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Chris Chibnall:

“I think the biggest thing you can say about all of that is it’s very easy to miss the point ‒ that this is primarily about money.”

“It’s not really about all of the things that everybody is banging on about and moaning about or what or getting emotional about.”

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[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (9 children)

Shoestring is going back so far as to be irrelevant. In 2005 it started out as £1.3m per hour which put it in the high end of drama budget (the BBC’s biggest-budget production that decade had been Rome with HBO, with the BBC contributing £1.25m/hr), in SD on EFP cameras. Now a streaming partner will expect 4K delivery. Inflation, diesel prices, and audience expectations have increased the cost of production and a regular high-end drama will be around £3m/hr, and that’s without the burden of bespoke sci-fi sets, costumes and effects. The BBC/Disney deal gave the show a budget of £6m/episode.

So decisions must be made about budget, format, order length. These will impact the commercial viability of the show, and are things that need to be considered before the invitation for tender is drafted. Remember, the creative will be part of each tender bid so that’s months in the future and it isn’t time for that yet.

The BBC is facing a large shortfall in the licence fee, while costs increase. It has started cancelling stalwart series and cutting back services. It has a duty to ensure the licence fee is responsibly spent. It can’t therefore throw money at Doctor Who. It has to fit into the circumstances.

[–] SiliconAvatar@startrek.website 4 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

Thanks for TL;DR'ing the linked article. No, really.

Fans have as many individual "solutions" to making Doctor Who as there are... fans. What Chibnall is saying is, the BBC actually want to make the show, but there just isn't money for it at the moment. Hence the tender process they're going to have.

All and any fandom wishes come after that.

[–] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 0 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

What you are completely and utterly failing to understand is... WHY is there suddenly no funding for a DECADES OLD franchise with MILLIONS of fans?

[–] SiliconAvatar@startrek.website 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

There is certainly failure to understand here, yes. You'll want to look up the concept of publicly funded media like the BBC, and how they differ from purely commercial ones.

And it's not sudden, I think in most countries public service media have suffered cutbacks over decades. Again, that is spelled out in the linked article.

[–] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 0 points 2 weeks ago

rofl you think the BBC is unbiased?? ... aaahahahahahahahaha

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