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Featherbrooksbank TV Thehour

Big budget TV films like 'Too Big to Fail' have significant implications for advertisers

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

June 14, 2011 | 4 min read

Audrey Migot, broadcast account executive at Feather Brooksbank, examines the increasing trend of film actors flocking to TV.

One of the most talked about films in the US at the moment will never be seen in the cinema because it was specifically made for TV. “Too Big To Fail” tells the story of the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and stars Paul Giamatti, Cynthia Nixon, William Hurt and James Woods to name but a few. There was a time when film actors who appeared on television were heralding the beginning of the end of their careers, but in the last ten years or so the quality of TV has become good enough to attract big name actors and directors.

Kate Winslet has recently made her TV debut alongside Guy Pearce in the 5 part mini-series Mildred Pierce, directed by Tod Haynes whose credits include “Far From Heaven” and “I’m Not There”. The 1930 era drama received rave reviews after it was shown on HBO and will be shown here in the UK on Sky Atlantic on 25 June. In an interview with Stephen Armstong in the Sunday Times (29 May), Winslet said of the series “It was so much more intense, honestly, than any film I’ve been a part of… I’m telling you, television is so much harder”.

Martin Scorsese famously directed the first episode of prohibition era drama “Boardwalk Empire” at a cost of $50m. The cost, the cast (which featured Steve Buscemi) and the director were all unprecedented in TV-land. Sean Bean who stars in Game Of Thrones, alternates regularly from film to TV as does Joseph Fiennes who is currently starring in Camelot, which started on Channel 4 on 11 June, alongside Eva Green (Casino Royale) and Jamie Campbell-Bower (Twilight).

An obsessive attention to detail is required to make period-dramas such as Boardwalk and Mad Men look good, but several TV series have spent big budgets to give the appearance and feel of a film: Generation Kill, The Tudors, Lost, Band Of Brothers, Flash Forward, Rome, The Event, Game Of Thrones, The Pacific and The Hour are all examples of TV series that certainly don’t have the appearance of “made-for-TV”.

The debut episode of Lost, which had an undeniably cinematic quality, cost approximately $10m dollars, but as “Boardwalk” has demonstrated, this is no longer considered extravagant. The enduring success of shows such as The Sopranos and The Wire has shown that the powers that be are investing increased budgets and quality writing into TV because they appreciate that it’s now as respected as cinema. The ubiquity of HD TVs and VoD, coupled with the fact that we now watch more TV than ever before is as good a reason as any to pay more attention and reward viewers for their loyalty.

Also worthy of note is that some of the best TV programmes don’t gain their biggest audiences from live viewing. Boardwalk Empire, The Killing, Mad Men and Game Of Thrones in particular tend to do well with overnight ratings, but can more than double those numbers on consolidation. It isn’t unthinkable that eventually, the majority of TV shows will be watched on-demand, with only sports and talent shows viewed live. This has significant implications for advertisers as targeting by daypart to chase the numbers delivered in peak time will give way to programme specific buys.

Featherbrooksbank TV Thehour

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