Research support

Brief 2 - Life Styles The Brief ‘You work for Synopticity Productions, a production company specialising in lifestyle programming.‘ What is a Production Company?

TV Production Companies

• They provide the financing, filming and post-production for programmes

• They then “pitch” these programmes to broadcasters

• They may work in collaboration with the broadcasters and/or with other production companies to share the costs

• Selling their programmes is how they make their profits – the more

broadcasters (including internationally) they can get to purchase their programmes, the more return on their investment!

• Also, DVD rights etc.

Production Company Example 1

http://www.hattrick.co.uk/

• “Hat Trick is one of the UK’s most successful independent production companies, their output immediately identified with popular and award-winning programming, light entertainment and drama, and now also emerging into digital media.

• Working with the best writers and producers, who in turn attract the best on-screen talent, Hat Trick remains at the forefront of the creation of new television. Some of the brightest names in British television began their careers and continue to build them under the Hat Trick brand.”

• How many production companies can you name?

• Think about the closing credits on your favourite programmes. Follow

this link to a list of UK TV production companies: http://thetvroom.com/misc/links-01-70.html

• In particular, be aware of their understanding of their audiences following reviewing the clip.

Production Company Example 2 http://www.endemoluk.com/

Your (fictional) production company is called ‘Synopticity Productions’.

• You may want to include this in your products • You’ll need to create a logo for moving image and e-media work

Consider what is Lifestyle Programming?

• Health & Sports • Food • Gardening • Parenting / Families • Fashion • Travel • Interior Design • Hobbies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifestyle/

BBC Commissioning Briefs The BBC and other broadcasters commission programmes from Production Companies such as Synopticity Productions. They have an area of their website dedicated to letting production companies know they type of thing they are looking for: http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/

• Daytime & Early Peak - What we’re looking for…

• Daytime on BBC One View Damian Kavanagh’s latest BBC ONE Daytime & Early Peak development briefs including commissioning slot and audience details, what’s been working well on the channel and where opportunities are available.

• Early Peak on BBC Two View Damian Kavanagh’s latest BBC TWO Early Peak development briefs including commissioning slot and audience details, what’s been working well on the channel and where opportunities are available.

• Ambition and originality are key to Daytime & Early Peak. We are looking for bold, clear concepts which capture a mass audience. Ideas need to have breadth. We have a 40% male audience so ideas that could alienate men are unlikely to be commissioned.

• On-screen talent is key to a daytime show. We’re keen to hear about the new generation of experts. The faces of daytime are all respected for their knowledge, charm and enthusiasm. We don’t have to have established names but new faces need to be the sorts of people the audience would share a cup of tea with!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/briefs/tv/browse-by-genre/daytime/ Task

• Explore the website and make notes on the types of Lifestyle programmes which the BBC commission

From The Brief

• “The company has had recent success with a cookery competition show”

Global Genres: Top Chef (USA) ‘Top Chef’

• Bravo • Since 2006, Bravo’s Top Chef has pitted numerous rising chefs in

competition against each other in challenges that test their culinary skills and creativity. Three colorful judges and unique challenges make the show a fulfilling creation.

• Each episodes features a Quickfire and Elimination challenge. A fan favorite is Restaurant Wars, the elimination challenge where two teams launch pop-up restaurants. The top three chefs of the season compete in the finale for the chance to win $200,000 (previously $100,000) and an editorial feature in Food & Wine Magazine.

Product Placement in Lifestyle Shows

• You may wish to include Product Placement in your show

From The Brief

• The brief refers to the promotion via ‘wider commercial links’. This could include:

o DVDs o Books o Magazines

• Tie-ins with other companies via:

o Merchandising o Product Placement o Programme Sponsorship

The Delia Effect!

• ‘The term “Delia effect” entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2001. The trend was first noted when she was seen using cranberries on TV and, a day later, sales rose by 200%. Her demonstration of how to fry and boil eggs properly saw sales climb by 54m. Demand for salted capers rose by 350% and dates by 35% when she praised them in the first How To Cook series.’

• ‘Waitrose said all its branches had received extra supplies of its specialist La Petite Maison Feuilles de Brick pastry – only available at Waitrose in the UK – which Delia uses to make her unusual Christmas cracker puddings.’

• http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/03/delia-effect-classic-christmas-ingredients

• http://www.channel4.com/programmes/whats-cooking

Guardian News Article Sainsbury’s What’s Cooking?: Is product placement spoiling foodie TV? Channel 4’s new lunchtime TV show blurs the line between cooking programme and advert – is it a taste of things to come? Another day, another new daytime cooking show. But if you’re slumped in front of Channel 4 on a weekday lunchtime, you’ll notice that What’s Cooking? from the Sainsbury’s Kitchen is different from the usual TV food fodder. The clue’s in the title. What’s Cooking? isn’t just sponsored by the big-name retailer – it’s a format designed to put the brand firmly in the spotlight and push product placement further than ever before. “It’s definitely a different concept to what we’ve seen,” says Rosie Baker, deputy news editor at Marketing Week. “Sainsbury’s haven’t just taken the content and bolted their name to it – they’ve been involved in shaping the programme right from the start.” This means that while the show looks like your standard-issue Saturday Kitchen clone, Sainsbury’s is never far from the screen. So when visiting chef Rachel Allen whips up a lamb’s neck dish, there’s a host of the supermarket’s own-label products on the table. Likewise, a challenge to make lunch for the member of JLS lurking on the studio couch includes lingering shots of a certain retailer’s fresh food aisle. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/feb/27/sainsburys-whats-cooking-product-placement

1st March 2011- New Rules on Product Placement

• product placement allowed on UK commercial television for the first time

• amended Ofcom Code allows broadcasters to permit products to be placed in programmes, subject to a number of safeguards. These safeguards include:

• the prohibition of any product placement in news or children’s programmes, or in any programmes which do not fall within the ‘permitted genres’ of films, series made for television (or other audiovisual media services), sports programmes, and light entertainment programmes;

• the prohibition of alcoholic drinks, foods or drinks high in fat, salt or sugar, tobacco, cigarettes or prescription-only medicines from being placed; and

• a rule requiring that, where product placement occurs in a programme, this must be signalled to viewers at various points in the programme (i.e. at the start, the end, and at the recommencement of the programme after a commercial break) by way of a universal logo (below).

• The Code also requires that product placement must not impair broadcasters’ editorial independence, and that any products should not be featured in an unduly prominent way within programmes. The amended Code also relaxes the rules relating to sponsorship of programming.

Programme Sponsorship

• Echo Falls sponsors Come Dine with Me

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPWzkisTLKU

Sourced from: http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/mest2-lifestyle-programming-synopticity-productions/ Caroline Bagshaw | Thursday September 26, 2013