M1: Strength and weaknesses of my ideas

Introduction
During this report, I will be specifically looking at both the strengths and weaknesses contained in
each of my potential shows. It’s important that I identify all the strengths and weaknesses for my
three ideas before choosing the final, as it will enable me to weigh up which show provides the most
benefits regarding constraints and to what extent demographics have been met, summing to which
show idea will be best fitted for the target audience and TV conventions.

Romantic Drama- ‘My Dear Max’

While they may seem to have a picture-perfect marriage on the outside, long term couple Laura and
Max’s relationship faces turmoil, when Max is caught having an affair with another woman. With
Laura’s world turned upside down, logical thinking isn’t always practical…

Strengths
I view the budget as a strength for My Dear Max. I think this because there is only a small number of
main characters and limited equipment needed, helping to reduce financial constraints massively.
This is good for the client as it’s fully meeting their biggest requirement which states that the budget
must be low. As for the audience, it allows for additional money to be put towards other aspects of
the show, such as specific costumes that match the characters profile, improving the quality and
visual excitement for the overall product. This will benefit myself as it reduces stress and pressure of
going above the budget. For the show, we have created a clear plan of how much money should be
spent for each category, providing us with more money for additional resources in which we think is
important for the show to excel.

The suitability for the time slot is effective for this show as it’s covering mature, sensitive content
and is scheduled to be airing at 9pm. This is good for the client as it means we have taken the
broadcast details into consideration and produced content that is appropriate for the audience.
Leading onto why it’s good for viewers, the show is being aired at a crucial time of night where
people are winding down, potentially meaning the audience will be more likely to watch now rather
than earlier that evening when they still have things to do. This is beneficial for me as it shows E4
executives that I’m capable of selecting content suitable for the time slot given and that the
audience will be able to enjoy the show, due to the time it’s going to be aired.

In many aspects, My Dear Max is an original show. Despite the blurb containing links and ideas from
previous shows, the plot is specifically unique with it’s many shocking twists and turns that take
place. This is effective in maintaining a high volume of viewers throughout the time that the show is
being aired. It’s particularly good for E4, providing their audiences with interesting, high-quality
viewing; that’s being distributed with the intention of people finding it original in style. I think this is
positive for me as it shows that I can create content that varies from other shows, potentially making
My Dear Max stand out.

Weaknesses
My Dear Max could be a weakness when it comes to all audiences finding the show relatable.
Although many people have been married, found themselves as a victim of cheating or had an affair
and have had to face consequences, E4 specifically wants the TV drama to be aimed towards 15-21
year olds. Therefore, many people of that age haven’t faced these situations yet and could have little
interest about them. This would be concerning for the client, as they may not gain viewers from the

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target audience that they were intending on appealing too. Due to the lack of relatability (especially
for the younger end of audiences) it could lead to a decrease in viewers, which would have a
negative effect on the show’s popularity and ratings. Overall, this would be a huge drawback for
myself as it would lead to making huge changes, concerning the entire plot and theme of the show.

The diversity within my show is what I consider to be a weakness, due to the main characters being
of the same age, race, ethnicity etc. In addition to this, the show will be from a female’s perspective,
making it more female dominated and potentially leading to a lower viewing from males. This
generates concern for the client as one of E4’s biggest attributes is to appeal to a wide range of
people and backgrounds. This could affect the audience if the show has only included certain types
of groups, leading to less viewers from not using a wide range of diverse characters. This would be a
problem for me as it would take a lot of time trying to re-cast and change the script, altering it to fit
in and be appropriate for someone new from the character scripted. Negatively effecting the show is
possible, with the show not being ready to air in time.

The messages portrayed within My Dear Max are not suggested for how deal with things realistically
or maturely, specifically in the way that you should treat your significant other or how you should
deal with learning your husband has had an affair. Therefore, E4 may feel uncomfortable with very
few positive messages being presented to a younger, impressionable audience. This would
negatively impact the show and myself, quite possibly preventing it from being aired on E4, despite
its interesting plot the lack of positivity or way of dealing with situations properly could be crucial in
the show going forward and being successful.

Crime Drama- ‘The Vanishing’

Annabelle Sharp, a young girl living in a Suburban town is mysteriously missing without a trace.
While her family begin to question those that they’re unfamiliar with, detectives’ suspicions grow
more towards those who knew her best, as they’ll soon be uncovering dark family secrets,
potentially linking to Annabel’s disappearance.

