RTÉ Arts & Culture: Commissioning Call
RTÉ requires that any company awarded a Commission is aware of the obligations under the RTÉ Journalism & Content Guidelines 2020 and the statutory and regulatory obligations under the Broadcasting Act 2009 and the relevant Codes of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (www.bai.ie).
RTÉ works in partnership with independent producers to create many of Ireland’s favourite television programmes.
As programme-makers, we work together in one of the most competitive broadcasting environments in the world. We compete for viewers against some of the world’s largest commercial broadcasters and the world’s best-funded public service broadcaster. In recent years, on-demand services have also had an impact on the viewing habits of our audiences.
Our audiences want to be informed and entertained. They want top quality original Irish content. Our schedules are built on this. To continue to compete, we need your ideas and production skill to produce the shows that our audiences want to watch.
We have recently restructured our commissioning division into Groups to better facilitate you in producing quality content for our audiences. There are seven Content Groups: Drama, Entertainment, Music & Comedy; Factual; Arts and Culture; Cláracha Gaeilge, Sport and Young Peoples Programmes. Each Group serves our audience in a different way and you can find out what the requirements of each Group are by reading the commissioning briefs posted above.
We are now accepting your proposals on a ‘rolling commissioning’ basis. You should only pitch proposals that are properly worked up and clearly meet our commissioning briefs. We will update the briefs regularly, flagging you if we need more ideas in a certain area, or if new slots have opened up.
Under this system, most proposals will be rejected quickly, on the basis that a quick no is better than a long drawn out maybe.
For now, the majority of our focus and commissioned spend remains focused on television, but if you do have a strong digital-only or RTÉ Player idea, please contact the relevant Group Head or Commissioning Editor directly.
Should you require any assistance with your submissions, please contact either Michelle Kenny or Laura Finnegan in the Independent Productions Unit office on (01) 2082743 and (01) 2083429.
At heart, across all our programming, we’re looking for ideas that innovate and entertain.
Best of luck with your proposals.
RTÉ ARTS & CULTURE COMMISSIONING BRIEF
RTÉ is committed to revitalising its approach to arts & culture, aiming to create content that resonates with a broad spectrum of Irish audiences. We are seeking ambitious, returnable formats that stand out in our television schedule and on RTÉ Player.
We invite independent production companies to submit ideas for high-impact, prime-time arts formats and documentary series. We are particularly interested in proposals that reflect and comment on life in Ireland, featuring human interest stories with strong narratives that engage and introduce the arts or Irish culture to a mainstream audience.
We also welcome proposals that mark significant anniversaries or explore major arts projects and national events. Our focus includes ambitious cultural events on a national scale with emotional impact, live events for multi-platform broadcast that capture the current zeitgeist, unite the nation, and tell the story of who we are and how we are evolving as a nation.
RTÉ ARTS & CULTURE, Formatted Series
Duration: 6 x 24 minute episodes
Budget Range: €45,000 – €60,000 per episode
or
Duration: 50 minutes short series
Budget Range: €90,000 – €120,000 per hour for series
In exceptional circumstances if a higher cost per hour is necessary, producers should provide additional information and details explaining the reasons for the increased cost.
We need cornerstone programmes in the RTÉ ONE schedule that resonate with viewers both emotionally and intellectually. The joy and significance we derive from culture should be reflected in recurring formats. Exemplary popular arts formats include Sky’s Portrait Artist of the Year and BBC’s Fake or Fortune. These shows celebrate and educate through layered formats designed to reach a broader audience beyond the traditional arts constituency. On RTÉ, Ireland’s Hidden Treasures and Page Turners follow a similar approach. Additionally, Lady Gregory, Ireland’s First Social Influencer, a two-part series featuring actress Miriam Margolyes and Senator Lynn Ruane on a road trip retracing Lady Gregory’s life and work, successfully brought a cultural subject into the mainstream.
We would really like to engage in developing new ideas with production companies that can fill this space. If you have the kernel of an idea, or are working with a talent or institution, please submit it through e-commissioning and we’ll continue the conversation from there.
We have both hour-long and half-hour slots available for arts programming, so we’re open to discussing the most suitable duration and format based on the subject matter. We are particularly interested in series that have the potential to attract Coimisiún na Meán funding and other third-party investments, such as collaborations with national cultural institutions, organizations, or government bodies.
