Friday 16 November 2012

BBC Bashing

BBC bashing is a favoured activity by certain sectors of the media in recent days: the Murdoch press enjoying a chance to switch the focus away from the criminal phone-hacking to a cover-up. The Daily Mail, of course, never loses an opportunity to work itself into a frothy, semi-rabid rage about the moral decline of Britain caused by the metrosexual liberals at the Beeb, whilst constantly refreshing the sideboard of their website with pictures of scantily clad women or girls who have only just passed the age of consent. It all started with the ITV Saville documentary, or did it start with Andrew Gilligan accusing Tony Blair of lying to the House of Commons on live radio or should we go back in time to the first BBC executive who gave Jimmy Saville a job?

Now I should express a vested interest here, I'm not an impartial when it comes to the BBC: they hired me as a junior producer, they did not fire me as a junior producer when I was said lots of things I shouldn't an internet message board. It all happened one Friday afternoon and I remain very sorry, not necessarily as sorry as George Monbiot, Sally Bercow and the former editor of Newsnight are at the moment, but still very sorry. My gratitude to the organisation goes further than simply not sacking me; from that initial trainee producer job I went onto to produce many radio comedy shows, children's TV comedy and when they weren't supervising me too closely I even got to produce a little of bit of proper telly (a BBC 3 sitcom pilot - so sort of proper). So my experience of my nine years there was generally very positive, it offered me unique opportunities that no other broadcasting organisation or company could have done. Outside the BBC, it remains fiendishly difficult to gain experience in TV or radio as you stay trapped in the permanent Catch 22 loop that you can't produce or direct a show until you have the experience of producing or directing shows.

But... and there's always a but, in my narrow window into this vast organisation , the dysfunctional management that we have witnessed in recent days seems fairly typical. George Orwell described the BBC as a cross between a lunatic asylum and a girls's boarding school, oddly enough that sixty year old metaphor holds true today. The strangest thing is that you could take an excellent producer, promote them to head of department and they would then spend most of them time dealing with mind-numbing bureaucracy that had nothing to do with the making of programmes. In hindsight, the best boss I worked for was one who came from the independent sector, took one look at the list of silly meetings he was expected to attend and never bothered. Under his regime of benign neglect, the department had a golden era of award winning shows and fantastic creativity, none of this seemed to matter to the more senior managers who made sure that his successor did attend these meetings and do the paperwork. I watched this other boss slowly lose the will to live until he escaped the role at the earliest opportunity.

Great shows are made by the BBC and there are many talented people working there; too often that excellent programme making occurs in spite of the system rather than because of itt. In my area of expertise such as comedy, it's fascinating to see how many commissioners and channel controllers claim credit for hit shows they either rejected first time or said during their run that the programmes were not working. A couple of personal highlights of Beeb management  are being told we had to make radio more accessible for the deaf or attending a seminar on the future of broadcasting where some consultant put a slide on the wall that was one of the most complex things I have ever seen, including an article on particle physics in The New Scientist. To this day, I have no idea what that consultant was taking about, I remember there being mentions of gatekeepers and platforms and wondering if we were taking about role playing games. My guess is she had no idea what she was taking about either. Let's keep it those two examples, suitably vague and distant, as I may still want to produce a show, if the chance comes my way.

As someone who greatly values the BBC not as institution but as a source of creative output, here's three simple suggestions to get out of their current funk  that do not involve endless navel gazing and self-criticism:

1. Sack 25% of the staff using a simple test.

Go round every BBC building, grab each employee in turn, put them in headlock (whilst observing correct health and safety protocols). Ask them what their job is. Anyone who cannot give you a simple answer e.g. producer, engineer, researcher, head of department etc. is fired on the spot. At stroke you remove about 1 in 4 non-jobs that add no value. So goodbye to Client Solutions Executive, Head of Audiences and Change Management Lead. Spend every £1 saved on new programmes immediately.

(the above suggestion is thanks to Jeff Randall).

2. Adopt William Goldman's quotation as the sole BBC value.

'Nobody knows anything' said the brilliant Goldman of the film business. The same holds true for broadcasting. In the past decade hits have come the most unexpected of places, whether its Strictly Come Dancing, Miranda, The Thick of It and Springwatch. The glorious wonder of the creative industry is that is the precise opposite of normal business, you really cannot predict where the next genius show will come from. All you can do as an organisation is stay open to ideas, remain ready to go against the flow and remind yourself that nobody knows anything. A bit like the slave whispering in the Roman general's ear as he parades through Rome, reminding him that all this world is ashes and dust, keep that motto in mind and you maximise your chances of success. (Okay maybe not the ashes and dust bit).

3. Copy HBO

They make some of the finest television ever seen, copy their approach. Empower your creative heads and let them take risks. The Americans do it better, do what they do. Simples.

It would be a terrible tragedy if the vile sociopath Saville managed to cause mayhem beyond the grave. Whatever mistakes were made in the 70s or were made in recent months, don't let the bastard screw it up for everyone else. No matter how bad the BBC faults might be, the alternatives are worse, just watch Italian TV if you don't believe me.

Oh and one final thought... if you find that your selection of senior managers means that Tim Davie, a Pepsi marketing executive who has never made a programme, ends up temporary Director-General then  maybe, just maybe, you're promoting the wrong people.






1 comment:

  1. Just wondered if "Superinjunct that fuck face" is missing a comma? Mugsx

    ReplyDelete