The petition
The BBC is conducting an intensive internal spending review and, according to well-placed sources, the Corporation is planning to reduce Storyville’s annual budget from £2.2m to £1m - a 60% cut.
The impact will turn Storyville into an acquisition strand by abolishing funding for its UK co-productions. This means there will be some 25 less documentary commissions a year for UK directors and producers.
We cannot let it happen.
With the abolishment of more than a dozen documentary strands over the past decade, single documentaries in the UK have been under grave threat for some time. The loss of this creative habitat is already dire but these new spending cuts will destroy the ecology of creative documentaries in the UK.
Storyville, a jewel in the BBC’s crown and one of its primary sources of truly international programming, is the sole remaining strand on the BBC where directors can produce original work without the constraints of format-led programming or schedule-led commissioning and must not only be saved but also strengthened by additional funding.
Storyville, indeed the cause of creative documentaries on British TV, needs your help.
Please list your support.
Sign the petition
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