighty Night will have clips...

IN BRIEF: FilmFour.(invests in lw budget films.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... FilmFour and the UK Film Council are to invest #6m in the new low budget film scheme, which will develop British writers, directors and producers. Two production teams, Warp X Films and Qwerty Films (in partnership with Fresh Feature Films),...

TV executives not switched on.
September 8, 2005... A new study by the London Business School has revealed that 60% of TV executives do not know what the government's strategy is regarding the conversion to digital TV. While 90% of respondents believe conversion is possible in 2012, 58%...

Cosgrove raids BBC WW for md.(Cosgrove Hall Films appoints Anthony Utley.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Granada-owned Cosgrove Hall Films has appointed an md two years after the last one left the company. BBC Worldwide's Anthony Utley was hired by Granada's drama, arts and kids head John Whiston because of his "experience in international...

IN BRIEF: Optimistic Entertainment.
September 8, 2005... Nation 217 and Flipside TV-owner Optimistic Entertainment and marketing agency Sledge have teamed up in an ad-funded programming venture that will create and buy channels. The channels will be on various sections of the EPG. Optimistic...

Tiger takes monastic reality show to the US for TLC.
September 8, 2005... Tiger Aspect has picked up a commission to produce a new version of its hit BBC2 reality show The Monastery for an American audience. TLC has ordered the show that sees ordinary people living alongside real monks for 40 days and 40 nights....

Pickles talks in impossible world cup tale for ITV.
September 8, 2005... Walking with Dinosaurs creator Impossible Pictures is to produce a TV drama about the 1966 theft of the World Cup for ITV, complete with a cast of talking animals. The show will be scheduled to go out at the same time as the 2006 World...

IN BRIEF: Devilfish.(Channel Five Holdings Ltd.'s Loch Ness Monster: The Ultimate Experiment)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Devilfish has created two promos for up-coming Five documentary Loch Ness Monster: the Ultimate Experiment. The 20- and 30-second spots feature footage aged by Smoke and Fire operators to look like home- movies, and show the Five logo...

IN BRIEF: Addiction.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Addiction's six new idents for the Discovery Channel have a twist in that the viewer never gets to see the actual twist. The screen simply cuts to black and reveals the Discovery tagline Got to Know? Addiction's in-house team Ham wrote and...

IN BRIEF: Branding - promo to mark ITV's 50th birthday.
September 8, 2005... A promo to mark ITV's 50th birthday mixes stars of the past and present, thanks to the work of Molinare and Blue. First, the Network Promotions Unit and Chaka Sobhani filmed a glitzy party and then passed the footage to Molinare, which went...

Lyons launches Calon cartoon.(Robin Lyons.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Calon, the animation house formed by Superted producer Robin Lyons out of the original Cardiff-based Siriol team, is to unveil its launch project. Safehouse Hotel gets its debut at this month's Cartoon Forum. The 26x30- minute...

IN BRIEF: Funktion.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Funktion created the promos for sitcom The Hughleys, which will soon hit Trouble. The initial idea - to create a transition between the urban and the suburban - came from Flextech's Dave Waldman. A storyboard was then fleshed out with...

C4 to orders Great War season.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Darlow Smithson and Wall to Wall are both making shows about the Great War for a new Channel 4 season that also includes a major web project. Darlow Smithson's feature-length The Somme looks at one of the worst battles in British...

DLT shows get simultaneous UK and US sale.
September 8, 2005... DLT Entertainment has sold two new episodes of the sitcom As Time Goes By to both BBC1 and America's PBS. Produced by DLT Entertainment and sister company The Theatre of Comedy, the two 45-minute shows are likely to be part of BBC1's...

IN BRIEF: Turquoise.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... UK design company Turquoise has rebranded several channels for ART, the pay TV platform in the middle east. ART Sports 1, 2 and 3 have already been rebranded, and Turquoise is working on three more that will launch this autumn. The idea is...

IN BRIEF: Draw Pictures.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Director Rupert Jones and Draw Pictures have created the latest McFly promo, I'll Be OK. The song needs contrast, so Jones filmed the band at night for the verses and in the blazing sunshine for the chorus. Long takes were used to weave...

The Green Light: Flashback TV.
September 8, 2005... Flashback TV is to produce more episodes of Superhomes to be broadcast on Discovery Travel & Living in early 2006. The first series was shown on BBC2 and was 6x60 minutes, while the new series will be 15x30 minutes. The show will give the...

The Green Light: Kudos.
September 8, 2005... Kudos is set to make a three-hour drama about the tsunami disaster on Boxing Day 2004 for BBC1. The production team behind the BBC drama hits Spooks and Hustle are working with writer Abi Morgan (who also wrote Channel 4's Sex Traffic for...

