Read this: Attenborough's Netflix adventure
Summary: Podcast
Download MP3 www.bbc.co.ukAttenborough's Netflix adventure…BBC sounds music Radio podcasts and this is the media show from BBC Radio 4 in the era of Steve Jobs Apple revolutionize computers with the mac music players with the iPod and basically the hold of modern history with the iPhone this week's job successor Tim Cook and as a supercharged effort to revolutionize media to with a big push into TV and new subscriptions as well as video gaming and banking today.
We're asking whether these new Ventures for the company will be equally revolutionary.
Let me introduce you to our guests madhumita.
Murgia is here and a friend of the media show European 2lg correspondent for the Financial Times and Molly journeys from around the world through to California to hear apple make these announcements at a very glitzy event Apple share price at Stafford after Juventus used to work for wide of course you didn't text you and it's by into easily to what is basically the Cult of Apple well, I think for a long time it was.
Peter by into it because each of these presentations with dazzling and there was an amazing new product at the end of it.
There was hardware you could touch and feel I think the big difference here was there was nothing that you could really touch other than you know the titanium card with no numbers answers really at departure from from apples usual events, but you know they did bring the star powers that usually do but I think people were a bit more underwhelmed last week.
I start to the Show by reminding you that we're the place where the biggest beasts in the media Jungle come out to play I should have saved at abysmal cliche for this week because sitting alongside me is Alastair for the girl that is Sir David Attenborough is the face of programs such as blue planet in planet earth.
Alastair is the brains not sure how it feels like being Kardashian bum sure be humbled now as co-founder of his company.
Silverback films he's taking Sir David to Netflix for its own Blockbuster series our planet as the Welcome to the show your day be on the show understand.
I'm gonna give you the opportunity right from the outset to correct some of the reporting around your new show and to reassure Radio 4 listeners that you answer David have not defected to Netflix you're so we make sure to the BBC absolutely silverback films has got three landmark series in production for the BBC and say David is definitely still working for them as well BBC respond when you told him about your Netflix deal.
I don't know they they didn't really, do it to be honest pilots wear that kind of response mean we're delighted to work with Netflix because they have a particular platform which is really suited to 22 r-series.
I mean you know on the 5th of April 190 countries 135 million subscribers and it'll be there for not this month's but years and that's a very important to the longevity of the Vision we have for our planet.
Yeah whatever.
BBC responded but the sense review that was entirely happy is it true that comes to your studios in Bristol to record his notorious and legendary voiceovers? He's only ride.
It is a cheese sandwich.
Well.
What's amazing is he'll come down to Bristol and he will record a 50-minute narration miss it arrives at 11 and he's always done by 1 it's extraordinary to do it in 2 hours and yes, the reward is always a cheese sandwich cheese sandwich.
Is it ploughman's white or brown straight Brown he likes and no salad ok, so their kids if you want to sound like David Attenborough brown bread no salad she sounds back to apple and it's big news this week company with nearly 300 billion dollars in cash market capitalisation of 886 billion dollars last time I checked which is about 10 minutes ago and that's a fortune accumulated mostly because of its extraordinarily popular pieces of hardware now it wants to speed up its diversification.
E2 services making TV shows distributing news and so on the plans were revealed at this event at Apple HQ which saw a succession of anus is taking to the stage is Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon supervisor subsiding recent Irish so proud to be a part of this exciting launch with Apple officially announcing a new project and his open a moment even big bird from Sesame Street Hollywood directors actors wholesome, Family Favourites you get the gist Now read Albert Gotti reports on technology for the Washington Post he joins us from San Francisco read a good afternoon or good morning in San Francisco you're out this evening.
You're at the Steve Jobs Theater on Monday what did you and your fellow jurors make of the event?
Apple event, so I didn't get to see any of those gadgets that you can touch and feel that those Adventures so famous for but I did get to see a lot of celebrities some of them you just done you just play the recording us and there is certainly a lot of grammar, but there weren't a lot of specifics.
So you know I think if you will get it if you're if you're asking the business question what is this mean for apples bar and wine? Can you make up for some of this morning iPhone sales with these new services.
It's a little bit difficult to do back of the envelope.
Not because they didn't announce prices for most most of it and he did for the new subscription that that's probably the smallest and dollar figures of any of the announcements in terms of impact the world and why would why do laundry services and not give any indication about how much you're gonna ask consumers to pay for them to because they aren't ready yet.
