Royal Holloway University of London

Profile of the Wall to Wall production company

Course: MA5901

Television Aesthetics
John Ellis

Candidate Number 1307771

19th February 2013

Words: 1946
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Profile of the Wall to Wall production company

INTRODUCTION The well-known production company Wall to Wall was founded in 1987 in London by Alex Graham, and is one of the leading production companies in the United Kingdom. Wall to Walls status is described as an independent company. Wall to Wall joined Shed Media in November 2007, and all Wall to Wall and Shed Media programmes and format sales are being controlled by Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (Shed Media, 2012; The Production List, 2013). Time Warner bought Shed Media in 2010. Warner Bros is the distributor but it rarely interferes as it already gave trust into the company. It helps out with the financing but the main word remains on the client. In the following essay I am going to try to produce a profile of the production company Wall to Wall. I will try to answer some questions about one of the most prominent independent production companies in the United Kingdom, such as what their status as an independent production company is, into what genres does its output fall, who are its principal broadcast and non-broadcast clients and what are its most successful formats in the international market. I will also try to introduce the head of company, Alex Graham and in order to answer those and other questions I tried to contact Wall to Wall and I got to exchange emails with Helena Ely, the Head of Production who kindly offered to answer some of my questions. THE INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION COMPANY WALL TO WALL Here we have to ask ourselves a question, what an independent television production company is. The definition of an independent production television company is unique in the United Kingdom. According to Pollard it is any company less than 50 per cent owned by UK broadcasters and less than 25 per cent owned by a single UK broadcaster (Pollard, et al., 2004, p. 94). In the early 1980s, there was a huge growth in the indenpendent production sector and thoose were established to capitalise on the potential projects from Channel 4. Some of the companies grew and became commercially stable. Wall to Wall became a wellestablished production house (Block, et al., 2001, p. 24). A production company is a team of hard working enthusiasts who engage all their skills and experience for one purpose to
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make great television programme. This team is known as production. The production company Wall to Wall operates under Shed Media, which is now a leading producer and distributor of audio visual content, creates long-running brands and formats across all media and genres. Notable highlights in Shed Medias history include the Oscar and BAFTA winning film Man on Wire, multiple BAFTA winning series The Choir, Waterloo Road, which has recently scooped a National Television Award and Supernanny, holder of multiple awards including the Royal Television Society award (Shed Media, 2012). The producer is the one who begins the process of production of a programme, the one who is looking after the budget and the personnel. He or she elects the scriptwriter and picks the technical crew with the assistant of the director (Bignell & Orlebar, 2005, p. 31). Alex Graham is the Chief Executive Officer of Wall to Wall and has been a leading figure in United Kingdom independent television production sector for almost 30 years. He set up Wall to Wall over 20 years ago and has been involved in creating and executive producing a wide range of hit television programmes including The 1900 House, A Rather English Marriage, Who Do You Think You Are? and New Tricks. Alex Graham is now one of the largest shareholders in Shed Media and sits on the Board. He also sits on the board of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival and is Chair of the Media Literacy Task Force. He is a former chair of the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) and now sits on their Patrons Group. He is a fellow of the Royal Television Society, the Royal Society of Arts and a visiting fellow of the University of Bournemouths Media School (Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past, 2010). Producers are responsible for everything to do with the programme which includes the budget, health and safety for external shootings and getting the programme on air. It is creative work requiring flexibility and professionalism. Producers have the creative power and deliver the programme to the television broadcasters and also take the blame, enjoy the fame, and accept the BAFTA (Bignell & Orlebar, 2005, p. 31). Another interesting person in the company is Leanne Klein, who joined the company in 1993 and won an Emmy as best director for her first Wall to Wall project, the Channel 4/Discovery series, Baby Its You. Her executive producer credits include programmes like Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story, The Girl, Long Lost Family, Turn Back Time, Child Genius and The Young Ones. As Creative Director, Leanne oversaw delivery of the companys first ever Saturday night talent show, The Voice UK, which became the BBCs biggest new entertainment show for over a decade. Leanne runs Wall to Walls Creative Board, is a member of the companys Senior Management team, and sits on the Shed Group
