Save The British Film Industry.Com

Dear Mr Norman,

Many congratulations on your new position as Chairman of ITV. Magnificent as your career in retail (ASDA) and Parliament has been, we think this is your biggest and most vital job so far as concerns the lives of every citizen in The UK and elsewhere.

We sincerely wish you well and are cheering for you.

Your priority is to find a Chief Executive for ITV and frankly we would like to help you know what to look for both from the point of view of solvency, serving the public with magnificent programmes of the calibre which built ITV’s stellar reputation from the mid 1950s to late 1970s, and creating many more TV and yes film industry jobs around The UK.

We are prepared to meet if you require. We in any event urge you to diarise an early meeting with Gisela Stuart MP (Labour, Birmingham Edggbaston) who is the Parliamentarian trying harder than any other to create film and TV jobs in The UK. Moreover, such a meeting would kill your first barrier to success…the accusation of partisanship as you were a Conservative Party MP (and an extremely good one at that).

ITV has clear financial difficulties and it is tempting to think that just cutting costs by cutting jobs and selling buildings is the key.

We urge you to consider why ITV became a success in the first place; one in which in the last ten years still paid £1.50 dividend a year on £1 shares ! Grasp why it was once a licence to print money. Look at who and why ITV has alienated as brand loyal customers.

ITV in the 1950s had both in high profile buildings, high calibre talent, high investment, AN EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG REGIONAL PRESENCE and WAS NOT LONDON DOMINATED NOR LONDON CENTRED !

All the failures of ITV in financial, commercial, creative, mass audience, agenda setting, brand loyalty terms, CAN BE DIRECTLY TRACED TO SMASHING THIS SIMPLE BUT BRILLIANT POLICY.

Lew Grade made ITV. He had a presence every bit as big in Birmingham as London. ITV was as big in Yorkshire and in The North-West (Granada) as London and the South-East. It was strong in Scotland and would be commissioning more TAGGARTS and similar product, not less. It was strong in Wales and The South-West.

Yes Lew Grade did make programmes such as THE SAINT, THE AVENGERS, MAN IN A SUITCASE, DEPARTMENT S, THE CHAMPIONS, JESUS OF NAZARETH, MOSES THE LAW GIVER, THE PERSUADERS which had the likes of Burt Lancaster, Roger Moore, Tony Curtis and other stellar international stars. But these were US and other international co-productions which were also open for his YORKSHIRE, NORTH-WEST, MIDLAND, EAST ANGLIA, SCOTTISH, WELSH peers and colleagues to make and which they did make.

The creative manufacturing cluster was The UK not a phonebox type office in London. The centres of excellence and access to them were all around The UK. It accessed all the talent, imagination, ambition.

Like you at ASDA it kept all the manangers close to the customers.

Like you at ASDA it listened to the customers everyday.

Like you at ASDA it understood that the £1 from customers in Birmingham, Burnley, Liverpool, Doncaster, Dover, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Swansea, Wrexham, Dundee, Aberdeen, Fife, Shetland, Belfast, Aberystwyth, Swindon, Oxford, Cambridge, High Wycombe, Rotherham, Barnsley, Sheffield, York, Sunderland ARE JUST AS VALUABLE as the same £1  in  West London.

The key Mr Norman is to get your creative infrastructure centres in every region and hopefully every county. This keeps the management ear very close to the customer likes and dislikes. It keeps the management close to the vital creative talent rather than just praying it all has the capacity, zeal, finance to move to West London.

Using production far outside West London can of course drastically cut costs because of property and West London prices.

Using the talent of the nation MADE ITV.

The second thing you must do is to go back to The ITV “CATCH THEM YOUNG” policy. Lew Grade made programmes for children, very young children then teenagers. So “Thunderbirds”, “Captain Scarlett”, “Stingray”,  cartoons, …these created audience loyalty at a really young age which was nurtured for life.

ITV did not try to get young children to grow up to the more ideal consumer age of 12 to 15 UNTIL they were 12 to 15. By the time they were 12, they were hooked on ITV because of product excellence and genuine customer care.

ITV invested in magnificent regional news teams and facilities. It had people who could have conquered London but chose to stay in their regions. This gave ITV at local, national and finally international level…the very best and highest audience ratings news. You can not get it overnight, but sow the seed and you can get it back.

