BBC Studios Bosses Tout ‘Conclave,’ ‘Bluey’ and Investing for the Long Term
BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell and Zai Bennett, CEO and chief creative officer of BBC Studios Productions, are confident and focused on long-term success amid the current financing challenges of the post-peak TV era.
BBC Studios, the commercial arm of British broadcaster BBC, highlighted record investment into content in its most recent fiscal year. “We’re carrying on investing,” Fussell tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Why? Because we’ve got this long-term mandate. We can take creative investments for the long term. It’s fantastic that Zai has joined us, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with him.”
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Bluey is among the big hits for BBC Studios that feels like a gift that keeps on giving. “Bluey is the most watched show in the U.S. of all shows period,” Fussell emphasizes.
Since it’s Oscars week, he is also happy to highlight a fact that has often gone overlooked this awards season. “We received eight Oscar nominations for Conclave,” which recently won four BAFTA Film Awards, including for best film. “We produced that film” through owned label House Productions, which made the film with FilmNation Entertainment and Indian Paintbrush.
Add Netflix hit Baby Reindeer and smaller productions and it becomes clear why Fussell lauds the “amazing breadth” the company has. “We do things for all budgets for all people. We are storytellers, and we’re here for long-term success,” he says.
The upcoming return of Walking With Dinosaurs after 25 years is expected to be another such success story. Bennett, who joined the company from Sky in November and is tasked with “building high-value, distributable IP, maintaining BBC returning series and key brands, securing new commissions and expanding BBC Studios’ international format pipeline,” showed off a life-size replica of the skull of a Spinosaurus on the BBC Studios Showcase stage on Monday evening to tout the series, in which the animal will feature.
The six-part series mixes cutting-edge science and the latest evidence from paleontologists with state-of-the-art visual effects to tell individual dinosaur stories in each episode.
Beyond his big role on the Showcase stage, Bennett has been busy behind the scenes. “I spent a lot of my time in my first two and a half months (on the job) meeting our teams, meeting our creatives, meeting our customers, and meeting everyone really,” he tells THR. “It’s an amazing place to invest for the long term. We’re not looking at a share price, worrying about this quarter’s numbers and things like that. We can go: ‘Okay, this creative person is great. They’re really, really young and new, but let’s invest in them for five years, 10 years, whatever it is.”
Bennett says the company is prioritizing three things: creative momentum, the units and production labels the company has and content investment. On that front, he says “I think we can have more of a profile of risk and really take risks.”
For example, “no one would have gone ‘Baby Reindeer is going to be a massive hit.’ No one. But the show that always works best is the show you least thought about. So we need to have a range in our slate.”
With Bennett focusing on the scripted and entertainment genres, he knows says his strategy will fit into broader market trends. “Scripted is more about how we financially invest in and support shows, because there’s been a contraction in the market,” he tells THR. “And in [unscripted] entertainment, I think we haven’t had as many brand new formats and hits as we would like. So we are investing in the creativity there.”
Partnerships, which have been a core focus for the BBC and BBC Studios, also help get projects over the financial finish line. BritBox in particular has become a key partner on U.K. productions across the industry, helping push them over the line. “BritBox is a vital part of the ecosystem,” Fussell acknowledges. “It’s one part, but a key part.”
But he and his team will continue working with various partners depending on what makes sense for each specific case. “We work with Warners, we work with NBC, we work with Disney,” Fussell concludes. “We put all the different partners together as we look at various projects and things.”
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
