|
|
S A V E |
C A M P A I G N |
UK PRESS TAKES NOTE Top film-makers rally to save BBC documentaries The Indepedent's coverage uses Storyville's plight to highlight the pressure all broadcast documentaries are suffering, drawing on the views of important industry voices. Out of the box - Want to meet someone more depressed than you? Try a BBC documentary maker. Having shed half its "contemporary factual" staff last year, the department has now lost so much talent, that it is finding it hard to gain commissions. Wonderland, due on BBC Two in January to showcase in-house talent, may have just the one series. A petition has been launched to save Storyville, which buys in docs. It was, I'm told, "a battle" to get a slot for BBC One's brilliant The Tower. At BBC Two the word has gone out to make docs "funny". No wonder Simon Ford, who made The Secret Policeman, has bailed out and another ex-BBC exec is considering leaving TV altogether. Grim. andrew.billen@thetimes.co.uk MGEITF: Tom Roberts tells it like it is In Edinburgh, Tom Roberts has stoked the campaign to save Storyville by claiming he received a letter from BBC director general Mark Thompson saying that "if you feed rats half rations, they work better". Coverage from Broadcast magazine (subscription required) DPRS Chair writes to Mark Thompson Coverage from Broadcast magazine (subscription required) or download word document World's Filmmakers unite to save Storyville Coverage from Broadcast (subscription required) or click here |