Burnham speaks against product placement

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has spoken against product placement on TV. As Ben Fenton reports for The Financial Times, he told a media industry audience in London yesterday that there was a danger of product placement further eroding trust in TV. It's a viewpoint that the Guild's TV Committee agrees with and has lobbied for to Ofcom and others.

[Burnham's] opposition to product placement was bound to have been badly received at ITV. Michael Grade, executive chairman of the UK’s largest broadcaster, and Rupert Howell, his commercial director, have extolled the possibilities involved in allowing advertisers to pay for the inclusion of their products in high-profile, mass audience programmes such as Coronation Street.

The product placement issue has arisen because of a European Commission directive on audio-visual industries. It requires EU member states to say by the summer whether they will permit product placement. Mr Burnham said he was willing to hear counter-arguments but made clear where he stood.

“There is a risk that product placement exacerbates this decline in trust and contaminates our programmes,” he said. “There is a risk that, at the very moment when television needs to do all it can to show it can be trusted, we elide the distinction between programmes and adverts.”

ITV shares fell by nearly 3% following the news, and were down further this morning.

There's a debate on the issue of product placement on The Guardian Organ Grinder blog.

Update 09.39: Coincidentally, screenwriter John August has just blogged on the subject of 'product integration'.

BBC3 faces £10m budget cut

From Maggie Brown in Media Guardian:

Digital youth channel BBC3 is to have £10m lopped off its annual budget, reducing it to around £83m for the current financial year.

This is believed to be the largest single cut to any one BBC service in the current financial year and because it represents more than 10% of BBC3's budget, had to be agreed by the BBC Trust.

BBC3's budget is expected to stay at £83m for the next BBC financial year, the 12 months to March 31 2010.

Launch of Directors UK

By Matthew Hemley for The Stage:

UK film and television directors this week unveiled a single trade group to campaign and collect royalties on their behalf.

Directors UK will combine the roles previously played by collection body the Directors’ and Producers’ Rights Society and the Directors Guild of Great Britain.

The guild, which deregistered as a union last year, passed responsibility for industrial matters concerning its theatre members to Equity and for film and TV members to the DPRS. But the DPRS opted to rebrand itself as Directors UK before assuming its new responsibility.

It will represent more than 3,500 members, working closely with the guild and broadcasting union Bectu to improve the conditions and terms under which directors are employed.

Directors UK doesn't yet have its own website, but information can be found on the DPRS site.

Jana Bennett at Banff

Jana Bennett, the Director of BBC Vision, gave a long speech at the Banff World Television Festival yesterday. Much of it hymns the praises of the Corporation, for example in the development of shows like Gavin And Stacey.

To give you a sense of just how much artistic space we've given these new writer-performers, in the three years since they brought Gavin And Stacey to us there have been nine emails between the BBC and its authors. Just nine emails in three years. Read them and weep.

(Sadly she doesn't actually name the 'new writer-performers', James Cordon and Ruth Jones, but never mind)

Later on in the speech, however, comes what looks like a significant announcement, picked up by Leigh Holmwood for Media Guardian - that the BBC will create "a permanent [web] page for every episode of every programme the BBC has ever broadcast."

The online BBC iPlayer has shown, Bennett argues, that audiences will seek out shows after they have gone off air. A web page for every episode will direct them to where they can find more information or view online once the initial iPlayer window has closed.

...these permanent pages will always direct the audience to the programme – wherever it may be on the web – first in iPlayer, then elsewhere on bbc.co.uk or on iTunes or on any number of other on demand services including Kangaroo.

Each page and clip will be promotional for that programme in perpetuity. They will offer the possibility of hits that go on and on, or are re-discovered when the time is right.

There are already over 160,000 individual pages. Eventually, we will add our programme back catalogue to produce pages for programming stretching back over nearly 80 years – featuring all the information we have on the richest TV and radio archive in the world.

The BBC is committed to releasing the public value in that archive and these pages are going to play a central role in allowing us to do that.

Her speech culminates in an assertion that, as far as the BBC is concerned, big really is beautiful.

For the BBC, the TV hit matters because we are charged with connecting with as wide an audience as possible, with bringing people together in moments of shared experience – to entertain, inform and educate – to promote understanding, to contribute to the national and international conversation, and always to create fresh and distinctive experiences – surprise and delight across all our platforms.

Because the TV hit is more than merely an industry success story. It forms part of a battle against the forces of division and fragmentation within our countries and in our world.

