Hello and welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. It was a historic Emmy nominations week and we were on hand to bring you all the live news and reaction. Read on for Squid Game and Ted Lasso fun and much more.
Emmys Get International
Super Squid: There hasn’t been a more influential TV show than Squid Game in the past 12 months so it really shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise that it would set records at the Emmy nominations on Tuesday. The South Korean survival drama, Netflix’s most-watched series of all time, became the first non-English-language show to secure a nom in the Outstanding Drama Series category, while star Lee Jung-jae will compete for Best Lead Actor In A Drama. It says something about the changing habits of audiences as telly globalizes — if a few years ago I’d told you a Korean show about 456 people playing children’s games to the death on a prison island could win 14 Emmys, I’d understand if you thought I’d lost the plot. However, not all foreign-language dramas fared so well — Pachinko had been widely tipped for a drama series nom but walked away empty handed. Max’s report provided the finer details.
Ted Lassoes noms — again: More glory for Apple TV+’s sweet-hearted comedy about a troubled English soccer club. Season two of Ted Lasso matched the incredible, record-shattering debut nomination tally of 20 from last year, with series and acting nominations bagged it total. We heard from several of the cast, members including rising star Toheeb Jimoh, who along with several others gained a first acting category nomination. “It feels like the love has been spread out,” he told me. Game of Thrones alumni Hannah Waddingham — up for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series — was in tears on learning how many of her castmates had landed noms, sharing a happy “cry-laugh” with vacationing nominee James Lance over Facetime. Full Emmy coverage can be found here. The Emmys will be held at the Microsoft Theater in LA on September 12 and Ted Lasso is up against stiff competition in virtually every category. As Coach Lasso would tell his team: ‘Believe.’
British Broadcasters Fight Back
Rude health: It’s been a good couple of weeks for British broadcasting. First, Boris Johnson’s government collapsed, paving the way for a reversal of a damaging BBC licence fee scrappage and even-more damaging Channel 4 sale. As ministers were scrapping it out to replace Johnson, both public broadcasters issued an impressive set of financial results, illustrating that they are close to being in rude health. The main BBC growth came from commercial arm BBC Studios, posting better-than-expected increases of 30% turnover and 56% EBITDA. Speaking to Max, CEO Tom Fussell stressed the better-than-expected results were in no way a “COVID bounce-back,” as he bullishly pointed to “growth coming from everywhere.” He also revealed he has been on something of a West Coast charm offensive of late, meeting Netflix and Apple TV+ execs in LA. Overall, the BBC’s licence fee income was up, while content spend rocketed by 27%. Channel 4’s revenues crossed the £1B mark for the first time (up 24%), pushing against the government’s notion that privatization would “unleash” the network’s true potential and coming in the week CEO Alex Mahon revealed that the Annual Report’s publication was delayed due to the government’s desire to reword some of it, which she implied would have made its financial situation appear worse. This was “the first time [in Channel 4’s 40-year history that any adjustments had been requested,” mused Mahon.
Viewer desertion: It wasn’t all plain sailing for the BBC, however. While Channel 4’s report also showed viewer gains, buried deep in the BBC’s 300-page tome were audience figures showing the British public watched on average one hour less of BBC TV last year compared to the previous one, and fewer than three-quarters of the nation now says that they watch the BBC at all. There was disappointment for youth-skewing channel BBC Three as well, as viewing to the channel from its 16-34 year old target audience fell by around 10M minutes per week in the year that the BBC gambled on returning the channel to linear TV. As the organization pushes the argument that universality is key to its future, these figures could spell trouble when a new Conservative government assembles. To that end, BBC DG Tim Davie responded to Deadline’s question on the Johnson chaos during the post-report press briefing with a typically political answer, musing: “It is too early for us to speculate what will happen with the [future of the BBC after the Tory leadership] election.” Keen BBC eyes will no doubt be trained on the Downing Street drama.
