PRE-PRODUCTION: Research into Producers - Adam Tandy

Adam Tandy is a television producer and director, known for the work of Inside No. 9 (2014) and Detectorists (2014), but is probably best known for the critically acclaimed and BAFTA winning comedy show, The Thick Of It (2005). 

The Thick Of It is a dark political comedy about the workings of modern British government. Set in the ministry offices, the show highlights the struggles and conflicts between politicians, party spin doctors, advisers, civil servants and the media. It was first broadcasted in 2005 on BBC Four for two series, until it moved to BBC Two in 2009 for the third series. 

The Thick Of It & Producer Adam Tandy

I watched a video from Adam Tandy where he gives his top 5 pieces of advice when producing a comedy show. 

Be helpful
Always offer to lend a hand on location with odd jobs that need doing. This could be anything from sewing on a button to being an extra body on set. Adam has a history of acting the role of “shouting journalist” in some episodes of The Thick Of It. 

As I will not be needed for directing or camera work, I will be available on shoot days to do the odd jobs around the location, as well as overlooking the filming. I can get our actors tea and coffee in order to keep them warm as we will be filming at the beginning of the year. I could also act as an extra in the pub scene towards the end of the film, being a public place we will need it to look like there are other people around. 

Don’t be frightened of the editorial guidelines
Editorial guidelines are there to help you produce the best programme you can, not hinder you. They allow you to push against the limits of what is possible. In the case of The Thick of It, this means justifying the lavish amounts of swearing used by the characters and making sure that the audience are warned in advance about what to expect. In the video, Adam shared his record breaking compliance form from one episode, which featured 141 instances of the F word.

We will be including swearing in VET-MAN: On The Road but we will not have half as much swearing as The Thick Of It does, therefore we will not have to worry about the amount of swearing included as there isn't much. As we are aiming VET-MAN: On the Road to go onto Channel 4, I had a look at their editorial guidelines. I found that the comedy on the channel should "be original, bold and distinctive with a real sense of authorship" (Channel 4, n/d). I feel that our film will follow this because even though we are getting inspiration from The Thick Of It, Man Down and Peep Show it will still be an original comedy show. 

To follow this, I looked into the Ofcom guidelines for Channel 4 to make sure our film fits within these. This is important because our film shows gore and killing which isn't appropriate for all age ranges. Section 1: Protecting the under 18s is the main guideline that our film will need to follow from Ofcom.

This section is about protecting children and young people and making sure that anything offensive or unsuitable for their viewing is not shown until after the watershed. Children include anyone who is under the age of 15 years. They should be subject to appropriate scheduling. Appropriate scheduling should be judged according to the nature of the content, the likely number and age range of children in the audience (taking into account school times, weekends and holidays). The start time and finish time of the programme, the nature of the channel or station and the particular programme and the likely expectations of the audience for a particular channel or station at a particular time on a particular day.

If after looking at each of these and the show is deemed as not appropriate for regular scheduling, then it will need to be shown after the watershed. The watershed only applies to television. This time period is after 9pm and before 5.30am. Material unsuitable for children should not be shown between these times. 

We have agreed that our target audience is 16-30 years old, this is appropriate because under 15's are affected by the watershed so 16 years old is a good age to advertise our film for. In order to protect under 15's, we will aim the film to be on Channel 4 after 9pm to follow the rules of the watershed.

No two programmes are the same
The production processes and difficulties you face will be different from programme to programme. The Thick of It had to turn the money for a low cost BBC Four pilot into three episodes of fast moving improvised comedy. In the video, Adam said that no-one was sure it was going to work until the director, Armando Iannucci, shouted cut at the end of the first scene.

Your production manager is your best friend
Your production manager or line producer is your best friend. In Adam’s experience the best ones don’t say no, but work with you to ensure that every penny hits the screen. 

