The Threatened Cuts

Storyville is threatened with a 60% cut in its current budget of £2.2M, reducing it
by £1.2M to only £1m. It has been told to expect the complete elimination of its
BBC2 supplementary budget and a cut of half of its BBC4 funding. The result would
be to turn it into an acquisition strand, dispensing with its current ability to
commission films. If that strategy is realised, approximately 25 new co-productions
will be lost every year.

This threat needs to be viewed against the budget freeze on production
expenditure that Storyville has experienced over the past few years. Last year
there was a small cut in its production budget. Because production costs have not
remained static, Storyville producers have already been squeezed by rising costs
and a reduction in funding.