Recently, I posted quotes from network executives speaking to Screen Forever about what they were looking for.
Today the reverse of the medal… what aren’t they looking for? Here are their answers….
ABCs:
“We get a lot of tones that sound like ‘It’s Gruen but for X’, or ‘It’s like Wedges and grains but for Y.’ None of this is hard and fast because someone could make up a file Gruen OR Wedges and grains version, which is actually amazing, and we’d probably make it. But for the most part, you have to look at what the output is already…. ..every presentation comes because someone is super passionate. You just have to have an absolutely great idea because a good idea will travel and, more importantly, an idea whose time has come. It’s the right time. They are the ones who are irresistible.“
Foxtel:
“There is an abundant supply of Unscripted content available from overseas. The UK in particular is a huge producer of Unscripted content. So in that context, if we’re going to make shows, they have to be ‘must watch’. … They have to be absolutely best-in-class and must-have concepts.”
Paramount+ / 10:
“There is no hard and fast rule. I will say that from an unwritten perspective, we arrange our content in different ways across different genres. In general, the Unscripted content that we have commissioned will air on Free to Air on the 10th sometime. So we’re looking for broad appeal, so it must work on 10 (and Paramount+). We secure a lot of pitches where people say, “This is a niche audience, so it’s perfect for streaming.” We have a lot of lines like that, but I think what we’re looking for is that it has to work on a lot of other platforms.
NITV:
“People come to tell us their story about their wonderful aunt or uncle. We get a lot of these types of stories. Everyone deserves to be told a story about their family member. We want producers to come to us to tell a different story from the way other documentaries are told. How immersive and tonal, how will it be? But also, who is our audience? We are not looking at just one community. Where will that story tie into other communities across the nation, but also, more broadly, how will it tie into other First Nations people as well?…. See what everyone else is doing and bring us something new.