The Green Light: Target Entertainment.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Target Entertainment is producing a one-off documentary for Sky1, with the working title Rod Liddle on Infidelity. The programme will see the former Today editor arguing that men are biologically programmed to cheat on their partners. The...

The Green Light: Talent Television.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... BBC2 has commissioned Talent Television to create a new current affairs show called How Euro Are You? The 90-minute programme will feature an interactive polling event, which aims to discover what the population really thinks of all things...

The Green Light: Granada.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Granada is producing a drama documentary about Myra Hindley and Ian Brady for ITV1. It will air in 2006, marking the 40th anniversary of their trial. Writer Neil McKay - who also penned This is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper for...

IN BRIEF: Exposure.(television programs)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Exposure's Adam Bartley directed the new Ladytron video, Destroy. It depicts an icy terrain in which hill-sized versions of the band fight the real band; Absolute Post did the vfx. So that shots dominated by white snow could be matched up...

ITV plans kids channel.
September 8, 2005... ITV has confirmed it is to launch a digital kids channel within six months. Its output will be based on CITV's current line-up, and will include drama, animation, factual and pre-school. The channel will also commission its own shows....

RDF and Avalon on shopping trips.
September 8, 2005... RDF Media has spent #2.7m to take full control of Touchpaper TV, the makers of NYLon. Superindie RDF already owns the rest of Touchpaper's stock, having funded the set-up in 2001. The purchase means RDF - which produces Wife Swap and Rock...

Taylor's #9m funds regional comedy.
September 8, 2005... Cheryl Taylor is joining the BBC comedy commissioning team, with a remit to develop projects from outside London. Taylor will have a #9m budget to commission outside the M25. She was formerly at Hat Trick and oversaw Channel 4's Bromwell...

New indie is born.
September 8, 2005... Daisy Goodwin and Harry Thompson have set up a new indie, called Silver River Productions. The pair left Talkback Thames earlier this year, and are already in talks with Five about a sitcom. Goodwin was editorial director of Talkback for...

Motive bags #100k.
September 8, 2005... Mick Pilsworth's start-up Motive Television has raised a further #100k towards its acquisition fund. Film finance and distribution outfit Civilian Content has bought a 5.92% stake in Motive. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

Don't just show me the money.
September 8, 2005... Md of ID Distribution Sally Miles says producers should look long-term when choosing a distributor No business will disagree that money in the bank today has advantages over money in the bank tomorrow, especially a production company...

Reality hits and writs.
September 8, 2005... The latest in a spate of format disputes has ended in what Endemol calls an "important victory" over a Croatian Big Brother copycat. In 2003 Nova TV promoted its own version of the show; in May 2005 a Croatian court prohibited Nova TV from...

BBC WW opens supply-line to Iraq.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... BBC Worldwide has closed its first deal in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, with an initial one-year agreement to provide 45 hours of news, current affairs and history to Iraqi channel Al Hurra. Shows including Ghengis Khan,...

Hit poaches Disney chief.(HIT Entertainment PLC)
September 8, 2005... Hit Entertainment has hired Disney European sales vp Alison Homewood as executive vp for distribution; her task is to develop new content and to oversee global licensing of existing brands including Bob the Builder and Barney. Homewood...

Celador retakes.
September 8, 2005... Celador International has renewed four licensing deals for format Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Broadcasters TV4 in Sweden, Antena 3 in Spain, Star Plus in India and MBC in the middle east have all commissioned new series. Copyright:...

RDF Sudoku deal.
September 8, 2005... RDF Rights has secured a multiple rights deal for Hanrahan Media's special, Vorderman's Sudoku Live. The show, broadcast live on Sky1, will be rolled out worldwide by RDFR, which will handle the show, format and branding rights. ...

The sky's the limit.(Interview)
September 8, 2005... David Pounds, ceo of Electric Sky, reveals what he wants to see from the UK indies What kind of money can you put into a production? It varies depending on how commercial it is - up to 40%. How much development cash can you put...

IVCA CLARION AWARDS: IVCA's clarion call to television.
September 8, 2005... In this month's Clarion Awards there's a fair share of TV that's now being rewarded for its corporate social responsibility Devised three years ago to reward media with a social conscience, the Clarions' aim is to promote corporate social...

Corporate winners: Floella Benjamin.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Floella Benjamin, born in Trinidad, celebrates 35 years in the media this year. After a spell in banking and accountancy, she found her way into the theatre then made her TV debut in Within These Walls, working with some of Britain's top...

Corporate winners: Jack Morton.
September 8, 2005... Jack Morton, which under the European chairmanship of Lois Jacobs has made a sustained and ethical contribution to the communication industry, whether in opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games or the last Olympics: socially inclusive,...

