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This is a book-length study of one of the most respected and prolific producers working in British television. From ground-breaking dramas from the 1960s such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home to the ‘must-see’ series in the 1990s and 2000s such as This Life and The Cops, Tony Garnett has produced some of the most important and influential British television drama. This book charts his career from his early days as an actor to his position as executive producer and head of World Productions, focusing on the ways in which he has helped to define the role of the creative producer, shaping the distinctive politics and aesthetics of the drama he has produced, and enabling and facilitating the contributions of others. Garnett's distinctive contribution to the development of a social realist aesthetic is also examined, through the documentary-inspired early single plays to the subversion of genre within popular drama series.
5 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS Allinterviewswereconductedbytheauthor(SP). Interview A: Yellow Bird Productions Interviewees: Mikael Wallén (Executive Producer, Yellow Bird Productions)(MW)andErikHultkvist(BusinessDevelopment, Yellow Bird Productions) (EH). Conducted at Yellow Bird Productions,Stockholm,Sweden,30March2011. SP: YellowBirdisnowpartofoneofthebiggestglobalmedia conglomerations [in the world]; could you tell me about theconnectionstodifferentcompanies? EH: Yellow Bird was acquired in 2007
variety of companies, including the BBC and HBO (US cable channel). World Production’s initial output for television was distinctive, but in a different sense. Island World’s first venture, with Garnett as executive producer, was The Staggering Stories of Ferdinand de Bargos (BBC 1989), a satirical drama series which consisted of dubbed archive material. In 1993, Garnett took advantage of the new policy at the BBC of commissioning single films on bigger budgets, to produce Born Kicking. The film reunited Garnett with writer Barry Hines and concerned the story of an
of these projects to be broadcast was Children’s Ward. Children’s Ward (ITV, 1989–2000) When he originally conceived Children’s Ward as a drama set in a children’s home, Abbott was advised by the future executive producer of the series, David Liddiment, to change the landscape of the drama as there Johnson_PaulAbbott.indd 11 05/08/2013 12:28 12 Paul Abbott Figure 1.1 Children’s Ward, ITV (Granada) 1989–2000: various cast members, including Tim Vincent, Jenny Luckcraft and Ken Parry was a competing series on Thames Television (1985–86) called Dodger, Bonzo
obvious is The Intimate Stranger in which the hero (Richard Basehart) is a former American film editor who, partly through an advantageous marriage, has become an important executive producer in England. The plot concerns an attempt by a jealous employee (Mervyn Johns) to discredit him by concocting evidence of an affair he is supposed to have had with a young actress (Mary Murphy). The real concerns
I've been virtually doing executive producer or associate producer duties for the last twenty-five films but never took the position. It just seemed easier to make the decision and the definition that that's my function in the picture as well as being an actor. And I'm going to continue to do it. 1 Star agency
, he was executive producer for This Life (BBC 1996–97), which extended the possibilities for contemporary drama series, using digital technology to create a distinctive visual style. Around these key points, Garnett has also produced films for the cinema as a British independent, such as Kes (1969), Prostitute (1980) and Beautiful Thing (1996). He spent a decade in Hollywood (1980–90), during which he produced four films, including Handgun (1983) and Shadow Makers 01-Intro 26/2/07 2 10:11 am Page 2 Tony Garnett (1990). As managing director of World
With the airing of Angel on 5 October 1999, Whedon was now the executive producer of two hours’ worth of television every Tuesday night. The five seasons that Angel ran for (1999–2004) coincide with the final four seasons of Buffy (1999–2003) and the only season of Firefly (2002). This chapter will look at the development of each of the shows, and their respective
–12 Dark Horse). Whedon's executive producer role in these displays every bit as much oversight, influence, care and control as was true for his television shows. Georges Jeanty, the artist on the Whedon-scripted Buffy Season 8 #1–4 said, ‘the guy is such a mastermind, I'm sure. He's got the whole … eighth season planned out in his head. And he knows where it's going to send’ (Stafford, 2007 : 371
’ (Van Hise, 1997 [1968] : 49). Television changed a great deal between the 1960s and the beginning of the twenty-first century but time pressures remain a universal constant. Brannon Braga, executive producer on Enterprise (Paramount, 2001-05) said, ‘[the actors] get the script, they’re shooting the script, and then on the last day of that episode, they get the script for the next episode and then they go right into that