Strengths
The Vanishing will be highly relatable for people in the UK, through it’s normal, working- class
approach by creating authentic locations and relationships between characters. Due to the show
revolving around a young girl’s disappearance, it makes it more relatable for people when it’s set in
a similar place to where they live, spreading awareness to younger viewers particularly that
situations like this can happen anywhere and to anyone. This is good for the client as they will be
appealing to lots of people in the UK and following their E4 purpose of having a lasting impact on
their audiences, who we believe will find The Vanishing as more enjoyable through the links they’ll
be able to make to their own lives. Overall, this will benefit both myself and the show as the clients’
requirements have been met and will lead to the show being more popular with the target audience.

The Vanishing has a compelling storyline, containing more secrets and mystery than what meets the
surface, perhaps why it’s able to eliminate the repetitiveness that some crime dramas can be viewed
as. The storyline consists of characters that include ages of the target audience and issues that
people of this age may have. The story being suitable for the audience is key, hence why the client
will like this aspect of the show as it will keep viewers interested, ending each episode on a cliff-
hanger, leaving audiences intrigued to continue watching and see what happens next. This benefits
me as it increases the chances of the pilot turning out successful, due to the well-structured script
and interesting plot.

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There will be a multitude of diverse characters in The Vanishing. This is a strength as the show will be
based in a small town, including a range of genders, races, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds from
around the UK, providing everyone with being able to watch someone that mirrors them in one way
or another. With the show consisting of many diverse characters, it’s good for E4 as it shows they’re
acting upon their rules ‘Stand up for diversity’ and ‘inspire change’ to influence other TV channels in
assembling a diverse cast. This is beneficial for me as it’s highly likely that it will increase the number
of demographics and set a good first impression of the show, using the Equal rights legal constraint
so that everyone is paid fairly, regardless of their gender or race.

Weakness
It’s possible that some would find The Vanishing as lacking originality, despite the unexpected turns
it takes. However, crime dramas have become increasingly popular with similar themes and plots
amongst many shows. This means it could affect The Vanishing, possibly by labelling it as a
stereotypical crime drama, which is not good as the client believes E4 is unique through the impact
their shows have on audiences. Therefore, if viewers don’t connect with the show due to its
resemblance of too many other shows, it would be leaving me in a difficult position as to what could
be changed, negatively effecting the show as to whether it would continue being aired.

Another weakness that The Vanishing could have is being more exposed to complaints from the
public, particularly about the content being too graphic or sensitive for some viewers. This could
lead to low ratings and ultimately be re-sent to OFCOM to change their rating to a higher age.
However, this could affect the client’s target audience as they wanted the audience to be aimed
towards 15–21-year-olds. This would negatively impact my vision and ideas for what The Vanishing is
about and if the show ere to continue after the pilot, it could lead to the show’s release dates being
delayed further.

The Vanishing may go through some struggles when trying to remain within the budget that E4 has
specifically said must be kept low. The constraints that I think will be too high for the budget are the
cast and equipment. This is because we want to create realistic surroundings with not just extras,
but reoccurring characters too. Crowdsourcing (where people volunteer to be on the show to get
something in return) could be a solution to being able to spend more money on characters yet not
blowing the budget, as we’ll be generating our own income from the show. With The Vanishing
being a crime drama, its essential that we can shoot during the night and in several locations,
therefore, we will need good quality equipment and possibly more than what would be needed for
other shows, such as lighting rigs for example. Clearly, this would not be good for the client as it
causes financial concerns in which I should have dealt with and made sure each constraint had a
certain amount of money that was allowed to be spent. Overall, spending above the budget would
not be good for the show as it could lead to some constraints being abandoned, affecting the
audience’s response.

Comedy Drama- ‘Our family Ties’

The Langford’s, Johnson’s and Pritchett’s are overall a dysfunctional family, following them through
their daily lives of arguments, heartbreak and laugh out loud humour, we can see that despite all
their differences, their special family bond is what keeps them together.