Corporate winners: BP.
September 8, 2005... Lord Browne, chairman of BP, for his impact on his company's approach to corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. These concerns are now central to the company, and are reinforced across a range of media. Copyright:...

Corporate winners: New Moon.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... New Moon's film Make Britain Proud to persuade the 2012 Olympics to come to the UK showed Britain's multicultural society as a massive powerhouse of talent underpinning our Olympic bid. The jury found the programme unpredictable, uplifting,...

Corporate winners: The Edge.
September 8, 2005... The Edge's Clarion is for an important element of GlaxoSmithKline's prize-winning communication strategy: The Gift, the video which accompanied its already awarded pharmaceuticals donations programmes. Copyright: Centaur Communications...

Corporate winners: Accenture.
September 8, 2005... Accenture highlights diversity in the workforce in a unique and challenging way. Employees created 10 personal stories which went out to 100,000 staff globally: a compelling jigsaw of personal histories and experiences of family life, culture,...

Letter: The games people play.(Letter to the Editor)
September 8, 2005... I was pleased to learn that our industry is being poached for workers by the hugely successful games sector (Televisual, August issue), with cg animators in demand to build ever-more complex characters for ever- more complex games. But...

Letter: Put viewers on a sticky wicket.(Letter to the Editor)
September 8, 2005... Sanjay Nazarali puts an interesting case for catering to the new habit of TV snacking with "sticky" episodic programming along the lines of Channel 4's Top 100s: Christmas cracker-type shows. It's because the bird-brained viewer is too...

OPINION: Independents' day has come.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... In the last year Televisual has taken more calls from City folk than ever; not surprising, as two high-profile UK independents, Shed then RDF, set out their wares on Aim. The calls always start with "I need to know the size of the...

INTERVIEW - DAN CHAMBERS: Drama arrives at five.(Interview)
September 8, 2005... Now with just one owner, and with several million added to his programme budget after ditching the channel's launch soap, Five's director of programmes tells Jon Creamer about his channel's future Though channel controllers are often...

THE VIRGIN QUEEN: The corridors of power.
September 8, 2005... Bringing a touch of The West Wing all the way to Whitehall, the latest period drama from the BBC and Power is a thoroughly modern portrait of an iconic monarch. Poz Hulls finds out more "Boring" was the immediate verdict of Paula Milne's...

Who's who at Edinburgh.
September 8, 2005... Edinburgh means many things to the hard-working TV producer - Easyjet, overpriced hotel rooms, the George Bar, the MacTaggart - but mainly a great chance to grab a few minutes with commissioners that count The major move since last...

INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION 100: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
September 8, 2005... 2005 is the year that the independent TV production sector comes of age. The effects of the 2003 communications act and new terms of trade that it imposed on terrestrial broadcasters flooded the sector with confidence. The city sat up and took...

PRODUCTION TOP 100.
September 8, 2005... THE METHOD Independent broadcast producers gave us details about their work over the last year, with most going into considerable detail. For a place in the Top 100, a company is ranked across five criteria: its turnover, the size of...

BROADCAST REPUTATIONS: Fair trade? How broadcasters shape up.
September 8, 2005... The third part of the Production 100 moves away from inter-indie competition to find out how independents feel they're treated by their broadcast clients The health of a production company is measured by more than its turnover or...

PRODUCTION 100 RIGHTS: What price rights?
September 8, 2005... The brisk overseas market for UK content combined with broadcasters' more favourable terms of trade make the value of secondary programme rights a key issue for 2005. To put a price on them, Bob Jenkins went to those in the know ...

GOLDEN HOUR: Anatomy of an accident.
September 8, 2005... BBC3 put the real team on screen with its doc series Trauma, as did every news channel on 7/7, but a fictional retelling of the works of Hems is also soon to screen on ITV1 courtesy of Sony and Talkback They're often first on the scene of...

MIKE O'KEEFE - THE COMMISSIONER: Video is my radar.
September 8, 2005... Sony BMG's director of video wants to expand his department and the content that comes out of it. And, while promos are still essential, there's room for other types of programming, as Simon Meek finds out Mike O'Keefe is on the hunt for...

PREVISUALISATION: Picture the scene.
September 8, 2005... Once the sole preserve of feature films, previsualisation is now finding a home for itself in the world of broadcast too. Poz Hulls finds out why storyboards are no longer enough From sketched storyboards to animated line tests,...

IBC - 8-13 SEPTEMBER: Must-have technology.
September 8, 2005... This year's IBC promises to be the biggest yet, with technologies such as HDTV, tapeless production and digital intermediate now an integrated part of a truly diverging industry. But the show is no longer just about kit... If you find...

A mere #250k upgrade up north.
September 8, 2005... Newcastle post-house Mere Mortals has invested #250k on new premises, HD editing kit and audio in a bid to lure more high-end film and TV work to the north. Facility md David Jeffries says the new set-up - based around Apple's Final Cut...

