The short answer
Broadcasters plan schedules around anniversaries, especially round numbers like 50 and 100 years. Because scripted drama can take two to three years to develop and make, you should be developing for an anniversary two to three years before it falls. The strongest anniversaries have a story an audience already half knows, a fresh angle, and archive or locations to draw on.
Why anniversaries get commissioned
An anniversary gives a commissioner a reason to schedule a programme at a particular moment, and gives the press a reason to write about it. Round numbers matter most: 50th, 75th and 100th anniversaries of births, deaths, disasters, discoveries and political events.
How far ahead to start
Work back from the date. For drama, allow time for development, commissioning, production and post-production, which together can run to two or three years. For documentary, a year or more is common. An anniversary in 2030 is a decision to make by 2027.
Judging an anniversary
- Recognition. Will an audience know the event, or can they be made to care quickly?
- A fresh angle. What has not been said? Commissioners hear the obvious pitch many times.
- Archive. For factual programmes, footage and photographs are essential. An event with no surviving footage is hard to make for television.
- Competition. Big anniversaries attract many pitches. A smaller anniversary with a better story can win.
- Rights. Check the rights in any underlying book or life story well before the date.
BlackSlate's Milestones lists more than 5,600 anniversaries from 2027 to 2034, ranked by how commissionable they look and flagged for whether archive footage is likely to exist.
Questions
For scripted drama, two to three years before the date. For documentary, usually at least a year.
Mostly round numbers, especially 50th and 100th anniversaries of widely known events, people and works, where there is a fresh angle and material to draw on.
In BlackSlate
More on commissioning