www.broadcastnow.co.uk
12 July 2013
Drama Special
ALSO INSIDE ■ Comment:
keeping up with the kids Page 23 ■ Steven D Wright: my trashy legacy Page 25
■ Run: how a factual indie made an urban thriller Page 30 ■ BBC Drama Writers’ Festival: meet the “argumentative f***ers” behind the big shows Pages 20, 26-28
BBC 50% quota in spotlight Drama leads the way as indie sector hands in-house production another WoCC bashing WOCC: 2010-13 BREAKDOWN
BY JAKE KANTER
2010/11 2011/12 2012/13
Pact is campaigning to get the BBC to reconsider its 50% inhouse production guarantee at the 2016 charter renewal after the indie sector enjoyed another dominant year in the Window of Creative Competition (WoCC). Pact chief executive John McVay said it would raise questions about commissioning quotas in its charter renewal submission, after indies trumped in-house in almost every genre. The figures for the 12 months to the end of March 2013 show that BBC Productions picked up just 26% of WoCC hours compared with the indie sector’s 74%. This was an improvement for in-house on the 83%-17% split in favour of indies the previous year, but the 2012/13 figures were skewed by the sheer volume of BBC-produced programming for the 2012 Olympics. The genre breakdown more clearly illustrates the gulf between indies and the BBC’s production arm. Drama led the charge, with external producers winning 100% of the available hours for the second year in a row (see box). Indies did not just secure a larger proportion of the WoCC in every genre apart from sport (which featured in the breakdown for the first time alongside daytime), but the gap to in-house widened. Indies won 88% and 76% of entertainment and knowledge WoCC hours respectively, while they converted a defeat in comedy in 2011/ 12 into victory. BBC Productions
ENTERTAINMENT
In-house Indies
20% 80%
26% 74%
12% 88%
14% 86%
0% 100%
0% 100%
34% 66%
31% 69%
24% 76%
43% 57%
19% 81%
38% 62%
43% 57%
51% 49%
21% 79%
-
100% 0%
100% 0%
-
10% 90%
4% 96%
28% 72%
17% 83%
26% 74%
DRAMA
In-house Indies KNOWLEDGE
In-house Indies CHILDREN’S
In-house Indies COMEDY
In-house Indies SPORT
In-house Indies DAYTIME
In-house Indies TOTAL
Ripper Street: Tiger Aspect and Lookout Point produced the BBC hit show
won 51% of available comedy commissions last year, but only 21% in 2012/13 as indies scooped up 79%. The only genre where the BBC’s in-house teams showed improvement was children’s, where it won 38% of available hours compared with 19% last year. Beyond the WoCC, indies produced 44% of the BBC’s total output in the year to March 2013, a decline on the previous year’s 46%. This was again the result of an exceptional year for sport, with the BBC producing the majority of its Olympics and Euro 2012 content. Under the six-year-old WoCC scheme, 50% of BBC output must be made in-house and 25% by indies. Both compete for the remaining 25%, which is known as the WoCC.
McVay raised concerns that the in-house guarantee is beginning to act as a cap on external commissions and prevents commissioners from ordering ideas on merit. He said that the BBC Trust should review whether the system is delivering value for licence-fee payers in the run-up to the charter renewal.
Focus on the best “The BBC should be asking itself fundamental questions, and this is one of them,” he said. “It’s the BBC’s job to spend the licence fee on the best shows, regardless of where they’re supplied from.” Pact also made these points in its submission to a BBC Trust review of the WoCC published earlier this year. The Trust concluded that the
In-house Indies
BBC’s commissioning quotas “work well” and “appear” to be fair, transparent and focused on finding the best ideas. BBC in-house productions chief creative officer Pat Younge said: “The in-house guarantee delivers most of the biggest shows audiences love; enables us to invest in worldleading specialisms such as the NHU and BBC Science; and underpins our commitment to produce world-class content around the UK. “Setting the guarantee at 50% not only enables us to achieve these public policy objectives, it also ensures that the British public receive all of the benefit from any secondary value – financial or otherwise – from the exploitation of 50% of the content they’ve paid for.”