TEN rolls credits on Aussie TV crews
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
EXCLUSIVE: In a bid to minimise ‘audience erosion’ between shows, the TEN Network is planning to shift television credits for Australian production crews off screen to its website.
Since the beginning of June, TEN has implemented a new network policy requiring in-house productions to drop credits for crews. From July it will also apply to commissioned, outsourced productions, and the network is currently looking to extend the idea to both drama and children’s productions.
TEN will replace absent credits with the phrase, “For a full credit list go to ten.com.au.” Sponsor credits, such as SONY and other suppliers, can remain.
Production companies will be asked to supply a ‘soft copy’ of extended end credits for inclusion on the TEN website.
TEN told TV Tonight it had been experimenting with a ‘no credits’ policy since the end of 2007. Good News Week has been running without credits since it returned, instead listing each episode at ten.com.au/ten/good-news-week-credits
But a union spokesperson for the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance has criticised the move, saying that everyone working on a project should be recognised, right down to the last person.
“People should be recognised while somebody watches a show,” said the MEAA spokesperson. “People aren’t necessarily going to go to the internet to check out who was in the credits. It should be part of the package of the show.
“At the end of the project they should be recognised right then and there.
“Anyone with common sense would know that people are not going to go online quickly to check who was the runner. Cast get recognised, crew should get recognised as well.”
There are no minimum legislative requirements that compel a network to display full credits. It is an area underpinned by industry practice and a long-held standard that all film and TV crews should be recognised for their work.
The Alliance has previously contacted networks to express concern over credits that run too fast. As any viewer knows, too often credits are rushed, or even squeezed to one side.
Whether a network chooses to do respond to such concerns is guided by industry practice and negotiation.
US productions will be exempt from the move under rules layed out by the US Writers Guild.
In Australia the Motion Picture Production Agreement 2007 does have a clause referring to industry practice: “The employer shall, in accordance with industry practice, utilise her or his best endeavours to ensure that a person engaged to work on a feature film, documentary, mini-series, series or serial production or any production for which credits are normally exhibited, is credited for her or his work on the production. All such credits shall be legible and provide adequate identification of the employee, the work undertaken by the employee, and/or the department within which she or he performed that work.”
However in wording leaked to TV Tonight, TEN refers to the new credit policy as being in line with “current industry standards to curb audience erosion and maximize accelerated audience flow.”
Kindly link to this site when souring or posting in messageboards, thanks!
22 Responses
When the commercial networks display their rubbish during the end credits, I normally switch to another channel or turn the TV off.
I also hate the way that the networks display promos in a rectangle at the bottom of your screen during programs. I wouldn’t be surprised if these promos were shown with announcers speaking over the dialogue in the future.
If TV networks want to alienate viewers, then they are going down the right path.
Already I stopped watching the networks and changed to the ABC, because you don’t have to put up with this.
They should have the person who made the decision “too axe the credits” head… on a pike.
This is outrageous all the people that make the tv series all thier time, effort they put into the show those crews and staff as well as thier families should be rewarded with the credit at a bare minimum.
They deserve the regcognition at least.
What do you reckon is going happen with all the crews that do work there they will jump ship to the other channels.
I know i would.
I tell you one thing i will never watch 10 ever.
Sheesh, its only credits. Calm down. So many overreactions here its somewhat alarming. Sure, Ten has questionable programming but Nine are no better with their endless Bruckheimer and Ramsay shows. Take a breath.
Bollocks to that. I like the credits. Not only does it give the creators recognition it also gives the audience a time to breath. I barley watch FTA these days anyway because the audience is treated with such disdain, this is just another nail in the coffin of a rather archaic system.
Neon, thats highly offensive saying that people at networks should “lay off the white powder” assuming their all drug addicts. I have done work for three stations in the last ten years and their not drug addicts.
This isnt a movie, it isnt hollywood. You should realize the people are just like you, they work and have families to feed. Their not payed anywhere near the amount that US network exec are payed and no way could afford the “luxuries” that their US counterparts indulge.
As for Credits, what are all you people whinging about????
You can see them on THE NET!!
On the net you can read them as many times as you want, write down the names, do a biography on the Neighbours best boy, post them on your sites, talk in the chat rooms/forums about them.
Never have I heard such silly arguments about not having credits on a show!!
If you can take the time to come here and type a few words, surely you can head over the network website and have a look at some show credits.
I think its a great idea! Just like the uproar about the ABC new look and logo in a month nobody will give a rats!
I have to say, of all the channels to do it, I’m not surprised that its Ten. What with contempuous scheduling of anything that isn’t BB, SYTYCD, Idol or Law and Order, shows always running overtime and low-rated shows being dumped on Ten HD…
I’m thoroughly sick of Ten. Seriously.
remember the days when a show would end, with credits shown in full, then there would be a newsbreak and a few ads, then a station ID then the next show? It was actually *good* to have a break. Now we go straight from one show to another without even a pause for breath.
And the treatment that ALL commercial networks give to what’s left of end credits is deplorable.
There are times, particularly with movies, when you do want to see a name buried in the credits but you can’t read it because it’s squashed to a tiny square on the screen. Sure there are sites like IMDB but I don’t think it’s a big ask for the networks to spend 30 seconds to acknowledge the show they’ve just made $$$ of revenue from.
