|
|
 |
|
Comedy JV to target UK regional quotas
My Family producer DLT Entertainment has formed a comedy joint-venture with Northern Ireland-based Waddell Media with the aim of capitalising on UK broadcasters' regional content commitments.
The two companies will work together, pooling their expertise, with a plan to produce comedies for UK channels, many of which are obliged to carry a certain amount of regional content, as well as international broadcasters.
 Development will span both single- and multi-camera comedies, while Waddell's subsidiary Flickerpix Animations will work on toons. Distribution of the programmes produced under the partnership will be handled by DLT.
Don Taffner Jr, president of DLT, said the venture would put programmes into development and production "quickly" to allow broadcasters to meet their outside of London production quotas. Jannine Waddell, MD of Waddell, added the aim was to have a "returning comedy series coming out of Northern Ireland in the very near future".
Meeting such quotas, though the reason for many indies setting up shop in the regions, is a sticky subject with broadcasters across the UK, with indie trade body Pact claiming that regional production is actually declining.
Meeting regional commitments has been a particularly painful thorn in the side of broadcaster ITV, which is struggling to meet its regional news quotas. However, the BBC is building a major production centre in Salford and has promised to increase the amount of content it produces in Northern Ireland from 0.4% to 3% by 2016.
24 Sep 2009
© C21 Media 2009
C21 Home | News Home | Printer Friendly | Email a Friend
|
|
|
|
