Factual Entertainment and formatted programmes for the pre and post-watershed slots on both RTE ONE and RTE2. Every slot has different requirements, targets and audiences but what all Lifestyle programmes have in common is the mission to engage and entertain while also informing.Frequently lifestyle is in the business of reflecting the lives of our participants as well as creating a compelling television. Unlike Documentaries of other Factual areas, we involve ourselves with people, their businesses, their careers and their communities. Many of our best programmes make a real difference and don’t feel contrived or needlessly artificial. Programmes like Operation Transformation, Room to Improve and At Your Service have become welcome staples in the RTE ONE menu.We have also had recent successes with observational series like The Shelbourne, Pet Island and Connected all of which reflect new and sometimes quirky aspects of contemporary Irish life.
Formats
We are looking for formats for both RTE ONE and 2. Our preference is for original formats, designed primarily for an Irish audience and possible around the skills and expertise of particular presenters. We are also interested in formats that have worked elsewhere and which we think would work for our audience. Pilots can come through Format Farm or ideas may go straight to Commission.
The majority of our slots are half-hour pre-watershed on RTE ONE and 50 minute, post-watershed on RTE2. We have limited opportunity to develop post-watershed formats for ONE and most of these will come through funding mechanisms such as the BAI.
Format Farm – We are looking for proposals for programmes that would be suitable to pilot through Format Farm. These should be Factual Entertainment formats and we are primarily interested in half-hours for RTE ONE and hour-long formats for RTE2. We have some flexibility in durations but would prefer programmes that would work in our most available slots.
BAI – We are looking for strong, public service ideas that can be produced in an Entertaining way. Recent Lifestyle series that have been funded by BAI include – Instrumental, Simply Am Dram, Craft Master, John Lonnergan’s Circus Kids,The High Hopes Choir, Bressie’s Teenage Kicks, Nurses and Norah Casey’s Traveller Business Academy.
We want ideas for the January BAI round submitted by Nov 14th 2014.
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RTE ONE
Early Spring 2015
We have an immediate requirement for a mid-week 20.30 slot for the early spring 2015. We are open to treatments on a range of lifestyle subjects including, health, fashion, parenting, finance, property, food and design. We are also open to rigged or observation series but ideas must be tailored around this relatively fast turn-around period. This turn-around will curtail transformational series which depend on a relatively long periods of time for results and observational series which involve a slowly evolving narrative. The successful series therefore is likely to be more formatted, more controlled and possibly more dependent on a well-known name or face.
We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system:https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspx
under the programme category " Lifestyle Midweek Spring 2015"
Late 2015 and the Development Slate
We remain interested in the following:
-A timely approach to all subject matters within the Lifestyle area including Health, Finance, Property, Design and Food, Social Experiments.
-Observational series with really compelling characters (The Shelbourne)
-Expert driven series, with passionate and knowledgeable presenters (At Your Service, The Takeover, The Unemployables)
- Campaigns where an RTE Programme becomes a call to action and resonates far beyond our original broadcast (Operation Transformation and Dirty Old Towns).
-Sunday night ideas which will engage the whole family either through the choice of subject, like Whose Holiday is It Anyway or the choice of presenters like At Your Service. The need to escape as well as be entertained is paramount in this slot.
Costs per episode range from €40 - €50, mid-week, 20.30 and €45 -58k, for Sunday nights. We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system:
https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspx
under the programme category " Lifestyle Midweek Spring 2015"
Submissions should be received before close of business Wednesday 29th of October.
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RTE2
Spring 2015
We are looking for Factual Entertainment and Lifestyle series for RTE2. We need programmes that appeal to the key demographic for the channel, 15 - 34 year olds. There are a number of contestable slots in 2015, one of which may be in early Spring 2015. Lifestyle will fill this slot, should the right format or series be found.
Current and recent Lifestyle production on RTE2 includes Connected, Drunk, Don’t Tell the Bride, Bressie’s Teenage Kicks, Norah Casey’s Traveller Business School, Nurses, Exiles and #TRENDING.
RTE2 budgets are lower than those of RTE ONE. We have two slots for hour-long series, one at 50k an episode, the other at €80k an episode. Half hour series should cost in the region of 35k per episode. All of the above slots are contestable across genres.
We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system:
https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspx
under the programme category " Lifestyle RTE2 Spring 2015"
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Ongoing Development for RTE2
We have an ongoing need for strong hours and half-hours formats for RTE2. We are interested in actively engaging in the development process for 2 and where appropriate will recommend that projects be piloted through Format Farm.
Most slots on RTE2 are hour-long but there are also opportunities for half-hour slots. We are looking for programmes for Tuesday night (female skewed) and Thursday night (broad Factual Entertainment).
We also have potential for advertiser funded programmes that will play pre-watershed on the channel.
Key to success on this channel is:
Tone
Programmes must entertain with a healthy degree of irreverence. Cynicism is good but in general the tone should be positive and non-judgemental with a healthy edge. Connected and Drunk fit this brief well.
Entertainment value
Entertainment is more important than Education on 2 but the subject matter has to matter to the key age-group of 15- 34 year olds. Don't Tell the Bride is obviously targeted at that group, so is The Unemployables and The Takeover which look at jobs and careers from the perspective of younger adults at the bottom of the career ladder, but with hopes and ambitions focused further up the food chain.
What subjects do this demographic really care about and how can we give them this in an entertaining and irreverent way? What sub-demographics within the broad sweep of 15-35 year olds are under-represented on the channel and how do we get RTE2 to reflect them and their lives?
Risk Taking
Public service programmes for RTE2 should take risks; tackle taboos and offer viewers an original approach. New formats and ways of telling stories should be top of your mind when looking at ideas for 2.
Cross Platform
Content is king, particularly for this audience. We need a digital strategy as part of the programme proposal. How and where does this series live and what digital engagement does it offer the audience.
Great Talent
A number of new faces have emerged from Reality Bites this year. Have you suitable vehicles for any of them or have you brilliant new faces that we need to see. Talent needs to be smart, funny and credible.
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*Please note budget ranges are indicative only, and proposals that can achieve lower costs per hour will be particularly attractive'.
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Please note:
The discussion of, or initial interest in, a proposal does not represent a commitment to commission by RTÉ and should not be understood as such. Commissioning decisions will reflect the quality of proposals received and the scheduling priorities operating at the time. RTÉ's financial position will also be a factor.
Any proposals previously submitted to RTÉ in categories listed here, and which were rejected on a first reading in a previous Round, should not be re-submitted and will not be reconsidered.
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