Stars on the field

Digital Studio

Advances in sports production technology tend to congregate around major international events when broadcasters are prepared to pay a premium for innovations that give them an edge over the opposition.

http://www.digitalproductionme.com/article-502-stars-on-the-field/

Regional focus: Northern Ireland

Broadcast 

New initiatives to bring network commissions to Northern Ireland could finally help local indies fulfil their broadcasting potential.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/regional-focus-northern-ireland/911822.article

Northern Irish indies are more ebullient now than at any time in the past decade as efforts to boost the region's share of network output appear tantalisingly close.

Armed with Ofcom figures which reveal that PSB productions from Northern Ireland in 2006 accounted for only 0.2% of programming or 14 hours, the region's producers are confident that their persistent calls for proactive investment will finally be met. By contrast, according to Ofcom in 2006, Wales landed 1.10% broadcast hours, Scotland 1.7% and London 65.10%.

“Previously all our complaints might have been assumed to be griping but Ofcom's figures have demonstrated the extent of the problem,” says David Strachan, the managing director of Tern TV, which operates production offices in Belfast and Glasgow. “For the first time we have an evidence-based argument that the way commissioning has been handled is part of the problem.”

The argument is not that commissioners are overtly prejudiced, more that the London-centric nature of the process has hindered the building of vital informal relationships with indies across the regions. “There has to be an institutional response to assist in building relationships which commissioners can be confident in,” asserts Strachan.

These feelings are unanimously and passionately held across the community in Northern Ireland.

“Living here doesn't make me any less creative but it's wrong to ignore the fact that our geographic location has affected us,” says Hot Shot Films managing director Brendan Byrne. “We lack commissions and commissioners lack confidence in us because we haven't been producing on a regular basis.”

“Northern Ireland has not been getting its fair share,” contends Wild Rover managing director Philip Morrow. “The problems run a little bit deeper than simple meritocracy. The low perception of the sector and its talent has meant that it's been allowed to dwindle. In order to get ourselves back on a level track we need serious focus.”
This is a crucial period for the region as it awaits the results of the network supply review from the BBC. And C4 director of nations and regions Stuart Cosgrove has chaired a task force inviting the input of local indies which is feeding into C4's review of its public service remit.

Handily timed to coincide with these reviews is a new political initiative in which leading NI indies are seeking to emulate the success of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission (SBC) in getting political representation for independent production in Scotland.

“Our aim is not to form a local body like the SBC but to seek a formal linkage between the SBC and the NI government so that the under-representation of the nations and regions as a whole is on the political agenda,” explains Double Band Films managing director Dermot Lavery. “The issue must be seen as one that affects the whole region not just the narrow televisual sector.”

Political pressure
Among signatories to the lobby group is Tern TV, with its Irish and Scottish bases. “SBC acts as a forum for issues to be aired in public which in turn creates political pressure,” says Strachan. “We think politics can deliver results.”

There are calls for the BBC to ringfence 3% of its commitment to spend 17% of its budget on network commissions from the nations and regions for Northern Ireland. In 2006 NI produced 0.2% of the corporation's output.

“We would expect 3%, which would completely transform the landscape,” says Morrow. Sustained investment at 3% over a few years would, it's argued, make the region “network competitive” by building the skills base and forging tight links with commissioners.

“We do have a unique problem in terms of attracting long-term talent to the region when there's so much uncertainty,” insists Byrne. “There's no way the industry can grow unless networks take their commitments seriously and home in on genres, slots and channels.”

Scale is such a key issue - without a super-indie there's a perception that the region lacks the critical mass to take on a large scale commission. “That's a pretty pointless argument,” declares Wild Rover's Morrow. “There's obviously not the infrastructure here waiting for a commission. Infrastructure follows commissions. The talent here is beyond question.”

One project that has not waited for a network commission is Lifeboat Luke, a 52 x 5-minute CG animation due for completion in April. The series was set up as a co-production between Holywood-based LTL Productions and Dublin-based Kavaleer Productions in order to access funding both north and south of the border.

