Reasons to be cheerful (part 1?)

There are some comments every filmmaker likes to hear from a commissioning editor: "Yes", for instance, or "We'll take six" and "How soon can you start?"

Big Wave was delighted to collect the full set after Bethan Corney, of FIVE (the UK's newest terrestrial channel) looked at our pitch for a wildlife-based drama documentary series - Animal Heroes.

The series is due to air in Britain this spring but, with the economic downturn reducing advertising revenues at most commercial channels worldwide, Big Wave cannot be alone in wondering when a commissioner will utter the same combination of positive remarks again.

Across the industry, the concern is growing that independent producers who depend on tv work will need to get as creative over funding models as they are with programme ideas if they want to win commissions in the current climate.

It's a worrying thought but worrying alone won't solve it. So, instead, I have been looking for reasons to be cheerful in 2009.

• Wildlife indies tend to be small, with modest overheads. As busy as Big Wave is at present, the team still only numbers 14, and many of our colleagues-cum-rivals maintain even smaller permanent staff. This means that, as a whole, we're much better equipped to ride out a recession than sectors with high running costs.
• The wildlife industry has always relied on buying in freelance talent and extra services, as and when required. This means we're well used to scaling up or down, to suit the workload, so should be able to respond more quickly to changing circumstances than, say, a nuts and widgets business.
• A falling pound is currently making it some 30% cheaper for US broadcasters to work with UK-based indies than it was a year ago - an attractive prospect, given that US ads income is also falling.
• Escapism becomes more attractive in a downtime, and where better for viewers to get away from their worries than by delving into the wild world with its beautiful places, fascinating animals and adventure-filled stories?
• Wildlife programmes need little adaptation to work internationally, enabling indies to find funding and showcases outside the home market. Animal Heroes, for instance, is a co-production with FIVE, Animal Planet US and BBC Worldwide - all very adept at international selling.
• Fresh ways of looking at wildlife story-telling are proving a hit with family audiences. At FIVE, for instance, ratings have doubled since Bethan Corney introduced series such as Nature Shock and Extraordinary Animals and programmes with titles like Flesh Eating River Monster (Icon Films), Monster from the North and The Whale That Blew Up In The Street (both Tigress). Our Animal Heroes series is in the same mould; it includes The Dog That Battled The Bear and The Gorilla That Saved The Boy. Purists may criticise the Ripley's Believe It or Not approach but the viewing figures show audiences like the wildlife + drama + excitement + entertainment mix. And of course, engaging interest is the first step towards encouraging care and conservation.
• Blue-chip seems to be holding its own. The BBC NHU has a strong line-up of new series underway and the 25th anniversary series of Natural World (BBC2), including our Whale Shark, is commanding a very respectable audience share. Big Wave, for one, has good reason to know that editor Tim Martin remains imaginatively committed to investing in high-quality work.
• Last, but not least, for the first time in almost 50 years, the big screen is once more providing an outlet for nature documentaries. Big Wave has just delivered our first for this market: Turtle: the Incredible Journey, directed by Nick Stringer, scripted by Melanie Finn, narrated by Miranda Richardson, and co-produced with Film and Music Entertainment.

To say the switch from small screen production has been "an experience" is an understatement . Everything about it - from a punishing 18 month schedule, to filming through an El Nino year with little contingency and learning to navigate unfamiliar funding arrangements, tax laws and multinational treaties - has been eventful. But the end result is a beautiful and captivating re-enactment of the 20 year oceanic odyssey a loggerhead turtle makes, from her birth on a Florida beach until her return there to lay the eggs that will start the millennia-old cycle again.

Turtle will open first in cinemas in Germany this autumn, distributed by Polyband, the firm which successfully managed the German theatrical release of Earth.

How will the film perform? Who knows! But it has got to be a cause for optimism that nature documentaries are returning to the arena where they first enthralled audiences and that, to judge from mainland Europe's response, are finding that an audience still exists for them. In Germany, 3.5m watched Earth at the cinema; in France, Crimson Wing, the debut film from Disneys new Disneynature venture, made it into the box office top 10.

In other words, it may be too soon for us to worry about what 2009 holds.

Happy New Year????? Lets hope so.

Sarah Cunliffe
Managing Director
Big Wave Productions Ltd