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Management Board. The Head of International at Wall to Wall is Jonathan Hewes, who joined in 1995 and initiated Wall to Walls move into theatrical documentaries with Man On Wire, which he executive produced and which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 81st annual Oscars, the BAFTA award for Outstanding British film and over 30 other international awards. Wall to Walls production output falls into various genres like arts, docu-drama, documentary, drama, factual-entertainment, history, lifestyle, science, current affairs, reality, entertainment, factual, special events, religion and live studio. And some of its formats even became successful in the international market. Here we can ask ourselves a question, what we consider successful. It is the number of sold licences or how the head of the company feels it. The long-running and hugely popular BBC One drama series New Tricks is a strong brand for Wall to Wall with programmes sales of the United Kingdom series internationally. The licence was sold to more than 20 countries (see appendix) but local versions have not been made in other territories. Another production is The 1900 House, winner of the prestigious Peabody Award which was licensed into 5 countries. The celebrity-led genealogy format Who Do You Think You Are? has regularly been the BBCs highest rated factual series and has led to localised versions produced around the world. Who Do You Think You Are? is, according to Helena Ely, the most successful brand with the format being produced in various territories including the United States as well as programme sales of the United Kingdom and United States version internationally. When the British producer Alex Graham introduced to the BBC years ago his idea for a documentary series about genealogy, no one expected it to become a global television hit (Czech Television, 2013). The original British format of Who do you think you are? became the most watched documentary on British television. The format became internationally successful and more than 15 television stations (see appendix) took the format over. According to Graham it became globally that successful because it combines many factors at different levels it is a story full of emotion, which also illuminates the history, most of us will understand it without us beig professional historians, and most importantly, it is a detective story. It is about the investigation that leads us to a particular result, in the end, we learn an important point, and turns of the story are the reason that will keep you watching until the end (Czech Television, 2013). Who do you think you are? is in its ninth season of broadcasting (BBC, 2013) in the United Kingdom. Wall to Wall is delivering programmes to many broadcasters. On their official website we can find a long list of 49 broadcasters (viz appendix) as their clients, to name the principal ones BBC, ITV, Channel 4. What caught my interest is, that in the case of 17 of
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them there are no programmes listed, even with such well known broadcasters like HBO and Sky. As Helena Ely mentioned, Wall to Wall does not have any non-broadcast clients. The production company also organises castings for its programmes, for instance for a new show called Do you know the brainiest child in Britain? Wall to Wall is searching to find the countrys brightest and most brilliant young minds to take part in a televised competition to be shown on Channel 4. Another casting is for talented singers with real talent and amazing vocal ability into the second season of The Voice UK, airing on BBC. For a not yet announced broadcaster they are going to look for people who are passionate about their jobs to take part in a new documentary about working life and pay in Britain called Because Youre Worth It. As mentioned The Voice UK above, which is a British television talent show based on The Voice of Holland created by Dutch television producer John de Mol, I found out that the show went over its production budget by 650,000 and BBC is refusing to pay the excess cost and says production company Wall To Wall will have come up with the cash instead (Bang Showbiz, 2013) but as Wall To Walls spokesperson said: The Voice UK was the most successful new entertainment series launch on BBC One in a decade. As with any first series, it is important to get as much investment on screen as possible. (Bang Showbiz, 2013). CONCLUSION Wall to Walls productions have won almost every major international television award and it regularly tops United Kingdom trade magazine polls as the company rated most highly by its peers; subsequently attracting the top talent from across the industry. Wall to Wall has been voted one of the top seven independent producers in the world by the trade magazine Real Screen and has won numerous awards including BAFTAs, Emmys, Royal Television Society and Peabody Awards and in 2009 won an Oscar for its first documentary feature, Man on Wire. Wall to Wall was nominated for the Best Independent Production Company among Garden Productions, ITN Productions, Neal Street Productions, Red Production Company and Twofour (Broadcast Awards 2013, 2013). The ceremony took place on 30 January 2013 in London (Wall to Wall, 2012), Wall to Wall did not win, and the prize went to the Red Production Company (Broadcast Awards 2013, 2013). Wall to Walls productions range from the entertainment phenomenon and ratings winner The Voice UK to Oscar-winning feature documentary Man On Wire, BBC Ones highest rated drama New Tricks, the internationally acclaimed genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, the innovative living history House franchise (which included 1900 House, 1940 House,
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Edwardian Country House) to single dramas Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story, the multiaward winning A Very English Marriage and three times Golden Globe nominated The Girl. As I did my research, I read everywhere how Wall to Wall has high reputation for quality and innovation, how it has been voted one of the most admired production companies in the United Kingdom. It is said that it has been supplying broadcasters around the world with ground-breaking, award-winning, high quality television content across many genres but I had hard times contacting Wall to Wall. After a series of several email and phone calls, finally I had an answer from Helena Ely, but there are still some unanswered questions and I hope to get some information from Alex Graham, when he will be visiting Royal Holloway to give a guest lecture.

