The Commissioning Process

1. The Commissioning Process For Channel 4

2. What is the Commissioning Process? The commissioning process is essentially when a company employs another company to create piece of work them. Channel 4 has strict and distinct guidelines on what kind of material they want produced giving people a clear indication of what they need to base their ideas around. Furthermore, the ITC regulations state that at least 25% of a broadcasters non-current affairs/news output should be commissioned to the independent sector and this gives up and coming writers and directors a chance to get their idea’s onto the silver screen. Channel 4 has a page dedicated to commissioning on it’s website that anyone can look at. It has 17 categories ranging from Comedy to Online. In each category, Channel 4 outline what they’re looking for in some detail, in that specific category giving you details about what slot it will go in, examples of previously commissioned shows that are similar to what they’re looking for as well as who you should contact concerning your idea. When you have your idea you should send a proposal to the Commissioning Officer and if they like your idea and see potential in it they will up a meeting where you will discuss the idea in more detail, seeing if your idea will work across other departments or platforms. If after all of this they still like your idea you will be awarded the production money.

3. When your idea has been further developed, the Commissioning Editor, Business Affairs and the Programme Finance Manager will agree on a production timetable which looks at how the budget will be spent in every phase of making the programme. The budget has to be processed through three stages. Firstly by the Commissioning Editor and the Finance then by the Head of Department. Finally the budget is scrutinised by the Programme Finance Committee. The final agreement is usually signed six weeks before pre-production starts. When production begins the marketing and press potential of your programme is discussed. This means if what advertising campaigns can be produced to raise awareness of you programme. Delivery of your programme should be made with all technical and programme delivery requirements. Feedback is then given on your programme after it has been broadcast.

4. My Idea An Underdogs Story I want to make a documentary in Channel 4’s “True Stories” series about Lawrence Okoye and Menelik Watson who are both English and playing in the NFL. Channel 4 are looking for “compelling and arresting British stories” as well as something that is “multi – narrative” and I think both the stories of these two men are certainly compelling and it offers two different narratives. We will look at their backgrounds and there extraordinary stories with interviews from the two men themselves as well as their friends, families and the coaches who have inspired them. I think it would fit in great with the 10 o’clock slot on weekdays because it is aimed at both people who are already keen fans of American Football and people who want a story that is heart warming and inspirational. The will be narrated by Vernon Kay, who started his career as a presenter at Channel 4. Not to mention he is a huge American Football fan and he hosts Channel 4’s American Football highlights show. It also ties in with the fact that Channel 4 now broadcasts at least one NFL game a week and they are showing the Super Bowl this year. Interest in the NFL has grown massively in the UK over the last few years, helped by some NFL fixtures being played at Wembley Stadium of which there will be three in next years season. It is looking more and more likely that an NFL franchise will be set up in London in the coming years.

5. Menelik Watson Watson was born into a single-parent family of four brothers raised in Greater Manchester. His mother worked as an office cleaner to support her family. He grew up in poverty and even has stories where he’s had to rip open and eat the contents of ketchup sachets because he was so hungry. Watson excelled at sports and dreamed of playing for Manchester City but that dream was shattered, literally when he broke his ankle playing football with his friends in 2001. It was so bad in fact, that doctors thought part of his leg might have to be amputated. But it wasn’t. He was told he would never play sports again. This is when Menelik found basketball and he was spotted by an American Coach and taken to a basketball academy in the Canary Islands and later went on to New York’s Marist College. His basketball career stalled there and he even turned down the offer to become a boxer by Oscar De Le Hoya’s old coach after a trial in the ring but he decided against boxing too. Instead, Watson was hooked by American Football after watching a gridiron game featuring Florida State University. He rang a college coach at Saddleback in California and turned up for a trialand they snapped him up making the man who turned up to the US with just a duffle bag and a ruck sack a multi millionaire. Menlik Watson was selected in the draft this year by the Oakland Raiders and now plays in the NFL.

6. Lawrence Okoye Born in Croydon, Lawrence Okoye had a promising career in Rugby Union having played as a winger Whitgift School where he played at Twickenham in the Daily Mails Schools Under 18 final. He was also a member of the academy teams of both London Irish and London Wasps. Okoye is also a keen academic having received an offer from Oxford University Law School which he is keen to take up in the future. Okoye then made the change to discuss in the same year as playing in the Under 18 final, training full time, he went on to win gold at the 2011 European Atheletics U23 Championships at the age of 19 after less than a year in full training. He went on to break the British discuss record twice and represented the United Kingdom in the sport at the London Olympics. Okoye then tried his hand at American Football and despite having any high school or college experience, 5 teams were understood to be interested in him. Okoye ran the 40 yard dash in 4.78 seconds, while scoring 36 inches on the vertical jump and 10 feet, 7 inches on the broad jumps. He is 6ft 5’ and weighs over 300lbs. He was eventually signed by the San Fransico 49ers this year.