As UK broadcasters set out their intentions to develop more regional drama, C21 discovers how commissioners are acting on those ambitions at the Birmingham Film & TV Market.

Birmingham Film & TV Market gets underway at The Grand Hotel

As UK broadcasters talk up their ambitions to back more regional drama, a unique event in Birmingham – home of Peaky Blinders and iconic soap opera Crossroads – is giving local writers and producers from across the West Midlands region the chance to pitch their ideas directly to commissioners.

First held in 2021 and led by Louise Osbourne, Sophie Ivanova and Mellissa Donello, the Birmingham Film & TV Market seeks to offer filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their work and make connections with the people who could help put it on the screen.

But taking place in the wake of the BBC’s decision to end its long-running daytime medical drama Doctors, which is filmed in the city and has built a reputation for giving new actors and writers their first credits, this year’s event took on additional significance. Dozens of selected writers and producers were chosen by the event to pitch to commissioners from ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Channel 5 and Paramount+, as well as producers from BBC Studios, House Productions and others.

Leading the charge for local talent was Birmingham-born actor and event ambassador Adrian Lester, the star of Hustle, Riviera and The Undeclared War, who called on the industry to leave its “safe London offices” and look for talent elsewhere.

Sophie Ivanova, Louise Osbourne, Mellissa Donello and Adrian Lester at the market

“I love my home city, how it feels, how it looks,” he told C21. “We punch above our weight but we apologise for ourselves too much.

“It’s not just London that represents the whole country. It’s the whole country. As much as we’ve had great artistic success come out of Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff, we have to get Birmingham going as well. We just have to.

“Every region, every country, expresses itself through its culture, its music, dress and traditional costume. That’s all done by artists and if you don’t find those artists with their unique visions and unique ideas, you’re very slowly going to kill the industry you espouse to be a part of.”

Among those looking for the next big thing was Callum Dziedzic, an assistant commissioner at ITV across drama and comedy. “We as a channel have a responsibility and also a real love for working within the nations and regions, and we need to be here to show that love, be more visible and show our commitment to working with talent from these areas,” he said. “We understand a good story can come from anywhere and we need to be looking beyond [London orbital motorway] the M25 to find those stories.”

ITV assistant commissioner for drama and comedy Callum Dziedzic

Like Channel 4’s relocation to Leeds, ITV’s move to Media City in Salford, Manchester – where the BBC also has a base – is a big part of that plan, while the broadcaster also shoots a great deal outside London. Notably, season two of detective drama DI Ray and new crime biopic Joan recently wrapped after filming in Birmingham and the surrounding area.

“It’s very much an investment in these areas from all aspects, from a commissioning perspective and production perspective as well,” Dziedzic said.

Ryan Paige, a development executive at Paramount Television International Studios, was at the market hearing pitches for streamer Paramount+ and on the lookout for shows that could complement romantic dramas like The Flatshare, compulsive thrillers such as The Ex-Wife and recently launched spooky mystery The Burning Girls.

“We speak with all sorts of writers, whether that’s over Zoom, if they’re based in London, and some are based internationally,” he said. “It’s about looking for talent throughout.

“From my experience, it’s always felt that way since I’ve been in drama. It’s not felt so London-centric, so isolating, but it’s about working a bit harder, being inclusive and flexible. If we’ve got a [writers’] room, can someone join virtually? Can we get them down here [to London]? Can we put money in the budget to make sure they’ve got accommodation so it’s not just closing off opportunities? At Paramount, we’re also doing a first-look deal with five underrepresented writers to find the brilliant stories they can tell.”

Ryan Paige heard pitches for Paramount+ at the event

Representing Paramount’s corporate sibling Channel 5, commissioning editor Paul Testar was returning to the Birmingham Film & TV Market for a second year. “It’s a terrific opportunity to hear really organic pitches from people in relatively early stages of their film or television careers,” he said. “I hear a lot of fantastic ideas. Hopefully one or two of them might be right for Channel 5 but we’ll see.”

Although Channel 5 doesn’t shoot much in the UK regions – filming takes place overseas to take advantage of tax incentives and boost the network’s relatively modest drama tariffs – the broadcaster does target regional production companies to partner with.

“Our drama strategy entirely depends on a co-financing model and tax credits from places like Hungary, Malta or Ireland,” Testar explained. “If the UK dropped its threshold for the high-end tax credit, we’d be shooting everything in the UK, but a lot of our shows don’t actually reach that threshold.

“Instead of that, we’re always looking to meet and work with new companies from the regions. We do a lot of Channel 5 roadshows to make sure we’re out there meeting those companies rather than expecting them to come to us or it all be on Zoom.”

Prodco House North’s executive producer Louise Sutton

Among the producers at the event were Louise Sutton, an executive producer who is now heading up House North, the Manchester office of Sherwood producer House Productions. “It’s been really busy,” she said of opening the new base, which was announced in September. “Now that it’s out there and people know what we’re looking for, it’s been really helpful. We’ve had amazing submissions, brilliant meetings and we’ve got some momentum.

“I’m from Manchester, I live there, and there aren’t that many indies there compared with London. Most of us know each other and have worked together before, and there’s enough work – we all do slightly different things. Everyone’s been really supportive. It helps that I already lived and worked in Manchester. Sometimes it can look a bit cynical, but this is very clearly something I wanted to do for a long time and House wanted to do for a long time, so everyone’s been really kind.”

Sutton, a former exec with Broke & Bones and Black Mirror producer, is now looking to work with local writers on pitches for dramas, half-hour projects and younger-skewing content.

“We’ve got various lenses and northern voices are a big part of that picture – and I include voices from the West Midlands, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. I’m working with writers from all those areas,” she said. “Amplifying and encouraging those voices is something I’m looking to actively develop. It feels like a great opportunity and there’s so much talent that’s not being covered as much by some of the other indies in the north.”

Channel 5’s Paul Testar

On attending the TV market, she added: “The West Midlands is a really fertile ground for talent and I want to be a part of it.”

Lester certainly agrees and he believes commissioners need to stop playing safe with commissioning and instead back new talent. “If you ask any production company in the world, ‘What would you like to be your next big success?’ they will all say the same thing in different ways. They all want something new, something to break the mould, something to shake the industry up,” he said. “They’ll quote things like Succession, Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul, and they’ll sit in their offices and wait for it to come to them.

“But when new ideas come to them, there’s always a point where they get cold feet. They all say the same thing: what have they done before? What’s their track record? Is there anything I can watch? Can I see something else? And you realise, no, because they’re new.

“That’s what being new, being fresh and being a disruptor means. It means your idea is unlike anything you’ve seen before. You can’t back something like that if you’re waiting for it to be like something you’ve seen before to make you feel easier about putting your money in.

“The commissioners who don’t have talent are regurgitating stuff we’ve seen before or buying stuff from other people. The ones who do have talent have a plethora of talent lined up on their channels that is weird, wonderful and amazing.”