More nuggets: Max went through the BBC report in depth and several nuggets shone out. Hidden in the juicy pay figures were a neat 15% pay rise for the DG, bringing his wage up to £494,000 ($584,000) per year at a time when the corporation has to make hundreds of millions of savings and reduced its headcount by 1,000 over the past year. Elsewhere, there was a hefty increase in the amount of time it takes the BBC to resolve bullying cases, which rose above the 100-day mark for the first time in four years. And on diversity, the BBC showed steady progress, increasing its proportion of ethnic minority and disabled staff, one of Davie’s key focuses.
Prince Andrew Interview Fiasco Movie
‘Scoop’ of the century: Story of the week no doubt goes to Deadline’s International Editor-At-Large Baz Bamigboye, who had chapter and verse on the news Prince Andrew’s car-crash interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in November 2019 on Newsnight is being turned into a feature film. Screenwriter Peter Moffat is writing Scoop, which will tell the remarkable story of how the BBC secured the interview, in which the under-fire royal was put under pressure about his relationship with deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who has since been jailed for child sex trafficking. While the royal admitted regretting continuing his association with the pair after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting underage sex, he caused outrage when he did not offer apologies to Epstein’s victims and was widely mocked for claiming his ‘inability’ to sweat and an evening eating at a Pizza Express restaurant gave him alibis against allegations made by Victoria Giuffre, who the royal family ultimately settled with to the tune of millions of dollars. The film will be The Lighthouse Film & Television’s debut project, with Voltage TV also attached to help adapt a non-fiction book from former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister. While the story will focus on how presenter Maitlis and former Newsnight editor Esme Wren fought to secure the story under huge pressure, Baz wrote it best when he noted: “The news is likely to be greeted with little amusement from Andrew’s mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and other members of the Royal Family.” Full story here.
An Oasis In Morocco
She’s Electric: The latest in Diana’s excellent International Disruptors feature strand was an interview with producer Khadija Alami, the first Moroccan woman to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Alami has been a key figure in co-ordinating the production of more than 50 international shoots through her K-Films banner and as the founder of thriving production hub Oasis Studios Morocco. The 17 hectare-wide studio has attracted the likes of Channel 4’s UK series Baghdad Central and the upcoming adaptation of Saphia Azzeddine’s novel Bilqiss, which Alami will produce with the Kennedy/Marshall Company. It’s set to be adapted and directed by 1982 helmer Oualid Mouaness, as Diana revealed this week. Read on.
Spacey At The Old Bailey
Not guilty plea: The Usual Suspect and American Beauty actor Kevin Spacey was back in front of a judge in the UK this week, this time at the famous Old Bailey. Up on five sexual assault-related charges related to alleged offenses committed between 2005 and 2013, he entered a plea of not guilty and will face trial in London in June 2023. The most serious charge, causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Like his previous appearance at a London court in June, his arrival was met with a massive media scrum, as reporters and photographers pushing and shoving their way towards the disgraced star. In the scramble our intrepid reporter Baz was shoved to the ground in the crazy melee. He picked himself up and, together with me, was still on hand to provide minute-by-minute updates. Read up here.
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot one: Previously rumored and now confirmed, Jimmy Fallon’s That’s My Jam will be remade for the BBC in the UK.
🌶️ Another one: Amazon Prime Video is to adapt The CW and ITV2 comedy horror-meets-reality competition format Killer Camp.
🌶️ Burning your fingers: It’s A Sin maker Red Production Company is developing an “ambitious” series based on British author Ayisha Malik’s upcoming novel The Movement. Max had this.
😰 Too hot: Melanie and Max teamed to report on the scorching weather in Europe that’s ironically bringing producers out in cold sweats.
🏢 Setting up shop: Dune studio Legendary Entertainment teamed with Germany’s Tobis to create a German-language television series joint venture.
🤝🏼 New job: Just hours ago, the BBC revealed it has hired Netflix’s Lindsay Salt as its next Director of Drama.
🇬🇧 UK-bound: France’s Newen Connect is making a major English-language push by hiring distribution veteran Phil Sequeira. Max had the exclusive details.
🎥 Casting: Star Trek: Into Darkness and Black Mirror star Alice Eve joins the cast of Sky’s upcoming comedy-drama The Lovers. I had the skinny on this.
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