Tim Davie on BBC Studios’ Focus on Bold British Content

Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Studios, was interviewed by World Screen’s Anna Carugati on the stage of the Grand Auditorium at MIPCOM today, discussing the importance of the merger with BBC Worldwide and how it has enabled the company to ramp up its focus on “British bold creativity.”

“The key rationale for us bringing our production and distribution businesses together was to secure talent. At the heart of it is we are in an incredible time, the speed of change is dizzying, scale is becoming more defining. To attract and retain the best talent we needed to have a system that enables you to come up with an idea, get it made, get the funding together and come to the market quickly. It’s about making projects happen and bringing the various parts of the business together. That enables you to move at speed and make bigger things happen quickly. We felt the overwhelming need to do that.”

On how BBC Studios is competing for talent, Davie said, “We’re pretty focused. Can a British entity of a local entity compete in this great global game we’re in? I often say we’re a big small company. Local content is critical but there is no doubt that you have to choose your battles now. We talk about British bold creativity. We’re a global company powered by British creativity. We are very focused on high-end, British-driven creativity of the finished quality, underpinned by the BBC’s values, the editorial values we care about.”

British creatives can tap into BBC Studios’ strengths—it is the biggest distributor in Europe, an “outstanding record in terms of delivering high-end creativity.” He added, “We are in a position where we can make ideas happen, fast.”

Davie said he is “passionate about U.K. creativity. We have homegrown IP with a growing talent [base],” with BBC Studios fostering a new generation of writers and producers. “It’s incredibly important we keep the craft skills. When it comes to natural history, some of these marine biologists coming into production are pushing the boundaries of technology in terms of how we see wildlife. All of that is really important. The things where we get the most financial returns are the ones really focused on the highest quality; the editorial values are outstanding. You have to fight for homegrown storytellers. We’re creating a company of global scale that can do that. We are in a battle to secure talent to make winning projects.”

The content that BBC Studios backs is traveling globally, Davie noted, referencing Dancing with the Stars, now in 52 countries and counting.

With so much content out there, “You have to double down and you can’t kid yourself here. I’m not a big fan of over-sell. It’s either the real stuff or it’s not. We try and see that early, we try to co-produce and get financing in place, so we can make that happen. We are constantly looking at how we can get projects moving quickly through the system.”

The discussion then moved on to partnerships. Davie noted that he was keen to find a partner in the U.S. for BBC America. “We needed a big, muscular partner to help us.” The alliance with AMC Networks, he said, “has been brilliant.”

He continued, “Sometimes you need partnerships to make creative projects happen. None of these deals now are just taking one single source and making a project.” The key, he says, lies in “not disrupting the editorial of the piece. We’re really passionate about that. It’s their vision, their creative spirit driving the project.”

Some of the qualities he looks for in partners include strategic alignment and, critically, “do you like each other? Life’s too short to deal with horrible people! It’s not worth it. Don’t spend time with those jerks. We tend to look for people we like because we want to spend time with them and then we’ll make nice stuff.”

He went on to note, “That passion for the right editorial is everything. People smell the credibility of that, they smell the passion, and not only that, what comes out of that is good business. We have a great record on that. We like working with people, and we’re certainly not arrogant enough to think we can do it alone.”

Carugati then asked if distribution needs to adapt to this new environment. “Clearly there is still a very significant market for finished program distribution. If I look at the heart of our company, distribution has become a strategic task. I mean, we are looking long term at how we balance our business across customers. Where is this leading in terms of our creative partnerships. If you just drift and don’t manage very carefully—this requires high-end account management skills. Deal-making on these big projects is done way before the cameras roll. [Distribution] demands different skills. If you just think you can repeat and success will follow, you’re in big trouble. So we are completely changing what we see as distribution, pretty fundamentally, in terms of the skills needed, the level of sophistication we need with these big customers.”

Global spending on entertainment continues to rise, Davie noted. “This is a good time to be in this industry. We’re sitting with IP, with content, with production businesses, so we are geared toward natural growth if we get it right. Distribution has to be part of that.”

Carugati asked about the importance of brands today. “Brand is incredibly important,” Davie said. “Any navigational help is what I need as a consumer. The BBC, it’s very clear we stand for quality. We’re beginning to push on innovation. Companies with heritage need to work hard to generate that [innovation]. We have an unparalleled reputation for quality. Editorial integrity and truth is important.”

Now that BBC Studios is producing for external platforms as well, “we have huge opportunities to make outstanding content for people,” Davie said. “We have so many choices for who we partner with. The challenges are keeping real pace and agility and making sure that short-term decisions don’t limit our options. You have some sense of where you’re heading. You’ve got to free yourself from some of the historical ties of how you behaved [in the past].”