Interview: Steve Morrison, All3Media (Evening Standard)
By David Rowan
AT 6AM yesterday, Steve Morrison emerged exhausted but buzzing from a gruelling 22-hour negotiating marathon. By clinching a deal to buy Mersey Television from Phil Redmond, Morrison - edged out by Charles Allen from his job running Granada three years ago - could unquestionably claim to be back. Mersey, the company behind Hollyoaks and Grange Hill, would sit nicely alongside Morrison's other recent purchases, including Lion TV and Company Pictures. But more than that, it would finally give him control of Britain's biggest independent TV production house.
You may not have heard of Morrison's company, All3Media, but since it launched two years ago it has quietly bought a portfolio of programme-makers responsible for hits such as Richard and Judy, Shameless and Midsomer Murders.
Endemol claims to produce more hours of television, but the Mersey deal - worth a reported £35-£40 million - makes All3Media indisputably the UK's biggest in terms of turnover, which this year it expects to hit £205 million.
"And profits will be more than double what they were two years ago, when they were in the low sevens," Morrison, 58, says after a snatched two hours' sleep. "Business is looking very good."
That is because "super-indies" like All3Media are positioned to gain most from a fundamental shift in the economics of television. With more channels competing for limited advertising and diminishing audience share, the programme-makers who can sell them sure-fire hits - Midsomer Murders went to 204 countries - are valued at a premium.
Hence the wave of consolidation currently sweeping the independent sector, backed by City investors who see huge profits once such firms go to the stock market. As Morrison sees it, the "value" in television is flowing from the broadcasters to the biggest producers. "Independent production is gradually moving towards a more conventional business model which will attract investors, as opposed to the more hit-and-miss basis of the small indies we had before," he says. "With an expansion in the number of channels cannibalising the advertising revenue, the need for premium content will grow more intensely. Combined with the content creator's [greater] ability to retain their copyright, that should make the content side of the business more attractive in the years to come. There are at least 100 programme formats in development in this company on any one day. The international potential is fantastic."
But is consolidation going to diminish the variety of programmes available to watch? Some independent documentary makers complain that they can no longer finance their less mainstream films, as broadcasters now rely on the super-indies' ability to raise international funding. There are also fears that big production houses reliant on City investors - All3Media is backed by the venture capitalists Bridgepoint - will avoid taking the risks that can discover new talent.
MORRISON, a Glaswegian former World in Action director who rose through Granada over three decades, insists that the opposite is the case. "On the contrary," he says. "We have acquired companies such as Lion and North One which make dozens of one-off, quirky documentaries a year, because they sit within a mixed economy, among the perennial shows like Under the Hammer and Animal Roadshow which offer them the stability to do so. "And with our scale, we can bring programme-makers access to intelligence [about the broadcasters needs], stable finance, international distribution, as well as general encouragement."
Viewers, he claims, will benefit from greater choice, such as the expensive, high-quality drama that only a super-indie, with its international reach, can afford to make. "Take the four-hour miniseries about Elizabeth I, starring Helen Mirren, that we're currently making," he says. "We've managed to attract funding from Channel 4 and HBO, but there's still a deficit. So we're having to go around the world. It's the only way to finance the best possible programmes."
Morrison, who executive produced the Oscar-winning film My Left Foot while at Granada, launched All3Media with David Liddiment, former ITV network programme director, and Jules Burns, previously MD of operations at Granada. (The name refers to the three partners, as well as the business's reach into television, film and multimedia.) Starting with the £45 million buyout of Chrysalis's TV interests, they now have a business rumoured to be heading for a stock market flotation next year valued at hundreds of millions of pounds - although Morrison explains carefully that "we haven't instructed anyone to take us to market".
It is this financial clout - together with the founders' collective 90 years in the industry - that, he says, lets it provide a "safe haven" for smaller firms or individual producers who can pursue their creative interests inside the company. He sees it as another example of scale, offering talented programme-makers new opportunities. With BBC or Granada staff jobs less secure than ever, a super-indie offers them a valuable alternative to the "Wild West" of setting up alone.
The business's devolved structure - whereby acquired firms retain day-today independence - is what convinced Redmond to sell to All3Media, Morrison says, even at a lower price than offered elsewhere. Redmond will stay as executive producer of Grange Hill, but Carolyn Reynolds, a former Coronation Street executive producer, will expand Mersey TV as a standalone company within the wider empire. Meanwhile, the shopping spree will continue - initially to fill "gaps" in entertainment and comedy.
Yet what is driving the former documentary-maker who, with his £1 million Granada payoff and £343,000 pension, has no evident need to remain in work? Could it be a need to prove to Allen and colleagues that his humiliating departure - amid blame over his role in the ITV Digital fiasco - was not all in vain?
"The real story was nothing to do with ITV Digital," he says, suddenly engaged but displaying no perceptible emotion. "I know I wasn't responsible. It wasn't my baby." He moves on without pausing for reflection. "No, there was no bitterness at all," he says, flatly. "What happened was simply the inevitable consequences of Granada merging with Carlton. The two chairmen got married, and didn't require any best men at the wedding. It was actually a very positive development."
With ITV's ratings at record lows this summer, and its share price suffering, it does rather look as if Morrison left at a fortuitous moment. "Well, I did my 28 years," he says. "Now I'm doing what I really enjoy best - encouraging great talent to make great programmes."
(Evening Standard, June 22 2005)
. . . AND READ MORE MEDIA INTERVIEWS HERE . . .