LTL carried out pre and post-production while Kavaleer was responsible for animation and the series is in the process of being sold to a number of broadcasters including Irish broadcaster RTE. According to LTL Productions director Alastair McIlwain, the company has its ambitions set not just on network commissions but on projects such as Lifeboat Luke that will sell internationally.

Building trust
Elsewhere, there's no denying the track record of some of the region's producers. Waddell Media, Wild Rover and Green Inc are led by executives who have produced or commissioned at network level.

Waddell currently has development funding for a BBC network Saturday night show as well as development deals with Fremantle and Discovery US for which it's to make Future Weapons.

“Getting access to UK commissioners isn't a problem, getting them to buy into NI indies is,” believes the producer's head of programmes, Jannine Waddell. “Partly that's because most of the companies here are too small to compete nationally and commissioners like to deal with what they feel are reliable suppliers.”

Already the largest Belfast indie, Waddell Media acquired animation producer Flickerpix last month “as part of our strategy to make more of an impact”, says Waddell. “One of the ways for indies to expand is for indigenous companies to merge.”

Stephen Stewart, managing director of Green Inc, directed Chris Evans projects including Don't Forget Your Toothbrush and is awaiting a decision on a pilot Saturday night entertainment show Green Inc produced for ITV. “We want to be seen as individual companies not as one mass or treated as a special case,” he maintains. “We simply have to be better than London indies to get a commission.”

DoubleBand's Lavery agrees: “We don't want the investment to create some sort of centre of excellence because that can be a shackling process. It's important that any network targets are applied across different genres. Clearly that's achievable since indies here have expertise across genres.”

Local producers like these have the ear of BBC NI head of programmes Ailsa Orr. She is widely credited with bringing a much needed focus to the needs of the community. At her post for less than a year, Orr has slashed the number of local suppliers from over 200 to seven and created a new programme strategy which launches in April, expressly to encourage network ambitions.

“Traditionally our network target [40% of the broadcaster's output is externally sourced] has been for drama and current affairs but that doesn't take into account the diversity of talent - much of which has migrated back to Northern Ireland,” Orr says. “We wanted to expand our network remit to include a wider genre base [in factual, comedy and daytime] which would play to the strengths of our indigenous talent base and ultimately help us to reach our [anticipated new] network targets,” says Orr.

Focused investment
More money, she says, is being invested in fewer projects to fit consistent, regular programme slots.

“Positioned correctly, these programmes are designed to have maximum impact, with strong BBC branding and values and major marketing, radio and online opportunities, as well as co-production potential,” she declares.

These include a Landmark Factual slot on Monday nights for which DoubleBand and Tern are seen as key suppliers.

“These are the programmes we want to put our key investment into in terms of branding and online opportunities - so they've got to count,” she insists. “We want suppliers to raise their sights, think more broadly and increase the ambition of their programme-making.”

The 35 annual factual slots have to have both local and network resonance and are granted£80,000 to£120,000 budgets - relatively high by local standards.

Orr cites examples including a BBC NI/BBC2 factual drama about George Best, a film about the notorious Irish priest Father Cleary for BBC4/RTE, as well as a film with Darlow Smithson about suicide pacts.

Entertainment and comedy are scheduled for Fridays (Wild Rover and Waddell Media will be core suppliers) with a low budget Innovation berth available later that night where the emphasis is on risk and “trying something new”.

Orr says, “It's designed for young film-makers, self-shooters and editors who can turn stuff around really quickly and are not afraid to try out bizarre ideas. Anything that works well here could potentially migrate into a more mainstream slot.”

The unofficial ringfencing of work does not, she says, preclude pitches from outside the seven main suppliers: “This is a small place so we need to get together and co-ordinate to achieve network objectives.”

