The Grand Tour

Jeremy Clarkson Talks Difference Between Amazon and BBC

By now, everyone in the motoring world knows about the infamous punch Jeremy Clarkson delivered on Oisin Tymon in March of 2015 that led to Clarkson’s firing and the beginning of The Grand Tour.

After working with Amazon for the past year or so, Clarkson talked about the difference between the new and the old, otherwise known as Amazon versus the BBC.

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Clarkson has been known to talk about how restrictive the BBC has been, but in other interviews, he has mentioned how great they are at cultivating an environment for growth with their armory of distribution channels.

“brilliant organisation for letting you grow”.

“Everything I know about making television I learnt from the BBC”

“How long were we bumbling around on BBC Two? Three or four years I suppose? Awful. (We made) terrible mistakes and nobody was really watching and then after Richard Hammond went upside down, everybody started to watch.”

“By then the show had got quite good. So (the BBC) is very good at letting a show develop and grow, until it becomes the masterpiece that is Autumnwatch now.”

“The Beeb was tremendous. They were bloody good people.” – Jeremy Clarkson

Despite that environment, there definitely were micro-management issues that Clarkson and producer, Andy Wilman, had to deal with and that eventually led to their departure in 2015.

Now, with Amazon, Wilman has talked about how much freer it feels despite having to carry around the 4k servers in their tent. Now, Clarkson talks about the support Amazon provides after all their hard work.

“The really big difference between Amazon and the BBC is when we finish a film on The Grand Tour, Amazon ring us up and squeak, ‘It’s brilliant, we love it!’… You never got that from the BBC.” – Jeremy Clarkson

A lot of people can say that Clarkson could be a handful to deal with and from my experience at the California taping of The Grand Tour, I saw how much he is involved with the process of producing his new baby. It’s understandable that talent like his wants to be appreciated once in a while and given the flexility to grow.

The tricky part is finding the right balance and I’m sure Amazon is providing flexibility in the form money and the support in the form of just being less of a stuck up prick than the BBC.

h/t: BBC (ironic, huh?)

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