RTÉ Worship Commissioning Brief
Deadline - Friday 21st November @ 12.00 noon
RTÉ Religious invites proposals for an occasion series of simulcast Christian Worship outside broadcasts and short minority faith festival films.
10 x 55’ + 1 x 90’ Christian worship OBs + 3 x 10’minority faith festival broadcasts.Technical requirements: HD. 16:9. Stereo with simulcast radio feeds where required. From 1st February 2015 to 31st January 2016
The aim of these broadcasts is to complement our schedule of in-house, studio-based TV worship in a way that reflects and celebrates the diverse spectrum of Christian belief, practice, talent and worship across the 32 counties Ireland.
The programmes must be accessible, entertaining and inspirational to a mainstream RTÉ One audience. Our priority is therefore to find the events, places, themes, people, stories and forms of worship that will resonate most with our audience. We aim to continue to show Christian worship as an integral part of the life and culture of this country – diverse and creative, prayerful and passionate. Whatever the denomination of the worship we feature, it must feel inclusive and welcoming to members of other Churches and whatever style of music or liturgy we feature, it must be high quality and well produced.
The commission is for eleven Outside Broadcasts in the twelve months beginning 1st February, 2015. For liturgical reasons, any Masses we broadcast must be live, but we are also open to the possibility of packaged or pre-recorded formats and approaches to reflect other forms of worship. Even live broadcasts should include VT elements to introduce and contextualise the location, contributors and any religious themes of the day.
Many of those who watch RTÉ’s Sunday morning Religious programmes are unable to get to church, through sickness or immobility. They may depend on this element of our output for a sense of community and spiritual nourishment. We must continue to meet that need. However, we should not limit our audience to those who cannot get out to church. An imaginative approach to the selection of locations, themes and contributors is therefore vital, in order to attract and retain a mainstream RTÉ One audience, including some who already attend church services elsewhere and others who might not expect to enjoy religious programmes of this nature.
Included in the brief is the expectation that the successful production company will provide live, simulcast worship broadcasts on St Brigid’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We currently commission pairs of broadcasts from a single location at Christmas and Easter and would certainly be open to continuing this, in order to make the most of rigging and lighting large or spectacular locations on these festivals. Every year, RTÉ shares at least one Mass OB with Eurovision partners, facilitating commentators on location, where necessary. In 2015, our Eurovision Mass will be on All Saints Day (1st November) and will coincide with the 1400th anniversary of the death of St Columbanus. This, too, is therefore part of the brief.
How, when and where the OBs are deployed will be determined in consultation with the Genre Head of Religious Programmes, Roger Childs, who is open to suggestions about the events and locations most deserving of outside broadcast coverage or most likely to attract mainstream audiences. Past examples have ranged from Mass from the top of Croagh Patrick or from Station Island, Lough Derg, to packaged coverage of the Gospel Rising Festival, Bray or the annual Emmanuel School Choirs event at The Helix. In every case, the expectation is that a stereo audio feed will also be available to RTÉ Radio, together with appropriate billings information and suggested radio Presentation announcements.
Included with this commission are 3 x 10-minute programmes per year to complement in-house output in marking some of the main festivals of Ireland’s minority faiths – e.g. Diwali, Ramadan, Vaisakhi, Rosh Hashanah, etc. Which festivals are included with this commission will be decided in consultation with the Editor of Religious Programmes, but proposals should contain suggestions, including dates and possible contributors / narrative approaches. The emphasis with these films is to find stories and characters who will engage a mainstream Irish audience, who may have little experience of the featured minority. Films therefore need to foster greater understanding of those faith communities as part of the rich, diverse fabric of contemporary Irish life.
Production companies will need to demonstrate not only the technical capability to deliver high quality single and multi-camera output, but also an understanding of liturgy and a clear grasp of the religious culture and sensibilities of today’s Ireland. They will be working mainly with amateurs at grassroots level to produce highly professional results on screen.
Our maximum budget is €375,000, comprising €355,000 for the 11 outside broadcasts and a further €20,000 for the 3 minority faith festival programmes. However, we will welcome more cost-effective proposals.
Closing date for submission is 21st November with the first transmission to take place on St Brigid’s Day, 1st February, 2015. Offers will need to include detailed, date specific and deliverable plans with that in mind.
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 " Religious 2015"
Submissions should be received before close of business Friday 21st November @ 12.00 noon. Strict Deadline