We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system:
https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspx under the programme category “Arts & Culture Formatted Series”
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Please note: The discussion of, or initial interest in, a proposal does not represent a commitment to commission by RTÉ and should not be understood as such.
Commissioning decisions will reflect the quality of proposals received and the scheduling priorities operating at the time. RTÉ’s financial position will also be a factor.
Funding should clearly detail finance plans, identifying all funding parties and the amounts committed.
RTÉ ARTS & CULTURE Documentary, Documentary Series & Events
Slots: Pre-watershed Sundays 18.30 – 19.30
Post-watershed Monday / Wednesday 21.35
Post-watershed Thursday 22.15
Duration: 50 minutes. One-offs and short series.
Budget Range: €100,000 – €130,000 for one-off one-hour documentaries.
€90,000 – €120,000 per hour for series.
Budgets may be negotiable, with preference given to projects that can secure third-party funding.
In exceptional circumstances if a higher cost per hour is necessary, producers should provide additional information and details explaining the reasons for the increased cost.
RTÉ Arts & Culture is seeking proposals that reflect and comment on life in Ireland, focusing on stories with human interest at their core and strong narratives that engage and resonate with a broad audience. We welcome proposals marking anniversaries, ambitious cultural anchor projects, and events on a national scale. We also invite independent production companies to submit ideas for high-impact, prime-time, returnable arts formats on RTÉ One, which have the potential to attract Coimisiún na Meán funding and other third-party financing, such as collaborations with national cultural institutions, organisations, or government bodies. We are looking for programme ideas with a fresh approach.
Stories of Cultural Significance – Society & History
We are interested in commissioning one-off or, where merited, multi-part short series about subjects from our cultural history. For example, Steps of Freedom – The Story of Irish Dance is a sweeping, cinematic, two-part documentary that tells the story of Irish dance and its evolution from ancient ritual to a global phenomenon over the last three decades. Similarly, Jack B. Yeats, The Man Who Painted Ireland, marking 150 years since the artist’s birth, worked well in this vein. Author Colm Tóibín co-developed the story and wrote the script, narrated by Pierce Brosnan, both fans of Yeats. We are interested in contemporary figures and stories that have significantly impacted recent Irish culture and society.
Personality driven Documentaries
Personality-driven documentaries can provide audiences with an appealing ‘way-in’ to big stories in Irish culture, featuring well-known faces on personal journeys with insightful commentary. The recent two-part series Tommy Tiernan’s Epic West is a prime example of personal engagement with a big subject, enhancing viewer experience rather than distracting from the subject matter. Another good example is Francis Bacon: The Outsider, presented by Adam Clayton. We are looking for presenters with a clear passion for the subject matter, whether from the past, present, or future.
Distinctive Profiles
Colm Tóibín – On Memory’s Shore is a good example of a style and approach that works well. The documentary eschewed a conventional talking heads format and brought us into the life, home, and under the skin of one of Ireland’s most successful novelists by featuring only the subject, Colm Tóibín, in an intimate and revealing portrayal. Another example is David Puttnam: The Long Way Home, a heartwarming portrait of the Oscar-winning producer and his deep connection with his adopted home, Ireland.
We are interested in other figures in contemporary Irish cultural life that could merit a similar immersive, intimate approach. The audience responds well to this style of storytelling, even with lesser-known subjects such as Songs of the Open Road, a documentary on Thomas McCarthy, a singer from the travelling community, and Clodagh, a trailblazing Irish designer. Both are honest and intimate portrayals told primarily by the subjects themselves with strong use of archive material. The key to a successful profile commission is the director’s vision—how the film elevates the subject and adds real texture to the story. We are as interested in how the story is told as in who it is about.
Big Profiles of Cultural Icons
We are interested in profiles featuring artists who have had an exceptional effect on culture and a particular generation of Irish people in recent times. We are looking for subjects that straddle the lines between entertainment, news, factual, and the arts.
Are there other iconic cultural figures whose life, work, and legacy are ready to be explored and even re-examined? Perhaps dismantling the half-truths, misconceptions, and myths that have grown up around certain figures or eras. This could extend to notable iconic cultural figures from our recent past and present day. Recent feature documentary releases like Nothing Compares and Love Yourself Today are strong examples of the kind of story and storytelling that RTÉ would like to support. Are there issues and news stories bubbling up that might be told in a different way to the news agenda? The recent international release All The Beauty and the Bloodshed follows the life of American artist Nan Goldin and the fall of the Sackler family. While that’s not our story to tell, where in our recent history can we find the intersection between art and society?
