Early Prime Time Local Drama Series (Various Genres)

Closing date 26/04/2018

Channel

M-Net 101

19:00 / 20:00 weekday, weekly slot (PG to PG13)

Episodes

10-13 x 48 min

References

This is Us, Brothers and Sisters, Parenthood, Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife, NCIS, Chicago Fire/P.D./Med, Blue Bloods, S.W.A.T.

Audience

Premium M-Net 101 Audience. Primary: 25-45 Age group

Language

An organic mixture of South African languages but the primary language is English (70% English ratio)

Editorial Guide

What high end ‘Early Prime Time Local Drama’ means to the M-Net 101 audience is a sensory experience evoking a range of emotional responses from laughter and sadness to anger, empathy and curiosity.  It is of an exceptional production quality and pushes the boundaries of visual and visceral story-telling.

The M-Net 101 audience consumes mostly international content yet they want to see their  stories told in an authentic and realistic manner. The characters in the world of the story should reflect the audience’s lived experiences but can be larger than life safely providing a voyeuristic viewer experience. The M-Net 101 audience would be intrigued by emotionally sweeping and engagaing family sagas with unexpected plot twists such as the series ‘This is Us’ and ‘Parenthood’. They would also enjoy the comfort of smart and slick procedural drama series containing lovable, yet complec archetypal characters like the “NCIS” and the “Chicago” franchises. Another genre that resonates strongly with the M-Net 101 audience, is the hybrid genre displaying both episodic elements and long narrative style inter-personal drama, e.g. “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Good Wife”.   The original concept should be reflective of our audience’s daily lives while taking an exciting new angle with well plotted storylines and rounded characters. Concepts could be over-arching narratives, or stand-alone episodes with a definitive ending.The tone should be emotive, engaging and entertaining. The story-lines and pace must have captivating tension that will keep the audience glued to the small screen.

Projects selected from this pitch will be added to our Local Commissioned Programs development and production pipeline.

Creative Requirements

• Must bring a rich understanding of the genre, adhering to the required pace and structure of story-telling.
• Must be willing to collaborate with an appointed foreign/local script doctor/producer of the Broadcaster’s choice who will assist in the development and/or production of the series. 

Submission Requirements

• Brief synopsis of the concept and series including a Controlling Idea,
• Dramatic Question, Premise, Logline
• A statement of intent – why is this series / story important? Why (do you think it) should it be produced? Why would it appeal to the M-Net 101 audience?
• A clear and powerful world of the story.
• Character biographies for the main characters including their traits, goals, needs and flaws as well an indication of relationships.
• Characters references either visual or written are welcome
• A summary of the main characters arcs/journeys
• Episode summaries for 10 episodes and Series structure
• Proposals should be no longer that 50 pages.
• Full script/treatment of first episode