Television industry contexts

Independent: British viewers can't get enough of foreign-language dramas

Read this Independent feature on foreign-language dramas. If the website is blocked or forcing you to register you can access the text of the article here. It features an in-depth interview with Walter Iuzzolino who curates Channel 4's Walter Presents programming. Answer the questions below:

1) What does the article suggest regarding the traditional audience for foreign-language subtitled media?

Fifteen years ago, if you'd mentioned to a colleague that you'd spent Saturday night glued to a subtitled European drama, you'd have been quietly declared pretentious, dull and, possibly, a little odd.Skip to today and foreign-language dramas aren't even on-trend, they're fully mainstream. Now we are as likely to discuss the latest Danish thriller over a morning flat white at our desks as we are a new season on HBO.

2) What does Walter Iuzzolino suggest is the key appeal of his 'Walter Presents' shows?

We all love getting that insight into a different culture," says Deeks. "The unfamiliar setting gives a freshness to genre pieces." "You develop a love for the distant world because while you're watching, you're in Sweden," he says. "If you see something amazing set in Argentina, then Argentina itself, the houses, the people, what they wear, what their voices sound like, the language, is one of the biggest appeals. There is a huge pleasure in that."

3) The article makes an interesting claim for the popularity of subtitles in the multi-screen age. What does it suggest?

subtitles are a welcome enforcement for us to focus. "When you read subtitles, you have to be glued to the screen," says Deeks. "That concentration gives a particular intensity to the viewing experience. You just can't multitask when you're watching a foreign-language drama." This suggests that subtitles make us focus and engage far more with the tv drama than people may have done even with normal dramas without subtitles and creates a deeper connection to the narrative.

4) What are the other audiences pleasures of foreign TV drama suggested by the article?

Our love for these shows is summed up in Sarah Lund's jumpers; in Brigitte Nyborg's pronunciation of "tak". They are fascinating because they convey worlds we don't inhabit and, as with reading Hillary Mantel, we love knowing that while we're absorbing a great yarn, we are also expanding our horizons.

Film School Rejects: The foreign TV dramas you're missing out on

Now read this Film School Rejects feature on the foreign TV dramas you're missing out on. This contains some particularly useful background on Deutschland 83's reception internationally. If the website is blocked, you can access the article text here. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article tell us about Deutschland 83's release schedule?

Premiering on AMC Network’s Sundance TV in June 2015, the show was the first German-language TV series to premiere on a US network. The fact Germany’s commercial RTL channel received Deutschland ’83 five months after the US both signifies the series’ global appeal as well as foreshadows where the German crime thriller was (and is) to find its audience. January 2016 saw the UK premiere of the series on mainstream Channel 4.

2) The article contains important statistics on viewing figures in different countries. What were the German viewing figures for the first and last episode? What were Channel's 4's viewing figures for Deutschland 83?

Channel 4 saw viewing figures reach a peak of 2.13 million viewers in a prime time TV slot Whilst Deutschland ’83 received significantly fewer viewers in the US than Germany, with its US Premiere garnering 0.066 million viewers compared to Germany’s 3.19 million Each new episode saw that figure drop, and by the series’ conclusion the figures had fallen down to 1.63 million

3) Who are the two production and distribution companies behind Deutschland 83 and what did they announce in October? 

Sundance TV and Fremantle Media finally announced in October that there will be a second series of Deutschland 83 (called Deutschland 86, more likely than not followed by the pivotal year of 89). What with its lack-luster response in Germany, it’s apparent the US critical reception and UK’s record-breaking viewership have a role to play in renewing the show.

4) How does Walter Iuzzolino use social media to engage audiences in new international TV dramas? How does he suggest this has changed the reception of foreign productions in the UK?

in the UK subtitled and foreign productions are “relegated to the elite” and the art-house. His streaming service has certainly changed this perception in Britain.  For America audiences, it’s not so much filling a gap (Iuzzolino and his co-founders Jo McGrath and Jason Thorp in fact modelled the service on big networks like HBO) than promoting what is readily available.

The Guardian: How tech is changing television

Read this Guardian feature on how tech is changing television. This has some particularly useful aspects from an industry perspective - how TV is made, the different formats of TV drama and more. Answer the following questions:

1) How have streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime changed the way TV drama narratives are constructed?

Other streaming networks, including Amazon, are also working on “choose your own adventure” shows. Such developments remain at the far edge of thinking, but are merely an example of how radically digital technology is changing storytelling. The screenwriter Paula Milne, who recently wrote The Politician’s Husband for BBC Two and The Same Sky for Netflix, notes that the new producers are changing content as well as structure: “The demography of the video platforms is a bit younger, and it’s a global audience. You have to think as a writer about communal [themes] that will resonate in many places. So it is a seismic shift.”

2) Why has the rise in streaming led to more complex storylines and an increase in cliff-hangers?

