Commissioning Process

What is the commissioning process?

• Commissioning is the process of planning, documenting, scheduling, testing, adjusting, verifying, and training, to provide a facility that operates as a fully functional system per the Owner’s Project Requirements. The goal of the Commissioning Process is to enhance the quality of the delivered project by focusing the design and construction team on the Owner’s goals for a functional and energy efficient building. The earlier a Commissioning Provider is involved in the project process the greater the chance there is for the Commissioning Provider to influence corrections without increased costs later. (1)

• BBC Three is an extension channel from the main broadcaster of BBC and therefore the aims and ethos are very similar in what hey want to put out.

• BBC Three is a publically funded, public service broadcaster and exists to serve the public and make programmes that are educating and enriching the publics lives.

BBC THREE COMISSIONING• As I have already found out the BBC state that they want to be able to enrich peoples lives with

programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain. • As they are publically funded through the TV Licence which is paid by the public they aim to serve the

public and don’t aim to make a profit hence why they do not show any adverts.• Our priorities• BBC Three is a mixed genre channel for young audiences.• We have three key priorities:• The channel is disciplined in its focus on young audiences and 16-34 year-olds are its centre of gravity: people who are

young in spirit and mind-set.• BBC Three is ‘never afraid to try new things’ and will continue to innovate with breakthrough Comedy, stand-out

Entertainment, brave Documentary and intelligent Factual Formats. Our content needs to have potential to innovate across platforms.

• BBC Three should provide an environment for the development of new ideas and talent and for existing talent to take risks, becoming a genuine laboratory for BBC One and BBC Two. 

• What they are Looking for?• Twice a year channels and genres reflect on programme performance, what's been commissioned and future needs. This

informs the ideas they are most looking for from production companies and in-house: the development priorities. These are updated with any changes throughout the year.

• When Commissioners have something over and above these priorities they hold briefings for suppliers. These could be online or face to face. Relevant suppliers are informed about these as they come up.

• One-to-one meetings with Commissioners will be to discuss ideas in play, not to brief on what we are looking for. This ensures  we have time to develop the best ideas.

• Securing a meeting with a Commissioner will be based on the strength of the ideas submitted.

The license Fee• Everyone in the UK who watches or records TV programs

at the same as they are shown on TV needs to be covered by a TV license. This includes TVs, computers, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes and DVD/VHS recorders.

• The Government sets the level of the license fee. In January 2007 the license fee was agreed for a six-year period with the amount being approved each year by Parliament. More recently the Government decided to freeze the license fee at 92its 2010 level of £145.50 until 31st March 2017.

• (2)

How They Commision

• How the BBC commissions content and agrees contracts is governed by the code of practice and the Business framework.

• The commissioning process is for producers from independent companies and BBC in-house teams to pitch their proposals. Find out more about where to send ideas from members of the public and individuals on the ideas from the public page.

• We operate a genre based commissioning process and commissioning opportunities can be found on the TV Genre page, Commissioning in TV is a collaboration between channels and genres. To Get a programme commissioned it has to work for both. What Happens to Ideas?

• An idea will be looked at first by the genre. If they think it is a good addition to their mix they may ask the producer to develop it further. When they think it’s ready they will take it to the Channel Controller. The creative dialogue will evolve through conversations with both the channel and genre and will be managed by the Genre Commissioning Editor.

(3)

The Decision Making Process

• BBC Television is committed to making commissioning decisions as fast as possible: entering into a dynamic and respectful dialogue with producers whose ideas are in play. We will give feedback on ideas we have actively been developing but this will vary by genre depending on the volume of proposals coming in, the nature of the idea and the characteristics of the genre.

• This is the kind of feedback that can be expected:• For rejections at an early stage, high volume areas like Factual will

give headline feedback only. Lower volume areas will provide more detail.

• Proposals that are rejected later in the commissioning process will receive more specific feedback. This may include subject matter, format, audience, plot or character - to provide a useful steer for future projects.

The Window Of Creative Competition

• This is the starting positions for the Window Of Creative Competition for genre 2013/2014

Damian Kavanagh – BBC THREE

• Damian is responsible for the overall direction of BBC Three.• Damian is known as the controller on BBC Three• He is the digital controller and so he determines what is shown on BBC Three, he

would make all the decisions regarding the scheduling and the program's that are shown.

• As well as Damian being the controller of the BBC three, Polly Hill is the controller of the Drama shows that are shown across the BBC network. She will be the person who accepts or rejects the pitch and if she does like it then she will send it off to Damian for the show to have a scheduling time that it can be shown, if Damian likes the pitch and there is a slot the show would be shown.

• As BBC Three does not as of yet show Drama’s there is no commissioning editor for Drama for BBC Three. However by showing a drama on BBC Three it allows them to expand an audience and again appeal to a younger target audience.

• (4) (5)

How To Apply• In order to apply for my soap to be shown on BBC Three I would have to

make a digital pitch/proposal showing the controllers what my soap is about and how it would fit with their channel ethos. If I am successful in achieving this then I would be asked to make a pilot episode in order to show where my soap would be heading.

• However there is one requirement which is that I would have to be part of an independent production company in order to access the pitch part of their website.

• There is another way that without being part of an independent company I would be able to propose an idea which would be by visiting the ‘Ideas From The public Page’.

• This is an essential thing for the BBC to have as they are publically funded they exist to serve the public so they need to be able to have the public’s best interest at heart and need to make shows which are suited to the audiences needs.

Funding• The agreed license fee will be the fixed price the BBC will pay for the programme after good

faith negotiations between the parties. The BBC will agree either to cash-flow the agreed license fee according to agreed stage payments, or it will pay the agreed license fee upon delivery. Pre-agreed stage payments are intended to remove the need in the majority of cases for detailed negotiation between the parties, whilst ensuring that they reflect the particular production schedule. Where staged payments are agreed, the stages will typically be as set out below.  However, where the nature of the programme or the production schedule mean that these stages are inappropriate, the BBC and the independent will consider in good faith stages for cash flow that reflect the particular nature of the production whilst still retaining the two final 5% payments in respect of paper and tape delivery. (6)

Problems• There are many problems with the ay that BBC allow a pitch for a show to be made. The

first main problem faces the idea of only independent companies being able to make a pitch for a show. Yes, I understand why this is in place because the BBC would receive a substantial amount of pitches they only want to take the serious ones from independent companies as they are more likely to be made. This creates a problem for people who have an idea for a show but are not part of an independent company as it then means they have to submit their idea on the public idea page which does not guarantee that there idea will be looked at or considered by the BBC. As well as this another problem is the funding, because the BBC is publically funded it means that the project needs to have a low budget to be considered for my production this may not be as bad as I could easily make my production on a small scale budget. However for some pitches from companies that need a bigger budget their idea may be changed so that it can then fit a smaller scale budget. Lastly another problem is that the scale for what the BBC have slots to show is very small so the chances of your idea being picked would be very slim.

• A way that this could be resolved is through social media, in this day and age we spend so much time on the internet and using social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook that it is easier nowadays to quickly appeal to a mass audience in just a small amount of time. One way that a production company could counter their pitch being rejected is by making the production themselves and posting it on Youtube regularly, this would then potentially get their production seen by a producer who may have an idea for their concept and would take them on and potentially produce their idea.

References• (1)( http://www.completecx.com/what-is-commissioning/)• (2) http://www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/insidethebbc/whoweare/

licencefee• (3)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/who-we-are-how-we-commission

• (4) http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/managementstructure/biographies/kavanagh_damian/

• (5) http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/drama• (6) http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/how-we-do-

business