Ian Katz Says ‘The Gathering’ Was “Quietly A Massive Hit” For Channel 4 Despite Being Canceled After One Season
Ian Katz has said there is “real buzz about Channel 4” within the UK’s drama production community since Ollie Madden took charge, while addressing why hit streaming drama The Gathering was axed.
Earlier today, it emerged that The Gathering from Line of Duty maker World Productions had been canceled after one season despite regularly being touted as one of the network’s top-rated dramas on its streaming platform.
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Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch in London, content boss Katz said The Gathering was “quietly a massive hit for us” and was “absolutely huge on streaming.” But he went on to say that it was “quite small” in terms of linear viewing and qualified that Madden – who now oversees film and TV drama for Channel 4 – had “other priorities and other shows he wants to make,” echoing remarks made earlier by the show’s EP Simon Heath, who runs World Productions.
The Gathering, which starred Boiling Point’s Vinette Robinson and was about a violent attack on a teenage girl during a rave, kicked off to around 1 million overnight viewers in May but fell away somewhat on linear.
“It was a great show and did brilliantly for us and we could easily have gone for it again,” added Katz. “One of the tricky things for us with it is we are trying to get this balance as we transition from being a broadcaster with a streaming platform to being a streaming platform of riding two horses. We need to try and keep linear audiences served while we’re trying to grow streaming. [The Gathering] did brilliantly on streaming but was quite small on linear.”
He did, however, later say that there is sometimes a “preoccupation” with linear ratings in the UK TV world, although said this has dimmed slightly of late. Linear viewing from young people has majorly dipped in the past few years, he added.
Madden is aiming to greenlight around 10 shows per year and Katz said that, despite The Gathering’s cull, “there is a real buzz about Channel 4” in the drama production community since Madden took over. Madden has already commissioned a Margaret Thatcher series starring Harriet Walter and Steve Coogan, and an adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses with Gillian Anderson. More is incoming on a slate in the next two or three months, according to Katz.
“If you make too small a number of shows you become quite tight and it’s quite hard to take big swings,” said Katz. “With 10 it gives us the chance to play across the keyboard and have a wide range of shows that take in the real world. You have to have a critical mass of drama on your platform so it can be regarded as a destination.”
While drama costs have “doubled” during Katz’s six years at the helm, he said things have quietened over the last couple of years as “people have questioned the assumption that drama has to cost $5M, $10M or $15M dollars an hour.”
He said the TV community has returned to realizing that good shows can be made for $2M to $2.5M, which can be comprised of a traditional PSB tariff plus tax credit plus distribution deal.
Channel 4 isn’t in the market for shows like Disney+’s Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals, he added. “I’m delighted that show exists but that is probably not the world we want to play in,” said Katz.
Bonus decision “not a big deal”
Katz generated headlines at the Channel 4 annual report day earlier this month when it emerged he had foregone a bonus this year while CEO Alex Mahon and COO Jonathan Allan both took six-figure bonuses, which Mahon said at the time was due to his close relationship with the indie sector during a year when production outfits were hit hard by the slowdown.
Facing questions on this decision today, Katz said it is “not a big deal” that he had chosen to forego the bonus while Mahon and Allan had taken one. “The remuneration committee awarded bonuses to all of us, some directors took a decision that I completely understand and support and I took a different one,” he explained.
Katz went on to say he “felt like it was the right thing for me as the person most directly in contact with the creative community,” and he stressed that relations between Channel 4 and the indie sector have now improved.
“There were a couple of quarters last year where producers were in some cases disappointed and in some cases blindly furious with us,” he added. “They broadly felt they had come out to defend us over privatization and then when [the slowdown hit] we had packed up our stuff and retired down the road.”
He did, however, criticize the “endless loop of [news] stories about Channel 4 canceling shows for budgetary reasons, many of which had nothing to do with budget decisions.”
“That became a slightly tired narrative that got in the way of us actually talking about great shows on air that were doing really well,” he added.
Jean Charles de Menezes series
Katz also had time to reveal a new documentary series about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in South London 20 years ago.
De Menezes was a Brazilian man killed by officers of the London police after he was wrongly deemed to be one of the people who had attempted to bomb transport networks just two weeks after the 7-7 bombings in 2005.
Katz said the Channel 4 show has “real resonance” in the context of Chris Kaba, a Londoner who was shot dead by a police officer two years ago. That officer was acquitted this week.
Jeff Pope is also penning a dramatization of the de Menezes killing for Disney+.
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