Deficit Funding, Pre-sales and Co-productions.
An example is “Takaya : lone wolf” from Talesmith and Cineflix. Martin Williams had produced a documentary before for the BBC, about Dinosaurs, but the Lone wolf idea did not catch their attention immediately. So the BBC would not lead it. Cineflix worked with their production arm in Canada, they could get Tax Credits and there is also a treaty between Britain and Canada that can help to get funding. It went to CBC Canada for their Science and History channel. They got some money from France (ARTE). This still left a small funding gap but they were confident they could greenlight it.
Martin went back to the BBC and, impressed by the funding that was in place, they came on board with the rest of the money. It was not as much money as originally asked for but it was enough to make the show. It was a lesson in how you have to travel three thousand miles to get your show commissioned! Another film followed about a animal hospital in Australia.
Are there any conflicts between what you need for an International sale and what UK Broadcasters want? In the UK Broadcasters want local talent. Harry Redknapp is very popular in England but in Thailand people haven’t really heard of him. Some distributors turn down projects every day because they just can’t see the value in them. Think of yourself as a freelance writer with a great story to sell, unique access and you’re to sell to the Sunday Times – what have you got that is absolutely unique that no one else has, you are at least half way over the fence in terms of getting a deal. There are a whole lot of genres that are more co-producible like wildlife, science, history.