http://www.csimagazine.com/csi/We-have-broken-the-cabal-of-the-schedulers-House-of-Cards-creator.php
House of Cards creator discusses his experience working with Netflix and urges the BBC to charge for iPlayer subscription.
“Netflix was dead on its feet as a company renting DVDs until it decided to take a huge risk of getting into streaming. Then, the technology, the creativity and the timing of it came together.”
It came together with House of Cards, the political drama created by Lord Michael Dobbs who remains executive producer as the series enters the shoot of its fourth season.
“Netflix base their marketing and investment decision on data,” he said. “They know who is interested in political drama, they knew who follows [director] David Fincher and who like Kevin Spacey. They put that together and then said we're going to take a risk producing it. Had they failed, heads would have rolled and the company would have collapsed.”
Dobbs wrote the novel "House of Cards" after serving as an advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The BBC's version of House of Cards debuted in 1990. Dobbs described the BBC series as “wonderful” even though he fell out over creative differences with writer Andrew Davies during the third series. Netflix allegedly paid $100m up front for a two season 26 episode adaptation.
Several US studios had attempted to persuade Dobbs to remake the show but he was convinced by the Netflix vision.
“Platforms like Netflix are changing the face of TV in an extraordinary way,” he said. “I thought this new technology would just be a thousand channels of wallpaper which would drive down to the lowest common denominator. But the opposite has occurred. The viewer demands quality and the viewer is in control. In order to survive companies have to produce quality and Netflix is a leader in the ability for viewers to press a button and get what you want when you want it.”
He added: “I've dealt with Hollywood before and as soon as you sign the document you are chewed up and spat out. Netflix was buying rights to my intellectual property and I expected that having signed that would be last I would hear from them. Instead, they wanted me to stay on board as executive producer. It has been the happiest creative experience of my life. Hollywood players like Spacey and Fincher are saying that the future is not feature film but the golden age of TV.”
Dobbs is a member of the House of Lords involved in debating the BBC's future. “We want to improve the BBC because it is still a huge cultural icon for Britain and the world,” he said. “It has immense soft power and those cultural values are hugely important. But the BBC has to change.”
One way he suggested it might change is to charge viewers for consuming BBC content in the UK over iPlayer. “I watch all my BBC content on a tablet yet I do not pay for it. I would be willing to pay for it and I am sure others would too. The BBC has built a fabulous platform and should perhaps take advantage of it financially.
“We have broken the cabal of the schedulers. Now you push a button and get TV when you want it It is up to programme makers to response to that and give viewers what they want - which is quality.”
He also said he was still working on a new political drama with Borgen creator Adam Price which he dubbed 'House of Borgen. No network sales have been agreed.
“My only regret is that didn't take my payment in Netflix stock,” he said. “It has risen in extraordinary value in the last four years.”
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