Jane Root
Encyclopedia
Jane Root is a creative executive in the media industry, who has run major television networks on both sides of the Atlantic. As Controller of BBC Two
(1999 to 2004), she was the first woman to be a channel controller for the BBC
, and was later President of Discovery Networks in the United States
.
Root studied Journalism at London College of Communication
, before moving on to Sussex University to study International Relations. Later awarded an honourary doctorate from the university in 2002, she worked for several years as a freelance journalist, writing for publications such as Honey, The Guardian
, and Cosmopolitan
. She also worked as a journalist with the British Film Institute
and with the Cinema of Women film collective.
Moving into television production, Root worked as a researcher and a producer on a range of projects including working with Michael Jackson (television executive) on the Channel 4
series Open The Box. Root also wrote the accompanying book Open the Box: About Television (1986) as well as the accompanying book to the series Pictures of Women titled Pictures of Women: Sexuality (1984).
. During her tenure, alongside business partner Alex Graham, she helped nurture Wall to Wall from being a start-up to becoming 'one of the leading factual programme-makers in the business', best known in the United States for Texas Ranger House on PBS. The company was recently sold to Shed Media
.
.
In 1999, she became Controller for BBC Two
, running the UK's 3rd largest network, and was the first woman controller of a BBC television channel. Her controllership included commissioning the original British series of The Office
as well as Coupling
, The Weakest Link
, Top Gear, What Not to Wear, and Who Do You Think You Are?. During her time as controller, the network also had a relationship with HBO which produced Band of Brothers and Rome (TV series)
. Root is credited with the success of viewer vote 'event' programming like 100 Greatest Britons
, a format which went on to be sold to countries around the world. The series was received with a mixed response in the press, with some critics targeting the populist nature of the chosen personalities. The Big Read, a series with a similar public vote format, was equally successful with viewers but was reviled by some critics.
There were criticisms of her time at the channel, "Root's BBC Two increasingly gave the impression of being pieced together on the flimsiest of whims", with claims that the arts and 'serious' documentaries were sidelined in pursuit of ratings, leaving it to BBC Four
to develop innovative programmes. However, Root defended the "real revitalisation in current affairs and arts programming" that she oversaw at BBC2, with cultural programming such as Mozart, and Love Again (about poet Philip Larkin) as prime examples. She was also praised for over-seeing key factual series such as Restoration (TV series)
and A History of Britain (TV series) with Simon Schama
.
In the five years Root was controller, during which BBC Two celebrated its 40th Anniversary, the channel bucked the trend in declining viewing figures by increasing its audience share. Under Root, BBC Two was the third most-watched channel in the UK, with ratings consistently above 11%. The network also won the prestigious "Channel of the Year" award for two years in a row at the Edinburgh International Television Festival
.
Root left her position at the BBC in 2004, and moved to the US to join Discovery Networks. Jana Bennett
, Director of Television at the BBC, said at the time that the channel was losing "an exceptional creative talent who has inspired programme-makers".
She was succeeded by Roly Keating
. In 2009 Janice Hadlow, current controller of BBC2 talked about her influence in an article in the Guardian newspaper and said "A lot of the things Jane did were extraordinary, channel defining".
, Science Channel, Military Channel
and Times Channel (now called Investigation Discovery).
During her presidency, she re-positioned the network with shows such as Deadliest Catch
, Man vs. Wild
, and Dirty Jobs
. She also organised the promotion around Planet Earth (TV series)
, a joint venture with the BBC, which quickly became one of Discovery's biggest hits.
These shows helped find a new audience for the 20 year-old network, particularly among 25-to-54-year-old males. This led to record ratings and primetime increases of 10% in 2006 and 13% in 2007, and overall ratings up in 2007 to 16%.
In digital, Discovery.com experienced 200% growth in page views in 2007 alone. The site was also part of the Top Ten Digital Hot List in Adweek
in the same year, where the network was praised for truly delivering on both online video content and multi-platform ad opportunities.
In 2007, Discovery announced her departure from the channel. She was replaced at Discovery by John Ford.
The was much speculation in the British press that she would be taking up the role of controller of BBC1, but in the event the job went to Jay Hunt, a former BBC Daytime controller.
. The new company aims to focus on ambitious factual series of all types, as well as factually-inspired drama.
Root is CEO and the Managing Director is Laura Franses, who has previously held senior positions at Raw TV, Amaze TV and RDF Media
. Other board members are Michael Jackson (television executive) and Peter Bazalgette
.
