The Stage

Scottish TV producers join the fight to salvage crisis hit broadcasting industry

Published Tuesday 14 August 2007 at 15:50 by Matthew Hemley

Scotland’s independent television producers have thrown their weight behind an investigation into the state of the country’s broadcasting, claiming the sector is in “crisis”.

Plans for the Scottish Broadcasting Commission were unveiled last week by First Minister Alex Salmond, who said it would be charged with “defining a strategic way forward for television production and broadcasting in Scotland” and addressing issues such as why the UK’s major broadcasters are commissioning less and less from the country’s production companies.

In particular, Salmond said he wanted to see more Scottish drama and entertainment programmes ordered from the major networks, such as ITV and the BBC, and claimed he would be meeting the major TV networks to ensure “they are getting the right kind of talent and ideas from Scotland”.

His comments were made following a recent Ofcom report that revealed Scotland’s share of total UK spending by the major television networks was just 3%.

Allan MacDonald, managing director of independent drama production company MNE Television, told The Stage: “The Scottish industry is in crisis at the moment because we cannot access the networks in the way we wish. We certainly hope this commission will move us into a new area of conversation with the UK networks. Very little of the money raised in the UK for the BBC comes this way at the moment.”

Equity’s Scottish secretary Lorne Boswell said he “wholeheartedly” welcomed the investigation and added: “We have been calling for a fairer share of the broadcasting spend in Scotland for some time. To hear a politician such as Alex Salmond make a statement like that is good news because it will start a debate about how much material is initiated in Scotland.”

Caledonia TV creative director Les Wilson said he “absolutely agreed” with Salmond’s speech, adding the situation in Scotland had reached a “critical” level for independent producers trying to secure work from broadcasters, which focused too much on London-based companies.

He claimed the situation had not been helped by big London companies, with easy access to the city’s commissioners, opening branch offices in Scotland and said: “This is a system open to abuse. The companies with London offices and with close proximity to commissioners can get the commissions and farm them out to regional offices, claiming them as regional productions.”

Colin Cameron, head of Lion TV Scotland, said he had been helped by the support he had with his company’s main office in London and acknowledged the difficulty for “indigenous companies”.

However, he insisted it was difficult for all companies based in Scotland to secure commissions and criticised broadcasters who claimed there were no good talent and ideas in Scotland.

He said: “We have been building both [talent and ideas] over 15 years and trying to get as close to commissioners as we can, but the broadcasters have responsibility if it is not working to help us get it right.”

The commission, which is being chaired by former BBC Scotland head of news and current affairs Blair Jenkins and has nine other members including playwright Chris Ballance and actress Elaine C Smith, will report back next year.