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.

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

Its flagship show Deutschland 83 will premiere on Channel 4 on 3 January, while other shows will appear on More4.

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

When we're frequently distracted from our TV viewing by Twitter feeds and a pinging WhatsApp, subtitles are welcome enforcement for us to focus.

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

The originals still dominate because they have something else: the locale that is such a fundamental part of their appeal. "We all love getting that insight into a different culture," says Deeks. "The unfamiliar setting gives a freshness to genre pieces."

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?

It was released in Germany, then the USA, then the UK

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

First episode - 3.19 million

Second episode - 1.63 million

Channel 4 - 2.13 million

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

SundanceTV and FremantleMedia finally announced in October that there will be a second series of Deutschland 83 called Deutschland 86

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?

The spy thriller’s presence in American television signifies that there is not just room for foreign and subtitled drama in an era when TV shows are frequently becoming more daring than feature films, but that audiences both want it and have an impact on whether it comes back.

Yet, by bringing Walter Presents with it, it was not just Deutschland 83 that the UK

audiences were being introduced to, but foreign dramas as a whole.

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?

The California-based network Twitch – which began as an interactive gaming site before moving into original programming – is exploring the possibility of viewer-influenced TV dramas.

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.

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

For example, the three most frequent lengths of TV and radio programming – referred to on commissioning forms as 60’, 30’, 15’ – arose from a grid schedule designed around hours and half-hours to make programmes easy to find – you might catch a train at 18.13, but wouldn’t want to have to remember to tune into Blue Planet II at that time – and to introduce news bulletins with the chimes of Big Ben. And, within that schedule, BBC and ITV crime dramas – say, Line of Duty and Broadchurch – have distinctly different rhythms because licence fee funding permits a 59-minute uninterrupted episode while advertising on a commercial network mandates a script of 46 minutes that is broken three or four times for ads. So a BBC writer has historically needed one big cliffhanger to lure the audience back next week, while an ITV counterpart must conjure successive shocks to maintain suspense through the adverts.

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

A surprise of the new TV has been its relative creative conservatism. Although streaming dramas can theoretically last anything from 60 seconds to 60 hours, there has so far been little structural experimentation. Episodes within a series may have unequal lengths, but the biggest hits of this revolution – The Crown, Stranger Things, House of Cards, Transparent – have chapter lengths that stay close to the half-hour or hour of traditional scheduled television.

This, it turns out, results not from creative conservatism but – as with Greene’s rationed narratives – from the economics of production. Shindler explains to me that dramas – regardless of how they will ultimately be screened – are usually shot in blocks. 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 an episode basis.

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

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.

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 regard to how the creative industries have changed since the 1980s?

• Cultural industries have moved closer to the centre of economic action

• There has been an increase in media corporations owning companies in different sectors of the industry

• Globalisation has meant media texts can circulate more easily across borders reducing North American dominance

• Deregulation has reduced public ownership

• Advertising ‘dollars’ have significantly increased as has cross promotion within texts

• Digitisation has allowed the technology sector to compete directly with traditional media companies

• Niche audiences are increasingly targeted.

2) What is technological convergence? 

Digitisation of media making every media form accessible on computers.

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

Being funded by advertising revenue is a standard model for commercial television and print

media (both magazines and newspapers) but because Google and Facebook originally started

as technology companies, they’ve avoided being regulated as media companies. For example, Google’s YouTube hosts extremist content but if traditional broadcasters aired similar content they would be fined or possibly even lose their license.

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?

For example, take the monster in Stranger Things named (by the kids) the ‘Demogorgon’ after a Dungeons & Dragons demon prince. To ensure that connection transcended language barriers, Netflix’s team dug into old D&D materials to nail down how various cultures translated ‘Demogorgon’ in the mid-1970s.