Bigness is necessary for collective experience. That's why Big TV is Beautiful. The world needs it.

Bebo links with Universal for online drama

By Mike Shields for Media Week:

Bebo has announced plans to launch an original branded entertainment series in conjunction with Universal Music U.K. centred around a fictional employee at the music firm who establishes his own record label from company’s mail room.

The upcoming show, The Secret World of Sam King, will blend scripted drama (lead character Sam must team with a disagreeable post and a potential romantic interest) and contributions from the Bebo community. In a pair of unique twists, viewers will be invited to influence the direction of Secret World’s plot—as the show is seeking contributions from the creative community, including video producers, engineers, stylists, designers and the like. Plus, actual Universal artists will make appearances in the series, which will be set at Universal’s West London headquarters.

Bestselling authors feel the strain

In The Boston Globe, David Mehegan reports on why bestselling authors are feeling the strain of having to produce a new book every year.

"It's no problem, as long as you don't have a life," said Patricia Cornwell, the Massachusetts-based author of the enormously successful Kay Scarpetta crime thrillers. "The Scarpetta [manuscript] that's due out Oct. 7 is due in a few weeks, because they have to reserve the storefront real estate and pay for it. If I don't get the book turned in on time, they'll be freaking out. If I miss my deadline, I miss the entire year. Sometimes there's an overwhelming feeling of panic. It's like a rock 'n' roll concert, and what if I don't show up?"

New TNC rates

The Guild has agreed an increase of 2.75% for rates for writers working with TNC theatres (the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court).

The headline rates are now:

• Commission Fee £3,442 (except for Royal Court Upstairs £2,569)
• Delivery Fee £3,442 (except for Royal Court Upstairs £2,055)
• Acquisition Fee £3,390 (except for Royal Court Upstairs £1,541)
• Total Fee (relevant to non-commissioned Plays only) £10,274 (except for Royal Court Upstairs £6,165)

The full 2008 rates can be read on the Guild website (pdf).

What Guild Members are getting up to

For those of you who aren't Members, this information goes out as part of the weekly e-bulletin sent by the Writers' Guild office. I thought it was about time we started publishing it here, too.

ANNA CLEMENTS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Tuesday 10th June.

PAUL COATES wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 12th June.

MICHAEL FRAYN’S new play, Afterlife, opened at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre this week and will run until 16th August. His new book, Stage Directions: Writing on Theatre, 1970-2008 was recently published by Faber & Faber.

DAWN HARRISON wrote the episode of Doctors “A Step Too Far” going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Wednesday 11th June.

MARTHA HILLIER wrote the episode of Casualty “Have a Go” going out on BBC1 at 8:35pm on Saturday 7th June.

MARK ILLIS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 10th June.

MARTIN JAMESON wrote the episode of Holby City “Love You” going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 10th June.

JULIE JONES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Wednesday 11th June.

NICK KING wrote the episode of Doctors “Expectations” going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Tuesday 10th June.

ROB KINSMAN has written two episodes of Doctors going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm – “The One” on Monday 9th June, and “Endless Love” on Thursday 12th June.

BILL LYONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 9th June.

JANE MARLOW wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 9th June.

STEVEN MOFFAT wrote the episode of Doctor Who “Forest of The Dead” going out on BBC1 at 7:00pm on Saturday 7th June.

DAVID NOBBS wrote the episode of The Maltby Collection going out on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Monday 9th June.

DEBBIE OATES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm.

JULIE PARSONS wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th June.

STEWART PERMUTT’S Many Roads to Paradise, directed by Anthony Bigg, is being performed at the Finborough Theatre from 11th June until 5th July. The cast includes legendary actress Miriam Karlin and Amanda Boxer, Gillian Hanna, Daniel Hill, Elizabeth Uter and Jason Wing.

ALAN PLATER was back on his feet this week to deliver a monologue at the Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond as part of the Swaledale Festival in Yorkshire.

PHILIP QIZILBASH has written next weeks episodes of the BBC Asian Network's daily soap, Silver Street. It is broadcast Monday 9th June to Friday 13th June at 1.30pm, with an omnibus edition on Sunday 15th June at 4.30pm.

EMMA REEVES wrote the episode of Young Dracula going out on BBC1 at 4:10pm on Wednesday 11th June.

TONY ROBINSON’S new series Tony Robinson’s Crime and Punishment continues on C4 with the episode “Guilty as Charged” going out at 7:00pm on Sunday 8th June.