As we are only a group of three, I am the production manager and line producer all in one. I will liaise with Alex in order to help get everything he wants for the film. An example of when this will happen is with the props. While Alex is writing the script, he will come to me with ideas of props that he wants in order to help bring his idea to the screen. Every idea he gives me I will ensure that I find a way to do it rather than turning it down if it's not practical. Everything is practical but it might be a case of finding another way to do it. At the moment, I know he is thinking of doing a scene with an owl punch. Obviously we can't actually punch an owl, but there will be ways around it, whether I need to get a fake owl or we are clever with the camera. Whatever idea comes up, we will test it out in order to get the best result.

Locations for The Thick Of It

Production designer - Simon Rogers

Location Manager - Tom Howard

While I was researching into The Thick Of It and Adam Tandy, I found an article written by Simon Rogers, explaining how he and Tom Howard secured the location for the show and the problems he faced while trying to do so. This will be beneficial to me as I need to find locations for VET-MAN: On The Road and I'll need to be prepared for any issues that I may come across. Reading about how they dealt with their issues on finding the location for The Thick Of It may help me with my own.

Tom found the first location at the old Guinness brewery in Park Royal, West London. They were able to use different areas of one building to dress the variety of sets that they required. In different parts of this one building they were able to create The Department of Social Affairs' entrance foyer, corridors and Hugh Abbot's office, the open plan area and interview rooms, Malcolm Tucker's office and corridors in 10 Downing Street, The Evening Standard's news rooms, and The Times' offices in Wapping. They managed this by carefully doubling-up on folders, post-its, pin boards, stationary, pens and pen holders. 

The Old Guinness Brewery, West London

At the time they only had a small budget, but because they were able to use the one building for a variety of different locations for the show it didn't cost as much as having to find 8+ different locations. The idea of doubling up on office supplies also saved them money, if they are the same office area then they are always going to have the same supplies in each office, therefore it would be silly to go out and buy the exact same supplies just to be placed in a different room on set. 

However, the brewery was soon going to be demolished, and Simon and Tom knew this, therefore they needed to find a new location that would service their requirements as well as the brewery did. They struggled to find another location in London, so producer, Adam, suggested trying to find one closer to home. In the end they arranged to film at the BBC Media Centre. They used over half a floor for the ministry offices, and they filmed there for a week surrounded by BBC employees. Due to this, they had to leave some of scenes including bad language until the end of the day. This meant that most people had gone home and there would be less people around while they film the explicit episodes. In the end, The Media Centre provided them with a lot more scale and production value than the brewery did. 

They filmed two further specials at a building in Harefield, which similarly to the Brewery, offered them a range of styles and was perfect for re-creating 10 Downing Street, The Daily Mail, Richmond Terrace and Portcullis House. 

However, once the new series went into pre-production, Simon and Tom had to start from the beginning. In the end they returned to the Media Centre, but they were unable to film the amount of scenes they needed there. After struggling to find another location, they decided to build their own version. After a lot of searching, Tom found an empty office block in a business part near Watford. Simon designed the set to match the location where they would shoot the arrives and departures scenes in the Media Centres atrium, staircase and lift lobby. They were told that the match between the location and the set worked so well, that even the editors didn't realise they were at two completely different places.

My thoughts:

- I will take onboard the advice from Adam about never saying no, because I want to be able to get everything that Alex wants in order to bring his idea onto the screen. I will ensure I am clever with my thinking and find ways around practicality issues, so we can create the best film that we can.

- I never knew how much work went into finding the perfect location. I assumed that bigger productions such as The Thick Of It would find it easier to get locations on board. 

- I've learnt to always find a couple of locations instead of settling with the first one who accepts you. Simon and Tom thought they had their location set for the whole series, but then one had to be demolished, and the other wouldn't allow them to film the amount of scenes that they needed. The only good thing about us creating a 20 minute short film, rather than a whole series is that we'll only need our locations for a short amount of time (a couple of days at the most), whereas filming a series would mean using that location for weeks or months at a time. Locations will be more likely to get onboard if they know we only need the space for a few days rather than a longer period of time.

References:

- Thair, D. (2009). Locating The Thick of It. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/2009/12/locating-the-thick-of-it.shtml. Last accessed 20th Sept 2018.

- Adam Tandy video advice - https://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/en/articles/art20130702112136304

- https://www.channel4.com/commissioning/4producers/comedy

- https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code