COMMISSIONING BRIEF
Commissioning Editor: Eddie Doyle
Assistant Commissioning Editor: Tonyia Dowling
UPDATED: January 2013
RTE TWO is the home of the best Irish comedy, factual entertainment and popular documentary.
The channel also carries the majority of RTE's sports output and internationally acquired entertainment and drama. In the increasingly competitive multi-channel environment, one of our priorities is that these elements can combine to generate a cohesive brand identity that viewers feel emotionally engaged with.
Our target audience is the 25-44 year old age group, and we have a secondary ambition to recruit 15-34 year olds - our ideal viewer is probably a thirty year old man or woman. Ultimately we want to generate entertainment that reflects the best of youthful Irish life.
Authenticity, audience connection and innovation are key concepts for RTE TWO. At its strongest content on RTE TWO should be about real Irish people, their stories, and voices - in particular, the unearthing of faces, narratives and trends that audiences instinctively are familiar with and respond to - but which they have not seen on television anywhere else.
Historically, output like Naked Camera, Paths to Freedom, Hardy Bucks and The Savage Eye share an engagement at a street level with real life Irish characters, that resonates deeply with audiences. More recently Masterchef Ireland, Don't Tell the Bride, ICA Bootcamp and the Reality Bites strand of popular documentaries have took viewers on engaging and entertaining journeys, sometimes dealing with issues of significance, and at other times offering escapism and craic.
As a general point, we are responding to the challenging financial environment both in terms of the tariffs that we have set for our programming, and also in terms of the flexibility we want to bring towards finding other sources of potential funding. So we are particularly interested in projects that lend themselves towards potential advertiser funding, or BAI Sound and Vision or Co-production/Co-support.
Our domestically commissioned output is focusing on three areas: Formatted Factual Entertainment, Comedy and Popular Documentary:
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Comedy & Entertainment
No of Episodes: 6 x 30 series for comedy proposals
Transmission: RTÉ TWO - Mondays and Tuesdays various durations
Budget: €45,000 - €60,000 per episode for comedy proposals*
Scripted comedy budgets assessed separately, depending on the nature of the proposal and potential for BAI or Co-production support.
We are looking for a range of bold new proposals, from scripted comedy to comic reality and observational factual entertainment ideas. Our priorities will be for programming that can play in mainstream early post-watershed slots (ideally 9.30pm or 10pm). In this regard we are exploring options in hidden camera comedy programming, and mimicry - but we are open to other options that can draw a significant mainstream audience, with escapist comedy, that provides a compelling alternative to news and current affairs, and issue-based documentary on other channels.
We want to build on the success of recent comedy output in particular The Republic of Telly, in connecting with youthful audiences, in particular via new online platforms. This programme combines a likeable and diverting comic voice, with an authentic connection to the vernacular, stories and characters that are commonplace in normal Irish life - in particular outside of Dublin.
In parallel, we are also interested in comedy projects that lend themselves toward BAI support or international co-production, in particular scripted comedy.
*Please note budget ranges are indicative only, and proposals that can achieve lower costs per hour will be particularly attractive'.
We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system:
https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspx
under the programme category RTÉ TWO - Comedy & Entertainment
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POPULAR DOCUMENTARY
No of Episodes: 1 x 52 popular documentaries
Transmission: RTÉ TWO - Mondays and Tuesdays various durations
Budget: Up to a maximum of €55,000 per hour for Reality Bites documentaries*
We have established the Reality Bites strand as an attractive and highly watchable series, that is broad enough to contain a wide spectrum of content. Ranging from escapist upbeat observational, to heavier issue driven factual, and covering cultural phenomena, or modern mainstream concerns.
Again, the target audience is key, with issues and stories that speak to and reflect the lives of Irish people who are wrestling with the challenges of young adulthood (relationships, marriage, parenting) being of particular concern. But fundamentally we just want good stories and good characters that can stand out from the crowd, and offer a satisfying hour of viewing to a time poor audience.
Fresh faces and new talent will be prioritised, and projects can range from the comic, to issue driven, and everything in-between.
*Please note budget ranges are indicative only, and proposals that can achieve lower costs per hour will be particularly attractive'.
We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system:
https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspx
under the programme category RTÉ TWO - Popular Documentary
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Please note:
The discussion of, or initial interest in, a proposal does not represent a commitment to commission by RTÉ and should not be understood as such. Commissioning decisions will reflect the quality of proposals received and the scheduling priorities operating at the time. RTÉ's financial position will also be a factor.
Any proposals previously submitted to RTÉ in categories listed here, and which were rejected on a first reading in a previous Round, should not be re-submitted and will not be reconsidered.
