BBC - Commissioning - CBBC

Controller: Damian Kavanagh

Aims

CBBC has had a successful year and our programming and outreach activities are constantly attracting larger audiences. The channel is building both reach and share year-on-year and it’s vital we continue to build on this success. We are looking for memorable and distinctive ideas across all genres.

Some recent highlights have included programmes as diverse as Driving Academy, Horrible Histories, Live n Deadly, The Big Performance, Friday Download, Young Dracula, Show Me What You’re Made Of, Newsround Autism special, Roy and 4 o Clock Club.

As ever, it is the content which brings the CBBC brand to life, and we need to constantly refresh the selection of programmes and websites we have on offer to our discerning and demanding audience. Our top brand values are infectious and laugh yourself smart!

We encourage anyone who wants to pitch to us to immerse themselves in our content, on TV and online in order to get a feel for what’s working for us.

All CBBC content is commissioned by the Controller, Damian Kavanagh. You can read about the CBBC Service Strategy set out in 2010 in the downloads section, top right of this page.
 

About the CBBC Channel:

Our vision for CBBC is to deliver the world's finest content and interactive services for children - always aspiring to creative excellence.

CBBC is for primary school children aged 6-12 years. We want to reflect the lives of our audience and to give them multi-platform content which is innovative, challenging and infectious.

Please take a look at our Guide to the CBBC Audience, available in the downloads section on this page.

CBBC's tone is funny, energetic, unpredictable, upbeat and fun. A great illustration of this is live presentation on weekday afternoons with the interaction and fun between Iain Stirling and Hacker in the CBBC office.

CBBC endeavours to talk to kids in their language and on their level. We don't talk down to kids. Ultimately, our tone of voice should engage them and make them laugh with us. We also try hard to reflect the lives and world British kids will recognise.

We give audiences opportunities to participate, learn something new and laugh out loud. We want CBBC content talked about in the playground and we want our content to empower and stimulate children.

Content, of course, is what brings CBBC to life - we want gripping stories which entertain and enlighten, are pure escapism, or have something thought-provoking at their core. Our ambition to provide high-quality multi-platform content is stronger than ever.

We want ideas which are original and relevant to our audience, ideas which take into account the diversity of Britain. We don't want to patronise our audience, nor do we want to formally educate them.

We are looking for creative partnerships with people who are passionate about serving this audience and who have a special talent for intriguing, engaging and inspiring them with great story-telling in all genres.

You can find full details of the CBBC service strategy in the downloads section of this page.
 

Programmes & Content

The CBBC Channel runs from 0700–1900 and CBBC output runs on BBC ONE and TWO.

We offer a distinctive schedule of original drama, comedy, news, factual programming and events on a variety of platforms, including interactive applications (online, WAP, SMS, enhanced television) that allow children to get involved, to connect with CBBC and to explore topics further.

We need the expertise and passion of the very best content providers in order to ensure that we entertain and nourish children at the highest level.
 

About Our Audience:

The target audience for CBBC is children aged 6-12. At this age their lives are still fairly care-free and innocent. They love to laugh, are very creative and hungry for information that will have playground currency.

That said, they are also at a turning point in their lives: they want a bit more independence, yet still need to feel secure; they are care-free, but school and parents are giving them more responsibility; they are working out their own opinions, but still want to fit in. In short, they are slowly moving from under their parents' wings to be influenced by their peers. But they are not yet striking out on their own. If we could distil all we know about our audience into the key points that we feel matter most to our channel they would be:

• They are full of contradiction that both excites and daunts them

• Friends are becoming the centre of their world

• They are at home with technology and the speed at which it changes

• They are huge multi-taskers especially at 9 yrs plus

• They are creative dynamos who are not yet hardwired

94% of our audience live in homes with digital TV and more than 80% of 6-12 year olds go online. Children's expectations of where, when and how they can find content have changed dramatically in just a few years. However, children haven't changed as much as we might think: girls are still girls and boys are still boys.

Please take a look at our Guide to the CBBC audience in the downloads section of this page.
 

Programming Opportunities

CBBC has had a successful year and our programming and outreach activities are constantly attracting larger audiences. The channel is building both reach and share year-on-year.

As ever, it is the content which brings the CBBC brand to life, and we need to constantly refresh the selection of programmes and websites we have on offer to our discerning and demanding audience. Our top brand values are infectious and laugh yourself smart!

We are open to innovative ideas in all genres and this year are particularly keen to explore sketch comedy, programmes that get children up and about and inspire them to be active, factual/entertainment ideas that empower children, single documentaries to form part of the My Life strand (we will publish the brief here shortly), and new ideas that celebrate the weekend for the CBBC audience.

Distinctive, groundbreaking and bold ideas are most likely to grab our attention.

In Drama we are looking for stories with universal themes that have something to say. Whether fantasy or real life, stories must engage and stimulate our audience, while also firing their imaginations.  Warmth and humour is integral to all our drama regardless of subject matter.  Commissions are usually for returnable series of 13 x 28 mins or 3-part ‘event’ serials but we take a flexible approach as appropriate to the narrative.

When submitting ideas to CBBC we would like you to be able to talk about the following editorial points:

Context - how does your idea fit with the CBBC brand? Is it in tune with our positioning and spirit? How does it embrace our 'pass-it-on' ambition? How does it fit with the latest CBBC content? Is it unique, complementary, stand-out?

