Factual

Factual at ITV is popular, entertaining and of high quality. The
centre ground is everything. Novelty and overly clever conceits should
be avoided. Focusing on the familiar and appealing to sentiment is
critical. The obvious, re-appraised sometimes through the
eyes of a famous name, and made really well is how our audience likes
to enjoy their factual-based television.

Authenticity is important. Our audience is astute and TV-savvy. Please
make sure your idea is true to itself. If a presenter is suggested
please consider carefully that he or she is an authentic fit
with the idea, at least as far as the audience is concerned.

Do consider ideas and territory that have been done before. But
consider carefully how to update it and to make it even more un-missable.
Factual is a crowded field and being stand-out is more important than
ever.

At 9pm The Mafia with Trevor McDonald or Joanna Lumley's
Trans-Siberian Express; Long Lost Family and The Miracle; Saved and
The Story of Cats; Car Crash Britain: Caught On Camera, Heathrow and
Rookies: titles like these which cover familiar ground or feature
trusted guides remain key to our offer to the audience. There is a
real premium on high production values and the very best stories.

At 8pm Paul O'Grady's For The Love Of Dogs and Robson Green's
Northumberland Tales; Griff's Great Britain and Julia Bradbury's Best
Walks With A View; Panda Babies and Britain's Favourite Dogs; Love
Your Garden and How Not To DIY; Parking Wars; Trawlermen's Tales and Sugar Free Farm: all these titles give a flavour of the range of subject matter
we are after prewatershed. Warm easy- going travel led by like-able
familiar names; lightly formatted consumer programmes; animals and
enjoyable precincts please.

We want to help you take risks and find new formats and returning series. So we will help with development , both financially and with collaborative discussion. And we are enthusiastic supporters of tx-able pilots, fully funded, to fit an idea properly to (hopefully) a full commission.

ITV Factual is always in the market for the best ideas and formats. We
need returnable series because our audience enjoys coming back for
more of what it likes and we can market a known brand better - think
Long Lost Family. So we will always treat our suppliers with
professional respect and our dealings will be prompt and
collaborative.

ITV's Social Partnership is something Factual takes seriously. We want
to reflect the diverse nature of our audience interms of background,
culture and disabilities both on-screen and off-screen. So we will
want to see our programmes populated with people from a wide
range of ethnic and class backgrounds; and we also expect the
production teams to be made up of people from an equally broad range
of backgrounds.

There is a lot of factual on ITV – Factual plays at different times, on different days, in different lengths. We have plenty of hours that needs filling, both pre and post watershed.

Pre-watershed breaks down into three separate territories:-

· Softer 30’ series propositions at 8pm on Mondays and Fridays

· Greater ambition and an emphasis on entertainment values at 8.30pm on a Thursday

· 60’ series that can be formatted or ob docs at 8pm on Tuesdays

The main game for us is 9pm midweek. This is where we are looking for breakout successes that we can re-commission. These take the shape of Ob doc series; Formats; Big ideas and Big Documentaries.

Paragraphs can be emailed to the team at Factual.Commissioning@ITV.com.

A few pointers:

Titles matter. What title will hook a big ITV audience?

Taster tapes always help, particularly for character-led ideas.

Come prepared with thoughts for off-screen talent.

Simple direct propositions that feel inherently noisy.

What's the story, the rationale? Why now?

Please note we only accept submissions from production companies.