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I think we are heading towards an expansion phase now.”
Michael Barker, Co-President of Sony Pictures Classics and one of our first Trustees, agrees. “There are lots of opportunities in New York. The difference between the independent studio and the mainstream is there is more emphasis on the director and writer. We release between 14-17 pictures a year and as many as 25% may be British.”
Another new company to set up here is Focus Features, run by David Linde and James Schamus (both BAFTA Trustees) and part of
a migration of senior execs. from the UK to the US. Welshman Howard Stringer is hardly a new- comer. He was one of our first Trustees and despite his busy life as Sony Chairman/CEO, he still manages to find time for BAFTA.
A recently appointed Film Trustees is Peter Rice, now President of Fox Searchlight Pictures; Michael Jackson, former chief executive of Channel 4, came to run Barry Diller’s USA Network operations; Bill Hilary of the BBC was plucked to run Comedy Central; John Willis is now with WGBH.
Over the years we have had some excellent BAFTA events with WGBH. Our Trustee Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre, has brought America some of the very best of British television.
A major series dominating the Autumn schedule is the Granada/WGBH co-production of The Forsyte Saga. The original BBC adaptation aired here in 1969 and it was building on the surprise success of that series that producers at WGBH Boston launched Masterpiece Theatre. The WGBH Mystery! strand is also
grammes do best on WLIW, Terrel said that the BBC World News does well and hit comedies such as As Time Goes By (a Don Taffner series in its ninth season with 65 episodes) and Keeping Up Appearances.
A recent addition to our Trustee roster is Mark Young, President/CEO of BBC Worldwide Americas and MD, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. Maybe even he was surprised that on the BBC America Channel, one of the biggest suc- cesses is BBC gardening show Ground Force. On Ground Force
Vivendi Universal Entertainment. “Prospects for the New York-based independents are definitely get- ting stronger,” agrees Schamus.
Tremendous energy
Under parent company Disney, Miramax feels less like a small independent stu- dio nowadays, but the Weinsteins still create a tremendous energy and support to the independent community. They received a record 26 overall nominations for the 2001 Orange British Academy Film Awards and continue to be enormously supportive of BAFTA East Coast. One of the biggest films to open here at Christmas will be their Martin Scorsese- directed Gangs of New York.
There has recently been a buzz about New York hosting the Oscars next year. It would be a one-time only event, in recogni- tion of what the City went through on 9/11. Harvey Weinstein is promoting New York as an Oscar venue and Cablevision is keeping both its Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall venues unbooked for March 23rd in case they are needed. The Oscars were originally shown in New York but in the late 1950s they moved to LA.
British talent is still much respected here. There has been
Jackson’s Trio Network looks aggressively for British product. “Trio does popular art and culture in a smart but accessible way,” says Kris Slava, VP Acquisitions and Scheduling (also one of the first Directors on our Board.). “We love the UK – finished shows, coproductions, formats; kitsch to culture with that fresh spin.”
Bill Hilary would agree. He has also mined his old stomping ground Channel 4 for Comedy Central and recent acquisitions include C4’s hidden camera comedy Trigger Happy TV and earlier in the year the wickedly warped British import Travel Sick.
PBS station WNET in New York continues to be a magnet for British television producers. WNET President Dr Bill Baker is a Trustee, and the director of news and public affairs, Stephen Segaller sits on the BAFTA Board.
Glowing impression
One of the most recent series presented by WNET for PBS is the international current affairs series Wide Angle. Of the ten shows in the series, six are British co-produced. The series is co-hosted by internation- al affairs journalist Daljit Dhaliwal, who made a glowing impression here when she hosted ITN’s World News for Public Television.
under Rebecca’s jurisdiction and always a favourite place for find- ing British mysteries – Inspector Morse, Reilly - Ace of Spies, Prime Suspect etc. But there has been a shift to American fare and we will have an all-American mystery later this year, an adaptation of a Tony Hillerman novel about the Navajo police, produced by Robert Redford.
Instead of being stalked through the London fog by Holmes and Watson, perpetrators on this latest Mystery! will be tracked across the high plains of the American Southwest. While Skinwalkers, its title, is an American Mystery!, it is co-produced by Granada Entertainment in assoc. with Carlton International Media, among others.
PBS might have started with a clear playing field but the emer- gence of A&E as a main player in drama has led to some intense competition in this genre. This Autumn is no exception. As Masterpiece Theatre airs The Forsyte Sage, A&E will air BBC co- pro The Lost World, a four-hour miniseries starring Bob Hoskins based on the classic sci-fi adventure novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Another BAFTA Trustee is Terrel Cass, President and GM of PBS station WLIW 21 in New York. Asked what kinds of British pro-
the characters include Alan Titchmarsh, a long-serving BBC gardening expert and a name that fondly conjures up images of green wellies and gardening gloves for all the Brits living here.
Ground Force usually concen- trates on British gardens but this summer the show travelled to Manhattan and created a gar- den from scratch. Other series on the channel include BBC series Coupling, which NBC recently bought the rights to in order to develop an American version. Since June 2001, when Mark’s remit was extended to CEO of BBC Americas, he has been clock- ing-up the frequent flyer miles.
If we had the equivalent of a welcome mat, it would be at BAFTA East Coast’s door. From its inception, this chapter has tried to be everything that all the other chapters are, as well as a centre of the industry in New York. It has been led from the start by Christina Thomas, our Chairman, who sometimes won- ders why she did not stipulate a fixed term of office. She contin- ues to provide terrific guidance and drive for this organisation.
Gillian Rose is Vice Chairman Television, BAFTA East Coast. She is also Director of Programme Development, Carlton Productions plc.
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