UNITED KINGDOM
SKY
CELIA TAYLOR HEAD OF FACTUAL AND FEATURES WHAT SHE’S LOOKING FOR: As head of factual and features, Taylor oversees unscripted content for the pay-TV network’s portfolio of premium channels, which include Sky1, Sky Living, Sky Arts and Sky Atlantic. For Sky1, she’s commissioning a genre she dubs “funny factual,” as seen in An Idiot Abroad, and low-cost access series. For Sky Atlantic, which recently announced plans for its ‘Footprints’ doc strand and a Nutopia-produced series on British history, she’s after talent-fronted documentary series, and finds that smart and entertaining programs such as Networks of Power work well for the channel. For Sky Arts, Taylor’s in search of big multiplatform ideas. Lastly, for Sky Living, she’d like returnable formats and series ideas. “We want broad but not bland. Populist, but not dumb. Glossy not grimy,” Taylor says. “Ideas can be mainstream but they do need personality, emotion and a sense of spirit.”
CONTACT: Siobhan.Mulholland@bskyb.com, Clare.Handford@bskyb.com
SERIES VOLUMES: Hours (44 minutes), usually more than six episodes.
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We want broad but not bland; populist but not dumb.
AUDIENCES: Taylor says Sky Living is aiming to skew younger, while the Sky Atlantic audience expects high quality intelligent programming. Sky1 features mainstream family viewing, and Sky Arts serves “passionate niche audiences,” with content such as opera, but the aim is to grow and broaden that audience as well. PITCHING DON’TS: Don’t pitch one-offs, or ideas that aren’t terrestrial in their scale or ambition. SIZZLE REEL TIPS: “If it’s a character based ob-doc, [tape] is the quickest way to get people to understand and love the idea,” she says. For sizzle reels, she’s expecting “something that makes me laugh, cry or go, ‘Wow.’” KA
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