NATIONS AND REGIONS O
ften framed as a binary issue - production in London and production everywhere else – the last few years
have seen a regeneration of business North, South, East and West, with the BBC and Channel 4 busting their Ofcom quotas and international services often not knowing or caring if London is part of their content mix. “It’s a pivotal moment to consider
whether and how TV production has significantly moved to the nations and regions,” says Pact’s Chris Curley, recently appointed to head up work on Nations and Regions. He started his role with a tour of the UK. “I think there are some great signs about what’s happening,” he says. “If you look at the success of shows like Happy Valley and Blue Lights, people want stories from the regions.”
A SHIFT IN THE LANDSCAPE Spend on production outside of the London area has been steadily rising over the last few years and tipped the balance over 50 per cent in 2021, according to the most recent Pact census, (not including broadcaster-owned production companies.)
Using the M25 as the boundary between London and everywhere else, Ofcom dictates that 35% of Channel 4 and ITV programme hours and production spend needs to be outside of the M25. Channel 5’s quota is 10%. The BBC is 50%, with 8% in Scotland, five in Wales and three in Northern Ireland. Channel 5 is well known for working with regional production companies, spending well over its 10 per cent Ofcom quota. Crackit and Red Sauce in Manchester and Daisybeck Studios in Leeds are all beneficiaries. Channel 4 upped its own targets to 50
per cent by 2023. At the last count, the broadcaster commissioned two thirds of its content from nations and regions indies, representing just over half of its spend on original programming. The BBC is at similar levels, “committed to spending 60 per cent of our commissioning budget outside London and that covers all genres and all types of shows,” says David Pembrey, COO of BBC Content. Doctor Who is filmed in Wales, The Traitors is made in Scotland and MasterChef is going to be made in Birmingham.
THE NUANCES OF REGIONAL PRODUCTION The devil is, as ever, in the detail. “It’s about digging down a little bit into those numbers,” says Curley at Pact. “Are they scripted dramas? Are they series? Are they one-offs?” It’s not all one picture. “The challenges and issues between scripted and non-scripted are different…We need to target and specify our problems and issues with more of a laser focus.”
While Ofcom updated its guidelines
for what counts as regional production in 2019, the issue of lift and shift – with big labels establishing local offices - has not gone away. And although the talent base is strong in some areas, many need major investment if they’re to become hubs. “It’s an evolving, new ecosystem,” says
Tanya Shaw, md of TV for Zinc Media which owns indies in Scotland, Northern
PRODUCTION
I think there are some
great signs about what’s happening, people want stories from the regions. CHRIS CURLEY, HEAD OF NATIONS AND REGIONS, PACT
Ireland, Bristol and Manchester, as well as London. “It’s not just about where broadcasters are spending money, it’s also about where the talent is. And the talent is
SPOTLIGHT NORTH EAST
The TV and film industry in the North East has recently come into the spotlight, with significant private investment, local funding and BBC support. The region is home to legendary TV shows The Likely Lads, When the Boat Comes In and Byker Grove. Sunderland’s Stadium of light has drawn Ed Sheeran and Beyonce. In 2023, Bamburgh Castle hosted a location shoot for the latest Indiana Jones movie and ITV detective series Vera and the BBC’s Ambulance are both shot in the region. Local indies are mainly small. Both Vera and Ambulance are made by London indies - Silverprint and Dragonfly. But the local screen industries are being boosted, notably with a commitment by the BBC to invest £25m over five years, to 2026, part of a deal with local authorities to grow production in the region. The North East Screen Industries Partnership (NESIP) is investing £11.4m to 2027 to deliver a new Screen Industries Development Programme. “We are currently exceeding the rate of spend we had envisaged in the first two years,” says the COO of BBC Content David Pembrey, “having had more unscripted commissions in the area than we anticipated.” The BBC has invested more than £500k in developing ideas, companies and skills and ordered six new titles, including a documentary with X Factor winner James Arthur, Scarlett’s Driving School, Northern Justice and Robson Green’s Dirty Weekends, a co pro between Green’s Newcastle-based indie Rivers Meet and Signpost Productions in Gateshead. It’s also recommissioned BBC Studios’ The Dumping Ground. This year the BBC added six North East indies to its small indie fund, including Candle & Bell, Sea and Sky, MCC, Schnoobert, Middle Child and Twenty Six 03. While Motif in Gateshead is in C4’s emerging indie fund. At the Creative Cities Convention, held this year in Newcastle, Pact announced its
Future North East scheme, to develop local indies. And in Sunderland, Fulwell 73 and Cain International announced plans earlier this year for Crown Works Studios, with a 1.6 m sq ft industry hub. All this activity cries out for new industry recruits and training. The rebranded North East Screen agency, headed up by David Parfitt, is one of four North of England screen agencies that have banded together as Screen Alliance North to work with £2.3m of BFI lottery funding to make the industry more accessible and for skills development.
Summer 2023
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