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RADIO COMMISSIONING FRAMEWORK

Commissioning Brief

Commissioning Brief No: 31234, Round 4 2020/21

Sunday Feature

from May 2020-May 2021 (approximately)

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CONTENTS

SECTION A: EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITY ................................................................ 3

SECTION B: THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS ................................................... 10

1. TIMETABLE.................................................................................................. 10

2. THE FOUR STAGES .................................................................................... 11

3. THE EVALUATION TEAM ............................................................................ 12

SECTION C: FULL PROPOSALS ........................................................................... 13

1. WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU ..................................................................... 13

2. WHAT TO EXPECT FROM US..................................................................... 13

3. IMPORTANT POINTS TO NOTE .................................................................. 14

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SECTION A: EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITY

Commissioning Brief no.31234: Sunday Feature

Commission contact Matthew Dodd

Duration 44’

Number of programmes available up to 28

Transmission period approximately May 2020 - May 2021

Guide price per episode £8000-£10000

Commissioning Year 2020-2021

Commissioning Round Round 4

Broadcast Slot Sunday 1845-1930

All proposals must be submitted via Proteus. Please make your short proposal using no more than 250 words.

Important Notes:

Short Proposals must be submitted via Proteus before the deadline at noon on Thursday 17 October 2019. These should be entered into the ‘short synopsis’ section of the Proteus submission form.

Shortlisted suppliers will then be asked to submit a Full Proposal. This should be no longer than 2 sides of A4 (Arial font size 11). It should be entered into the ‘full synopsis’ section of the Proteus submission form.

Full Proposals must be submitted via Proteus by 12 noon on Thursday 19 December 2019.

Producers will be offered the opportunity to discuss the programme brief with the Commissioning Editor prior to submitting a Full Proposal

The BBC reserves the right at any time prior to the award of a commission, and without incurring any liability to the affected suppliers, to accept or to reject any proposal, or to annul the commissioning process rejecting all Full Proposals. More information relating to all commissioning briefs and rounds, regardless of Networks can be found on the Pitching Ideas page of the Radio Commissioning Website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4fC4NcVXqkZntJv8ZHpClD8/pitching-ideas

We strongly advise you to submit your Proposals in good time, to avoid the possibility of difficulties caused by unforeseen network or transmission problems. No late submissions can be accepted.

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Radio 3’s Sunday Feature

The Sunday Feature is Radio 3’s documentary of the week. Each programme should be a stand-out 45 minutes in the schedule of the station. A moment when the audience stops and pauses to be engrossed in a rich piece of storytelling.

We are looking for programmes that achieve several of the following points:

• Create gold-standard, in-depth documentaries about music and culture – of interest to all listeners, not just specialists

• Use human stories an engrossing way to understand music and culture.

• Create original and surprising perspectives on cultural issues

• Act as a showcase for the skills of documentary-makers and BBC arts programmes.

• Offer a high point for anniversaries and special seasons on the BBC

• Create programmes that will be sought out online by listeners, whatever their interest is in the arts

Successful proposals will be those that respond to the changing nature of the slot and reflect the evolving sound of audio documentaries.

The Sunday Feature’s Evolving style

• The style of presenters and their role in the feature is changing. We’re looking for new approaches to presentation and have moved away from the idea that a key expert in the field should front these programmes (they may well be the key contributor instead). Presenters may have a different relationship with the topic. They should feel like they are sharing their experience, offering their enthusiasms and recommendations but not lecturing or explaining. Scripting should be more informal and responsive to guest contributors.

• We want to borrow from some of the successful programmes in the Between the Ears slot for the Sunday Feature. More playing with formats. Binaural recordings. The use of poetry as narrative and so on.

• Every programme should be an aural treat for Sunday afternoon. More texture. Less conventional scripting. Fewer unbroken contributor interviews. A pleasure to listen to, not just a source of information.

• We’re looking to showcase the quirky roots and surprising stories that often emerge in this slot – and give them an edge.

• We’re looking for a more consistent use of music in the Sunday Feature: our default presumption is that it should be present in every programme and align with Radio 3’s broad but defined music policy.

• We want to increase the use of fresh and diverse voices and new talent in this slot – orientated towards the replenisher audience.

