Talking Creativity with Endemol's David Flynn

As Chief Creative Officer at Endemol, David Flynn has had a hand in everything from The Million Pound Drop and Golden Balls and Seven Days on the Breadline to Pointless, and we were lucky enough to hear from him at our most recent alumni event at London’s Roundhouse.

Ben Hall (left) and David in animated conversation

If you’ve debated the pros and cons of the new final round format on Pointless, or watched through your hands as a lovely couple from Croydon risk all their cash on a tricky question on The Million Pound Drop, you have David to thank for those moments. Ably interviewed by Ben Hall (co-founder of Chalkboard TV and previously MD of Shine Group), David let our audience in on a selection of gameshow secrets and shared experience and advice gained from 15 years in television…

Entering Endemol on a creative internship scheme aged 23 (with no guarantee of a job at the end), David set about making himself invaluable to the company. Along with partner-in-crime Adam Adler (now an executive producer at Objective Productions), the two created and pitched their own job titles to Endemol, becoming the company's first "New Media Creatives", then "New Media Producers". Until David was offered the job of Deputy Creative Director, every job he had at Endemol was one of his own design. "Solve the problems the company didn't even know they had", was David's advice to the audience, "Being inside a corporation already is great leverage for discussions - find opportunities to take a step back and look around at what else the company could be doing... And how you could be doing it."

David also had plenty of advice for those just trying to get their foot in the door, with his key tip being "Be interested" – have ideas and opinions (good and bad), and try to find new angles to take the genre forward. Though Ben did add a word of caution: if you're going for an interview, make sure you know what shows your interviewer was involved with, and if you decide you're brave enough to rip something they've made apart, make sure you absolutely know the show.

And this doesn't just apply to TV either: inspiration can come from anywhere - the latest film releases, art galleries, books - just make sure you always have a notebook with you. And, without wanting to turn future format creators into extreme hoarders - never throw these notebooks away.  If you're keen to get into development, having notebooks full of ideas before you even get your first job will be a real help, and as David said "Anyone could have the next multi-million pound idea."

Indeed, it was the idea that a blank piece of paper can become worth millions after an afternoon of playing around that drew David to entertainment formats - the concept for Golden Balls came from taking the creative team down to a pub in Brook Green. David was full of behind-the-scenes titbits about all our favourite game shows. For example, the money in The Million Pound Drop is all real, and it's taken to the studio via a secret route that even the production team don't know. Plus, Davina isn't given any of the answers beforehand, so when she's reacting, her reaction is 100% Davina. 

A typically understated reaction from Davina

But it's the questions that David considers the hidden secret of the show. They're rigorously tested and designed in a very particular way to make the contestants split their money, and give Million Pound Drop a real narrative arc: “a hero’s journey” as David called it. They also break one of the main rules for gameshow formats: that it’s more fun to watch people winning stuff than losing stuff.

Because our audience are a switched-on bunch, of course one of the questions was "What are the other rules that need to be broken?" This lead to a discussion around casting and interaction with people at home, as well as points about apps and international appeal . Whilst the opportunities to go multi-platform around the world are obviously good for business, David was keen to point out that the idea and your enjoyment of it has to come first, as well as finding the right moment. In fact, the reason Endemol pitched Million Pound Drop to Channel 4 when they did was because Julian Bellamy had spoken at the Edinburgh TV Festival and told production companies: “Surprise us”. All the more reason to apply for The Network or Ones to Watch, and get yourself up to Edinburgh in 2014 to find your own niche to fill.

Applications for The Network and Ones To Watch are open NOW. You’ve got til March 31st to apply for The Network, and 27th April for Ones to Watch.

We've got more events lined up for the next few weeks in Glasgow and Cardiff, and our next big London event is A Beginner's Guide to The Network on March 20th at Channel 4. Sign up here.

London Screening #3: Run

Olivia Colman plays Carol in Acme Films' new drama, Run

Our series of London screenings have so far caused collective intakes of breath and laughs aplenty, but this Monday’s Roundhouse audience were the quietest yet - utterly captivated by Acme Films’ new drama for Channel 4, Run. Set in south London, Run first follows Carol (played by Olivia Colman), a mother to two troublesome teenage boys. A random act of violence sets a chain of events in motion which underpins the whole series in a domino movement of cause and effect. This is a drama about the people you pass in the street, you recognise from the world around you, and how we’re all connected. Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan, one of Run’s two writers, explained that it offers ‘a glimpse into four of the different worlds that make up London’.

