2010 is going to be a massive year for Bravo
We’re changing fast and we want to get that message across to viewers as quickly as possible
We’re doubling our commissions and increasing our budgets
We want to be the place for original British commissions for young men but we also need to broaden our audience. For too long guys have felt embarrassed suggesting to their partners that they watch Bravo; too often they’ve lost the battle of the remote control. But not any more…
We want women to watch too, they might not tune in of their own accord but we certainly don’t want them leaving the room! It’s a two pronged approach…
We want to broaden our appeal with smarter, more surprising formats that demand to be watched
Above all we must get new, stand out talent onto Bravo
Talent
We want to change people’s perception of the Bravo brand quickly and our best way to do that is through top name talent; names that will draw new people to the channel and lure old visitors back. It could be big Hollywood A-listers like Mickey Rourke; hugely popular, British sporting heroes like Freddie Flintoff; or well known comedians like Russell Brand.
So we want big names but we also want surprising names. James Corden and Mathew Horne are the kinds of people that you wouldn’t expect to see on a Bravo show of old. What about the Mighty Boosh? And who are the others?
Like Joe Pasquale in The Prisoner X, who are our new fishes out of water that we can put into dramatic, revealing situations? We want even more surprising names that will make viewers sit up and take notice.
Getting talent on board
We appreciate that Bravo might have been a hard sell to big name talent in the past but together we need to persuade them of the huge merits of coming to Bravo:
- We need to convince them that here they will be big fish in a small sea. These are exciting times and they have the chance to be one of the faces of new Bravo.
- We can commission shows for Virgin 1 that’ll air on Freeview but premier on Bravo; together they will give a far greater reach.
- Passion projects are always good; we need to convince talent that Bravo is a place to come and make programmes that they will absolutely love making.
- And of course our budgets are bigger than ever before.
But the Bravo revolution isn’t just about talent. We want ideas that stand out on their own for sheer originality, shock factor or just because they are an unbelievable twist on a more familiar subject. We need great fact ent formats…
Formats
We commission hours in runs of 6, 8 or 10 to go out in our primetime slots of 9 and 10pm. These need to feel absolutely premium, smart, clever and British. We want self contained eps that can have an overarching narrative but they need to stand alone for those who dip in and out.
We are firmly skewed towards men aged 16-34 and while we want to be inclusive of women we don’t want to go soft. So what are those new subject areas and how can we approach them to make them work for us in broad, appealing and original ways?
If Top Gear has cars sown up, how do we approach speed? Is there something to be done on traditional male domains like hunting (not foxes!) or gambling that will feel glossy, upmarket and inclusive of women?
How do we do popular, punk science without becoming Discovery? Or humour without treading on Dave’s toes?
We don’t want list shows or reality and our fantastic Brit Cops series mean that blue light is well covered. So where do we go next?
We want adrenaline, action, adventure and jeopardy…
Making lots of noise
Bravo programmes need to stand out; we want ‘did you see?’ moments that will get people talking. We have fantastic brand recognition but we are far enough down the EPG to need to work hard to entice people to visit.
To do this we need talent and formats with huge pr potential. Ideas that shout out from the schedule, that have a life on screen but will also create great content cross platform.
We will absolutely back our commissions with strong publicity because great ideas and well known talent have a value to us beyond their own audience; they will do a job for the brand by giving us a clear identity and raising our profile of the channel.
What we want, when
1. Quick turnaround
With a soft relaunch coming up in April/ May we have some fantastic new acquisitions in Leverage and White Collar that will draw in our broader audience. We also have a great new series in Alex Reid: The Fight of His Life but we need more commissions to partner these.
Are there any quick turnaround ideas that will generate massive pr? They could be one off’s based on popular events, stunt driven or even live. Bring us your ideas as soon as possible.
2. Celebrity access
For shorter runs of 1 or 2 x 60 who are the A-listers who you can get access to who will give us a revealing insight into their fascinating, colourful worlds? These can be along the lines of the Living with my Idol series on Living or in a new format. But who can you definitely book?
3. Bold fact ent formats
For broadcast in autumn and beyond, these are the bedrock of new Bravo; longer runs of breakthrough formatted shows with broad appeal and fantastic talent. We need to start creating must see appointments to view that are hotly anticipated and discussed around the country.
So let’s start talking. Bring us your great ideas and we’ll work with you to create shows that match our enormous expectations for Bravo.
Please send your ideas, paragraphs or even just a few lines to: