BBC pitch

 My idea 

My idea is for a BBC documentary tv show (or possibly a podcast) based around the history and development of music, showing the process of music and how music has become what it is today. I would like to get experts and musicians to partake in interviews and narration of the show. I would like this show to go on for multiple seasons, each season being focused on a different musical genre, this will allow the show to appeal to all music fans as at some point the show will cover every musical genre so where some people may not be fans of one genre there will be a season dedicated to a genre they do enjoy and express interest in.  

 

Inspiration 

My inspiration for this show was a Netflix show called 'The Movies That Made Us'. This show talks about movies which created a big movement in the film industry. I am personally deeply passionate about music so I thought I could create a show about revolutionary music in a similar format to the Netflix show. 

There is also another Netflix show, 'Hip-Hop Evolution', which talks about the development of hip-hop and how it became what it is today, I will also use this as an idea of how I will present the show and make it appeal to audiences. 

 

Target audience 

My target audience for this show will be people interested in music, this could appeal to people of all ages, however I think this show will be more relevant for teenagers and young adults from 16-22 years. Based on this age range I think the time slot for this show should be around 9pm-10pm as people of those ages are most likely to be watching tv at that time. 

 

Runtime 

As I want this show to be informative and interesting to the viewer, I think a suitable runtime would be 45-50 minutes per episode as it means there would be plenty of time to talk about everything that needs to be mentioned in each episode. 

Budget 

This show won't require any actors as it is a documentary, however, it would require a recording team, editing team and a sound team. Preferably we could get a well-known musician or musical expert to narrate and talk about topics in the show and possibly get some guest musicians to talk to/ interview as well. This show will most likely be recorded in a studio with possible on-site shooting but not much, if it's decided to be made as a podcast it would all be done in a recording studio. 

It would be a fairly lengthy series with multiple seasons and a few 45-50 minutes episodes per season. Hopefully throughout this series there will be multiple interviews with many different musicians and musical experts to give the show authenticity, there is no set number of interviews but ideally there will be at least 1 per episode. There is no tight script to follow, the only thing we must follow is the format and the subject of the episode which will be planned. There won't be any specific ending to the show as music is constantly developing, however this could give the opportunity for more seasons if the show proves to be popular. 

The equipment we would need is: 

• Video cameras
• Microphones
• Tripods/gimbles
• Editing equipment/software
• Possible props

• 
  

Wish list: 

• Archive footage
• Interviews
• Someone well known in music to narrate
• Studio
• Equipment (listed above)

• We would also need a contingencies budget in case the original plan doesn’t go how it is supposed to. 

I do not know the cost of any of these things as I have never been involved with any budgeting or any sort of professional pre-production/production however I hope what I have mentioned will help with a general estimate of what the budget for the show would be. 

 

Script 

Ideally, I would like 8 set seasons, one for each main genre of music: Rock, Pop, Hip-hop/rap, Country, Jazz, Electronic, Metal, and Classical (not necessarily in this order). Obviously, there are hundreds of musical genres/sub-genres, and it would be impossible to make a season for each one of these genres. The 8 I have listed are what I consider the main genres of music as most of the other genre's branch of from these main 8. we would still talk about these genres but inside the seasons of the relevant ‘main’ genre. 

This script will most likely be more developed and specific in the pre-production stages of the show. (e.g. planned out episodes and show structure) 

BBC research 

Looking at the different BBC channels I have decided that this show would fit best on Channel 2 as it includes documentaries, different shows based around music and even music documentaries such as ‘last man standing’ which is a documentary about the murders of the late rappers 2pac and The Notorious BIG. There are also other shows such as 'Whitney: Can I Be Me?’ and the ‘A Life In Ten Pictures’ series, which have similarities to this show which have been successful and maintained a good audience therefore this idea would fit in with the BBC and won't be a risk to the channel. 

 

 

BBC statistics 

Overall, the number of people watching BBC television is falling across both high and low-income homes. 

The biggest drop comes in audiences aged between 16-34 who watch BBC TV weekly, down from 60% to 56%. The same age group is also watching for a shorter period of time, down from an average of nearly three hours a week to two hours and 32 minutes. 

The same is said of BBC Radio where men and women over the age of 16 are listening to less radio and for shorter times, up to 30 minutes less than last year in most age groups. 

I believe, due to my show targeting audiences between the ages of 16-22 years, it could help a rise in audiences of that age range which would be very beneficial to the BBC as they are losing viewers within that age range.