Daytime & Features

Introduction

HOUSEKEEPING

If you’re not currently working with someone in the team it's always best to send ideas into our email - D&Fideas@channel4.co.uk 

We look at ALL ideas we get via that route and it’s by far the most efficient way for you to get your idea seen by us.

If you have an established relationship with a Comm Ed please do continue to pitch to them – but PLEASE DON’T pitch the same idea to different Comm Eds – we all discuss the ideas & who’s pitching.

And please tell us upfront if you’ve already pitched an idea to another department in C4.

OUR TIPS FOR PITCHING

An idea needs a great title (that is available to use) that either tells the audience what they’re going to get or is invitational and playful enough to get them curious enough to watch.

We need more than top line, we want to understand what slot you’re pitching the idea for, your approach, tone, execution & format, so that we can assess quickly whether it’s something we want to take forward and champion.

We always prefer you to pitch one or two really strong ideas that you’ve honed and believe that you can get us obsessed with too, rather than 10 or 15 top lines in the hope that one sticks.

We want ideas pitched that will knock our socks off, that we ‘get’ in one line and that feel audacious and unexpected. That’s not to say it has to feel outrageous and extreme – just that there’s something in it to make it feel really special (eg: a novel starting point, money can’t buy prize, extraordinary access, unexpected casting or talent etc).

Every broadcaster wants distinctive ideas – we need you to articulate what it is about your idea / execution that will make an idea really stand out specifically for us at Channel 4.  

We want Channel 4 feature shows to be talked about, noticed. So what’s the twist you’re bringing that says to the audience “only Channel 4 would do it that way”?

WHAT WE’RE ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR

FEATURES - C4 @ 8PM

• The audience wants uplifting content & the promise of happy endings and resolution / reveals.
• Format that does the hard work for the audience & makes it easy to join across the ep as 8pm can still be a bit hectic in households.
• Broad subjects that audiences they can watch together (be it in family / friendship groups in shared homes).
• Unexpected angles of attack into familiar features territories: Punchy / noisy takes on relevant and relatable subjects…. e.g., Naked Education, Know Your Sh*t
• We want much more emotional story telling in our shows but with content that ultimately always leaves the viewers feeling uplifted.
• Relaxing & feelgood tone is crucial – however we also know the audience really values a sense of spontaneity & unpredictability – where could things ‘go wrong’ but will always turn out OK in the end.
• Immersive and inspiring formats rather than finger-wagging, preachy or too overtly instructional.

It’s worth thinking about gentle (& not so gentle) competition in unexpected places as a good way of reviving and reinvigorating classic features territories

• 60’ shows, across a range of tariffs - have slots for 4 / 6 /8/part series @ £120k per ep - £180k per ep.

• Sunday night 7pm - 60’ lower cost (£100k-£120k) (an alternative to antiques audiences) needs a purpose – Escape to the Chateau plays here what would be a nice stable-mate to that?

We’re happy to look at features shows for 9pm and 10pm (although it’s not the key focus for us just now) – but tonally there’s a shift in audience expectation & a much greater emphasis on ideas that will drive an audience to ALL4. (Katie's Price’s Mucky Mansion a great example of ALL4 driving content)

DAYTIME

The obsession for us all is what’s next at 5pm on Channel 4? What is the next turn of the wheel in terms of shape / structure across the week?

We know 5pm is an opportunity to attract younger audiences but anything we go for must speak to a really broad demo (the majority of the available audience is 55+ at this time of day) so please bring us ideas that have genuine breadth as well as wit & cheek that will get them talked about.

We’ll continue to look at ideas in that more escapist / aspirational mould, but we’ve got some exciting new titles launching – in particular a couple of property titles that we’re excited about – Help! We bought a Village and Renovation Nation, a Sarah Beeny spin off as well as the returners like The Great House Giveaway and Chateau DIY coming back.

MORE4

We get pitched A LOT of ideas for More4 and there are limited slots... as many of you know the CPH is pretty challenging on the channel, but the ambition remains really high.

We have enough celebrity-fronted travelogues at the moment – so this is not an area of priority for us.

We’re gravitating towards soft docs series that let the audience become ‘armchair experts’ – with series that feel like ‘intelligent comfort viewing’.

Shows need to deliver on the promise of looking visually beautiful & have clever & innovative production models to deliver the quality and ambition we’re after.

And EVERYTHING that we commission for More4 must be repeatable on C4.

We are looking at ideas in 2 categories at the moment with tariffs ranging £50k- £120k.

• The ‘big ticket ‘/ tentpole’ series that can drive attention to the channel & feel like an event eg: Ken Bruce’s PopMaster TV which feels like a real coup for More4
   
• Lower cost scalable / repeatable series:  This is the space we don’t get pitched anywhere near enough original ideas. What are the populist / low risk territories for that heartland ABC1 audience that can repeat anywhere? Interesting access would fall into this category – we are well served for Blue Lights – so what else?

The Daytime and Features Team

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