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Screentime defends Crownies

Producers Screentime have issued a rare public statement on its 22 episode drama, under the spotlight amid debate over ABC outsourcing.

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With the ABC moving Crownies to 9:30pm next week, there has been a bit of talk in the media about whether it signals a loss of faith in the show, and whether ABC was right to commission a whopping 22 episodes.

Crownies is a drama under the spotlight while there is a Senate inquiry into ABC outsourcing.

As a result of the media attention, Producers Screentime have issued a rare public statement on the matter:

Screentime is extremely proud of its 22 hour production Crownies, created for the ABC with the specific intention of appealing to a younger demographic.

The drama received strong critical support, and Screentime is honoured to be working in collaboration with the ABC, with whom we enjoy an excellent relationship.

Screentime fully understands and supports the new Thursday lineup – as it promises a night of great drama.

It’s fair to say that the show did not launch so well, but word of mouth for those who have stuck with the show has been strong, and I think it’s stories have improved considerably since its debut.

The show is being moved in part as a consequence of its ratings numbers, but principally due to ABC1 needing to schedule The Slap.

Once Nine scheduled Underbelly: Razor (ironically also produced by Screentime) on Sundays, everybody else found it necessary to work around it.

ABC1 couldn’t feasibly slate The Slap on Mondays or Wednesdays. If it slated it on a Tuesday it would compete with Rafters. So that left Thursdays and the outcome of moving Crownies.

I would have liked to have seen The Slap have a shot at Sundays, as I think there is now an audience looking for an alternative to Underbelly. But I concede its hard to argue against its figures of 1.4m when you have a premium new drama that you want to afford a clean start.

40 Responses

  1. Crownies is the best show on tv, , everybody I know loves it, looks forward to it, all the characters are wonderful, the acting is superb.
    We love discussing it the next day at work.
    Its unfortunate that slap Crownies and big love are all on Thursday… leaves absolutely no entertainment for any otherday of the week…….

  2. Am loving ‘Crownies’ and the variety of moral and ethical issues being explored – lots to think about each week, and so convincingly done, especially, for instance, the understandable ambivalence in the Max Gardiner case. I love the script for Janet King and Marta”s splendid execution of it. How cringingly realistic Janet and Ash’s dinner with Erin. What a rich variety of characters; what a great cast.Thankyou for wonderful and enriching entertainment

  3. Crownies is the sort of facile rubbish served up by the commercials. Its really just Neighbours meets the law. if you want to see a a law drama written for adults, watch Rake.

  5. Give Crownies the same amout of promotion as The Slap. Everyone I have told about it who watches it; loves it. They didn’t even know it was on. If I work Thursday nights I watch it on my computer. The whole team should be congratulated and it’s great to see such high standard.

  7. I am really enjoying Crownies, and loving the fact that the ABC has finally decided to cater to a younger audience than their normal 40+, and to those people older than 13. It’s also nice and refreshing to be afforded the luxury of getting to see characters grow and change over a period of time longer than 8 weeks! Mike Retter’s comment just shows that art is a matter of opinion… The Slap will probably go down in my opinion as one of the worst books ever written and it disappoints me that it is being distributed as an example of the literature Australian authors are capable of. There is so much better television, movie and books available than what The Slap has offered up. When it comes to The Slap, the ABC can really only improve on the original content.

  8. I knew Aunty was trying to tell me that this was something special. First time I’ve seen them advertising in my bus stop! I got hooked on the hype and I’m hooked on the show. Long may Crownies continue.

  9. @Ronnie: I tend to respectfully disagree and agree (I guess I’m on the fence as usual).

    Disagree: To knowingly put an ABC drama on Sunday nights against Underbelly (or at other times of the year such scale LE shows like 7’s DWTS) would be an inexcusable waste of taxpayers dollars, and irresponsible programming IMHO.

    Agree: As much as I like Crownies, your point about the total number of episodes is quite valid in 2011. An order of 10-13 eps this year would probably have been more sensible – then order 10-13 eps of another drama title for a more diverse slate.

    For all we know, however, the 22 eps may have been down to economics.
    Maybe, in order to get a good idea, quality production and programming demographic imperative to air this year, it could be that it was possibly not cost effective to ramp the production up for just 10-13 eps. Even allowing for extra scripts, crew and actors, amortising the set up costs (sets, production unit, editing facilities, buy-outs etc) over 22 eps, might have been the solution.

    Of course, overseas buyers and distributors would love that there are 22x episodes for the myriad of cable channels and broadcasters looking for this kind of programming.
    For a broadcaster OS who is used to 10-13 eps as a series, breaking it after ep 10 or 11 means that it’s two year’s in their schedule.
    That’s gold to distributors looking for OS sales.
    And if they do actually sell it at MipCom next week, then I would think that is a win for the ABC and the taxpayer, assuming of course, that there is a back-end split between ABC & Screentime.

    Either way, I’m glad that Crownies is still on air, even at 2130.

  10. I think the ABC may have been setting their sights too high with Crownies.

    Not every good on ABC should be expected to crack over a million viewers. Gruen and Spicks are just once offs.

    I am looking forward to The Slap though is it a series or a mini series??

  11. I was totally drawn in by the trailers and posters. Loved it all and tuned in with great anticipation but was disheartened with the first show. I personally found it really slow and hard to believe (too many beautiful people) But I stayed with it and I have to say, now I’m hooked. It just gets better and better and the ABC should be congratulated for going out on a limb and playing something for us younger people – although I’m not sure if 32 is young…looking at the Crownies cast, I feel old!

  12. Once the ABC had made Rake, and clearly had a great series on their hands, and ordered a second series, I don’t think they should have proceeded with 22 hours of Crownies from Screentime. It was creatively and strategically the wrong decision. $11M+ dollars for one series made by a major supplier like Screentime was a mistake. The fact that many core ABC viewers don’t like it much has compounded the problem. I would have preferred to see The Slap on Sunday night – so the ABC needs to be brave and commission high end drama for Sunday night – not volume series such as Crownies. Great reward comes from risks like Rake. At teh end of teh day Crownies feels a bit like drama fodder and the world has moved on – no-one commissions 22 hours like this any more. Even ITV has commission Downtown Abbey in 7 and 8 eps parts – so should the ABC. We need diversity and this decision has given us hours and hours of legal drama. I’d be bored even if I like it – but I don’t, I think it’s a bit lightweight.

  13. @ armchair analyst I agree this show cops a lot of criticism! Yet I am grateful I have in my opinion a decent drama that is Aussie made & creates a lot of jobs for actors, script writers and all the production crew!
    Thanks to all the other positive posts for Crownies! I love it too!
    As for those that don’t like it, I’ll just have to disagree!

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