ALISTAIR RUTHERFORD's new stage play received a staged reading in Leith, Edinburgh on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th June. The play is part of this year's Leith Festival and was commissioned by the Festival.

GERT THOMAS wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Tuesday 10th June.

JOANNA TOYE co-wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 8th until Friday 13th June.

The rise of comic books

In The Times, Michael Saler reviews new books by David Hajdu and Michael Chabon that reflect on the irresistible rise of comic books.

Hajdu focuses on comics and the triumph of youth culture, but the medium is no longer child’s play: today’s comic books are pitched well above the heads and purchasing power of most children. Following Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prizewinning account of the Holocaust, Maus (1992), “graphic novel” has become the preferred term for many of the medium’s most exciting and original works. A castaway art form that began in the “funny papers” now finds a welcome berth in the New Yorker, while Chris Ware’s challenging Jimmy Corrigan won the 2001 Guardian First Book Award. Fredric Wertham must be turning in his grave (no doubt in horror-comic fashion), but as Michael Chabon declares in Maps and Legends, “the battle has now, in fact, been won. Not only are comics appealing to a wider and older audience than ever before, but the idea of comics as a valid art form . . . is widely if not quite universally accepted”.

Faber's print on demand plans

In The Daily Telegraph, Faber & Faber chief executive Stephen Page explains how the publisher is using print on demand technology to revive thousands of out-of-print book.

Traditionally, to reprint a book economically meant printing at least 2,000 or 3,000 copies - occasionally fewer, but not easily. Many good books have gone out of print as their audience has dwindled.

Excellent books, however small their audience, deserve an ongoing life. Much that is published is not excellent, nor does it need to be to turn the wheel of the books industry. However, at the heart of Faber's new imprint, Faber Finds, is the thrilling thought that the digital revolution holds the key to the resuscitation of many high-quality titles by good writers as printed books, not digital files.

Guild AGM 2008

A good turn-out for yesterday's Guild AGM as members spent a constructive day discussing the Guild's past year and future plans, as well as voting on a succession of rule change motions.

A full report will be published in due course, but the headlines are that new criteria for Full Membership were accepted, but a proposed increase in subscription rates was not.

The change to membership criteria means that, now, according to the Guild Rule Book:

(a) A Full Member shall be any person who has accumulated 8 Membership Points
(b) Membership points shall be allocated as follows, subject to the discretion of the Executive Council:

For each single piece of written work of any description for which reasonable payment has been received under written contract, in terms not less favourable than those existing in current minimum terms agreements negotiated by the Guild (where such agreements exist) - 8 points

For each single piece of marketed written work produced or published other than under the terms of the previous paragraph - 4 points

For each completed year of Candidate membership (up to four years) - 1 point.

Guild Chair, Katharine Way, said that the change, proposed by the Guild's Executive Council, is intended to reflect changes in various areas of work that Guild members undertake - particularly the rise in self-publishing.

A rise in the cost of subscriptions for Full Members was defeated, following a call for the already very successful recruitment campaign to be allowed more time to run.

Mad Men to return to the BBC

Good news for fans of quality TV drama: the second series of Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner, will be shown on the BBC next year.

Perhaps inspired by this news, in The Guardian, Mark Lawson sings the praises of Weiner, (as well as of David Renwick and Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong).

In a generally outstanding series, episode five of Mad Men (BBC4/BBC2) - written by the show's creator, Matthew Weiner - was a masterclass in drama scripting. Two lines - impressively given to a relatively minor character - are typical of Weiner's subtlety. When Trudy (Alison Brie) reads a short story by her husband, Pete, her comment "I just think it's odd that the bear is talking" skewers his pretentious style.

After Pete bullies Trudy into taking the manuscript to a former boyfriend who is now a publisher, he is disappointed with the low-grade magazine in which his work is placed. "I could have gotten you in the New Yorker," his wife replies, a simple line that strongly suggests that she submitted to a sex-act, but not sex, with the ex.

Radio 4 will producer fewer, longer-running series

The BBC published its Statements of Programme Policy 2008/2009 today, including that, on Radio 4:

There will be a greater focus on fewer, longer-running drama series to create high impact, for example A Dance to the Music of Time, a six-part dramatisation of Anthony Powell's epic series of novels.

Showrunners talk ratings

On The Hollywood Reporter Video Network, US drama series showrunners talk post-strike ratings.

This Friday on the Square

On the BBC Writersroom blog, Abi B[r]own looks forward to her EastEnders episode airing this week.

