Writing for TV & Video
Commissioning Bodies
Commission
To authorise or 'green light' the production of a creative idea
In this instance, a company or organisation that gives a filmmaker the
authorisation to produce a script into a film
The 'commissioners' will provide all or part of the financial budget so
that the filmmaker has the required resources to produce the final film
TV Commissions WATCH ME
Corporations
Independent production companies
Ways you may
be Organisations
commissioned…
Independent directors or producers
Competitions
Channel 4
BBC Writers Room
Corporations Netflix
Amazon
Sky
Netflix – The
Commissioning Process
• Netflix uses its wealth of data to predict the
viewing potential of an original idea, and sets
producers’ budgets accordingly.
• “We assess attributes around the series, including
who is involved with it and what genre it is. We
can predict a minimum audience threshold and
from that we can assess what type of budget we
can support.”
• Netflix took the opportunity to call for show
pitches that have “authenticity, specificity and
passion”, with Holland adding that the idea should
be one “the storyteller is dying to tell”.
Netflix – The
Commissioning
Process
• Develop a coherent script for, at the very
least, the pilot episode of your show
• You are then going to want to get in
touch with a producer or agent that best
matches the direction you see your
show heading in
• Your form of representation will assist in
readying your project to be pitched to
the network
• If the pitch is successful, you will be able
to sell your show to Netflix for a
discussed sum of money, as well
as negotiate a contract for an order
number of episodes and compensation
as per the terms of the agreement
[Link]
monocle-culture-show/278/
Play podcast from
10:33mins
READ ME
Independent • Bedlam Productions Ltd.
Production Companies • Feelgood Fiction
Bedlam Productions Ltd.
• Is an independent film and television production
company based in Soho, London and has been in
operation since 2009
• Bedlam was founded by Simon Egan and Gareth
Unwin; the two met while studying film
at Ravensbourne College
• Bedlam's first major feature production was the
award winning The King's Speech (2010)
Independent Directors/Producers
Shane Ken
Meadows Loach
Shane Meadows
• Represented by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates
• Casarotto Ramsay & Associates was founded in 1989 and represents many of the world’s
best known writers, directors, literary properties, and below the line talent in film, theatre
and television.
• We are a fiercely independent boutique agency, and are proud of our personal touch. Our
clients range from newer talents to very well established names, which means that we work
across the complete spectrum. We are based in London but operate internationally.
Ken Loach
• Ken Loach, (born June 17, 1936,
Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England), British director
whose works are considered landmarks of social
realism.
• Sixteen Films, started in 2002, is headed up by film
Director Ken Loach, and Producer Rebecca
O'Brien.
• Writers can contact Sixteen Films with new
projects
Organisations
[Link] BFI Film Fund
iFeatures
• Creative England has launched the latest iteration of iFeatures, made
possible through National Lottery funding from the BFI and supported
by BBC Films. The Lab programme is supported by ScreenSkills' Film Skills
Fund.
• Up to 12 projects will be selected for the latest round of iFeatures, all of
which will benefit from the development Lab for the full duration of the
programme, in addition to receiving dedicated support for their route to
market.
• iFeatures will back directors and writers making their first features, with
the ambition to foster the highest quality British debuts from the most
dynamic and inventive storytellers. Changes to the scheme will establish it
as the UK’s premier film Lab programme, driving the development of low-
budget features from emerging filmmakers.
BFI Film Fund
Competitions
• [Link]
• [Link]
PAGE Awards
Create an additional page within your Film magazine
which features the case study RANDOM ACTS
Within your article about RANDOM ACTS include the
following:
Who they are
Task
How a writer/filmmaker can get their idea produced
Some examples of the films that RANDOM ACTS have
funded and backed over recent years
The benefits of obtaining backing from C4 RANDOM
ACTS
