Interview With Ben Hall, Founder of Chalkboard TV
We had the opportunity to speak with Ben Hall, founder of Chalkboard TV in the UK. We talk about what makes a successful format and about trends in formats and interactivity. Can you tell us a bit more about Chalkboard TV and how it came to be? We are a relatively new production company, focused on producing entertainment, factual entertainment and popular factual shows. Founded by 3 partners, Warwick Banks, Mike Benson and myself in 2013 during a frenzy of production company start ups. We all have backgrounds in the format business, knew each other well and the time seemed right ...fast forward 5 months and Chalkboard TV was founded. Contrary to many of the other new production companies that have big investors such as Endemol Shine Group, Sony or ITV, we are backed by the IZEN group. The IZEN group is formed by three of the biggest remaining truly independent production companies : imagic from Lebanon, Zebra Productions from Spain and Elephant Productions from France. Our investors are very hands off, which is great news for us, they trust our vision. Being genuinely independent does seem to be a real positive for us in the UK in the light of some of the arguments over the UK terms of trade and broadcasters looking at who their suppliers really are. (the terms of trade in the UK are commercial terms agreed by the UK producers association PACT and the broadcasters) For you personally, what is it like to run your own company again, compared to your previous roles at established players like Shine, DRG and BBC? I ran my own company before, The Chatterbox Partnership, one of the UK’s first and most successful TV format creation businesses. My partner and I had great fun and a relaxed lifestyle. When this business ended I went walkabout, took my children out of school and went traveling. We returned to the UK when my third child was about to be born and I needed a job! I became a Creative Director at BBC Worldwide, followed by positions at the Digital Rights Group and Shine. At Shine I managed the international roll out of Masterchef, pitching, deal making and overseeing the international team of consultant producers. It was a great show to pitch. It is genuinely the most successful TV show of all time in Australia and saying this was always a good way to start a pitch meeting! It was an easy show to sell and went on to become a huge international success down to the fantastic efforts of the team. I believe it has now been produced in something like 54 countries. I joined when this was 2 and left when it was in 38. Back to Chalkboard, I like running my own business. I like the freedom and opportunity and the fact that I get to decide what colour the walls are! The playing field is very competitive, especially for an independent, more than it has ever been but we remain positive, ambitious and determined to make shows that people watch, get noticed and have a spark of originality about them! Chalkboard is part of an international network. Can you tell us a bit more, and how does this come into play to bring your work to international markets? We are plugged into the IZEN group where we share IP and formats and ideas and it works well. Our format ‘Don’t Ask Me’ has successfully launched in Italy, broadcast on Rai Uno and produced by Elephant Italia (part of the IZEN Group) and is also commissioned by Middle Eastern broadcaster MBC and is going to be produced by imagic in Beirut. The format feels very different to anything else out there at the moment fresh and, as a result, is beginning to look really promising internationally! The Ex Machina Group is our partner with their Play To TV technology, and have been very understanding and patient in adapting the app for the Middle East. ‘Don’t Ask Me’ will run in this region from January 11th until the beginning of Ramadan at the end of May for 21 episodes. You specialise in entertainment and factual. What do you see as the main trends and developments for each of those genres? I’m not a big believer in the idea of their being trends for TV. The trend is, in essence, did it rate? If the ratings are great, it will become a trend. Look at survival shows like The Island with Bear Grylls. One very well produced show that rates really well can quickly spawn many imitators and become a trend. In other words, the trend is that whatever works and gets the ratings will become the trend. Broadcasters will base their buying of foreign formats to a significant degree on ratings, if it’s a success somewhere then it’s more likely to be picked up somewhere else. TV shows take a while to produce, and to get a current trend formatted into something that works for TV takes time. TV is more reactive. Some broadcasters will have the guts to launch a new type of show that becomes super successful and can serve as a starting point for a trend. If you want something more coherent …you could say that authentic, lightly formatted shows are ‘on trend’. What sets the UK apart as a driver for successful TV formats? We are lucky that in the UK, broadcasters are actively encouraged to take a risk on new shows every single day, this is unusual and unprecedented. There are only a few other countries, like Israel, The Netherlands and the US that drive the international format business. The Nordics do take risks but have always produced shows that have a creative and commercial looseness about them. Truly global formats can make their owners eye watering amounts of money very quickly now so there remains a real desire to find the next one! The UK gets attention because our terms of trade mean that broadcasters only get 15% of the producers net receipts of a show. This makes the UK a great place to launch a new format from both a commercial and a creative point of view. With formats like ‘Don’t Ask Me’, you’re pushing the envelope of integrating online viewer participation into live TV production. Can you tell a bit more about why you’ve created this format? What are its unique challenges and opportunities? We created it because we think it is a great show. Interactivity is an integral part of it and we pitched it as being genuinely interactive. The fact that it is known as a ‘second screen’ show is coincidental as broadcasters are not looking for these formats as actively as you might think. TV is still a reactive medium, we sit and we watch. Interactivity is a nice to have but not (yet) a must have. What is interesting about‘Don’t Ask Me’ is that it puts second screen and the viewers front and center. Without the viewers there is simply no show. The format thrives on live opinion polling and asking viewers to vote on questions such as ‘Which of these actors was your favorite James Bond’? The viewers vote while in the studio contestants try and second guess the nation and predict the outcome of the poll. They must try and figure out who knows Britain best by predicting what the viewers are voting for. Studio contestants try to second guess the likes, dislikes and opinions of the nation voting along at home, all at the same time, and tie breaks and dilemma’s are also decided by viewers voting along at home. This is very exciting because viewers have a genuine impact. If they want the show host to come on stage next week dancing to music from Footloose, they will let us know through the app. This is all possible because of this beautiful and robust platform created by Ex Machina who have built a system that allows a quick interactive conversation. Luckily, broadcasters and brands are beginning to think this is interesting and this creates new opportunities. Advertisers can ask questions and factually have a huge focus group. Brands can sponsor questions in the app, or pose questions during an ad break. The app encourages different ways of allowing the essence of a brand to connect with the show and its viewers. ‘Don’t Ask Me’ is a fun, engaging and original idea, it has taken us a long time to launch but it’s here and it’s successful. Finally, you are a self-admitted beach aficionado, what is the best beach in the UK? Sennen Cove at the far South West tip of Cornwall, it is very beautiful, very wild and very special.