PACT
http://www.pact.co.uk

PACT are the industry body for independent producers. As a non-member you won’t be able to get everywhere in the site, but there’s useful information to be found there anyway (mainly industry news). Face TV are full PACT members.

BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning

Spend a couple of hours going through this site; you will learn a lot about the commissioning process as it applies to all channels, not just the BBC. See how programme content is very targeted for channel slots, and the channels themselves are very targeted at specific audiences. Understand this, and you’re three-quarters of the way to devising programme ideas that broadcasters will want. However, remember that this site is intended for staff BBC Producers as well as independents, so don’t get too excited – they like making sure their staff producers are kept busy making programmes, and aren't just targeting the information for independent producers.

CH4
http://www.channel4.com/4producers

A brilliant resource of information for indies. Channel 4 don’t always keep it completely up to date (personnel changes at the channel are often not updated for quite a while), but there’s so much to learn here about how a channel works. Look at their schedule, and understand how they structure things day by day, hour by hour, to ensure they get and keep their audience throughout the evening. See what the commissioning editors say about what they are looking for, and the budgets they have. And digest every word, because nothing they say (write) is hastily said, it is considered and accurate, and you ignore it at your peril. If you’re interested in documentaries, go to the ‘transcript from the Documentaries session at the C4 Open Day’. Also, go to their ‘Online Proposal Submission System’, and see just exactly what they look for in a proposal. Use this as a template for all your submissions to any station - every commissioning editor looks for the same sort of information, in that sort of detail.

five
http://www.five.tv

This site is now much better than it was, and it’s now almost as useful a resource (as far as Producers are concerned) as C4’s. Click on ‘about five’, then select ‘corporate’ from the left hand column, go down to ‘producers notes’, and there’s a bit of useful information about the individual controllers (including pics), what they’re looking for (although no details on budgets – contact us at Face and we can tell you), plus information about submitting ideas, etc.

ITV
http://www.itv.com/about

Here, click on the Producers Page, for interesting (but long and detailed…) information about the commissioning process at ITV. There’s a lot of interesting things here, but ITV can be a difficult bunch to work for if you’re a small independent. They prefer to work with big established production companies, and the programmes they look for are more usually entertainment shows (or things like the “…from Hell” series), rather than single or series documentaries (which Face TV is more interested in).

Broadcast Now / Broadcast Magazine / The Production Guide
http://www.produxion.com

A really useful site, incorporating an on-line version of the essential ‘Broadcast’ magazine, with an ‘Archive’ resource to search through old issues, reviews of programmes (‘Opinion’), ‘Events’, links to producer information for Channel 4, the Beeb and – significantly - Sky, plus a brilliant ‘Jobs’ section. To get access to some information, you will have to register, but DO IT, because this is a great site. Links to broadcast organisations abound…

Kemps
http://www.kftv.com

A brilliant site (re-launched in March 2003) for finding Production Companies, Freelancers, Facilities – in fact anyone and anything to do with production in TV, film and commercials, in any country in the world. Lose yourself here for an afternoon…