Initial pointers

The Sunday Feature topics: classical music, visual arts, literature, theatre, opera,

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dance, architecture, archaeology, film, TV, digital arts, philosophy, history, the science behind culture, the religion behind culture, jazz, world music, folk. To be avoided: conventional political history.

Storytelling – The best programmes have been those that are built around a single strong story: with drama, intriguing characters, jeopardy, tension, emotional range, and make full use of the 45 minutes to take listeners on a multi-layered journey. Avoid: analytical overviews of a topic or surveys of a theme.

We are looking for rich documentary treatments that get Radio 3 out of the studio (and the concert hall) and create a whole sound world for each programme: location recordings, personal testimony eye-witness accounts; sophisticated use of music, archive, beautiful sound mixes – and more.

Originality, surprise and relevance will be rewarded by listeners. This is not the place for the timeless history of composer X or the textbook guide to art movement Y. We need to know what makes this idea stand out from the crowd and appeal now.

The audience is broadly interested in the arts – but producers and presenters shouldn’t presume any knowledge or be complacent about the audience’s engagement. Each edition needs to be interesting by virtue of the actual programme, and not assume the audience will stay listening because of the topic.

The podcast of the Sunday Feature is vital but we know less about this podcast audience so assumptions about background knowledge are risky. Furthermore, every programme needs to leave this younger audience wanting to listen immediately to another edition of the Sunday Feature podcast.

Contributors to programmes should be diverse in background, age and voice. The best programmes avoid a plethora of interviews in the offices of experts.

Every subject needs to be a rich seam for the programme to mine. It needs historical resonance and intellectual layers, and to provide critical assessment. This is not the place for promoting this year’s trends or subjects that run out of steam after 28 minutes.

Each edition of the Sunday Feature, no matter what its subject, should position itself as a central cultural pre-occupation. This isn’t a place for programmes which have the feel of curios or specialist listening – even if to many people that’s how it might appear on paper. The presenter of a Sunday Feature should be the programme’s main promoter and cheer-leader. Every programme should make loud and clear why its subject is worthy of Radio 3’s sole documentary slot.

Innovation: We’re looking for new and enticing ways of making documentaries for this slot, with treatments and style that pushes the format forward, while never leaving the audience behind.

The Range of Topics

• Cultural biography. Programmes that put the case for re-appraising the life and work of interesting individuals or groups of people from the recent and distant past. We’re particularly interested in “makers of the modern world” – twentieth-century figures who have been overlooked but whose significance is now coming into its own.

• Offbeat, quirky and unexpected features about an idea, a theme, or a work of art, with good reason to be re-appraised.

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• Global culture – explored with insight and introducing us to lesser-known but influential people, places and movements around the world.

• The history of ideas and culture around the UK.

• Classical Music Features. We are looking for exciting music stories in this slot – not “great artist” biography but imaginative, unconventional and unexpected treatments and individuals.

• Cultural journalism – we’re looking for more contemporary stories that reflect contemporary pre-occupations: eg. Technology, Asia, identity politics. However, please remember that Free Thinking, The Verb and Music Matters usually cover major arts events, and so proposals directly related to the arts diary of the coming year need to offer a distinctive treatment.

• Profiles of significant contemporary cultural figures where the feature format offers an alternative to extended studio interviews found in Free Thinking, the Verb or Music Matters.

• Strong series ideas, which will act as stand out moments on Radio 3. These will probably be 2 - 4 programmes and will usually mean one presenter across the whole series although different presenters bringing personal perspectives to a single theme might also be considered. We’re looking for more ideas that have this sort of ambitious reach of subject.

Topics we’re interested in pursuing:

1. A series about the connection between classical music and other art forms

2. A documentary series linked to folk music

3. A series about the workings of artistic influence

Related Programming

We’d welcome ideas which link the features to a related series of The Essay, or a related Drama on 3 proposal, or is a part of a wider idea for other parts of the Radio 3 schedule

We are also happy to receive offers which link to key events in the arts diary – cultural anniversaries, exhibitions, openings of major new international institutions or similar.

This year we would particularly be interested in proposals which explore:

• The 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War

• Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday

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Recent highlights – all of them on the Radio 3 website now.

Literary Pursuits - Lord of the Flies: William Golding's classic novel, written when he was a teacher in classrooms and staffrooms, was only saved from rejection by Faber by the luckiest chance. Sarah Dillon tells the story.

