Snobbery among actors and agents undermines British TV - Garrett

Published Tuesday 27 January 2004 at 14:05 by Joanna Taylor

Actors and agents who turn down long-term television work in case they are offered a Hollywood film role are jeopardising the creativity of the British TV industry, managing director of Kudos production company Stephen Garrett has warned.

He claimed that performers and their agents are reluctant to commit to returning drama series on terrestrial channels because they are “waiting for a call from Hollywood that will never come”.

Garrett said: “The film industry looks down on television with extraordinary snobbery and this is damaging creativity. There is a perverse culture among some actors and their agents where they refuse to commit to a second or third series just in case they get a call from Hollywood.

“This means they can hold the producer over a barrel. If you can’t get the lead actor back then it is a big problem. I am often asked why we can’t make shows like The Sopranos but this is because we can’t get actors to commit.”

The producer, who is responsible for BBC1’s popular drama series Spooks, urged performers to be more willing to sign an option in their contract committing them to complete more than one series of a returning drama.

Garrett is currently producing his next project for BBC1 called Hustle. He said that its stars - such as Adrian Lester, who has appeared in the films Dust and Primary Colorswith John Travolta - had signed such an option, despite possible movie offers, and this should be the model for the industry.

He added that the UK should endeavour to emulate America where actors, writers and directors frequently flit between film and television.

“Steven Spielberg directs for both TV and film. Look at Alan Ball, after writing on American Beauty he immediately goes back to TV and creates Six Feet Under,” he said.

Agent Derek Webster from Associated International Management, which represents a number of television actors including Martin Kemp, June Brown and Brian Blessed, said that there are a number of reasons why actors are hesitant to sign long-term contracts.

He added: “Lots of actors do not like to sign them because various television companies, in offering such contracts, instil in them pay increases that don’t reflect the success of the character they play.

“Say we are talking about a new detective series, the options for series two and three would have an automatic increase of 4-5%. But that negates the job of the agent to negotiate the fee for future series based on its success. It is not necessarily because an actor is waiting for a call from Hollywood that they will not commit but because they like to play different parts.”