Tim Davie, BBC director-general, underscored the importance of creative risk-taking to the British broadcaster, when interviewed onstage at TV market Mipcom on Monday, which coincided with the BBC’s 100th anniversary.
Davie’s appearance onstage followed a presentation by Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm. He announced that BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve.” He showed a clip from the company’s new show “Rain Dogs,” starring Daisy May Cooper. Cash Carraway is writer and executive producer.
Fussell also announced that BBC Studios’ managing director of scripted, Mark Linsey, is set to relocate to Los Angeles in order to help build its co-production, investment and commissioning opportunities internationally.
Fussell pointed out that this year 75% of its production studio revenues would come from outside the BBC, with shows such as “Good Omens” for Prime Video.
Fussell emphasized the ambition of BBC Studios. Not only had it doubled its business in the last five years, but aimed to double in size again in the next five years.
Davie, who was interviewed on stage by Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, said that the BBC owed its longevity to having “a set of values that are somewhat timeless,” based on the broadcaster’s 1922 mission to “inform, educate, entertain.” He said it “was a very simple, clear idea about quality, about trust, and treating the audience with intelligence, with care.”
He added that the other important factor was having “a healthy paranoia about your relevance,” and the central place of innovation, which he described as an “incessant desire to change,” backed up by “the linchpin of significant public funding, which allows us to play a bit of a long-term game.”
Asked about who he saw as his rivals, he said: “It is fatal to define your competitors too narrowly.” He said that “the biggest competition I see, in my household, is gaming.” He added: “Our battle is for time.” He said the BBC needed to “focus,” and “differentiate” itself from others in the market. In competing with players such as Netflix and Amazon, the BBC has “to double down on [its] points of difference.”
He said: “We genuinely can allow creative risk,” and his order to his teams is to “take a swing.” “Don’t just go for derivative work,” he said. “You are going to fail but we can do it with our economic model.”
Citing “Frozen Planet II,” he said: “You can’t watch that without saying that is breaking new ground.” He also mentioned dramas like “Sherwood.” “These things are not formulaic. They come from the heart of a writer. It is fantastic storytelling.”
Looking ahead, Davie said that there would be more innovation, and experimentation with new writers. He lauded comedy thriller “Black Ops.”
He said the fact that he didn’t have to focus on making a profit for shareholders means the BBC can take risks. “I can take a swing. I am not dependent on advertising,” he said. “It is slightly counterintuitive but by just being who you are and really swinging at it, that is where you get really good commercial returns.”
He also underlined the need to not dumb down TV content. “We treat an audience intelligently. The best books I’ve read, the best TV I’ve watched, they make you work a little bit. They are not patronizing to me. I see a slight trend in the market to slightly talk down to an audience,” he said. “Forget that. BBC Studios does things of such quality, it says we trust you to come with us. We have the spirit and the model to do that.”
He said the BBC had “constantly broken the mold.” “The problem is the formulaic nature of the industry, where it is trying to limit risk,” he said. “We are a genuinely creative studio that wants to take a writer’s vision.” He added: “We do need to give creative freedom, and allow ideas to take shape.”
He also stressed the importance of the audience’s ability to trust the BBC. “We are obsessed with trust … [Trust is important] in everything we do,” he said.
