‘Black Doves’ Producer Jane Featherstone Says BBC Has “Multiple Shows They Can’t Fund”

deadline.com:

The BBC has a number of scripted shows on its slate that it “can’t fund,” according to UK super-producer Jane Featherstone.

Featherstone, who runs Black Doves producer Sister and has made multiple BBC shows down the years along with big Netflix hits, made the claim during the UK parliamentary inquiry into high-end TV and film. “The BBC can answer for this but I am aware they have multiple shows which through no fault of their own they can’t fund,” she told the Culture, Media & Sport Committee (CMSC). “Which makes it very difficult to see further down the line because those shows take two to three years to come to screen.” Deadline has contacted the BBC over Featherstone’s claim and will update this post when the BBC responds.

Anecdotally, Deadline has heard over the past few months of UK shows getting stuck in what is often termed ‘soft greenlight’ stage, when a program is given the green light but producers are told they still need to find the majority of funding.

Featherstone spoke to this issue and pointed to an example of a show Sister is making for the BBC written by Utopia scribe Dennis Kelly. “The BBC give us the greenlight and now we go, ‘How are we going to fund it?’, because a greenlight is 30% of the budget, which is traditionally now what a [Public Service Broadcaster] can only afford to put in,” she said. “Each case is different but it leaves us with gap of say 60% of the budget.