RTÉ Popular Factual & Factual Entertainment Commissioning Brief
RTE ONE, Pre-watershed, half hours series – 20.30 Mid-week
Budget: €40k – €55k per episode.
Series runs are generally 6 – 8 episodes
With 13 series in the 20.30 slot during the year, there is real scope to pitch to refresh the schedule.
Current output includes Keys To My Life, The Style Counsellors, No Place Like Home, How To Be Good, With Money, Back To Business, Gardening Together, Supergarden The Big DIY Challenge, and High Road, Low Road.
The areas currently covered is not exhaustive as we do not have anything in the area of Health, Parenting, Craft or Pets. One area we would like proposals is in the consumer space that explores our food, purchasing & selling culture.
The big challenge is to find an engaging way to deal with topics that affect the nation in an entertaining and informative way. Operation Transformation used to bring the country together for a healthier lifestyle in this slot before it went to post watershed. Engaging with the public that transcends the TV show. It also highlights real health issues affecting the public. What other ideas are out there to engage the nation?
We currently have a wealth of Property programmes in the schedule Cheap Irish Houses, Home Rescue, Home of the Year, and Goodbye House, but that does not mean that this genre is closed to any new ideas coming through.
In addition, we are interested in top talent with passion projects or well-known household names attached to a format or observational documentary series that tell an engaging story, could work well here.
Example: Daniel and Majella’s B&B Roadtrip , Francis Brennan’s Grand Tour, etc
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Intelligent programmes in traditional Lifestyle areas – work and home, play and spend. Health, property, landmark life events.
Will look at cookery if the idea is original but not looking for straight How To shows .
New talent is key – this is where the next Francis Brennan and Diarmuid Gavin should come from.
We need a greater volume and range of ideas – where a long-running series is coming to an end, ideally, we’ll have three alternative options to choose from.
Should be light in tone, but with substance. Unashamedly populist. Very much Factual Entertainment
Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin and Stetsons and Stilettos are two successful series that were coproduced with BBC NI – what else can we do?
We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system: https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspxunder the programme category Factual “Popular Factual & Factual Entertainment – RTÉ One Midweek”
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