TV producer Jane Featherstone drops a bombshell about the ‘reality’ of BBC shows

An English television producer, Jane Featherstone, revealed this recently BBC struggles with budget issues, leaving many scripted shows under its belt unfunded.

The 55-year-old head of Sister, the company behind Black Pigeonsshared it BBC has “a lot of shows they can’t fund.”

Jane, who has worked on many BBC shows and Netflix hits, made the comment during a British parliamentary inquiry into television and film.

Sharing the details with the Culture, Media & Sport Commission (CMSC), he quipped: “The BBC can answer for that, but I know they have a lot of shows which through no fault of their own they can’t fund.”

The creator of the film Net he added, “Which makes it very difficult to see down the line because these shows take two to three years to hit the screen.”

In addition, per Deadlinesome UK shows are reportedly stuck at the ‘soft greenlight’ stage, where they are approved but producers are asked to secure most of the funding themselves.

Shedding light on this issue, Jane remarked: “The BBC give us the green light and now we say, ‘How are we going to fund it?’ because a green light is 30% of the budget, which traditionally now is what a [Public Service Broadcaster] can only afford to put in’.

“Each case is different, but it leaves us with a gap of say 60% of the budget. We are now [in the UK] approaching that indie film model at a lower cost,” he continued.

THE My child the manufacturer went on to note that BBC and other Public Broadcasting Services such as Channel 4 they add “more money” to expensive shows that “do not necessarily reflect British values”.

“The market itself won’t engage with British content, and that’s the part we have to look at. this is a bit at risk,” he concluded with a warning.