Television industry contexts

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

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?

Walter Presents is a unique proposition. Its flagship show Deutschland 83 will premiere on Channel 4 on 3 January, while other shows will appear on More4. The rest will be drip fed to us throughout 2016 via the All4 platform, where series will be consumed in the form of box sets. Shows will be as diverse as Kabul Kitchen, a French comedy set against the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan, and the Dutch show The Neighbours, described as "Fatal Attraction meets Sex and the City".

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

There may be something else in foreign TV's new popularity, too. It may sound prosaic but when we're frequently distracted from our TV viewing by Twitter feeds and a pinging WhatsApp, 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."

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

Walter Presents is expected to be a big draw for diverse groups around the UK, making it easy for immigrant communities to access original content from their home countries.

"Fiction has an important role," admits Iuzzolino. "Channel 4 has always had a core remit of being there as the young, intelligent channel that reflects society for what it is. It's urban, real and multicultural. The world is smaller with the internet and migration. You walk around London and you bump into people from all over the world who have their stories. The idea was to unite them all in the name of great storytelling, because it doesn't matter where you come from, in the end all human stories are about love, betrayal, life, death, violence, politics: the themes are universal."

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



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

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.

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?

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, the series proved more successful in the US than its homeland. The majority of German audiences did not like neither the show nor its premise, with the Guardian‘s Philip Oltermann observing the Cold War politics and “cool and sexy” style as factors that distanced them from the series. As previously mentioned, the German premiere had 3.19 million viewers. Each new episode saw that figure drop, and by the series’ conclusion the figures had fallen down to 1.63 million — it’s lowest figure.

January 2016 saw the UK premiere of the series on mainstream Channel 4, and with this came

foreign drama and television expert Walter Iuzzolino’s streaming service Walter Presents. Perhaps the most successful broadcast of the show to date, Channel 4 saw viewing figures reach a peak of 2.13 million viewers in a prime time TV slot, earning it the title of the UK’s highest-rated foreign drama. Like in the US, its success brought impressive reviews. Yet, the UK broadcast also achieved something more: a renewal of a foreign drama.

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).

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?

Even if you’re weary of foreign drama, with Iuzzolino posting a “Weekend Pick” on his Facebook

page and engaging with viewers on Twitter, it’s impossible not to become engrossed in the

experience. As Iuzzolino says, 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.

The Guardian: How tech is changing television



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

With streaming networks releasing all of the episodes in one block – and many viewers of mainstream TV shows now waiting until all the episodes can be watched as a box set – producers of TV fiction have had to rethink. Nicola Shindler, who runs the independent company Red, producer of Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, and is currently working on shows for both the BBC and Netflix, says: “Your form of storytelling has to reflect the fact that people could watch [the whole series] straight away. So the hooks at the end of every episode are very important. But you also have to think about how you give information. With a thriller for terrestrial TV, you tend to have a recap at the start of each episode. But, with SVOD [streaming video on demand], you can get straight on with the story.”

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

But, if greater dramatic complexity is a blessing from new technology, extended length, especially in American streaming shows, might become a curse. Milne is in discussion about a streamed remake of The Politician’s Husband, in which a Westminster couple competes for 10 Downing Street. On BBC Two, the show was a three-parter – a familiar and satisfying British form – but the US wants volume. “The offers for a US version of The Politician’s Husband are all for 10 parts,” says Milne, “and they’re talking already about what might happen in a second season. And that’s really part of the pitch on these video platforms. They don’t want to invest in something that might only be a one-off.”

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 to me 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.

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.

Media Magazine: Netflix and the Cultural Industries 

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

The ‘industry’ concept refers to the companies that create and distribute media texts, the standard practices of media production, as well as the regulatory and legal frameworks in which the companies operate. Hesmondhalgh, broadly speaking, argues that since the 1980s there’s been a significant shift in cultural production.

2) What is technological convergence? 

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.

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

 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 audiovisual texts and so realised that it needed to create its own

online subscription service.

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.