I had some reservations about my second trip into Albert Square - could I do this? Would I have chosen this to happen? Was it fair? How would I write it? But I am in the hands of the storyliners, and EE is a tight ship with some 200 or so episodes to produce, not much space for manoeuvring.

Like any artiste worth their salt, I rose to the challenge. The biggest challenge making R 'n' R look like a swinging hep joint and not like your front room with a couple of neighbours dropping in for Karaoke under a 100w light bulb...
See what you think this Friday. I am credited (again) as Abi Brown in the Radio Times, I am seriously thinking of adding that 'r' to my surname and have done with it...
And please pay attention to the last line of the ep, I sweated over it.

Frith Banbury

In The Guardian, Peter Gill remembers the director Frith Banbury who died last month at the age of 96.

Frith had been in the thick of London theatre since his youth. As a schoolboy he went to tea with Mrs Campbell; he was at the first meeting of the Camargo Society; he was at Oxford with George Devine; and at Rada with Stephen Haggard and Joan Littlewood. He ran a company with Peter Bull and Robert Morley; he was a fan of the Compagnie des Quinze, and a vocal defender of Binkie Beaumont's reputation. He was helpful to many writers financially and as a champion, particularly to Rodney Ackland.

Treasurer hunt

A guest post from Gail Renard, Chair of the Guild's TV Committee:

Robert Taylor has been the Guild’s esteemed Treasurer for the past seven years and frankly, he’d do less time for murder. He’s agreed to do one more year out of duty to the Guild and because no new candidates have stepped forward. But after 2009, Robert deserves to move on, so I propose the Guild’s own version of The Apprentice, but without the photogenic sackings at the end.

I’m asking for people to step forward to shadow Robert this coming year. Try it; you might like it. You don't need to be an accountant, book-keeper or entrepreneur. You need to be able to plan budgets and make sure that they are kept to, with the help of our experienced staff, officers and EC. You also need to be able to read the accounts and make decisions; and attend various meetings with your colleagues.

We’re not asking for any commitment over and above shadowing Robert for a year and you don't need any previous experience. This will also look impressive on the CV of anyone who may have aspirations to run a business or become involved in production. If you want to give it a go, please e-mail erik@writersguild.org.uk

I’ve always had a very simplistic approach to finance:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Hmm. I wonder what Dickens is doing?

Sci Fi Channel to make online game

From Geoff Boucher for The L.A. Times:

Can two alien cultures coexist in one writers room? Sci Fi is entering a brave new world by teaming television writers with video-game designers to create a franchise that is both a television series and a massive multiplayer game on the Internet -- more than that, the fans who play the game will actually help shape the show's story arc with their virtual exploits.

"This is the Holy Grail for us, without a doubt," said Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel, which has teamed with Trion World Network, an on-the-rise gaming company based in Redwood City, Calif. "This is groundbreaking, and I don't say that lightly."

Sci Fi Channel executives are mum about the title of the show and game and their premise, but they do hint that it will be set 80 to 100 years in the future on an Earth that looks very different from today. The team has summer 2010 as the targeted launch; more details are expected to be announced in July at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

Michael Patrick King interview

For the Writers Guild of America West, Danis Faye talks to the writer-director of the Sex And The City film, Michael Patrick King.

Structurally, it was quite a challenge for me because I can't think of any other movie with four female storylines that are all arced. Usually, it's Kate Hudson and her sidekick at the Starbucks who has two scenes -- and if you get long, you cut one of the sidekick's scenes and no one says boo. But I have four characters that represent four factions of the viewers. Everyone has their girl. So, I was, like, “I don't know how I'm going to do this, tell four stories in this structure that is a movie.” I had to play some hard facts, like everyone only gets one story -- which is Movie Writing 101, and as it is, it's still over 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Sex And The City trailer

Authors rebel against age ranges on books

By Richard Lea and Nell Boase in The Guardian:

The controversy over plans to put recommended age ranges on the covers of children's books ignited at the Hay festival yesterday, with authors speaking both for and against proposals due to be implemented by a wide group of children's publishers later this year

Marcus Sedgwick, who won last year's Booktrust teenage prize with a sinister vampire tale, My Swordhand is Singing, described the initiative as a "disaster", while Carnegie medal-winner David Almond called it "silly". Francesca Simon, author of the bestselling Horrid Henry series, said the proposals were "ridiculous", while the Carnegie medal-winner Mal Peet, called them a "very bad idea".