BBC Audience Festival: Dumbing Up For Younger Audiences

Working at the BBC has some definite advantages. The other week I got to attend one of the sessions from the first ever audience festival intended to examine the role and importance of audiences in programme making. The session was Dumbing up for Younger Audiences. The panel of speakers included
Moderator Julian Bellamy (JB) -Controller BBC 3
Susan Hickson (SH) –writer/creator 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
Jamie Isaacs (JI) -Creative Director of 20/20 makers of Brat Camp and Bad Lads Army
Tim Hinks (TH) -Chief Creative Officer Endemol, makers of Big Brother, 9 out of 10 Cats etc.

Here are my paraphrased notes from the session:
JB - Context – What are the characteristics of younger audiences?
SH – We never looked directly at audiences, but rather I relied on personal experiences to build characters
JH – Brat Camp required high octane action and attitude, the youth audience demends you grab them quickly.
TH – Demographics are more for broadcasters, as a programme maker if you like the show, that will come off in it and to the audience.
SH – Two Pints has gotten faster with each series.

JB – How do you make an idea?
TH – We use an advertising model which is market lead
TH – We use interns who watch TV all day and think of ideas, but they burn out quickly and funnel off to other aspects of the business. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. I would like now to publicly apologies for Space Cadets!
SH- I use writers who know nothing about TV
JB- It seems rather than research audiences, you employ them.
TH – when you see programme makers doing mass audience research, it usually means the wolves are at the door and it’s about whether to cancel.
JI – We employ TV Professionals. Our development team takes ideas from the execs. It is very top down through exec collaboration with commissioners.

Casting and Characters:
TH – Big Brother who knew George Galloway was going to act as he did?
JB – Is there a secret to great casting?
TH – Big Pockets buys big casts.
TH – For Big Bro 1 we just wanted to make sure the people would talk in an empty room, they were social. But then the group seemed too wild, so we needed a person to bring calm. Enter Nick Bateman.
JI – for Brat Camp and Bad Lads we are looking for people with risk and excitement. Those up against the edge of what is acceptable, but not showboaters. But there is always a danger of going too far, so we spend 5x as long casting as shooting. Use multiple interviews and trust your gut.
We also were looking for characters we could instantly brand (label) Brat Camp has 6 characters w/ different problems. The individual stories need to be latched onto the audience quicker.
SN – Good looking people = Good casting. The audience must be pleased by what they see.
JI – Funny enough, Bad Lads is the same way. Some guys just had too bad teeth to be let on TV.
JI – Also, casting young people. People see young people and root for them to change. Old people are at fault if they haven’t sorted themselves out by now. They should be old enough to look after themselves.
TH –Although young people can enjoy characters of all ages. The storytelling has to be strong.
People like instant gratification. Deal or no Deal is good because of the drama throughout.
Originally Big Brother show was based on the style of Pet Rescue, with A&B Stories running throughout each show.

JB How could the BBC do better with its younger audiences.
TH- BBC is the only place I would never take Big Brother. They would muck it up, by being too afraid. The show is still very cutting edge. The BBC is obsessed with 360 Commissioning to gain a younger audience, but this interest in the young comes off as creepy.
BBC3 is like your dad throwing you a party! Some fun things but in a grown up stuffy way. The BBC sits oddly with young people.
JB – Does the BBC Adopt a parental tone?
JI –Wouldn’t stop us from bringing a show to the Beeb.
TH –Fame Academy was a popular show, but the BBC was embarrassed of it, and that ultimately killed it.

Youtube threat & Web
SN –It is a big threat.
JI – It can inform TV
TH – The worst thing is for TV to just say hmmm maybe we should use loads of UGC in our shows.
SN - Broadcasters need to get more interactivity
TH –Big brother has seen success from video and mobile downloads


KEY POINTS:
Trust you instinct when making a show for a younger audience.
Leave the audience analysis to the commissioners.
Both models work. Top down and relying on young peoples ideas.
It is easier to hire the audience.
The best characters come as a surprise. Today’s characters need to be able to establish themselves quickly and be good looking.
The BBC hasn’t figured out how to address young audiences.
New Media is both an opportunity and a threat.

MY 2 Cents:

The session was good and I was happy to hear some of the top British talent in domestic TV. I think that audience connection does have to be organic, but there are too many formulaic shows on the box. Regardless of whether programme makers do audience research, they sure pay attention when there is a success, and copy it to death. It is the same in the movie business. This I think is where a big threat by the internet comes in. Producers of internet TV will, for the foreseeable future be able to experiment and TV producers will follow the internet successes. Perhaps this will open the door to new formats.  

With audiences it is nice to hear that the professionals get surprised by character successes. You cant always predict what people will respond to.

The bit about the BBC makes sense. CBebees is great for kids, but the corporation loses the plot when trying to do teen & 20’s. Probably a direct result of the culture in the halls. It is much more grad school than high school.

All in all it was a great day and I am looking forward to future events.