Jane Featherstone, co-founder and executive producer of Sister Pictures, has warned of the need to continue to nurture British creative talent to ensure that British drama continues to play a distinctive role.

Delivering an acceptance speech at the 51st Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) Awards in London, where she was honoured with the Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting, she noted that industry-wide, things are changing rapidly. “Budget inflation, post-COVID Production bubbles, the BBC licence fee stretched thinner each year, loss of rights to producers due to increasing deficits and cost plus deals and a general global downturn, with ad revenue shrinking like a wool jumper in a hot wash, we all feel it,” she said.

“It’s harder than ever to sell British focus stories. I won’t name the shows. Mr Bates tonight has won awards, and we all know how difficult that would be to get made now, you’ve heard that from others. But it’s hard to get to sell them, and it’s hard to co-produce them,” she admitted. “We know British stories resonate deeply with local audiences, and they have the power to captivate global ones. We need to preserve our ability to support new creative voices, continue to nurture established ones so that they can shape and enrich the wider conversation. This is important because overall commissioning in this country is down, with particular concerns for indies based in the nations and regions and freelancers in those areas and those making programmes in the squeezed middle, which has tended to be the area where risks are taken and opportunities handed out,” she observed.

“The streamers make some fantastic British programming. Adolescence is a sensation, and I think, an incredible piece of work, but the streamers can’t carry the load alone, and our PSBs need to be able to step up and continue to ensure we keep the world that hydrates us all replenished.”

“TV is one of the great drivers of storytelling in our nation,” she asserted. “It’s how we pass on our values, our history, even warnings for the future. It helps us understand what it means to be from the UK and to live in a complex, changing society, whether this be through drama, comedy, entertainment or factual, a changing population needs to see itself reflected in its culture.”

“But today, the gap between available funding for programming and current budgets is simply too high. We’re at risk of losing the very stories that define us so. The danger isn’t theoretical. It’s immediate. We are in the 45th minute of the pilot episode, and we’ve got five minutes left to stop the bomb from going off. My hope and belief is that we can all collaborate across the industry to protect the source of our great shared success, our PSB system and the practitioners it supports because every one of us in this room and beyond in the entire industry benefits from a healthy ecosystem which acts like create a creative merry go round,” she suggested.

“Our PSB and uniquely British environment is like the Amazon rainforest for storytelling. If it dies, it takes the oxygen of diverse story with it, and we don’t have the luxury of time. We need to act now. So here are two things we need to do. Firstly, to agree, as an industry across the board, that something is at risk here and that it is worth protecting in this complex world. Now more than ever, we in this nation, need consensus that the values are not immutable, and they need to be protected and nourished. And that holding on to our values in Britain, our culture, our heritage through the storytelling we put on our televisions is important.”

“Secondly, if we believe that, and I believe we all do, we need to invest in it, we need to make the case clearly and unapologetically to government and to each other. This isn’t special pleading, it’s strategic. Our sector contributes billions and supports thousands of jobs. The creative industries are vital to the UK economy, and with the right support, we can be a bigger part of the growth agenda. We need to debate the ways, whether that be levelling up the high end television tax incentive to match independent film better rights deals for independents and producers, higher licence fees from the broadcasters, or indeed, other solutions, there are many, and we need to discuss them, but we need to give ballast during this time of change,” she admitted.

“We need to look at the long term health of the PSBs, and enshrine a stable future for them and all of us. So in other words, we must agree there is a threat to our creative ecosystem and unite to support it. The first part we can do as an industry. The second requires engagement of the government backed by industry. We know money is tight and it’s hard to make the case for television at a time when there is pressure in all areas, but we have to advocate for the long term, for the jobs we create and for the value of social cohesion that comes from the stories we tell,” she concluded.

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Tags: BPG, Broadcasting Press Guild, Jane Featherstone, Sister Pictures