APPENDIX List of New Tricks bought by international broadcasters: In some countries, the network withdrew New Tricks from their programme list TV Network Film&Arts Link to programme http://www.filmandarts.tv/pelicula/new-tricks
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Country Argentina

Australia Belgium Canada Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany

UK TV VRT TV Ontario TV 2 Charlie ETV YLE TV1 France 3 ZDF

http://www.uktv.com.au/shows/new-tricks/ Vrt.be http://ww3.tvo.org/program/120302/new-tricks http://charlie.tv2.dk/ http://etv.err.ee/index.php? 03235&aasta=2009&mon=10&sid=55221 http://yle.fi/ulkomaiset/sarjat_ao2.php?id=682 http://series-tv.premiere.fr/News-Series/Flics-toujoursFrance-3-deprogramme-la-serie-2374444 http://www.presseportal.de/pm/7840/644019/new-tricks-diekrimispezialisten-zdf-zeigt-britische-krimiunterhaltung-vomfeinsten http://india.bbcentertainment.com/programme-search? p=new-tricks http://ch4.iribtv.ir/ http://www.rte.ie/player/gb/show/10110216/ http://www.yes.co.il/ http://www.tvblog.it/post/2992/new-tricks-su-la7 http://www.imdb.com/company/co0253697/ http://taggart.kro.nl/seizoenen/25/afleveringen/the_knife_tric k http://www.yes.co.il/ http://tv.nrk.no/serie/nye-triks http://www.bbc-asia.com/programme-search?p=new-tricks http://www.bbcsouthafrica.com/programme-search?p=newtricks http://www.kanalnio.se/program/nya-spar http://www.bbc-asia.com/programme-search?p=new-tricks http://www.bbcamerica.com/

India Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Singapore South Africa Sweden Thailand United States

BBC Entertainment Channel 4 RT yes stars 2 La7 Channel Ginga KRO TV1 NRK BBC Entertainment BBC Entertainment Kanal 9 BBC Entertainment BBC Worldwide America TNU

Uruguay

http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.uy/hemeroteca/090609/print s/esp03.html

List of Who Do You Think You are? bought by international broadcasters: Country Australia Canada Channel SBS CBC Name Who Do You Think You Are? Who Do You
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Link http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/whodoyouthin kyouare http://www.cbc.ca/whodoyouthinkyouare/

Television Czech Republic Denmark Finland Germany . T Danmarks Radio YLE

Think You Are? Tajemstv Rodu http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/1031289

7742-tajemstvi-rodu/ Ved du hvem du http://www.dr.dk/DR1/ved-du-hvem-du-er/ er? Kuka oikein http://yle.fi/ohjelmat/1325513

olet? ARD Das Das Geheimnis http://programm.ard.de/TV/wdrfernsehen/das Erste meiner Familie Who Do You Think You Are? -geheimnis-meinerfamilie/eid_281116445509895 http://www.rte.ie/ten/2008/0915/whodoyouth inkyouare.html Think-You-Are/5083 http://programma.ntr.nl/10075

Ireland Israel Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Russia South Africa Sweden United States

RT

Mi Ata Hoshev http://www.geni.com/projects/Who-Do-YouNTR NRK TVP1 RTP 1TV SABC2 SVT NBC SheAta Verborgen

verleden Hvem tror du at http://tv.nrk.no/serie/hvem-tror-du-at-du-ere du er? Sekrety http://media2.pl/media/14897-Sekrety-

rodzinne rodzinne-w-sieci.html Quem Que Tu http://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p29671 Pensas Que s? Moya Rodoslovnaya Who Do You Think You Are? http://www.1tv.ru/rod http://www.sabc2.co.za/show/who-do-youthink-you-are/

Vem tror du att http://www.svt.se/vem-tror-du-att-du-ar/ du r? Who Do You Think You Are? http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-youare/

All Wall to Wall Broadcast Clients A & E, Alliance Atlantis, Animal planet, BBC, BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3, BB3 4, BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC Scotland, Bravo (UK), Bravo (US), Canal +, CBS, Channel 1, Channel 4, Discovery Channel (Europe), Discovery Channel (US), Discovery Channel International, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Home and Leisure, E4, Film 4, Five,
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Five USA, France 5, FX, HBO, ITV, ITV 2, ITV 3, ITV Meridian, More 4, MSNBC, National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel (US), National Geographic Channel International, National Wildlife Foundation, NBC, NDR, PBS, Sky, Spike TV, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, UK Film Council, UK Living, VH1, WNET .

Bibliography
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Czech Television, 2013. Tajemstv rodu - O poadu. [Online] Available at: http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10312897742-tajemstvi-rodu/ [Accessed 13 February 2013]. Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past (IPUP), 2010. IPUP Media Speaker Series: Alex Graham - Who Do We Think We Were?. [Online] Available at: http://www.york.ac.uk/ipup/events/speakers/alexgraham-biography.pdf [Accessed 13 February 2013]. Pollard, E., Sheppard, E., Tamkin, P. & Barkworth, R., 2004. Researching the Independent Production Sector, Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies. Shed Media, 2012. About the Shed Media Group. [Online] Available at: http://www.shed-media.com/whatwedo.aspx [Accessed 28 January 2013]. Shed Media, 2012. About the Shed Media Group. [Online] Available at: http://www.shed-media.com/whatwedo.aspx [Accessed 31 January 2013]. The Production List, 2013. Wall to Wall is one of the UK's leading production companies. [Online] Available at: http://www.theproductionlist.com/wall-to-wall-media/ [Accessed 11 February 2013]. Wall to Wall, 2012. We're up for Best Indie!. [Online] Available at: http://www.walltowall.co.uk/news/were-up-for-best-indie_635.aspx [Accessed 13 February 2013].

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