{"id":11871,"date":"2019-09-10T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2019-10-01T09:41:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:41:07","slug":"bbc-studios-mark-linsey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Studios\u2019 Mark Linsey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Linsey, BBC Studios’ chief creative officer, chats with <\/em>TV Drama about the latest developments in the company’s scripted business.<\/em><\/p>\n

When BBC Studios merged with BBC Worldwide in April of last year, Mark Linsey was tapped as the chief creative officer of the combined operation. His remit includes managing the British content giant\u2019s portfolio of production relationships, content partnerships and overseeing its IP strategy. In the drama space, BBC Studios continues to be a prolific producer and exporter, boasting a diverse slate from story-of-the-week procedurals to big-budget period sagas and everything in between.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV DRAMA:<\/strong> What are some of the new projects you\u2019re working on?
\nLINSEY:<\/strong> We have quite a range. That\u2019s the most exciting thing about my job: the range from our portfolio producers and their creativity. We have Trigonometry<\/em>, a love story about three people [from House Productions]. It\u2019s going to air on BBC Two. It\u2019s a really authentic relationship piece. We have Sanditon<\/em>, the completion of the incomplete novel by Jane Austen. It\u2019s produced by Red Planet Pictures for ITV and Masterpiece. We also have Traces<\/em>, UKTV\u2019s first original scripted drama [for Alibi]. It\u2019s a crime drama that RED Production Company is making. One of the things we\u2019re most excited about is The Mallorca Files<\/em>, a ten-part drama that will launch on BBC One. That\u2019s been pieced together around different territories. Life<\/em> is written by Mike Bartlett and produced by Drama Republic. It brings together four separate strands into a larger story.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Can you take me through some of the key models you are using to pull together the financing on new drama projects?
\nLINSEY:<\/strong> There is a sea of opportunity in drama, but you need to be smart about the right opportunity for the producer as well as the platform or the broadcaster. That\u2019s what we try to do according to our expertise and the different deal-making. No two deals are the same anymore. They\u2019re all different. The Mallorca Files<\/em> is a co-production between ZDF, France TV and BritBox that we\u2019ve put together with the BBC. Good Omens<\/em>, made by BBC Studios, is a co-pro with Amazon. Brexit: The Uncivil War<\/em>\u00a0[from House Productions] we made with Channel 4, and HBO U.S. came on board. And we will fund project development and look to sell the global rights to a global player, such as Dracula <\/em>[development funded by the BBC], which we sold to Netflix, and His Dark Materials<\/em>, sold to HBO.<\/p>\n

We get excited by the creatives and we try to work out ways of how to get that creativity into production. We\u2019re really excited about how we structured a co-pro deal with Steve McQueen on his drama Small Axe<\/em>, which is commissioned by BBC in the U.K., and we sold the rights to Amazon U.S. It\u2019s really starting with the creativity and working out what other audiences would be interested in this and where is the synergy and how we can piece together a deal to get it into production.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Is it becoming harder to access top talent, given how much drama is in production in the U.K.?
\nLINSEY:<\/strong> Yes, top writers are hugely in demand. We\u2019re building up very important relationships with a lot of emerging writers. We\u2019re trying to develop those relationships at an earlier stage. And trying to invest in their creativity and give them backing and support.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> We\u2019ve talked about new projects, but I imagine returning dramas are also critical to your business. How are you working with your producers to keep delivering successful seasons?
\nLINSEY:<\/strong> The partners we have work hard at that. On Call the Midwife<\/em>, it\u2019s incredible how they keep the storylines fresh and new. Likewise with The Durrells<\/em>. Doctor Who<\/em> is another shining example. Arguably, you can say each episode is a reinvention. Viewers have a real appetite for those soft-in-tone, heartwarming pieces. Buyers want them because they can return in the schedule year after year and they can build a schedule around these returners. Luther<\/em> has worked extremely well as a returning series. Silent Witness<\/em> is on its 23rd series. Yes, they are crime-based, which helps. But they\u2019ve managed to keep them fresh and new. [Same with] Death in Paradise<\/em>, Father Brown<\/em>. There\u2019s real expertise in that and it\u2019s something we shouldn\u2019t get complacent about.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> What trends are you seeing in drama today?
\nLINSEY:<\/strong> I think buyers expect any script, any treatment, to be good, to be polished. They want to be surprised. There\u2019s still a demand for strong, iconic characters. You want characters you can connect with, but at the same time, an element of surprise in those iconic characters. And there\u2019s a trend towards strong female-led dramas and diverse casting. We\u2019re still finding that true crime is going strong. People are asking for noisier genre, but at the same time, there\u2019s room for looking at typical family relationships and the challenges of parenting. Particularly on SVOD, they are looking for universal themes. It\u2019s about how we, as content providers, can establish the universality of those themes and make them accessible for a broad audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CCO chats about the latest developments in BBC Studios’ scripted business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":11872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,70],"tags":[1138,3319],"class_list":["post-11871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-bbc-studios","tag-mark-linsey","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nBBC Studios\u2019 Mark Linsey - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BBC Studios\u2019 Mark Linsey - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The CCO chats about the latest developments in BBC Studios' scripted business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-10T13:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-01T13:41:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/07\/2019-09-09-Mark_Linsey.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/\",\"name\":\"BBC Studios\u2019 Mark Linsey - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-10T13:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-01T13:41:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/bbc-studios-mark-linsey\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BBC Studios\u2019 Mark Linsey\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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