As far as drama is concerned the BBC can point to the recent presence of Fairy Tales and to the fifth series of Messiah from Great Meadow. Both were deliberately diverted to shoot in the region, thereby accessing Northern Ireland Screen funds. Orr, who produced Super Volcano and Pompeii The Last Day for the BBC, is keen to develop a slate of factual drama. “We have leaders in both drama and factual so this is exactly the strength we should be playing to,” she says.

With renewed BBC NI support and moves to put the commissioning issue on the political agenda gaining momentum, producers are optimistic that the tide is turning. Dublin's Tyrone Productions, producer of Riverdance the Show, has read the runes and is opening a Belfast office “primarily to deliver network commissions”, says chief executive John McHugh.

“We've come a long way in the past 10 years but we feel we get painted as an irritant,” says Hot Shot Films' Byrne. “We can't be relentlessly positive in the wake of all the statistics but we can at last envisage a sea change in the principles that have underpinned production in the nations and regions.”

NI's second cityDerry - the forgotten production base?If Belfast producers sometimes feel they're an afterthought for London broadcasters, spare a thought for those in Northern Ireland's second city, Derry.

Situated at the opposite end of the province with a population of 100,000, the town contains a handful of producers, among them Westway Film Production, Ambient Light, Northland and Besom Productions.

“Derry has a reputation for whining about being a hard-done-by, poor relation of Belfast and there's an element of truth in that,” admits Westway's Joe Mahon. “It's a four-hour round trip by car to Belfast which is sometimes a disadvantage when it comes to editing.”

He adds: “We've survived well enough on local commissions by making programming which has a strong affinity to the city and its rural hinterland, such as UTV's long-running current affairs series Lesser Spotted Ulster.”

Derry doesn't have the critical mass to sustain a post-production business, although multimedia training group The Nerve Centre offers offline facilities. “I don't think we struggle to get work commissioned,” says Vinny Cunningham, who runs Open Reel Productions, the production arm of crewing outfit Northland. “If an idea's good, it's good.”

Future uncertainty
Is Irish Language funding drying up?The government-backed Irish Language Broadcast Fund (ILBF) is widely credited with re-energising local production. It had£12m in guaranteed funding to allocate through Northern Ireland Screen until 2009 but concern is being raised about whether the pot will be replenished.

“It's been a big boost,” says Maeve McAdam, creative director, Ikandi. “Having a minority language helps enhance our application for EU Media funds. But the ILBF isn't infinite and we need to know what happens beyond next year.”

Intended as a one-off payment as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the fund has created a thriving new market. “I don't think anybody's clear about what, if anything, will replace it,” says Westway producer Joe Mahon. “The DCAL [Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure] isn't in a position to invest further. We should be lobbying politicians to find another source for it. Over the past four years the fund has provided training for new directors and camera crew and boosted post-production. Audience demand has been considerable. All that is now in jeopardy.”

The idea that the fund will disappear completely is not seriously entertained but there's some twitchiness while uncertainty prevails.

“The ILBF still has a year to go,” says Jannine Waddell, noting that Waddell Media opened a new Irish language development unit. “I can't believe a political commitment won't be made [to safeguard its future].”

Worldwide post

Broadcast 

As almost a fifth of post producers tell Broadcast they plan to outsource work abroad this year, Indian businesses are eyeing up Soho facilities to lure work back home.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/worldwide-post/867910.article

A growing number of UK post producers are set to export their business models abroad in the coming year as the internationalisation of the sector gathers pace. Nearly a fifth of respondents to a Broadcast survey plan to outsource portions of work offshore, while Soho's finest are being eyed by foreign investors as they swap ownership in the manner of Premier League football teams.

Setting up shop in the US has become de rigueur among top commercials houses. The Mill led the way into New York in 2002 (it now has 100 staff and an LA arm), followed by Smoke & Mirrors and Framestore CFC. Final Cut runs NY and LA wings and Absolute opened New York suites last summer. The strong pound means Manhattan real estate is very attractive to facilities used to shelling out for W1 rents.