• Long runs - we are always looking for low cost, long running series. Low cost ideas need to be ideas in their own right not simply a spin off from a more expensive series. We generally look for at least 13 episodes, maybe more for the right format. How does your idea fit with this strategy?
• Ambition - whatever the cost, does your idea have real ambition? It is increasingly hard for programmes to cut through so we are especially keen on ideas that look and feel ground breaking.
• Clarity - it can be difficult to describe an idea in a single sentence but from experience we find that this helps to sort the strong ideas from the weaker ones. We want you to be able to tell us exactly what is at the heart of your idea.
• Execution - this is as important as the topics you cover. What innovative format ideas do you have? If it is a well worn format, what is the twist? What will it look like - what will I see on screen?
• Story-telling - we need ideas with a strong narrative thread, characters with whom the audience can emotionally engage, whatever the format and genre.
• Pace - how do we keep our audience's attention? Some adult sitcoms have scenes of just 30 seconds. What audience grabbing techniques can you incorporate into your programme? How can you hook them in the pre-title?
• Talent - we are looking to be surprised whether it's new faces with new passions or well known faces in unexpected places. We are keen to see ambitious talent utilised in this round; big names with mass appeal.
• Wider appeal - can you come up with a format or idea which can attract international co-production? We are interested in being able to attract more investment into our projects. Can you invent a global bestseller that is not  creatively compromised?

And, in terms of audience, we would like you to be able to talk about the following points:
 

• Target audience - Bearing in mind CBBC's target age group is 6-12 year olds, the primary school years, who is your programme targeted at? What sort of child are they? What are they into, what excites them? Why would your programme strike a chord with them? Why is the idea relevant to them?  
• Benefits - What benefit will the audience get from watching the programme? Emotionally, how will they feel when watching? What will engage and grip them throughout? What do you want them to take from the programme? What will they talk about with their mates? It's easy to come up with a show which children will enjoy taking part in - how engaging will the visual action be for the viewer?
• Infectiousness - What elements in your idea do you think will genuinely get kids talking? What is the playground currency in this idea? For example - the plot, the characters, the theme tune, the catch phrases, a format point etc.

CBBC Commissioning Process

CBBC now operates on a rolling commissioning basis, and proposals may be submitted at any time throughout the year. This now includes live-action drama (more details below).

CBBC is a self-commissioning, self-scheduling department. All submissions for television and online should be made via the e-commissioning system to Damian Kavanagh.

Please note that you need to register before you can submit ideas via this system and this will take a few working days. Details of the process and how to register you or your company can be found on the BBC website e-commissioning page.

The CBBC Commissioning Team

Damian Kavanagh, Controller, CBBC is responsible for commissioning all CBBC content on all platforms.The Controller is supported by two teams of Independent and In-House Executives, who specialise in different genres.

Independent Production Companies should contact executives who specialise in their chosen genre:

CBBC Drama

Instead of the annual commissioning round that has been in place for the last few years, we are returning to a system of rolling commissioning, bringing drama into line with the other CBBC genres and other BBC Commissioning teams. Proposals will still need to be submitted formally throughe-commissioning, but will now be considered throughout the year.

The independent drama team, led by Sue Nott, accepts submissions from independent production companies and is happy to discuss proposals prior to formal submission.

The in-house drama department develops and produces ideas submitted by individual, freelance writers.  As before, these should be submitted through e-commissioning to the appropriate team on the drop down menu: Damian Kavanagh – freelance writers.

Sarah Muller – Head of In-House Development for Drama at CBBC – is happy to discuss proposals with writers registered for e-commissioning, prior to formal submission. 

Writing for in-house drama

If you are an experienced writer with television credits, interested in writing on new or existing series, please email Connal Orton.

If you are a new writer, without television credits, please take a look at the BBC Writers Room.  The BBC Writers Room  co-ordinates the reading and assessing of unsolicited writing samples submitted to the BBC across all drama and comedy creative departments. Its remit includes helping new or unrepresented writers.

Book Options

We are open to suggestions for books which would be suitable for adaptation, whether proposed by independent companies or freelance writers.  When proposing such titles, you should make clear whether you own the option on the book (if appropriate).

We do not expect individual freelance writers to option books themselves and the BBC will option proposed books submitted by writers if they are of interest and if the option is available.  If you have brought the book to us we will give you the first chance to develop it with us.  However since the BBC will then own the option, it must be accepted that if development is unsuccessful, we have the right to place the development elsewhere.

All other genres

Individuals who have TV production credits and are interested in submitting Entertainment or Factual formats should contact the in-house Creative Director, Bill Hobbins.

All enquiries regarding acquisitions – live action and animation – should be made to Sarah Muller.

We are sorry, but unfortuantely we do not accept submissions from members of the public.  You can find out more about BBC departments that do and how to research independent production companies on the Ideas from members of the public page.

Timeline

All proposals are registered on a confidential database and independent suppliers will automatically receive an acknowledgement of their proposals.

The CBBC Commissioning Team will either reject or progress proposals within 6 weeks of formal submission.

Proposals may be provided with funded development, in which case the timeline to commission will be subject to negotiation between the external supplier and the BBC, and determined by the development contract.

The final decision will be no later than 20 weeks after formal submission. A successful proposal will be given approval by the Controller.

Projects may be held over in exceptional circumstances but only with the formal agreement of the supplier.

The same timelines and process apply to in-house and independent proposals.

Independent suppliers who are successful should expect to be assigned a CBBC Executive with whom they will liaise through pre-production and production.

Queries

At any point during the maximum 20 week period, an external supplier may write to the Controller, Damian Kavanagh, asking for a progress report and be guaranteed a response within 10 working days of receipt.

e-Commissioning

Find out more information about e-Commissioning. Please note that you need to register before you can submit ideas via this system and this will take up to 5 working days before applications are reviewed and either approved or declined.