Somebody shows are still in early development and you know I think applewood.
They don't want is.
Come out with shoes that nobody wanted to see and it's kind of what happened in 2017 when they watched some of their own and programming on on the apple news service they had a show called Planet of the apps.
Which did very poorly.
They had carpool karaoke with did win an Emmy but wasn't exactly the sort of highbrow content that they're trying to an outside now.
Ok, Steve Jobs was back in the day and exceptionally charismatic performer Tim Cook is accessories applause lines often didn't quite come off so many of the top of show the company's share price dipped.
What did you make of his performance individually Tim Cook is very different better than Steve Jobs was he received jobs with the ultimate marketer and you know just announced these products with so much because as but Tim Cook is an operation sky and you know look the market cap of apple has just absolutely skyrocketed under his leadership has found ways to profit off of these products.
You're probably.
In in in ways that I think Steve Jobs never really good and he wasn't that the bigger operations details guided him cookers, so I wouldn't judge Tim Cook leadership of the company based on his performance on stage.
I think it's it's all about you.
What happens in the next three to five years in terms of the revenue from these new announcements.
Is it is it 20 billion dollars of additional revenue? Where is in 100g lean? I think that's what I'm thinking about a reading switch that TV service Apple TV plus.
He emphasized Tim full episodes human curation overseas of algorithmic recommendations.
Would it be fair to say that are pitch against Netflix is an emphasis on quality over quantity absolutely just few of these shows and movies where is Netflix I mean? There is even a Saturday Night Live skit sketch where it they've lampooned Netflix just buying every single show that it possibly could and Hollywood
Definitely, I would I would compare apples Apple TV plus whatever it cost probably more to an HBO than a Netflix you have another cable provider something ok, we stay with it's gonna be in my burger from the ft Armada the TV series got most of the headlights specially ahead of the event.
What about their news bundle service news.
+ why is it that some publishers that the Wall Street Journal have signed up but other such the New York Times of not think the main reason there is that some people have been hesitant because of the revenue split so it's going to be 5052 anybody who signs up for a subscription to a newspaper or magazine through the app that Revenue will be split between apple and the company is so I think it's quite a large amount and people like the New York Times and the Washington Post have specifically said they're not going to participate and I think you know that that would be a big part of the giving away their audience Riviera Spotify change the way we can see music in Hasten the end of the CD is your sister Apple getting into subs.
Scriptions that this could revolutionize the way we consume use One Stop Shop you're ready have the phone there a billion of them out there you're accessing a to read news all the time anyway and rather than the fragmented experience of paying for a number of different subscriptions.
You've got it all there in one place.
It's you know ironically like the Netflix for me so I think it is what Apple does so well as making things easy visually appealing you know simple to use and that's what that's what could really help their it and Drew struzan.
Oasis this is because the iPhone sales slowing down anytime spread their wings bit as a company not just focus on smartphones anyone expand to 50 billion by 2020.
They've you know put a big focus on it.
What should we go for these new services which do you think is likely to make the most money? I take your point that we don't know yet.
No because I haven't put their own numbers against it but what's likely to prove the Year the most lucrative video game services probably going to bring in the most Revenue and that seems to be what animals were saying I'm not you no singing groundbreaking there, but I think the credit card business is really interesting just because episode of what it what is it flies for the future of Apple as they could you could see the next any more and more into finance and getting started in between customers bank accounts and in the final purchases and there be a lot of money to be made in that room and you know you see companies like PayPal and other sort of getting into these blockchain transactions in Uno international transactions and your backside really been disrupted in that regard to that was to need the most interesting announcement of the day just from a business perspective.
Ok? We thank you so much.
You turn this read out the gutter who's from the washing.
Posan Chinese food noises from San Francisco maturana things that reads talk about their did the idea of removing to finance means that an apple for Apple user could not effectively suspended in tired are using nothing but the company's products and services which is a bit like in China what happens with WeChat this enormous kind of layer of the internet they have in China which we don't have here.
We chat is kind of exhaust you that you're going to your taxi ride and more taxi hailing services micropayments is theatre tickets everything else rolled into one is that the colour Direction which apples like to go to think the WeChat model is something that many Silicon Valley companies have actually been looking towards because they've managed to achieve a strategy.