You don’t have to go back very far to when commissioners had this idea that the audience was so fragile and fickle that you had to be careful how complex your story was, in case they lost track and never came back. That has changed. You don’t get editorial input about the risk of putting in stuff that might not pay off until an episode or two later the screenwriter Paula Milne, who recently wrote The Politician’s Husband for BBC Two and The Same Sky for Netflix, notes that the new producers are changing content as well as structure: “The demography of the video platforms is a bit younger, and it’s a global audience. You have to think as a writer about communal [themes] that will resonate in many places. So it is a seismic shift.”

3) How have the "economics of production" kept TV drama largely sticking to the 45- or 60-minute episode format?

This, it turns out, results not from creative conservatism but – as with Greene’s rationed narratives – from the economics of production. Shindler explains that dramas – regardless of how they will ultimately be screened – are usually shot in blocks. In order to maximise the use of time, and minimise the cost of actors and crew, while part of a drama is filming, another team is prepping the next section. So, while a streamed drama theoretically need not be divided at all, it still makes logistical and financial sense to hire on episode basis. “I think we’ll always have to split productions into time-groups,” says Shindler. “Although the complication is that, in order to attract directors to film a block of episodes, they have to feel they are telling a whole story. So that affects structure as well. The trick is to have big story arcs within the overall story.”

4) How has "permanent 24/7 connectivity" changed both the production and consumption of TV drama?

Permanent 24/7 connectivity has radically altered viewer responses. Live-tweeting by audiences has usefully democratised criticism, but the downside of this new media interaction has been in giving the old media a stick with which to beat broadcasters. Stories about alleged outrage over incomprehensible actors or violent action often turn out to be based on the fact that, from among millions of viewers, a tiny handful tweeted disagreeably. For most viewers the benefits of self-scheduling, repeat viewing and audience feedback outweigh such disadvantages. That year of scanning Radio Times each week to find out if the BBC was letting me see the missed bit of Pennies from Heaven reminds me how TV viewers were boxed in.

Media Magazine: Netflix and the Cultural Industries 

Finally, go to our Media Magazine archive and read the article on Netflix and the Cultural Industries (MM63 - page 45). Answer the following questions:

1) What does David Hesmondhalgh argue with regards to how the creative industries have changed since the 1980s?

The trend for the first two bullet points started in the 1980s and the Internet has facilitated the last two, particularly through the broadband connections that became ubiquitous in the 21st century. In the 1980s media companies began to see the benefit of synergy (see ‘Synergy rules OK?’, MM 14) at the same time that governments in the west, because of the decline of manufacturing industries, came to appreciate the economic benefits of having a strong ‘cultural’ sector (particularly the film, television and music industries). Although digitisation’s first major impact was on the music industry, with the creation of CDs in the early 1980s, it was the growth of home computing and the creation of the World Wide Web, which led to increased technological convergence; digitisation of media meant every media form could be accessed on computers. It was this that eventually enabled tech companies to compete directly with media companies and, arguably, even become media companies.

2) What is technological convergence? 

it was the growth of home computing and the creation of the World Wide Web, which led to increased technological convergence; digitisation of media meant every media form could be accessed on computers. It was this that eventually enabled tech companies to compete directly with media companies and, arguably, even become media companies.

Technological convergence is the tendency for technologies that were originally unrelated to become more closely integrated and even unified as they develop and advance. For example, telephones, television, computers, and social media platforms began as separate and mostly unrelated technologies, but have converged in many ways into an interrelated telecommunication, media, and technology industry.

3) How are technology companies challenging traditional broadcasters in the TV industry?

Digitisation, and the ability to distribute texts via the Internet, meant that technology companies could challenge traditional broadcasters. For example, Amazon (originally an online book seller) is now producing its own ‘television’ programmes. In doing this it followed Netflix, which began as a postal DVD service, in ‘liberating’ television programmes from broadcasters’ schedules with on-demand viewing. Netflix understood their business was distributing audio visual texts and so realised that it needed to create its own online subscription service. Traditional distributors of DVDs, like the shop Blockbuster, went bust after broadband connections facilitated video streaming. Even more cannily Netflix also understood that it would need to produce its own content because the traditional media companies would eventually realise that they could set up their own Internet distribution networks. technology companies haven’t had to invest vast amounts of money in a distribution network, such as cable or satellite. Using the Internet as a platform means that the whole

of the wired world is able to access their content via the World Wide Web.

4) The global nature of modern television means producers are having to consider international audiences when creating content. What example from Netflix does the article use to explain this?

In 2016 Netflix simultaneously launched its service in 130 new countries, bringing its total to 190, and Amazon opened in 200. Going global means they have to pay for the license to broadcast individual shows in different countries so another advantage of creating their own content is that Netflix or Amazon automatically own the copyright for the programmes and don’t have to purchase additional distribution permissions.