Fajemisin-Duncan and his writing partner, Marlon Smith, met at sixth form college in south London where they also befriended Jonathan Pearson, director of episodes 3 and 4. Having been making short films for a number of years, they’d originally set out to make Run as an internet drama, and approached Jaimie D’Cruz, owner of Acme Films, with the idea. That was five years ago. ‘What took so long?’ asked our chair for the evening, Neil Midgley. D’Cruz told the audience he put the project on hold and told the two writers to take their time. Not content with this, they went off and made their own pilot. Channel 4 read the script and it evolved from there into the bigger project that it is today. D’Cruz admitted that Channel 4 took a big risk, by investing in unknown writers, but he described the script as so exceptional it wasn’t surprising that the channel wanted to turn it into a primetime drama. Colman agreed about the script adding, ‘Women don’t write well for women at the moment. And a lot of people still don’t think it’s appealing to have a female lead’. So it was refreshing for her to play the part of Carol, written by two young men.

For the team behind Run, many of whom have been 

Marlon Smith and Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan

friends for years, there was a visible sense of pride in their achievement. They were ‘over the moon’ to finally see their project on screen. A member of the audience asked how they kept their motivation going for five years, and they admitted it was hard with times when they nearly gave up. But, as Fajemisin-Duncan explained, they had something to say and that became easier as people start believing in them.

So that concludes our London screenings series. And what a series it’s been! We’d like to thank all involved for making it such a great success. And eyes peeled for the next events!

London Screening #2: The Job Lot

'Thank you for laughing’, writer Ian Jarvis politely added at the end of the evening. This hardly seemed necessary as the screening of episodes 1 and 2 of his and Claire Downes’ new comedy The Job Lot received a loud and lively reception from the Roundhouse audience on Monday. But for the writers of this comedy, their television debut, seeing strangers laugh at their jokes was clearly something to behold. ‘It’s nice to hear a live audience’s reaction’, Jarvis continued, explaining that they rely on their instincts as to whether something will get a laugh.

The panel take to the stage following the screening

The Job Lot is the work of Jarvis, Downes and Stuart Lane, who was unable to join us due in China (some people will do anything to get out of public speaking!). The set-up is simple – the action takes place in a job centre housed in a suitably grey block of a building somewhere in the Midlands. The centre’s staff are made up of characters we all recognise from our own office experiences – the jobsworth who is a stickler for procedure, the over-enthusiastic (but verging on the edge) boss, the couldn’t-care-less young office worker. And who knows what characters might walk through those doors, which is exactly what Downes admits drew her to the setting.

Sarah Hadland 

Following the screening our chair for the evening, Andrew Collins, was joined on stage by writers Downes and Jarvis, producer Hannah Pescod and the show’s two stars, Sarah Hadland and Russell Tovey. Downes and Jarvis talked about their inspiration (‘The line about swimming the Channel at the local baths is from my sister’, joked Downes) and the process of getting the series commissioned. After an initial knockback from their first script (which they weren’t bitter about, quipped Jarvis), a second go grabbed the attention of a lot of the major players and so began the talks (plus the wining and dining). With Big Talk Productions track record in comedies (Spaced, Rev), they seemed the obvious choice but sitting on a script of such quality meant production companies were vying for their attention. Downes joked that it was Big Talk’s biscuits that ultimately won them over.

Andrew concluded the evening by asking the panel about the worst jobs they’d ever had.  Tovey described life as a hairdressers’ junior washing old ladies’ wigs; Hadland spent two weeks as a magician’s assistant on a cruise ship (doesn’t sound so bad to us!); and Claire Downes earned £30 for two minutes spent provocatively draped over a tractor…. If that’s in her arsenal of inspiration then we can’t even begin to imagine what future episodes of The Job Lot might contain!

We still have limited tickets available for our next screening taking place at the Roundhouse, London NW1: 

Run  Monday 25 March

Premiere of Acme Film’s drama for Channel 4 and live Q&A with Olivia Colman

Information on how to purchase tickets can be found here.