That's completely unique from what we see in in western countries which is that they become a gateway to the internet and you do all of your transactions through it.
They get a cut of it as well as all of the data.
So Facebook is trying to do this as well and yes apple would want you to be drawn into its walls garden and stay there as long as possible and in terms of financial.
Services we already you people use apple pay, you know it's convenient so why not switch to the credit card and witches you know no fees no international fee that says the simplicity of Fame with Apple Berry bringing out there for the Gurkhas ASDA you're a content maker these days happily moving into TV when was richest companies you excited about this someone else to pitch to this interesting and I didn't really say a lot on Monday they didn't talk at all about their plans for documentary Association to hear more about that nor did they talk about the price? So it's a new clarity on Monday what your Show Alistair is really mention Netflix of which seem to do be making a habit of on the shelf no reason your co-founder of silverback film producer of the show our planet was on Netflix next week to be getting Airlines concentrated by Sir David Attenborough it's not on the BBC and it's also collaboration with the world wide fund for nature which is interesting and that's all here in this clip right from the start.
It's got a real campaigning tone to it.
For the first time in human history the stability of nature can no longer be taken for granted.
But the Natural World is resilient.
Great Riches still remain and with our help the planet can recover without crashing sound you heard was extraordinary aerial footage of a collapsing ice cliff and as we were talking about the technical challenges in the moment.
So what people if you want to know about that this is a collaboration with a campaigning Ngo another reason why it's on Netflix not the BBC no not really at all.
I'm in a relationship with a Wildlife Fund is to do with their extraordinary knowledge of the environmental stories out there they've also provided us with a really good scientific backbone to everything in the series and but the series isn't campaigning it isn't political is just trying to state the facts as they are in the Natural World Today OK did Netflix come to you or did you go to them? Had it work? Yeah, they came to us and I think the reason they did that was they had already acquired for their service blue planet planet.
From frozen planet the suicide Medway loads of the BBC and as you know every second you watch Netflix at the clock and get up and I think there's serious would clearly but we've been very successful on their service budget that you get from a Netflix compared to the BBC I mean these big landmark.
Series or not cheap to me because I take a long time to make an enormous amount of resources and I think the Netflix budget is an ambitious project bigger than BBC that you know not really not significantly larger than the sort of budgets that the Landmark naturally series with previously done for the BBC right and they said what said it all evolved and had to compare with the BBC as her hands on her hands up.
They're from the very beginning bale of the Vision the whole ambition of the series and they always say that you know they're quite hands off and that's been there.
It's been very true to that.
I mean are they sent notes during editing.
They were very good notes there Incisive notes, but they also say you know if you don't like the note you don't get the don't have to do it.
So they really left a Stewart actually I don't think Lucy they have the advert.
Has the show during the Superbowl yeah? I wish to be the moment so if you said it's a relatively little and often able to provide big-budget their shows they online for a long time which I know there's something seen David as talked about the advertised during the Super Bowl and also crucially they filming a super hasty quality which the BBC can't broadcast as I understand it only streaming service to provide.
What would you ever do another program of the BBC again because the BBC natural history is very very successful in the UK and internationally you know I think the BBC should be very proud of what they do.
I mean that the natchez to unit is a jewel in the BBC's crown, and you know everytime landmark series comes out it gets the highest Factor audience and have anything on British TV so we are very delighted to work with them and also BBC worldwide their commercial arm has been very successful in selling the series round the world the unique thing that Netflix off this series was it on April 5th? You know as I said earlier.
It'll be on 190 countries 130.
9 million subscribers and interestingly many people who watch Netflix on of that younger age groups of 16 to 30s who are increasingly turning away from and broadcast TV and of course they're just the same people who care desperately about the environment and the planet that they're inheriting right and how much are planet Earth is the weather funding model species, how much are planet Earth does the BBC own BBC other planet Earth BBC on BBC worldwide on the whole series the BBC's contribution BBC commissioners contribution to Natural History landmark is around 25% now and say when you make something for Netflix what's the Netflix is contribution to the commissioning everything they do percentage of models.
We look to the future of TV a mother never say question for you.
It's better to put all the money in upfront and try no no the right to the back-end when you can sell it around the world.
I think it depends on the project.
