Sky is different to other broadcasters because we are a subscription business – we create television that is worth paying for.

The biggest difference is that, because we are all about quality and providing something that Free-To-Air TV doesn't, we commission fewer projects, and have a much leaner team than other broadcasters. In turn, this means we only arrange meetings to discuss ideas we love, that have the potential to be developed and made for our channels.

The big question, then, is how to get an idea going at Sky.

Simply email the relevant genre teams (rather than the channel heads) with your initial ideas, contact details can be found below. We don’t accept scripts or ideas from the general public. For members of the general public with good ideas, we suggest you contact an agent or production company about it so that they can help you develop it for us. 

We promise to acknowledge ideas within 48 hours of them being sent in and then reply to them as soon as possible. This can take up to 4 weeks for entertainment and arts and 6 weeks in scripted. If we like the idea, we will then ask you in for a meeting. Meetings start on time and don’t last hours. We know you’re all as busy as we are. We don’t have slots to fill like other broadcasters, we are making pay television, so these are tent pole pieces specifically for our customers, and they are all different so they don’t fit a tariff model.

For more information and for the Programme proposal Terms and Conditions:
https://www.skygroup.sky/corporate/about-sky/commissioning-and-ideas-submission/commissioning-and-ideas-submission

DRAMA (Anne Mensah)

The drama team look for 6-8 shows per year, predominately for Sky Atlantic although we also commission for Sky 1. Across both Sky 1 and Sky Atlantic, we seek out shows that are authored, audacious and unconventional. We can be funny, sad, light, dark, action-led, relationship-orientated or even fantasy-based. What we can never be is ordinary, bleak or predictable. Truthful characters and heartfelt emotion underpin everything we do. We look hard for dramas that will stand out from the crowd and create an impact.

Please share your ideas with:

• Lindsay Salt, Joint Head of Development: Lindsay.salt@sky.uk
• Anna Hargreaves, Development Co-ordinator: Anna.hargreaves@sky.uk

COMEDY (Jon Montague)

The simple metric for scripted comedy is - make us laugh. Our customers expect shows that are arrestingly funny. We're after surprising shows that deliver great performers and brilliantly memorable characters. The best comedy is relatable, but never predictable. Our commissioning team is extremely collaborative but we have high standards; Sky is the place where the finest comedy performers, writers, directors and producers can do their very best work. If you can bring our customers premium talent, premium laughs and premium production values, we'll take care of the rest.

Our chief area of focus is Sky 1. Quite simply we're looking for two types of post-watershed show, and comedy for Sky Arts:

• Hour long comedy-drama at 9pm. We've had great success here with titles such as Stella and Mount Pleasant. We're building on that. We want big comic engines at the heart of our shows that easily sustain an hour and leave you gagging for more. Don't be afraid of scale - both on screen and in premise.
• Half hour narrative comedy at 10pm. We can go edgier here, don't be afraid to push boundaries, if we're not talked about we're not succeeding. We don't have to build our 10pm pieces around traditional family units. In fact the more you can subvert and surprise the better. Big talent is always good but we'll listen to inventive casting thoughts too.
• Comedy on Sky Arts - We are looking for single half hour comedies with a foot firmly in the arts and culture camp. We've enjoyed success here with the award winning 'Psychobitches', 'A Young Doctor's Notebook' and our highly acclaimed recent series 'Urban Myths' of which we're likely to do more.

Send solicited scripts/treatments - cc-ing Nicole.muldowney@sky.uk - to

• Jon Mountague – Head of Comedy Jon.mountague@sky.uk
• Morwenna Gordon – Commissioning Editor Morwenna.gordon@sky.uk
• Tilusha Ghelani – Commissioning Editor Tilusha.ghelani@sky.uk

ENTERTAINMENT (Phil Edgar-Jones)

SKY 1

Our role for Sky 1 is to drive volume (no sense in doing a show if not enough people watch it) and talkability. Our shows need to be notable in some way – coming from somewhere authentic, connecting with audiences and driving conversation. We want to be grown up, and appeal to everyone.

We are focussing on two areas:

1. Big scale entertainment events: this could be a studio event or a location event. It could be something competitive, it could be a “reality”.
2. Factual entertainment series: again scale and ambition is important. We need some new worlds to explore in new ways. These shows should feel cinematic – and maybe taking film tropes as a starting point is a helpful beginning.

We aren’t going to be doing talent-led shows in the short term as we really want to focus on the above. Nor will we be doing single docs or ob-doc series (unless you can turn these into fact ent event pieces).

Tone-wise – A League of Their Own still stands tall as the beacon of tone on Sky 1 – obviously no sense in aping it but that sense of being the funniest folks in the pub is often spot on.

SKY ARTS

Basically – brilliant access to the very best people and places in the arts.

We don’t want ideas that are too ‘TV construct’ as we aren’t looking for formats as such at the moment. Programmes on specific subject or genres seem to work best so don’t be afraid to be a bit niche. Our audience is a little older (45/55 plus) so worth bearing that in mind. We can cover all art genres and we have a couple of strands that can support single films – our ‘Passions’ strand where notable people discuss other notable people or art movements they admire; and our ‘Rock Docs’ strands really need to be unique tales of the best artist in contemporary music.

For all submissions please contact one of the Entertainment and Arts Commissioning Editors:

• shirley.jones@sky.uk
• Bill.Hobbins@sky.uk
• Marvyn.Benoit@sky.uk
• Siobhan.Mulholland@sky.uk
• Barbara.Lee@sky.uk
• Director of Sky Arts and Head of Entertainment: philip.edgar-jones@sky.uk

SKY KIDS

We commission for kids aged 2 – 9 and we split that audience into three distinct areas: 2–4, 4-7 and 7-9 year olds although some shows, like Morph, can stretch across those age groups. We already have a lot of action adventure, toon comedy and US tween/teen dramas so won’t be commissioning in those areas. We also have a lot of pre-school shows so our focus when we commission is usually aimed at the four and overs. Format is flexible, we have commissioned episodes from 90 seconds up to 12 minutes long but we don’t tend to commission long runs. We are also looking for standalone TV specials.

Submissions can be made to skykids@sky.uk.