In May 2009, it was announced that Nutopia's first commission would be the 12-part series America: The Story of US for the History Channel. The series focuses on American history, from the origins of the country to infrastructural and technological development, exploring the people, places and things that shaped its history.
In December 2010 Jane gave the Keynote speech at the SPAA Conference
in Sydney. She is also an active commentator on the television industry and has a blog page with online news site Huffington Post
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
(1999 to 2004), she was the first woman to be a channel controller for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and was later President of Discovery Networks in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Root studied Journalism at London College of Communication
London College of Communication
The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, located in Elephant and Castle. It has about 5,000 students on 60 courses in media and design courses preparing students for careers in the creative industries...
, before moving on to Sussex University to study International Relations. Later awarded an honourary doctorate from the university in 2002, she worked for several years as a freelance journalist, writing for publications such as Honey, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, and Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
. She also worked as a journalist with the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
and with the Cinema of Women film collective.
Moving into television production, Root worked as a researcher and a producer on a range of projects including working with Michael Jackson (television executive) on the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
series Open The Box. Root also wrote the accompanying book Open the Box: About Television (1986) as well as the accompanying book to the series Pictures of Women titled Pictures of Women: Sexuality (1984).
Wall to Wall
In 1987, Root co-founded and was Joint Managing Director of independent production company Wall to Wall. She helped to launch The Media Show, a defining program from the early years of Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. During her tenure, alongside business partner Alex Graham, she helped nurture Wall to Wall from being a start-up to becoming 'one of the leading factual programme-makers in the business', best known in the United States for Texas Ranger House on PBS. The company was recently sold to Shed Media
Shed Media
Shed Media Group is a British creator and distributor of television content. The Group produces long-running television brands in drama, factual, documentary, factual entertainment, and history....
.
The BBC
In 1997, Root became the head of the BBC's Independent Commissioning Group, a new department tasked with finding 25% of the BBC's output from the independent production sector. The group – which dealt with drama, entertainment and factual – was responsible for hits like The Naked Chef, and Root was dubbed the "high priestess of lifestyle television" after she championed Jamie OliverJamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
.
In 1999, she became Controller for BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, running the UK's 3rd largest network, and was the first woman controller of a BBC television channel. Her controllership included commissioning the original British series of The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
as well as Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
, The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
, Top Gear, What Not to Wear, and Who Do You Think You Are?. During her time as controller, the network also had a relationship with HBO which produced Band of Brothers and Rome (TV series)
Rome (TV series)
Rome is a British-American–Italian historical drama television series created by Bruno Heller, John Milius and William J. MacDonald. The show's two seasons premiered in 2005 and 2007, and were later released on DVD. Rome is set in the 1st century BC, during Ancient Rome's transition from Republic...
. Root is credited with the success of viewer vote 'event' programming like 100 Greatest Britons
100 Greatest Britons
100 Greatest Britons was broadcast in 2002 by the BBC. The programme was the result of a vote conducted to determine whom the United Kingdom public considers the greatest British people in history. The series, Great Britons, included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further...
, a format which went on to be sold to countries around the world. The series was received with a mixed response in the press, with some critics targeting the populist nature of the chosen personalities. The Big Read, a series with a similar public vote format, was equally successful with viewers but was reviled by some critics.
There were criticisms of her time at the channel, "Root's BBC Two increasingly gave the impression of being pieced together on the flimsiest of whims", with claims that the arts and 'serious' documentaries were sidelined in pursuit of ratings, leaving it to BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
to develop innovative programmes. However, Root defended the "real revitalisation in current affairs and arts programming" that she oversaw at BBC2, with cultural programming such as Mozart, and Love Again (about poet Philip Larkin) as prime examples. She was also praised for over-seeing key factual series such as Restoration (TV series)
Restoration (TV series)
Restoration, Restoration, Restoration is a set of BBC television series where viewers decided on which listed building that was in immediate need of remedial works was to win a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund...
and A History of Britain (TV series) with Simon Schama
Simon Schama
Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...
.
In the five years Root was controller, during which BBC Two celebrated its 40th Anniversary, the channel bucked the trend in declining viewing figures by increasing its audience share. Under Root, BBC Two was the third most-watched channel in the UK, with ratings consistently above 11%. The network also won the prestigious "Channel of the Year" award for two years in a row at the Edinburgh International Television Festival
Edinburgh International Television Festival
The Edinburgh International Television Festival, founded in 1976, is held annually over the British August bank holiday weekend at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre....