I I think as I said for our planet the fact we wanted to put out a global message simultaneously Netflix a loan at the
Moment can provide that right ok Mother would you think about in terms of the best way to fund a sort of programs in the future? Is it better if you're launching her production company now? Is it better to try and find all these things up front but 100% the cash in and say when we said it around the world will take all the upside is something that strikes up.
He was a bit weird to allow other people to spend 80% or 80% of the right when you know it's gonna be such a big hit what is a BBC approach.
I mean what program you're making in whom you're trying to reach and I and I think the age of streaming viewers at means that you know if you do it all in one go everywhere at the same time you just going to hit that audience.
Where is you're going to fragment it if you're at licensing individually in different countries.
Where does where does the money actually go on a landmark need to show how do you break down the costs? How much he goes a production inevitable goes in marketing at how do you break it up the probably wildlife filmmaking as the animals never read The Script that end in o?
Do when you're trying to do some of the new behaviour that people expect to see it's very very challenging, so we always try and spend the lion's share of the budget actually on feel yoona filming in the field and I am sure sure yeah, I mean our planet.
We spent 3500 days in the field that means for every minute of final show me where in the field for 10 days in remote places with expensive camera kits.
Oh, yeah.
We have a very good production team that have to work for 4 years on the project any takes a whole year to post produce the project as well at the very highest quality 4K high-definition writing should know Dolby Atmos that doesn't come cheap but yes the lion share is in the filming account to come onto the technicalities which introduces therefore that a very senior figures in BGT last year that Apple will looking with Envy at the BBC's natural history often because of its global appeal and because they said that relative to him to higher drama natural she was a bit more affordable have apple approach you as well ask you to do some.
We've had some discussions with Apple yes, and you've got had in discussions with Disney as well.
We have been working for Disney for a number of years.
We make our wildlife movies for Disney under the label of disneynature and where we does actually copy.
Delete one which will be released in America on the 17th of April and had great fun because two very different challenge.
You know it's a movie people want a story as I said the animals don't read the script and the challenge of making a narrative families and also the other thing which is wonderful about being in the cinema is wildlife looks amazing on the big screen.
Ok? I said we talk about the end of the technical side and what Westminster David Attenborough's actually like let's hear another clip from our planet.
This is filming from Chernobyl where you've gone to look at the Forest of wildlife.
That's returning to the area 30 years after the nuclear accidents of the endangered przewalski's horse now roam.
Freely to who wants busy City most surprising at all perhaps.
Pictures of these forests has reappeared wolves Hunters ladies would only return if their prey and the surrounding Forest is also thriving.
No studies have shown that there are 7 times more walls inside the exclusion zone than outside it.
Ok this too pretty obvious risks for humans evolved it you got nuclear radiation and you've got wolves as the producer agile approach to risk it was a wonderful story because one of the important things we wanted to show on our planet is the good news stories.
We wanted to show it's an environmental series that we wanted to show some of the good news is and what's happened in Chernobyl is extraordinary.
You know you could say that's the greatest environmental disaster in in your name in in recent years and yet the Foresters overtaken Chernobyl it is turned green and actually feeling the walls.
They was unbelievably difficult it we wasn't done by camera operators.
It was done by remote cameras about 30 or 40.
They left there for 203 years and every time an animal walks past it far as I can you get a child and we were amazed by the number of all time is it says there are more wolves in Chernobyl than in the surrounding area, so that was a very good news story and how can you mitigate the risk from nuclear radiation you don't stay there very long.
What is the best way to spend their sent another producer? I said safely back in Britain history of a bit less nuclear radiation in Risca indeed and how many cars did get to thirty or forty cameras, let's get technical for the geeks among listeners and there are many tells about Souls cameras.
You using to get that HD well.
It's the highest resolution 4K cameras that would delivering and high dynamic range which is unbelievably beautiful you have to see it to believe it and as you said earlier.
You need to be a streamer to see to the Liver aged an academic rage to your audience because there's so much data that are terrestrial broadcast I can't use it you mention the animals don't be the scripts think that nature is it's very slow.
Where is Television is very fast how much you prepared to chop and change shots know the words to Edith to inject drama into scenes.
I mean we are it's very very important to us that what we show is absolutely scientifically accurate but as you say think that nature takes a long time and we often will sue.
1 behaviour many many times to get the action to allowed to cut together at sequence.
