Married Single Other: helping ITV refind the magic of Cold Feet
It’s an exciting time Promise as the countdown begins to a new ITV drama that many hope will replicate the success of Cold Feet. Married Single Other is a 6-part comedy drama scripted by ex advertising executive Peter Souter, and features screen favourites such as Lucy Davis and Ralf Little. The first episode screens tonight, the 22nd February at 9pm, and our fingers will be very much crossed as Promise had a hand in shaping the script.
Making successful TV is a hit and miss business. Creative / cultural products are notoriously subjective and the sum of attractive parts does not always a whole make. Creative industries economist Richard E. Caves, whose Creative Industries (2000, Harvard University Press) is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the complexities of culture as a business, appropriately calls this the “nobody knows” principle. In the US, where TV pockets have traditionally been deeper, more extensive testing and piloting is the norm. In the UK actually trying before you buy is much less common. So anything that can help de-risk the creative commissioning process is a boon.
We’ve been pondering this conundrum for a while so were delighted to be asked by ITV to help them work with the Married Single Other script. The approach we’ve evolved for dealing with creative content at script / concept stage is based on a proprietary need states model (based on deep drivers) combined with some elements of narrative theory (particularly the work of Greimas and the structuralist school). It’s a model that allows us to explain character relationships, narrative hooks and different kinds of stimulus orientation. For example, thinking about TV generally, we find that some viewers seek overarching narrative lines, while others tend to favour high energy thrill-seeking content (think Jack Osborne-type shows). When we reviewed Cold Feet, it became obvious that certain features, such as what we called ‘regressive spaces’ (the pub, the kitchen, the wine bar), underpinned the success of the story-telling.
There’s probably no substitute for real-life evaluation: the proof – in creative industries content – is almost exclusively in the eating. Involving viewers is another way in, whether through pilot evaluation or early-stage concept evaluation. But script development work with a strong psychological framework can also make a valuable contribution. Ours was developed through observation of viewer behaviour and close reading of successful precedent, but we know other approaches are possible. We’d love to hear your experiences of this kind of work.
Tags: ITV, lucy davis, married single other, peter souter, ralf little
This entry was posted on Sunday, 21 Feb 2010 at 9:06 pm and is filed under General, Psychology, Qualitative research.
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