The writer of breakout series Mr Bates vs the Post Office has some choice words for the ailing UK drama industry.
Gwyneth Hughes delivered an emotional response on how to resolve the scripted funding crisis today at the Creative Cities Convention (CCC) and found that even though it may make her “unpopular,” there is a problem with “overstaffing of crews” on UK TV shows.
“You turn up on film sets with your very excited mum and she says, ‘Who are all these people?’,” said Hughes, a six-time BAFTA nominee including for Mr Bates. “It’s an unpopular thing to say. We either need more money from outside or we need to do things more economically.”
Lead cast on Mr Bates and also the BBC’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light had to take pay cuts recently but Hughes stressed “you can’t keep doing that.”
The scripted funding crisis has been sparked by rising costs combined with American co-producers dropping out of the market, leading to shows getting stuck in limbo.
“Mystifyingly,” Hughes said there is still plenty of development even though it’s getting harder and harder to get shows on screen.
“I’m getting calls every week from people who want me to write scripts but the scripts will never get made,” she added. “I imagine it’s because there is a development pot and a greenlight pot and it’s never the same money. It’s hard to work out which [projects] are going to fly but we can all look around and see [the current situation] is not working.”
Mr Bates is nominated for six BAFTAs having generated headlines for weeks last year about the devastating UK post office scandal. Star Monica Dolan recently told us the industry is “plagued by fear,” which is causing risk aversion.
Hughes was speaking at the CCC in Bradford alongside Paramount UK boss Sarah Rose and All3Media chief Jane Turton.