.
Root left her position at the BBC in 2004, and moved to the US to join Discovery Networks. Jana Bennett
Jana Bennett
Jana Bennett OBE is Director of Vision at the BBC. She took up the post in 2006, having been Director of Television from April 2002. She was previously Executive Vice President and General Manager at Discovery Communications in the US...
, Director of Television at the BBC, said at the time that the channel was losing "an exceptional creative talent who has inspired programme-makers".
She was succeeded by Roly Keating
Roly Keating
Roland "Roly" Keating is the current Director of Archive Content for the BBC.-Education:Keating was educated at Westminster School, an independent school for boys in London, followed by Balliol College at the University of Oxford, where he read Classics.-Life and career:Keating joined the BBC in...
. In 2009 Janice Hadlow, current controller of BBC2 talked about her influence in an article in the Guardian newspaper and said "A lot of the things Jane did were extraordinary, channel defining".
Discovery Networks USA
As President of Discovery Networks, Root ran a portfolio of channels that included Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
, Science Channel, Military Channel
Military Channel
The Military Channel is a cable and satellite television network which broadcasts television programming related to the military, warfare and military history. It is part of the group of networks owned by Discovery Communications within the United States and Canada...
and Times Channel (now called Investigation Discovery).
During her presidency, she re-positioned the network with shows such as Deadliest Catch
Deadliest Catch
Deadliest Catch is a documentary/reality television series produced by Original Productions for the Discovery Channel. It portrays the real life events aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and C. opilio crab fishing seasons.The Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor,...
, Man vs. Wild
Man vs. Wild
Man vs. Wild, also called Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, Ultimate Survival, or Survival Game, is a survival television series hosted by Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel. In the United Kingdom, the series was originally shown on Channel 4, but later series were broadcast on Discovery Channel UK...
, and Dirty Jobs
Dirty Jobs
Dirty Jobs is a program on the Discovery Channel, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television, in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the typical employees. The show premiered with two pilot episodes in November 2003...
. She also organised the promotion around Planet Earth (TV series)
Planet Earth (TV series)
Planet Earth is a 2006 television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and also the first to be filmed in high definition...
, a joint venture with the BBC, which quickly became one of Discovery's biggest hits.
These shows helped find a new audience for the 20 year-old network, particularly among 25-to-54-year-old males. This led to record ratings and primetime increases of 10% in 2006 and 13% in 2007, and overall ratings up in 2007 to 16%.
In digital, Discovery.com experienced 200% growth in page views in 2007 alone. The site was also part of the Top Ten Digital Hot List in Adweek
Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
in the same year, where the network was praised for truly delivering on both online video content and multi-platform ad opportunities.
In 2007, Discovery announced her departure from the channel. She was replaced at Discovery by John Ford.
The was much speculation in the British press that she would be taking up the role of controller of BBC1, but in the event the job went to Jay Hunt, a former BBC Daytime controller.
Nutopia
In 2009, Root returned to the independent production sector to set up a new TV production company called Nutopia (Production Company)Nutopia (production company)
Nutopia is a leading independent production company established in 2008 with offices in London and Washington DC. It specialises in making international specialist fact-based documentary television programmes and has created a pioneering factual television format - the mega-doc...
. The new company aims to focus on ambitious factual series of all types, as well as factually-inspired drama.
Root is CEO and the Managing Director is Laura Franses, who has previously held senior positions at Raw TV, Amaze TV and RDF Media
RDF Media
Zodiak Media is a Anglo-American television production company. It was formed in 2010 when RDF Media Group was acquired by, and merged with Zodiak Entertainment...
. Other board members are Michael Jackson (television executive) and Peter Bazalgette
Peter Bazalgette
Peter "Baz" Bazalgette is a British media expert who helped create the independent TV production sector in the UK and went on to be the leading creative figure in the global TV company Endemol....
.
In May 2009, it was announced that Nutopia's first commission would be the 12-part series America: The Story of US for the History Channel. The series focuses on American history, from the origins of the country to infrastructural and technological development, exploring the people, places and things that shaped its history.
In December 2010 Jane gave the Keynote speech at the SPAA Conference
SPAA Conference
- Screen Producers Association of Australia :The Screen Producers Association of Australia represents the interests of Australian film producers on all issues that affect the business and creative aspects of independent screen production...
in Sydney. She is also an active commentator on the television industry and has a blog page with online news site Huffington Post