Pepper gets audio but drops Soho.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Covent Garden facility Pepper has ditched plans to move into Soho Square after assessing the impact that the proposed Crossrail project would have on the area. The decision coincides with the post-house's move into audio - a collaboration...

IN BRIEF: Wave REcording Studios.
September 8, 2005... London's Wave Recording Studios has built three low-cost audio suites based around Steinberg's Nuendo editing software. The "bite" rooms are designed as an area for clients to "discuss and experiment" with sound before the final mix. The...

Industrial cameras for HD slow-mo.
September 8, 2005... An industrial camera designed for motion analysis of high-speed events is being adopted by production companies as an economic way to shoot ultra-slow-mo high-resolution footage. Soho facility Blue has seen three jobs pass through its...

DVD houses join forces to compete in UMD world.
September 8, 2005... London DVD houses DGP and The Pavement are pooling authoring and encoding expertise to meet demand for Sony's fledgling Universal Media Disc format. The independents hope the move will put them on a more even footing with the likes of...

IN BRIEF: Music on Camera.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Metropolis DVD's former business development manager Mike Gillespie has set up a music supervisory service for film and TV. Music on Camera - part of The Sunday Club - aids film-makers with commissioning, licensing and managing their audio...

IN BRIEF: UK Post.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Facilities body UK Post is launching a DVD group to be chaired by DGP's Julian Day. Rushes md Joss Capper is also to join the organisation's board to champion the needs of commercials post-houses, a sector besides DVD that ceo Gaynor...

In-house editing now the norm.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Two-thirds of the UK's independent production community now edit in- house, a Televisual survey reveals. This figure - derived from the Production 100 survey (p33) - underlines the impact that off-the-shelf kit is having on the post...

The Mill's DI workflow ambition.(digital intermediate)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... The Mill is expanding its telecine department and adopting a digital intermediate (DI) workflow solution for its commercials clients. The post-house has taken delivery of a Grass Valley Spirit 4K, which sits with its existing two Datacine...

IN BRIEF: Lipsync Post.
September 8, 2005... Lipsync Post has spent #250k upgrading two Avid DS suites to Nitris HD and five MCs to Adrenaline. The kit is being used on Andrea Wallace Grant's short film A Perfect Day. Framestore CFC has bought a Digital Vision DVNR HD image-processing...

Film first for ProHD.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... JVC's ProHD high-definition video cameras are being used to shoot the independent feature film Reality Check. The Australian action movie, starring Paul Mercurio and Dieter Brummer, is being shot using two GY-WD101E cameras, launched at...

Optical Image sheds facilities arm.
September 8, 2005... Optical Image is selling its facilities business in a bid to focus on animation and documentary production. Corporate communications firm Top Banana has agreed to buy the West Midland studio and five editing suites. "We offer services...

Stanley buys into HDCamSR.
September 8, 2005... Stanley Productions has spent #85k on a Sony HDCamSR vtr in anticipation of an increase in demand for HD dubbing via film and DI projects. The vtr provides playback for HDCam as well as the "virtually lossless" SR format. Copyright:...

Cwmni Da breaks digital RF record.
September 8, 2005... A record-breaking number of digital RF cameras were used to capture the action at the 30th International Snowdon Race for S4C. Cwmni Da used 12 RF cameras for the live coverage, with RF links supplied by Charter Broadcast and OBs from...

C4 gets Pinnacle.
September 8, 2005... Pinnacle Systems' Media-Stream 8000 HD/SD server has been adopted by Channel 4 and Advanced Broadcast Services, giving total capacities of 100 and 30 channels respectively. Pinnacle is now owned by Avid - the deal was cleared by the EU last...

Motion-controlling the situation.
September 8, 2005... Rob Delicata, md of The VFX Co, fights the case for motion control in a "fix it in post" world Everyone has been blighted by the tightening of purse-strings coupled with the heightening of expectations. But some of us have to battle...

JERICHO: A tale of two cities.
September 8, 2005... Granada's new detective drama sees Robert Lindsay in 1950s London: a city changing beyond recognition in front of his eyes. Simon Meek sees how a city now was transformed to a city then The capital has changed immeasurably over the past...

IN MY VIEW: TV in extra-time.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2005... Karen Cunningham, md of commercials house Pink, spends her screen-time watching the competition but finds time for big doses of comedy and smaller ones of drama. Just don't let her near the red button What TV do you watch? Dramas,...

Property-speculation versus waste-management.
September 8, 2005... With the Oz cricketers and the Lost castaways over here to boost the ratings, Channel 4 has had a strong summer. The cherry on top was the finale of Endemol's Big Brother on 12 August. The audience peaked at 7.8m at just after 22.00, which...