“We have no plan for global domin-ation,” says Absolute owner Dave Smith, who hired a Flame for ad hoc work in New York and plans to double its two Flames to take on larger projects. “It was a safe way to grow business because there were -clients asking us to be there,” he says.

For commercials houses that aim to service executives' every whim, it makes sense to locate to agency hubs. They also trade on the brand values of British talent - seen as superior to their US counterparts.

The first broadcast facility to move across the pond has done so for largely the same reasons. “A number of our clients have set up in the US [Leopard, Tiger Aspect and Lion Productions among them], either to pitch to US networks or to produce versions of their own properties,” says Evolutions managing director Simon Kanjee. “There's a hunger for British creativity and producers were telling us it would be nice to work with us over there and have the same level of service they receive from Evolutions London.”

Evolutions' Broadway office was first hired to post Tiger Aspect's Make Me a Supermodel but Kanjee says the move is permanent. “Soho offers very proactive client management, which doesn't happen to the same degree in the States,” he says. “We operate a runner system. They don't. We know all our clients' first names. They don't. There's a clock-watching mentality in some sections of US post, which isn't how we work. British operators have a reputation for craft skills, whereas US talent can be harder to find.”

The big difference between satellites servicing commercials and those catering for broadcast is in the value to be had from shuttling work between offices. Because the work requires specialist compositing or CG, commercials houses can zip mater-ial to and fro, maximise overlaps in time zones and produce round the clock. Excess work can be soaked up by other sites.

But where commercials houses can set up outposts around one suite and a star oper-ator, the economics of broadcast require a greater investment in space and kit.

“Very little editing, audio mixing or grading can be done without the client in attendance, especially on quick turn-around broadcast projects,” says Kanjee. “Moving work further afield is inappropriate when producers need to be hands-on.”

For this reason, he doubts whether there's any gain to be made from working regularly with Indian companies. “They wouldn't make any money from broadcast,” he says. Darlow Smithson head of production Ulla Streib adds: “We wouldn't outsource most post processes because it still depends on someone attending a grade or mix. But we would farm out music composition and CGI and are actively looking for facilities in Singapore [where DSP has a new office].”

The economics of taking mechanical aspects such as matting and wire removal abroad stack up. Feature film VFX and animation (and TV animation) have been outsourced to eastern Europe, Ireland and India for decades. Tiger Aspect's Robin Hood is partly posted in Romania for example. What's new is that Indian facilities wielding hefty purses are courting every facility in town with the aim of setting up London shop fronts to entice work back home, where overheads can be over 70% less.

Kanjee, who recently went on a government-organised UK trade mission to Mumbai, notes the huge market for Indian firms to tap into in the West: “Their sole objective is to get work back to India, where they can make 50% margins.”

Prime Focus London regularly farms VFX shots to India. Mumbai-based Pixion, a subsidiary of Century Communication, India's largest facility, bought VFX boutique Men from Mars with the same aim and is scouting for further acquisitions.

Skillset facilities manager Triston Wallace also went on the Mumbai trip. Blogging during the visit, he said: “Indian corporations look for ‘trophies' to demonstrate wealth and power - a Soho facility would give them the required cachet.”

The main obstacle to working with Indian facilities is a lack of project management and professional training. Smith and Shenfield have been deterred from outsourcing work to the subcon-tinent unless client confidence can be guaranteed. “There are huge quality -control issues,” says Shenfield.

Indian firms know this. A key reason for owning a London or US base is to project-manage work outsourced from there.

The US and India aren't the only outlets for UK post. Twelve respondents to Broadcast's survey plan to open overseas in 2008, in locations as diverse as Dubai, Toronto and Poland. The Mill is “in active research mode”, says Shenfield, while Smoke & Mirrors may follow Golden Square into Shanghai.

“We knew [Shanghai] would be tough, but it has been even more difficult than we thought,” says Golden Square managing director Philippa Gillies.

“The market is immature and we're mostly posting content for mobile or web. But the nearest professional post facilities are Hong Kong or Australia so the opportunity remains a good one.”