The Beeb's annual distribution event

[khurramdar]

The Beeb's annual distribution event


The Beeb's annual distribution event, BBC Showcase, took place in the UK seaside town of Brighton this week. Patricia Fearnley (below), BBC Worldwide's head of factual content acquisitions, spoke to Adam Benzine.

For four days in February, the BBC invites buyers from all over the world to the south coast of England to show off the latest titles it is making available to the international market.

The event is a sort of mini-Mip, albeit with only one company selling fare. This year's event â€" the 34th â€" was a grey, rainy but well attended affair, with just under 500 buyers showing up.

Among the figures rolled out by the BBC for selling duty were Andrew Jackson, the former Tigress chief who now runs the Beeb's Natural History Unit; filmmaker Alastair Fothergill, who presented six-part natural history series The Frozen Planet, which is due for completion in 2011; and Louis Theroux, who talked about his forthcoming documentaries on the treatment of children with psychiatric problems in the US and the Nigerian city of Lagos.

"It's about trying to get our titles out there and getting some excitement around them," explained Patricia Fearnley, BBC Worldwide's (BBCWW) head of factual content acquisitions. Meetings tend to be longer than at MipTV, and unlike the Cannes event, Showcase benefits from its timing, she added. "As it's towards the end of the financial year, you find that some buyers still have some budget to spend before the start of the next financial year."

Fearnley's role encompasses advising BBCWW on which coproductions to invest in and how much to invest. "We can't make the really big factual titles without that money," she explains. On the Monday morning, Showcase held a coproduction forum, at which 40 to 50 producers were invited to pitch ideas that were in the early stages of development and needing further funding.

Fearnley said the event is helpful in kick-starting conversations for coproductions, which can often take a long time to develop. "The ideas were generally for science titles and natural history titles," she said. "We're always looking for the next big landmark natural history title or the landmark science programme â€" that's what our buyers and coproducers look to the BBC for.

"It's a tougher market to work in but we seem to be riding it out at the moment. We've been quite surprised at how positive the sales team has been throughout the recession. The signs are that it hasn't been as detrimental as we might have feared."

The long-term nature of coproducing natural history projects means the BBC has most of the next 12 months taken care of, said Fearnley, so the focus is on projects for 2011 to 2013. "In science, I want more of the same; it has to be really high-end, high-quality and look fantastic," she added. "We tend to rely on France and Germany as copro partners quite heavily, but we have been starting to see other countries, such as Spain and Greece, that we wouldn't have seen before."

Away from Brighton, this week also saw C21's own Primetime Strategies Live 2010 conference taking place at Bafta in London yesterday. Among the panellists on stage was Sky1's head of factual and features Celia Taylor, who told delegates her network wants to increase its female reach. "I'd like to get more women to love Sky," she said.

On the features front, Taylor said the channel was looking for shows that could take on longer-running terrestrial programmes. "We've opened up the 20.00 slot, which used to air just The Simpsons, for hour-long features shows," she explained. "We're looking to get into features in a much bigger way, and we're one of the few broadcasters out there actually taking risks."

Elsewhere at the conference, RDF Rights chief operating officer Jane Millichip said it was becoming increasingly difficult to place US factual entertainment abroad. "The assumption that American factual entertainment and documentary will just sell has gone," she said. "Unfortunately, a lot of American agents just don't get that."
Reply With Quote