Haus Work – Women of the Bauhaus: Olivia Horsfall Turner explores the life and work of the women of the radical German art college the Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius a hundred years ago. Over 50% of students in the first term were female – a source of anxiety and concern to Gropius and his fellow male leaders of the school.

Kristapurana: 50 years before Milton's Paradise Lost, another Englishman composed his own poetic retelling of the Bible – but in an Indian language, Marathi. Professor Nandini Das investigates.

Inside Stories: Author Carlo Gebler wants to know if his work as a teacher of creative writing in the Northern Ireland prison system made any difference to the lives of those he taught. He's been in all the prisons there - including the notorious Maze/Long Kesh H-Blocks. He catches up with some of the former prisoners he worked with over many years and finds out what they're doing now.

The Ruhleben Legacy: Kate Kennedy reveals how life within a largely forgotten First World War German internment camp shaped the course of early 20th-century classical music. Exploring the lasting impact of this imprisonment on the men’s lives and careers, Kate visits the site of the former camp and speaks to some of the detainees’ families and former colleagues

Forests of the Imagination: Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough enters the forests of our imagination, looking for alternative realities, holy quests and fairy tales hidden among the glories of the autumn forest.

Keats goes North: Fiona Stafford recreates the poet John Keats’ epic 1818 walk, which inspired his greatest works, hoping to change his image from consumptive weakling to strapping, fit, doctor-turned-poet. She travels from Liverpool to Cumbria and onto Scotland in the company of poets and fellow critics.

Gabriel Prokofiev – My Family and Russia: Composer Gabriel Prokofiev explores the shifting relationship between Russian art and the state – through the story of his composer grandfather, his artist father and today’s contemporary musicians.

A History of the Tongue: John Gallagher traces the strange history of the tongue, from the ancient world to the present day - Talking, tasting, touching. .

Waterlog: Wild swimming enthusiast Alice Roberts examines the legacy of the book Waterlog written by the late Roger Deakin, an account of the author's swimming journey through Britain over twenty years ago.

Alexander Korda - Producer, Director, Exile, Spy: Matthew Sweet unearths the great film-maker Alexander Korda's wartime role as a British agent in America - and uncovers the spies he was helping to fund.

Cold War in Full Swing: Kevin Le Gendre discovers how Louis Armstrong came to play jazz in communist East Germany during the Cold War, when previously a passion for the music could land you in prison. And he meets some of the Germans who witnessed the tour.

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Sunday Feature Style Guide

The programme is yours to make once it’s been commissioned and we want all the benefits of your creativity and insight. However experience has taught us that there are certain minimum components we need you to incorporate. It’s up to you to find a way to decide how to deliver those components and clearly these aren’t iron laws – but they should only be broken in order to achieve the same impact as the aims outlined.

Titles

They should be short and alluring, and where possible be self-explanatory. Excessively enigmatic or lyrical titles don’t work. Avoid semi-colons since we already have one in the title after the prefix: The Sunday Feature:

The start of your programme

The first few minutes of a Sunday Feature are vital. We need audiences to commit to staying with it because of what they hear – not because you think they’ll find the subject interesting.

We are looking for high impact openings to every programme.

Within the first two minutes of your programme you must explain what the programme is about and explain why it is a story that matters. It’s up to you how you do this – but we want the headlines of your story to convince the audience of its interest and importance.

We’re usually looking for texture, music, and, if relevant, location in the opening sequences.

Steer away from studio-based long links from the presenter at the start of the programme.

Avoid plunging into detail of your story without first laying out those headlines

And please avoid actor readings in the opening section of the programmes. Your R3 audience will just have heard 75 minutes of actors’ readings in Words and Music – they don’t need more.

Don’t presume knowledge

Do not presume knowledge amongst the audience about your Sunday Feature’s subject or theme – no matter how obvious it seems to you. There are very few global cultural figures who need no introduction on the Sunday Feature.

Use the start of the programme to map out the territory for anyone new to this person, place or topic

This is a programme for a general arts audience – its subjects are often specialist and even informed listeners have blind spots of apparently “obvious” people and places.

Sunday Features do need to be driven at a powerful intellectual speed – but they always have to begin from a standing start.

Before we dedicate 45 minutes of R3 air time to a subject, you need to make sure that your audience have been given the foundations. Avoid making your programme sound like a story which has already started elsewhere.

