Latest news with #Millichip
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
BAFTA Chief Addresses British TV Crisis, Celebrates Creative Strength of Current Landscape: ‘There's No Silver Bullet'
Jane Millichip, CEO of BAFTA, has expressed confidence in the resilience of British television despite recent industry challenges, describing the creative and craft quality of U.K. TV as being at 'the highest it's ever been.' Speaking after the announcement of the BAFTA TV and Craft nominations, which saw Netflix's 'Baby Reindeer' leading with eight nods, Millichip addressed concerns about what some have labeled a crisis in British television production, especially in the scripted space. More from Variety 'Baby Reindeer' Dominates BAFTA TV and Craft Awards Nominations With Eight Nods Alan Cumming Set to Host 2025 BAFTA Television Awards 'Emmerdale' Removed From BAFTA TV Awards Soap Category After Writer Admits to Assault 'Notwithstanding the fact that we've had a tough market for the last year or so, this year's nominees show that creatively and craft wise, British TV is in rude health,' Millichip told Variety. 'The quality of the nominations is extraordinary, and a lot of brilliant TV didn't get nominated. We have 134 nominated programs out of 900 entries.' The BAFTA TV Awards nominations saw 'Baby Reindeer' dominate, while ITV's 'Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office,' Disney+'s Jilly Cooper adaptation 'Rivals,' and Apple TV+'s 'Slow Horses' tied for second place with six nominations each. Disney+ also earned four nominations for its IRA drama 'Say Nothing.' Millichip pointed to recent industry data suggesting potential improvement in the production landscape 'that seems to be showing green shoots of recovery. About a third of independent producers in the U.K. are seeing a little bit of an upside return to better commissioning landscape.' The BAFTA chief underscored the importance of maintaining control of the U.K.'s production value chain while acknowledging the benefits of international investment. 'I'm the first person to celebrate the fact that U.S. studios have been coming to the U.K. to produce both film and TV for many years now, and that's been brilliant,' she noted. 'What we need to ensure, however, is that we don't lose control of the value chain in the U.K.' Millichip highlighted the need for a multi-faceted approach to strengthening domestic production, including evaluating proposals related to tax credits, levies, and support for domestic freelancers. 'There's no silver bullet to this,' she said. 'The most important thing is to ensure that we have a strong domestic sector, and that we retain more of the IP value in our own productions.' She added that a robust domestic sector provides resilience when international investment fluctuates: 'When you have a strong domestic sector, if America has to pull the belt in for some reason, we have more resilience to continue with our own domestic sector. And that's really important for domestic storytelling, British storytelling as well.' Discussing the digital landscape, Millichip celebrated the success of streaming shows like Netflix's 'Adolescence,' which recently became the first streaming program to top the British weekly television chart. She praised the broad adoption of public service broadcasting values across the industry. 'I'm delighted to see fantastically British stories being told, not just across the U.K. PSBs, but also across the streamers,' she said, citing examples including 'Say Nothing' and 'Toxic Town,' both nominated at this year's BAFTAs. Millichip specifically praised 'Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office,' noting: 'The writers, the producers, ITV, took huge risks from that show in the knowledge that it probably wouldn't sell dramatically across the world. It is a story of fantastic human endeavor, and it's a story about justice, and that has absolute, universal appeal.' On the introduction of new children's categories to the BAFTA awards, Millichip explained this was part of an effort to better support a sector facing funding challenges. 'We want to support the children's sector, and we know it's been quite difficult for a few years now to fund children's programming,' she said. 'It's really important to us that we see it as a vital part of the TV landscape.' BAFTA has created scripted and non-scripted categories and a craft team category in the TV craft awards for children's programming. 'For us, it was really about putting children's TV on the main stage, metaphorically and literally,' Millichip concluded. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
BAFTA Boss Celebrates British TV Industry In 'Rude Health' But Says 'Choppy Waters' Could Arise Amid Drama Funding Crisis
BAFTA boss Jane Millichip has celebrated a British TV industry in 'rude health' but said 'choppy waters' could arise 'if we lose control of our value chain.' Speaking to Deadline as the likes of Baby Reindeer, Rivals and Mr Bates vs the Post Office were rewarded with multiple BAFTA TV noms, Millichip said the industry 'has to look at' options to address the UK drama funding crisis such as improved tax credits, streamer levies or more support for the freelance community. More from Deadline BAFTA TV Awards: 'Baby Reindeer', 'Slow Horses' & 'Rivals' Secure Multiple Noms Alan Cumming To Host The BAFTA TV Awards 'Rivals' & 'Baby Reindeer' Stars Scoop Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 'I'm the first one to celebrate studios opening up across Britain and big films coming here but the other vital factor is what sits under that and that is a strong domestic sector,' she said. 'I think we all need to pay some attention to that in the coming years. We have to really look at [all options] because if we lose control of our value chain then we could be in choppier and choppier waters.' Millichip stopped short of backing high-profile proposals for a streamer levy to help solve the scripted funding crisis but said 'the BFI [British Film Institute] is looking into this so we wait with interest to see what they come up with.' In recent weeks, storied British creatives including Jack Thorne, Peter Kosminsky and Jane Featherstone have raised concerns over the future of local British drama such as ITV's Mr Bates, which picked up six BAFTA noms. The barriers are breaking down between shows commissioned by the broadcasters and the streamers, Millichip noted, as she pointed to two local Netflix projects that could perform well at next year's BAFTAs – Toxic Town and Adolescence – both of which are dominating the global charts at present. 'What is interesting is you are seeing barnstorming commercial shows across linear but also some really strong British drama on the streamers,' she added. 'There is less of a distinction in terms of the shows we're seeing across the full piece.' Millichip said today's noms demonstrate that 'British TV is in absolute rude health' and cited diversity gains such as Baby Reindeer's Nava Mau, the first openly transgender acting nominee, and half the nominated directors being women. She also flagged that half of the performing categories are first-time nominees including Rivals' Danny Dyer and celebrated movie actor Jonathan Pryce, who picked one up for Slow Horses. When it comes to representation, Millichip said BAFTA has made improvements by opening up the diversity of its membership rather than taking a tick box approach to award submissions. 'The way we lean into this is publishing the diversity of our membership and we have set targets around membership so I think it's more of a systemic piece of work we are engaging in,' she added. 'This will lead to a more diverse play across the piece.' 'Life and Death in Gaza' One big winner from today is BBC doc Life and Death in Gaza, which has picked up four noms – impressive for a documentary. That show has been criticized after one of its most prominent voices was identified to have celebrated the murder of Jews in past social media posts, which was flagged in a recent report into the BBC's coverage of the Israel-Hamas War. BAFTA will clearly be keen to avoid a repeat of what happened at this month's Royal Television Society awards, which first canceled an award honoring journalists in Gaza and then reinstated the gong following backlash. Millichip stressed that Life and Death in Gaza 'has qualified through our criteria.' 'We are not aware of anything that would deem it not a credible entry,' she said. 'If that info arises then we will look at it.' Best of Deadline Which Colleen Hoover Books Are Becoming Movies? 'Verity,' 'Reminders Of Him' & 'Regretting You' Will Join 'It Ends With Us' Everything We Know About Amazon's 'Verity' Movie So Far Everything We Know About Paramount's 'Regretting You' Adaptation So Far
