PRODUCT PROPOSAL - BBC THREE DRAMA

WORKING TITLE: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

The working title for the teen drama is Down The Rabbit Hole. One of the
connotations from the title is that when the two main characters find themselves
hunted, they have to make themselves disappear to keep safe. This was inspired by
Alice In Wonderland who also disappeared, despite being unintentionally, was
thrown into a complete new and unpredictable world. After a detective makes a
huge discovery, his family are separated by danger and framed for murder. The
detective’s children are forced to fend for themselves, and hide in a basement,
which they nickname the ‘Rabbit Hole’.

F O R M AT
The television drama pilot episode would be on a format suitable to be distributed
on the BBC Three website. If the series was to be commissioned, I would plan to
have 6 episodes as I think this is an appropriate amount in terms of cost and
narrative. For example, if BBC3 were to invest in a 20 episode series, and the show
did not have audience rates, the production costs would be significant and affect
the company negatively. Six hour long episodes also allows for production
aesthetics and attention to detail to make show unique and the plot develop, as
well as characters to evolve.

P R O G R A M M E D U R AT I O N

The duration for the television drama Down The Rabbit Hole has a running time of
60 minutes. I think this is a suitable time length as this is a convention of BBC3
dramas by being an hour long. It also allows for the narrative to be introduced, the
style of drama to be recognised and for audience to understand character
backgrounds. With the target audience being heavily teenagers, I think their
attention would begin to get distracted if the drama was over an hour long.

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y: A I M S O F P R O D U C T,
IDEAS AND SYNOPSIS

• AIM OF PRODUCT

The main aim is for Down The Rabbit Hole to be commissioned for pilot episode
and continued into a on-going series. As the drama will be distributed on BBC3 I
need to make sure to follow the BBC’s remit which is to entertain, educate and
inform.Therefore, the drama will include a range of themes within the narrative. It
focuses on the characters ‘coming of age’ which could educate and relate to many
of the target audience. As a crime drama focusing on teenagers, their ways to find
out the truth while uncovering the case that began it all can appear comedic and
the audience would hopefully find entertainment in their adventures.
• OUTLINE OF IDEAS

The outline of my ideas exploring many themes, the characters appear

stereotypical but as the storyline develops you begin to see that their personalities
goes against these conventions and they evolve by ‘stepping out of character’.
Topics I’d like to look into sexuality and mental illness. One of the main characters
Jess struggles with her identity and hides her sexuality due to her families beliefs.

• SYNOPSIS

Twins Maddie and Lukas have their lives turned upside down when their mother is
abducted and their father missing. As a high ranking detective, their father has
discovered a presence of a terrorist cell and their infiltration into the police. On the
run, with only each other to trust, it is up to them to finish what their father had
started.

S TAT E M E N T O F N E E D

• UNIGUE SELLING POINT

I think one of the unique selling points for Down The Rabbit Hole is that although a
crime drama, the main characters are teenagers. There are several mainstream
crime dramas, such as CSI, NCIS, Law and Order, that have proved successful. With
this competition, I aim to deliver the show in a new style and introduce unexpected
protagonists into the genre that will hopefully attract a intriguing audience.

• INTENDED AUDIENCE

Down The Rabbit Hole has a target audience between the ages of 15 – 21 years.
This aged range concluded the idea of having the sub-genre of teen, as this would
hopefully appeal to audience especially. The main characters are equally
represented in terms of gender, with a female and male lead, which will then reach
out both genders of the target audience. As a sub-genre of crime, I think there
could be a older secondary audience that would find the show interesting or relate
to the older characters. Two of the lead characters are from diverse backgrounds.

When looking at the psychographics of the dramas target audience, I would want
to aim at explorers as I think they would engage in the new elements in the crime
genre. The characters begin stereotypical so that the audience can familiarise with
them, before the characters break away from recognisable traits. This will hopefully
also bring in mainstreamers who enjoy the well used conventions of teen dramas.
For demographics, I think the target audience would be between an E to C2 status.
As target age range is between 15 to 21, I think most of the audience would be in
full time education at secondary school, college or university. Some of the target
audience could also have a part time or full time job. The higher status’ I think
belong to the secondary audience of older viewers who may watch the drama with
their children of enjoy the combination of sub-genres teen and crime.
• IMAGINARY ENTITY

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Status: Working Class

Job Title: Full time education at University

I M A G E S A N D G R A P H I C S T O C R E AT E V I S U A L
SUPPORT

BUDGET
From my research, I am aware that the BBC Three has a minimum budget of
£50,000 for a drama series. To keep to this budget, unknown actors would be
casted, instead of famous actors. I also tried to keep the narrative locations of
places that are recognisable and that could be built in a studio, such as hide-out
basement the twins call the ‘rabbit hole’.
Special effects, such as prosthetic makeup for wounds would be used instead of
using visual effects in post-production, therefore keeping the budget low without
having to hire a CGI specialist.

From my research, I have noted that many BBC3 dramas are filmed in Manchester,
although I feel setting the drama in London would bring some iconography to the
show, with some possible recognisable settings. Amongst teenagers, there is often
a hype and curiosity about living in London and the cultures that live there also. I
think bringing these into the drama will create a interesting vibe, especially how it
the main location is in east London and not the centre where other crime dramas
are usually set. However, if this is not affordable, Manchester would still be an
interesting place to set the drama in and has interesting settings that can be
involved in the narrative.

RESOURCES AND PERSONNEL NEEDED

Speaking of the possibility that the show was to be made, audio visual equipment
such as digital video cameras and lenses that are suitable on location productions,
as well as equipment of storage devices and batteries.

To edit the pilot together, an editing software of either Final Cut Pro or Adobe
Premier Pro would be needed to carry out the post-production stage to a
professional television standard.

In terms of personnel, a director, camera operators, sound assistants, costume

designers and a video editor would be needed to create and make the production
possible. Due to a low budget, a team of special effects artists would also be
needed, instead of going with a more expensive route of visual effects, such as
CGI.

EXAMPLES OF EXISTING PRODUCTS

An example of a similar drama to my product would be Orphan Black, as it begins

with a strong opening and narrative hook which is something I have been inspired
by. Orphan Black has also many sub-genres, and despite my own drama being
crime, I would like to explore further sub-genres and narrative themes through the
characters. Thirteen, as a BBC3 drama, is set in Britain and would have a similar
mise-en-scene with housing estates. Riverdale is a teen drama that has proved
successful with having strong four primary characters, that each have their own
storyline. With Down The Rabbit Hole, I would also like to have each of the
characters have their own storylines and distinct differences to add to the narrative.
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION

The drama would be scheduled to distributed on BBC3 on Thursday at 9 pm,

however, if I wanted the programme to be globally seen, I would joint venture with
video-on-demand companies such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. BBC2 had their
show Peaky Blinders aired on their channel and then moved onto Netflix. Here I
would do something similar by first distributing the show on BBC3, and have the
episode appear on Netflix the following day. With this scheduling, it will hopefully
prevent viewers from watching the show legally and also leaking episodes onto
Youtube.

Although a joint venture has proved successful with other BBC products, I would
wait to review the ratings and audience reactions before making this step to
reassure budget considerations.

In terms of marketing, I would use social media heavily as this would prove efficient
with a low budget. For example, I would use all social media platforms of the BBC3
accounts, such as the trailer to be released on YouTube. These promotions would
contain dates of release and that the show will be distributed onto the BBC3s
online website. Adverts and sneak peaks of the show could also be aired during
prime time BBC programmes.