There are more unemployed newspaper journalists in the regions now than than at any time in history. GET THESE INTO TV NEWS PRODUCTION IN THE REGIONS. IN TWO YEARS THE QUALITY AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL WILL SHINE. You will be ahead of the game of what the UK consumer wants and will pay for. Advertisers will return when you have the audience.

Be bold. Lew Grade used Hollywood writers on his first 1950s hit, Robin Hood. Do not skimp on writers. You can spend all the big money on stars, actors, crew, sets, etc and get rubbish. The writers are the key.

Next, do not despise your audience. Build and rebuild brand loyalty.

For example, ITV in the 1950s to 1970s made the most expensive religious TV programming in history anywhere on earth. JESUS OF NAZARETH would cost today over $300 million to make with equivalent film stars in TV drama roles. STARS ON SUNDAY cost in today’s prices over £1 million a thirty minute show. HIGHWAY was really expensive to make.  But it built brand loyalty among a strong section of society who stayed loyal for decades. Suddenly scraping this type of programme, and employing  management openly despising it, well the audiences who were loyal got the message.

This is one example where ITV screwed up on brand loyalty. But on the other hand watch your successes in this field, especially Coronation Street, Emmerdale, X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and cling to Simon Cowell and Chris Tarrant.

But you need to produce more outside London.  Chris Tarrant came from Midlands TV (indeed regional news) as did TISWAS. This dedicated children’s TV created brand loyalty. Again Lew Grade and his super-strong regional policy. Yes he was a proud Londoner, but he saw the fact that the talent in the theatre and the audience was all over the UK. As a dancer in the 1920s, then agent and theatre owner, he saw The UK was much more than Central London. You must do the same or you will fail as other London centric media people are failing and literally clueless why they are failing. Their London centric advisors are baffled.

Remember ITV’s two perennial hits (coronation Street and Emmerdale) came from strong regional production and regional empowered management with FLAIR and DARE.

But you can cut costs dramatically especially in London.

You can show the stars you are the new sherriff in town. If Ant and Dec are too expensive, then find the newer cheaper version. Have a new faces and youth policy. The big stars of tomorrow come from here. Unless Ant and Dec really deliver in profit terms (money paid out to money coming in) then show the legendary Archie Norman nous AND show the boys it is time to try Channel 4, BBC, Sky unless they can adjust their remuneration requirements. Of course if Ant and Dec are delivering (money received to money expended) then lock them down with golden handcuffs.

But remember with all TV as well as film. The car designer is King. The writers ! They are King. A designer of a Ferrari is the one you want, not an Allegro !

The actors, presenters, hosts are well….wheels on the car. Portable and very easy to replace with new tyres.

Do not ever forget that stars can always be created every week let alone every decade if you have lots of production and regional bases. You can create stars.

Do not overpay for talent, which was a huge failure of ITV in the last two decades and especially the last one.

Above all be popular and hand Metropolitan prejudices where a very few dictate to a grudging huge majority. For example Christmas Carol Services are very popular in The UK but many companies and schools are banning them. Put lots of them in your schedule with much heraldry, panache, flair and robust punch.

In other words listen and respond to the public and do not follow the people who give people what they ought to want, not what they actually do.

As Lew Grade said after a very boring show at a theatre: “It must be culture, because it definitely was not entertainment”.

Be popular. Be flambouyant. Be brilliant.

Get characters, real characters on TV. Ones the public love or hate but can not be indifferent to. For example  Dr Richard North.

http://www.eureferendum.blogspot.com/

There are the characters out there, especially in the regions. He is just in Bradford not London.

Jasper Carrott and Frank Skinner would not be discovered by ITV today as the regional base which found them is not there. How many other gems are not being discovered ?

Adrian Goldberg would be an ideal Head of Documentaries and get you really big ratings and passionate loyal viewers.

www.thestirrer.co.uk

The Central London centred documentaries get zip viewers and do zilch public service. The gene pool and focus is too narrow. ITV documentaries used to be water cooler moments. Even the leading investigative journalists in The national Sundays and Dailies are not being snapped up by ITV. The cute faces which transfer from national print newspapers are not those who find and drive the frontpage exclusives. If you need tips then call us. We know who you need to use.

Do not despise the young nor old. These are your customers. Your viewers. They have £ and you can get their £ for your advertisers.

You are the right man Mr Norman. Prove us right.

Please be exceptionally successful. Britain needs a strong vibrant confident ITV. It was the best thing whichever happened to The BBC. Competition produced excellence.

Jonathan Stuart-Brown

www.savethebritishfilmindustry.com