AT 6AM yesterday, Steve Morrison emerged exhausted but buzzing from a gruelling 22-hour negotiating marathon. By clinching a deal to buy Mersey Television from Phil Redmond, Morrison - edged out by Charles Allen from his job running Granada three years ago - could unquestionably claim to be back. Mersey, the company behind Hollyoaks and Grange Hill, would sit nicely alongside Morrison's other recent purchases, including Lion TV and Company Pictures. But more than that, it would finally give him control of Britain's biggest independent TV production house.
You may not have heard of Morrison's company, All3Media, but since it launched two years ago it has quietly bought a portfolio of programme-makers responsible for hits such as Richard and Judy, Shameless and Midsomer Murders.
Endemol claims to produce more hours of television, but the Mersey deal - worth a reported £35-£40 million - makes All3Media indisputably the UK's biggest in terms of turnover, which this year it expects to hit £205 million.
"And profits will be more than double what they were two years ago, when they were in the low sevens," Morrison, 58, says after a snatched two hours' sleep. "Business is looking very good."
That is because "super-indies" like All3Media are positioned to gain most from a fundamental shift in the economics of television. With more channels competing for limited advertising and diminishing audience share, the programme-makers who can sell them sure-fire hits - Midsomer Murders went to 204 countries - are valued at a premium.
Hence the wave of consolidation currently sweeping the independent sector, backed by City investors who see huge profits once such firms go to the stock market. As Morrison sees it, the "value" in television is flowing from the broadcasters to the biggest producers. "Independent production is gradually moving towards a more conventional business model which will attract investors, as opposed to the more hit-and-miss basis of the small indies we had before," he says. "With an expansion in the number of channels cannibalising the advertising revenue, the need for premium content will grow more intensely. Combined with the content creator's [greater] ability to retain their copyright, that should make the content side of the business more attractive in the years to come. There are at least 100 programme formats in development in this company on any one day. The international potential is fantastic."
But is consolidation going to diminish the variety of programmes available to watch? Some independent documentary makers complain that they can no longer finance their less mainstream films, as broadcasters now rely on the super-indies' ability to raise international funding. There are also fears that big production houses reliant on City investors - All3Media is backed by the venture capitalists Bridgepoint - will avoid taking the risks that can discover new talent.
MORRISON, a Glaswegian former World in Action director who rose through Granada over three decades, insists that the opposite is the case. "On the contrary," he says. "We have acquired companies such as Lion and North One which make dozens of one-off, quirky documentaries a year, because they sit within a mixed economy, among the perennial shows like Under the Hammer and Animal Roadshow which offer them the stability to do so. "And with our scale, we can bring programme-makers access to intelligence [about the broadcasters needs], stable finance, international distribution, as well as general encouragement."
Viewers, he claims, will benefit from greater choice, such as the expensive, high-quality drama that only a super-indie, with its international reach, can afford to make. "Take the four-hour miniseries about Elizabeth I, starring Helen Mirren, that we're currently making," he says. "We've managed to attract funding from Channel 4 and HBO, but there's still a deficit. So we're having to go around the world. It's the only way to finance the best possible programmes."
Morrison, who executive produced the Oscar-winning film My Left Foot while at Granada, launched All3Media with David Liddiment, former ITV network programme director, and Jules Burns, previously MD of operations at Granada. (The name refers to the three partners, as well as the business's reach into television, film and multimedia.) Starting with the £45 million buyout of Chrysalis's TV interests, they now have a business rumoured to be heading for a stock market flotation next year valued at hundreds of millions of pounds - although Morrison explains carefully that "we haven't instructed anyone to take us to market".
It is this financial clout - together with the founders' collective 90 years in the industry - that, he says, lets it provide a "safe haven" for smaller firms or individual producers who can pursue their creative interests inside the company. He sees it as another example of scale, offering talented programme-makers new opportunities. With BBC or Granada staff jobs less secure than ever, a super-indie offers them a valuable alternative to the "Wild West" of setting up alone.
The business's devolved structure - whereby acquired firms retain day-today independence - is what convinced Redmond to sell to All3Media, Morrison says, even at a lower price than offered elsewhere. Redmond will stay as executive producer of Grange Hill, but Carolyn Reynolds, a former Coronation Street executive producer, will expand Mersey TV as a standalone company within the wider empire. Meanwhile, the shopping spree will continue - initially to fill "gaps" in entertainment and comedy.
Yet what is driving the former documentary-maker who, with his £1 million Granada payoff and £343,000 pension, has no evident need to remain in work? Could it be a need to prove to Allen and colleagues that his humiliating departure - amid blame over his role in the ITV Digital fiasco - was not all in vain?
"The real story was nothing to do with ITV Digital," he says, suddenly engaged but displaying no perceptible emotion. "I know I wasn't responsible. It wasn't my baby." He moves on without pausing for reflection. "No, there was no bitterness at all," he says, flatly. "What happened was simply the inevitable consequences of Granada merging with Carlton. The two chairmen got married, and didn't require any best men at the wedding. It was actually a very positive development."
With ITV's ratings at record lows this summer, and its share price suffering, it does rather look as if Morrison left at a fortuitous moment. "Well, I did my 28 years," he says. "Now I'm doing what I really enjoy best - encouraging great talent to make great programmes."
(Evening Standard, June 22 2005)
. . . AND READ MORE MEDIA INTERVIEWS HERE . . .
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, June 22, 2005
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