Focus:Backgammon A look at backgammon from behind the camera with Andy Bell, Series Producer for 8 mm Productions
Television has done much to facilitate the huge growth in gaming. How do you think the series will capture audiences?
I have been working on this series for 18 months, and having recorded it, I really believe it does work. We are using certain key ingredients - commentary, graphics, and carefully planned camera axis to get the right angle of play. This was a challenge as in a game like football, production technique has evolved naturally over a number of years so you know where the camera needs to be to cover the game. We were starting from scratch.
One aspect I actually found really telling about the compelling nature of the game is that my crew, who had never played the game before filming it, became captivated by the drama of the competition, the roll of the dice the strategy of good play and the characters involved. This is perhaps worth comparing to poker, where the success of it as a spectator sport is attributed to the game being widely understood. But it wasn’t at first. Poker coverage has very successfully educated an audience into understanding and enjoying the game. And like poker, backgammon has a balance of luck and skill to entertain the watcher.
I can’t think of another game, other than poker, that has the chance to captivate viewers like backgammon. What we had to achieve somehow was to match the drama of poker – the hidden cameras that are so critical to the drama in poker. Our solution was Snowie, the artificial intelligence program which offers the audience an additional view into what’s right and wrong. The human perspective is crucial, and is what makes up the commentary, but Snowie gives the series insight – it’s rather like the hidden camera of poker that keeps audiences so hooked.
You mentioned how crucial the human perspective is to the series, but how did you go about making the commentary dramatic to match the spirit of the competition itself?
Watching and listening to player and commentator Paul Magriel made me realize the game could have appeal for television, so he was always a firm choice to lead the commentary team. To work with him I picked an accomplished English player, John Clark. Few players have the intimate understanding or feel for the game to be able to describe it the way Paul and John can, who also have a humorous way of presenting things as well as very strong opinions on the game and play. It makes it really exciting to hear this banter, added together with the technical analysis that Snowie gives, which really make for the impression of man v machine – somewhat like Kasparov V Deep Blue.
The parallel between backgammon and poker has been made often, but how far do you think poker can be used as a model for backgammon success?
This series is the starting point for backgammon. Poker is the template. This is the catalyst. There is a real future in backgammon - it has huge potential. Even if it were to only achieve 15% of the hype that poker does, it would be a success. Poker has astonished broadcasters by the power and scope of its television appeal. Only five years ago it was unthinkable that a major TV deal was possible for poker coverage. Poker started on the Travel Channel in the US, and now, incredibly, CBS has plans in the U.S as does ITV in the UK. Backgammon is a board game, but it is an extraordinary game, it’s a money game, and a very cool game. It’s interesting to note for example that in the 1970s when disco was popular so was backgammon. In the US many discos had rows of backgammon boards set up during disco fever.
The game has clearly had some popular highs, but why have you decided to champion backgammon? What makes backgammon so special?
Backgammon is a race, it’s about strategy, and it’s a battle field. These elements are critical to television. And let’s not forget the money factor. It is no coincidence that poker and backgammon are the world’s best money games. If an audience has an understanding of what people are playing for – the cash incentive - then it becomes interesting. It boils down to a race though, with an element of luck which perhaps convinces people that they too could win because they believe it’s easy to play… but it is not. In chess you pretty much know who is going to win, but in backgammon you don’t. A victory in backgammon or poker can make you feel really great and give you the impression of strength – but these games play tricks and many of us now know it’s possible to win in the short-term by playing badly!
There are multiple layers to the game, and only the very accomplished understand the multitude of playing levels. That’s why you now see a number of professional players in poker as was the case in backgammon many years ago. In actual fact, Snowie has evened the playing field in backgammon making it harder for top players to make a living as the weak have realized they are massive underdogs in money games or indeed they have used Snowie to improve. Nevertheless, TV will stimulate growth in the game and like poker, backgammon will have a surge of popularity bringing in 1000s of new money players to add to the food chain!
This element is crucial to backgammon working on TV. For this, and future series to work, tournaments that want to be part of a TV tour, MUST deliver large numbers of online qualifiers to increase the prize funds and therefore attract the top players into paying increased entry fees. Therefore backgammon servers and tournaments must collaborate – in return, TV will deliver the profile needed to secure additional sponsorships, support from hotels and casinos and attention from backgammon servers who can deliver players. There are only three tournaments in the world today that can be considered for TV. Hopefully this series will be a success and a new series focusing on several tournaments somewhat like the WPT, will be feasible for broadcast in Europe, the U.S and Asia.
Who is your target market for this first series?
The series will air in October in the UK, Germany and Denmark on a channel called Pokerzone and we have signed a distribution agreement with a major TV company to distribute worldwide in all media. The Pokerzone audience is 18 to 35 year old males, so this is the central target, but the audience will be wider than that. Pokerzone has a much wider viewing appeal than the players themselves. Ideally we would like players like Gus Hansen watching the series, who have proven in the U.S that games playing personalities can have very wide appeal, even to housewives! Hopefully he will return to play big televised backgammon tournaments as a result of the series. We filmed a fascinating interview with Gus in London for series. But it is going to take a couple of years for backgammon to evolve the way that poker has - its not going to be an overnight hit. But poker has laid the stones for this.