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Language

Avoid time references: “in tonight’s programme, “this week we’re celebrating”. The Sunday Feature has a long listening life online that is increasingly important – those time references soon become redundant.

Avoid excessive references to minor characters in your story. History programmes particular are often flooded with names and detailed subordinate section. Audiences rarely remember them and they dissipate the narrative of a programme. Ask yourself and your presenter, do the listeners need to know this person’s name to understand the main story?

Avoid presenters and guests using presumptuous phrases such as “of course”, “as we all know”, “so forth” “We all presume that” etc.

In location recordings, please make sure your presenter avoids the phrase “I’m standing in the……” Unfortunately, it has become a cliché in this slot.

Other points

References to artists need explanation. A short pithy label is usually all that is needed. Don’t say “Fielding”, but “Henry Fielding, 18th century novelist”.

Expert presenters may find it natural to deliver a long “conclusion” at the end of their programme. Please discuss with them ways of avoiding reliance on this – unless there is a genuine reveal or discovery at stake. We’d rather hear key arguments at the start of the Feature, not saved till the end.

When making poetry programmes, please use poets and interviewees to read the poems – otherwise your programme will sound too similar to Words and Music which is broadcast before it.

Programme should be judged as any other feature – not just as an “arts” programme.

The digital dimension

When producing programmes for the Sunday Feature, we need you to think about its online presence as a core part of your delivery. This means arresting titles, strong episode images, meta-data and pithy descriptions for the website.

Additional information / delivery requirements:

The ‘Guide Price’ must cover all aspects of the production including presenter fees, travel and accommodation and technical equipment needed on-site etc.

The contract will be offered as a “fixed price” deal and the BBC will assume that any elements included in proposals can be successfully delivered within the guide price given.

Production teams will be expected to adhere to all relevant editorial and copyright guidelines in place; and deliver all necessary production related paperwork in a timely fashion – e.g. Compliance Forms, Music Reporting Forms etc.

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SECTION B: THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS

1. TIMETABLE

The commissioning process consists of four stages, as set out in the timetable below:

Stage Timings (all

midday) Activities

Launch Thursday 12 September 2019

Publication of commissioning brief documentation and round opens in Proteus.

1. Short Proposal and initial shortlisting

12 noon Thursday 17 October 2019

Deadline for submission, via Proteus, of Short Proposal

Thursday 31 October 2019

Commissioners shortlist suppliers and notify them of outcomes. Full proposals requested from those proceeding to the next stage. No feedback given on rejected Short Proposals.

2. Full Proposal Tues 5 Nov – Fri 13 Dec 2019

Opportunity to discuss programme brief with Commissioning Editor prior to submitting Full Proposal.

12 noon

Thursday 19 December 2019

Deadline for Full Proposals to be submitted via Proteus.

3. Commissioning decisions made and contracts signed

end January/early February 2020

Commissioning decisions made and suppliers notified of outcomes.

Commissioning specifications agreed and contracts issued.

4. Feedback end January/early February 2020

Brief feedback on rejected full proposals provided in Proteus. Suppliers may request further feedback.

We will assess your proposal according to this timetable. Late submissions cannot be accepted. If you have any questions about this commissioning brief that need answering before you submit your Short Proposals, please send them to david.ireland@bbc.co.uk by Monday 7 October 2019.

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2. THE FOUR STAGES

STAGE 1: Short proposal and initial shortlisting

1 Submit your short proposal via Proteus. There is no eligibility questionnaire requirement.

Your short proposal should summarise your idea for this programme in no more than 250 words. Please note, only the first 250 words of your short proposal will be read.

2 The commissioning editor, together with others from the evaluation team as necessary, will evaluate short proposals against the editorial requirements in Section A.2 of this brief.

3 You will be notified of the outcome of Stage 1. Shortlisted suppliers will be asked to submit a full proposal. No feedback will be provided for unsuccessful short proposals that are rejected.

STAGE 2: Full proposal

1 Producers will be offered the opportunity to discuss the programme brief with the commissioning editor prior to submitting a full proposal

2 Shortlisted suppliers will submit full proposals, via Proteus, responding to this commissioning brief. Your full proposal should not exceed TWO sides of A4 in Arial font size 11 per episode. Please note, only the first two pages will be read.