This practice employed by the networks seems to just be a cop out to (a) show more ads, and (b) take attention away from the fact that it is the programming that is turning people away, not the credits
So credits lose you audience, but the adverts you’ll put on to fill the air time are going to make me want to stay? Puh-lease.
Ten already does its level best to squeeze/squash the hell out of the credit sequence of many a show… this is just a lame excuse to be able to whack a few more ads in every half hour.
I think TEN needs to try and gain viewers by showing some actual good TV.
Every night the ratings are in the low teens % being beat by the other big ones.
However TEN has access to so much good content, but still seems to think that news news news news news news and HD news news is the way to win viewers hearts.
Mind you with all that said the double NCIS is awesome, just the other 6 nights they need some content.
Funny that you should post that today – I was just wondering last night when watching Kelly Rowland having her head played with on GNW 🙂 where the credits had gotten to. FWIW I don’t recall seeing any “check the web site for credits” caption either.
I think this move is absolutely shameful. It’s easily possible to run credits on a show like GNW by scrolling them along the bottom of the screen during the final minute (i.e. Spicks And Specks or most British sitcoms), and for other shows they can run their usual screaming promos with the credits at the bottom of the screen (as Seven does).
What a shame the unions here aren’t as powerful as the WGA – I’m sure Ten must be grumbling to themselves that they are obliged to run credits on their US shows – how dare those people that made the thing get recognised when there’s sponsor logos to think of!
Not that Seven is blameless; they’ve been known to drop credits entirely even from US shows, and their hyper-speed credits policy on movies would be comedic if it wasn’t so damned annoying. For the Narnia film the other week, the end credit song (Imogen Heap!) played, director and cast credits scrolled over the final scene… and the second that the scene faded to black, the song was abruptly cut off (not even faded out), the credits were ramped up to meth-addict speed and shrunk to microscopic size, and a loud, obnoxious promo for Gladiators or somesuch was blasted at viewers who, I’m sure, all collectively wished a gruesome death on the Seven marketing department as they dived for their remotes.
And as for “curb audience erosion and maximize accelerated audience flow”… well, perhaps the marketing droids at the networks need to cut back on the white powder.
Aside from the fact that “accelerated audience flow” is a buzz-phrase that doesn’t actually mean anything, the concept of “audience erosion” – the quaint 1970s notion that viewers are sheep who will happily watch whatever dross is served up to them as long as the trance isn’t broken. What bollocks.
I thought Ten had more integrity than this. Looks like I was wrong.
I don’t see how this is a problem. I don’t read credits after a show, and in my job I don’t get my name listed on every piece of work I do.
Plus, if you look at American shows such as Conan & American Gladiators (onces that come to mind) – their credits run so fast that it is impossible to read them.
For the regular viewer a list of names means very little, but I usually like to see who the writer is if an episode is particuarly good and who the producer is if the series has improved. I also like to have a “pause for thought” of at least 10 seconds between shows, just to appreciate or recover especially if there is a dramatic climax at the end. I mean in real life you wouldn’t want to end a blazing row and then walk straight into another one. These marketing people are absolute idiots if they think people will not switch channels if they don’t have a gap.
Big Brother has also been running with minimal credits since its second or third week on air, also listing credits at the program’s website.
So You Think You Can Dance and Rove have also been shown with minimal credits.
Ten announced today that it had commenced filming a new season of Bondi Rescue, with the Bondi lifeguards working on the beaches of Bali. When the program goes to air later this year it will have no credits at the end.
“curb audience erosion”? “maximise accelerated audience flow”? Seriously, Ten, you must be joking. This is an insult to creative workers and viewers alike.
Bring back the long theme tunes and closing credits of the 80’s who could forget such instantly recognizable classics such as a country practice home and away the original neighbors theme or probably one of the most recognized theme tunes in Australian television history on the inside which was the theme tune from prisoner I mean who is really going to bother going online just to read the credits
I’ve seen credits at the end of GNW twice, maybe three times since the beginning. o.O
While I do understand the view of crews wanting to be recognised for their contribution, they need to understand that the average viewer could care less, and isn’t sitting around reading the credits. They’re changing the channel.
I don’t but a meat pie, and find the wrapper covered with the names of all the factory workers who chipped in to make that pie, nor should I have to sit through 30 seconds of names which mean little or nothing to me and most viewers.
Pardon my French, but this is absolute bullsh*t. 😐 I mean WTF? I always sit through credits so I’ll be FURIOUS if they turn to this. Loads of people worked on those shows and they deserve credit. I seriously hope these people boycott TEN until they reconsider this moronic proposal.
Hell, I was glad that Ten didn’t make their own credits box (like Channel Seven do with a lot of their shows, like DH), instead of using the traditional full-screen credits (that are included on the DVD sets).
Credits don’t stop people from watching TV. TEN should take a good hard look at their appalling schedule before blaming viewers for switching off.
“Sponsor credits, such as SONY and other suppliers, can remain.”
I figured that this would’ve been a disgusting ploy to squeeze in more ads.
Shame on you Ten.
Sure channel ten, showing credits is the reason why your audiences are sinking…..
Does anyone seriously read it anyway? I think it’s a good idea, since if you really do want the information you can still get it.
How foolish … it has nothing to do with credits and everything to do with the programmers’ choice of time slot and failure to commit to a full run of any show …
Jack!
Bollocks to that! So what they’re saying is that American casts and crews deserve audience recognition, but local ones don’t???? That’s an utter disgrace. I hope the MEAA plays hell over this!