Yeah, I ask people like me to ask you about the making of great natural issue shows and a very distinguished producer of a very adjusting his radio show said how much is fake well absolutely nothing on our planet, but it did with things that I know the snakes and iguana wasn't one of yours the other famous viral clip of it have an iguana get away from some steaks, but you watch this 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
It's gone completely vile broke the internet and YouTube and a lot of it looks like a very stylized brilliantly chopped up bunch of shots and I'm not say any of it was fakes of you all authentic a real but a lot of editing and filming chopping up the goes up to heighten the drama the other that's to know first time anybody made a movie this I did editing editing is not your nose.
It's not not radical.
I mean people in the plug in the UK have seen a lot of natural history and they expect wonderful quality and expect wonderful drama the dramas are out there.
The Natural World is extraordinarily dramatic place.
Job is to capture it does take a bro long time.
I mean there's an amazing sequence in our planet of Siberian tigers now.
There are only 600 left in the wild we spent two whole winter's with two caravan in Hyde wouldn't they couldn't get out of it for 6 weeks 9 of those cameraman filling out the Hydra couldn't get up there for six weeks neither of those camera Man filmed a single frame of Siberian tigers.
They heard them roaring and night they never saw them.
The only images we got were again using motion control cameras for two winter's we had those motion control camera setup.
We only started getting shots in the second winter when we started to understand what the tigers were going we only got 37 shots that are there any well, that's if you see the sequence what's amazing about it.
It looks as if it's been shot by a camera operator it hasn't it's all remote camera.
How tolerant are the people who pay the bills Netflix in the BBC's if you come back and say look we've been ever to winter's got nothing well.
The one thing we know and wildlife filmmaking is you have a 50-minute show.
When you have a set budget and I always say that our job is risk management.
We should manage failure and the skills that the producers that and the teams that work with me have is to analyse that risk and you go for some very risky things and quite often it fails you then also make sure you do some silesia things as well, then I guess the movie Pitch and your project or projects in it's got to do that was name next to it.
You've always got the Greenlight there and then gives a sense of how many requests from broadcasts as for your services and his narration you turn down every year.
I'm sure David turns down very very many and we turned down quite a lot of projects.
There's only 85 of us and silverback film that and we deliberately keep it small you know but each of our projects takes three or 4 years to make so we can only do so many projects and any one time you got several of the bubbling together.
Yeah, we have to A3 landmarks areas and a and a couple of movies food for Disney they said a minute ago that will moan ago that your your your program.
Political in it's also based on scientific fact but my say.
Images of the punters of you it is that your programs instead of its contribution has got more politically is more explicitly talking about climate change in the way the paps.
You would've done 20 odd years ago was 31 years ago.
Do you think it's got easier to do that because there's a consensus about climate change now the way that there wasn't 21 years go to BBC might be more relaxed about it now.
I think it's certainly got easier.
I mean when I did The Frozen Planet series in 2011.
I was really pleased at the BBC agreed to do in prime time in the same slot as the other other episodes and episode about climate change you had to when you're dealing with the poles and I think that even the BBC was surprised by the extraordinary action to plastics and blue Planet 2 so certainly it has got easier, but this is our planet is the first landmark global natural ski series 8 deals in any depth with the challenges our planet faces.
Madhu think Alice is going out is a very attractive case for work with Netflix how does BBC complete an Ironman of the millennial?
Racing and you know I buy as as he mentioned I watch Netflix and I'm a subscriber to many different streaming services, but at the same time.
I'm a huge consumer of nature programmes on BBC so I think that are partly as a viewer I feel like we're going to go where the the best content is and we discuss this earlier as well why convenience my take you part of the way everything is in one place it easy to kind of get mass content you still going to go to where the quality is because you might be some point the inflation in this world is so big the BBC can't afford our services.
I think it when moving that way when when you know technology companies with the world's biggest market cap of getting into the media business everybody else needs to pull their socks up and see whether they're doing Springwatch to do in blue planet.
Live are doing an enormous range of natural history that and then she starts working when I talk about inflation in the cost of services which is a nice so we still going to leave it there now because it shows
So frustrating me short mio planet which is on Netflix next week.
Thank you both very much for coming in and thank you.
Also to read other got you doing it from San Francisco with thank you Bible to you for listening with back at the same time next week.
Thanks for this thing goodbye.
Transcriptions done by Google Cloud Platform.
Lots more recommendations to read at Trends - ukfree.tv.
Summaries are done by Clipped-Your articles and documents summarized.