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From Broadcast 02/08/07 (subscription required) World's film-makers unite to save Storyville Rob Shepherd and Susan Thompson A campaign to "save" the BBC's documentary strand Storyville is attracting the support of documentary-makers around the world. Last week Broadcast reported the BBC is understood to be planning to reduce the strand's annual budget from £2.2m to £1m - a move which many film-makers believe will decimate the series. Campaigners claimed the BBC is planning to turn Storyville into an acquisition strand by abolishing funding for its UK co-productions - a claim the BBC has denied. This could mean there will be 25 fewer documentary commissions a year for UK directors and producers. In reaction, a group of film-makers, led by October Films' Tom Roberts, freelancer Leslie Woodhead, Le Vision Film Productions head of development Friederike Freier and Renegade Pictures' Alex Cooke, are lobbying for the Storyville budget to be increased rather than slashed. In a matter of days almost 450 signatures have been logged on an ipetition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savestoryville. Signatories include directors, producers, writers and viewers from the UK, Ireland, France, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and South Africa. A similar site has also been set up on Facebook which asks users to write to BBC director general Mark Thompson, director of BBC Vision, Jana Bennett or controller BBC Knowledge, Glenwyn Benson. The Directors' and Producers' Rights Society is also understood to be backing the campaign. |