3 The evaluation team will assess full proposals against the editorial requirements in Section A.2 of this brief

STAGE 3: Commissioning decisions made and contracts awarded

The decisions of the evaluation team are published in Proteus. Any editorial specifications are agreed and contracts are issued. STAGE 4: Feedback

Brief feedback on rejected full proposals will be provided in Proteus. Requests for further feedback should be made to david.ireland@bbc.co.uk

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3. THE EVALUATION TEAM

The following people may be involved in evaluating your proposal at various stages:

Alan Davey, Controller, Radio 3

Matthew Dodd , Head of Speech Programmes, Radio 3

David Ireland, Commissions and Scheduling Manager, Radio 3

Subject matter experts may also be consulted.

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SECTION C: FULL PROPOSALS

1. WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

Your Full Proposal must be entered into the main ‘Synopsis’ section in Proteus by noon on Thursday 19 December 2019; late submissions cannot be accepted. It should not exceed two sides of A4 when printed using Arial font size 11.

If you have any questions regarding the submission of your Full Proposal, please ensure you email them to david.ireland@bbc.co.uk by Friday 6 December 2019.

2. WHAT TO EXPECT FROM US

NOMINATED REPRESENTATIVE

The BBC’s nominated representatives for this commissioning brief are the evaluation team. No individuals other than the BBC’s nominated representatives (or their delegates as advised by the BBC) are authorised to discuss the contents or the substance of this commissioning brief with you. We’ll let you know of any change or addition to the BBC’s nominated representatives.

RESPONSES TO YOUR QUESTIONS

In the interest of fair competition, where we feel it’s appropriate, anonymised questions and responses will be circulated to all producers.

COPYRIGHT

The BBC is a signatory to, and will abide by the principles of the APC Code.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Subject to Section 2, paragraph 5 (Freedom of Information Act), the BBC will keep confidential all commercially sensitive information included in responses to this commissioning brief and will only use this information for the purposes of evaluating the Full Proposal, provided that you have identified the confidential nature of any such information in your response documents.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

As a public authority, the BBC is required to comply with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”), which came into force on 1 January 2005. The FOIA is intended to deliver greater accountability for decisions and spending across the whole of the public sector. It requires public authorities to strike a balance between achieving transparency and protecting genuinely confidential or commercially sensitive information.

You should be aware that, under an FOIA request, the BBC may be required to disclose information contained within the Full Proposal or future contractual

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information. Following a request, the BBC may take the views of organisations submitting proposals into account when deciding what information will be disclosed.

For more information on the Freedom of Information Act see bbc.co.uk/foi.

COSTS

You submit responses to this commissioning brief and take part in this process at your own cost.

A FIXED PRICE DEAL

The contract will be offered as a “fixed price” deal; with you being responsible for any overspend and entitled to keep any underspend.

3. IMPORTANT POINTS TO NOTE

All Full Proposals should be submitted using Proteus by noon on Thursday 19 December 2019. They should not in total exceed two sides of A4 per episode when printed using Arial font size 11.

We strongly advise you to submit your final responses in good time to avoid the possibility of difficulties caused by unforeseen network or transmission problems. No late submissions will be accepted.

This commissioning brief is not a contract. However, the information contained in this commissioning brief, together with your responses, will form the basis of the final contract between you and the BBC.

The BBC reserves the right to exclude any producer that is found to either:

a) have provided information which is untrue, or b) be in breach of any of the terms of the non-disclosure agreement.

The BBC may modify the commissioning brief (including the timetable as outlined in Section B.1) at any time prior to the submission deadline. Any such amendment will be notified in writing to all prospective producers. To allow time for such amendment to be taken into account, the BBC may, at its discretion, extend the deadline for receipt of submissions.

The BBC reserves the right at any time prior to the award of a commission, and without incurring any liability to the affected suppliers, to accept or to reject any proposal, or to annul the commissioning process rejecting all Full Proposals. More information relating to all commissioning briefs and rounds, regardless of Networks can be found on the Pitching Ideas page of the Radio Commissioning Website .

By submitting your proposal, you confirm acceptance of the key contract terms.

Proposals must be submitted in accordance with the following instructions.

Proposals not complying with these instructions may be rejected by the

Commissioner whose decision in this matter will be final.