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Strengths
Our family Ties will be a highly diverse show, choosing characters of all different ages, genders, races
and backgrounds. In addition to this, there will be same sex marriages and adopted children which is
why it’s important that the show reflects how there’s so many different types of families and no
single one is perfect. My client will be pleased that Our Family Ties appeals to a range of audience’s,
spreading a trend of the show being viewed as inclusive for both the cast and its audience. I think
this is positive as it follows channel 4’s idea of creating change through entertainment, with
universal content so that all parts of the UK can watch; exactly what Our family Ties intends on doing
to spread awareness about families being different from others, whilst using humour to keep
audiences tuning in. I see this as a big strength for myself and the show, it will limit complaints and
hopefully boost the ratings and viewing numbers.

The show consists of three households, all of whom are related in dysfunctional ways. It was
important that each character and the situations that they go through where relatable to viewers.
Therefore, I chose to have the characters ranging from all different ages, being able to cover topics
specifically related to them, enabling all viewers in being able to relate to someone within the show.
Meeting these criteria is valuable as it shows the client that I was able to meet their requirements by
providing relatable characters for a target audience of 15–21-year-olds. This will further enhance the
viewing for the audience and potentially generate more publicity towards the show.

Our Family Ties is suitable for several audience’s. I was able to ensure this through making the
characters age range from 2-65 years old. Therefore, if both a younger and older audience were to
watch it then they would be able to enjoy it too, offering the show a wider audience. This is good for
the client as it means the success of the show could be expanded beyond what was first anticipated.
By not using foul language, the show is suitable for family watching too, meaning adults will find Our
Family Ties completely suitable for their children, while still covering mature topics and dark
humour. This is beneficial for me as I’m covering a larger audience than what E4 executives asked of
me.

Weaknesses
Our Family Ties will face competition with other comedy dramas, especially when humour is so
reliant on the success of the show. Channel 4 have produced previous comedy dramas that were a
hit amongst audiences across the UK, such as Feel Good and Derry girls. This puts an expectation in
place for Our Family Ties to be as good, if not better than shows from channel 4 and to be able to
compete with comedy dramas from various other channels, such as ITV2 and BBC. However, it’s
worrying that the competition is so high for a drama of this nature, causing concern for the client as
to how the public may perceive this show. This will be a drawback for me as I will have to consider
other ways to make the show more original, with the aim of eliminating competition.

The storyline of Our Family Ties may become repetitive over time, through its predictable plot and
limited development of anything serious taking place, this could negatively impact the number of
viewers tuning in for the full length of the episode. Particularly concerning for my client, as E4 aim to
produce unique content in which Our Family Ties won’t be considered as if its storyline wasn’t
offering enough fresh, new ideas. This could lead to the show being viewed as boring through the
content or humorous trends that have already been done in previous shows. Overall, negatively
impacting myself as I won’t have met the requirements of the client brief successfully, in which
clearly states to plan ideas for a new upcoming show.

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The casting of Our Family Ties is likely to be a challenging process, with a specific number of actors
needed to fill the roles of each carefully selected family member. It’s important that we look for a
certain standard of actor, one who’s able to deliver humour, is easy for the audience to connect with
and most of all someone that they genuinely like. With the budget being set low, a quality cast will
be too expensive, meaning less experienced actors will have to take on most of the big roles.
Furthermore, with the show intending on having a diverse cast, it will be more difficult to find actors
that fit the characters we have created. This is concerning for my client as there’s a big risk of the
show’s failure coming down to the actors not being well suited or effective enough for their roles.
The audience will view this as being unrealistic, which goes against the show’s concept of wanting to
replicate a very raw, familiar and comfortable family environment. This will be a drawback for me, as
an extended amount of time will have to be spent on looking for the best quality actors, leading to
less time being used for other aspects of the creation and production of the show.

In conclusion, I have decided to go with my crime drama show, The Vanishing, as I believe it has the
most potential and freedom to introduce different ideas to the plot. When looking at which idea to
take further, The Vanishing’s strengths strongly outweighed the weaknesses. I think The Vanishing is
most suited for the target audience (15–21-year-olds) that is stated in the client brief, with its
gripping story, consisting of characters in which people of this age will be able to relate too; this will
be highly important for the show to succeed. Although the budget may appear to be a weakness, I
will handle It through managing the money effectively and hiring equipment from E4 themselves,
reducing costs immediately. I think The Vanishing is best fitted for E4, with its main purpose being to
create change through entertainment, I’ll be following this up with the diversity of the cast and the
close community bond that some will have. The show will leave a lasting impact on viewers through
the hard hitting, emotional subject of your child being found missing.