Music and Live Events
RTÉ Arts & Culture places strong strategic importance on growing our relationships with artists, musicians, and performers. With this in mind, we are interested in hearing your ideas. Recent in-house Arts & Culture shows include Shine Your Light Easter 2021, Shine Concert – Summer 2021, Bowie: Starman with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Culture Night 2023 – Live from Dunlewey and Arranmore, The RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards live from Vicar Street, and Ireland 100: An Old Song Resung. We are interested in hearing your fresh, inventive ideas with or without the use of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. An example of a fresh idea from the independent sector is the much-lauded A Note For Nature, exploring, through music, the beauty and fragility of the Irish landscape and habitat in this time of ecological instability.
Please consider the orchestra in development ideas where the soundtrack could be recorded as part of a commission or RTÉ’s support.
Preference will be given to ideas that can attract third-party funding.
Gaeilge
Tá suim againn i smaointe ina bhfuil Gaeilge le cloisteáil go nádúrtha, bíodh sin sa rogha ceoil, sna h-agallaimh, an láithriú srl.
We are to hear ideas that use the Irish language as a natural part of the programme from music choice, interviews, presentation and more.
We ask, in the first instance, that producers submit ideas into the eCommissioning system https://e-commissioning.rte.ie/SWIFT.Web/skins/rte/login.aspx under the programme category “Arts & Culture Documentary Series and Events”
Please note: The discussion of, or initial interest in, a proposal does not represent a commitment to commission by RTÉ and should not be understood as such.
Commissioning decisions will reflect the quality of proposals received and the scheduling priorities operating at the time. RTÉ’s financial position will also be a factor.
Funding should clearly detail finance plans, identifying all funding parties and the amounts committed.
RTÉ / ARTE G.E.I.E. Co-production Fund
History of the Fund
In November 2016, RTÉ and ARTE G.E.I.E., the Strasbourg branch of the Franco-German public broadcaster ARTE, joined forces to develop and co-fund exceptional documentary projects, aiming to bring more Irish content to European audiences. Since then, ARTE G.E.I.E. and RTÉ have invested in a diverse range of Irish documentaries covering factual topics, current affairs, history, and the arts. The collaboration between ARTE commissioning editors and Irish production companies has flourished, creating numerous opportunities for Irish creative talent.
Practical Information
The fund operates on a rolling basis, with projects being developed and funded continuously. We seek standout single documentaries that have secured development or broadcast commitments from an RTÉ Commissioning Editor, which can then be pitched to ARTE’s specific documentary strands. Most documentaries for ARTE are 52 minutes long and do not include commercial breaks. The RTÉ version of the programme should be a 50 minute duration with two commercial breaks as agreed with the RTÉ Commissioning Editor.
RTÉ and ARTE welcome ideas from all genres, including Factual, Specialist Factual, Science and Natural Science, History, Archaeology and Human Endeavour, Current Affairs/Geopolitics, and Arts, Culture, and Music. We are particularly interested in compelling Irish stories with international appeal, whether they focus on ancient or contemporary history, arts, or society/current affairs. Ambitious factual, specialist factual, and arts documentaries that resonate with both Irish and European audiences are highly valued.
Given that ARTE documentaries are broadcast in multiple territories, projects led by voiceovers that can be revoiced in several languages are preferred. Presenter-led documentaries or series are generally not suitable for ARTE, except in rare cases where the presenter is a global icon, such as Angelica Huston on Joyce by Blueprint Films.
Completed projects must be delivered to ARTE 6-8 weeks before the broadcast date to allow time for translation, subtitling, and revoicing in French and German, as well as Polish, Spanish, and Italian for on-demand services. The costs for revoicing and subtitling are covered by ARTE and should not be included in the programme production budgets.
How To Apply
Production companies interested in submitting a programme proposal for the fund should initially submit their proposal through RTÉ’s e-Commissioning system Login | RTE (rtegroup.ie) . Indicate that the idea is suitable for co-production with ARTE and provide information on any other third-party funders if applicable. If the proposal is approved for further consideration, Sarah Ryder, RTÉ’s ARTE lead, will present it to the relevant ARTE commissioning executives.
Further information
For more details on the RTÉ / ARTE G.E.I.E. co-production fund, please contact Sarah Ryder at sarah.ryder@rte.ie.
