INTERMEDIATE: Fleabag, Baby Reindeer, Saturday Night Live UK again Project manager are a handful of shows that might never have seen the light of day had it not been for the “alchemy” of the Edinburgh TV Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe.
That’s the fiery argument being shouted from the rooftops by a growing group of people who want the TV Festival to stay in Scotland’s capital.
Organizers of the Edinburgh TV Festival invited applications to relocate the host city for the first time in 50 years late last year. Last week, it was revealed that bids to host the event from 2027 had been narrowed down to Greater Manchester, Newcastle, or a third option to stay in Edinburgh. The Fringe, widely recognized as the world’s largest arts festival, takes place in mid-August and the festival, which brings together the best and brightest of the industry, kicks off in its final week. TV commissioners and managers find tomorrow’s talent through the Fringe when they come to the festival, the argument goes. Baby Reindeer, Fleabag and, more recently, Eat the Rich, in development at Netflix with creator Jade Franks and director Philip Barantini, all from the Fringe show.
Avalon CEO Jon Thoday, whose TV production company has deep ties to the Fringe and the fest, thinks the move would be “catastrophic.” If it’s going to go, he said, “nobody from Avalon” is going to the party “if I’m going to do anything about it.”
“Look at the number of people who come every year from the American industry [to Edinburgh],” he said, “Think about Phoebe Waller-Bridge, or Baby Reindeer. That connection was made several times with American executives hearing about them through the Television Festival. What would be the point of Netflix, HBO or Warner Bros sending people to Newcastle just to chat [issues like] sponsored by the BBC.”
Avalon’s comic entertainment format Project manager, which has been on the air for more than 10 years and has provided opportunities for many comedies, “very likely” would not have happened if it were not for the connection between the two events, said Thoday. “More tickets are sold at the Fringe in three and a half weeks than in the West End in a year,” he said. “More shows come from the Fringe and become global successes, frankly, than come on TV in the UK. [Relocation] it would be a crazy move. To me it shows that the people who run the Festival don’t respect and don’t believe that the future of British TV is about talent.”
“Netflix is still on the edge”
‘Saturday Night Live UK’: “Pretty much every cast member” has performed at the Fringe, says its host.
The sky
For Tony Lankester, who runs the Fringe, the new Saturday Night Live UK provides another good example.
“Pretty much every cast member has been through the Fringe,” Lankester said. “The Fringe by design is a huge market place and trying to experiment with the industry in another city is strange. From where I sit, the alchemy that exists between the two is so obvious that it’s impossible to change it.”
Lankester has sent a letter in support of Edinburgh’s bid and is following things closely. He is confident that, whatever happens at the TV Festival, thousands of talent spotters will still flock to the Fringe. “Netflix can choose to send different people, but Netflix will still be there,” he said.
Lankester, Thoday and other top comedy executives aren’t the only ones arguing passionately for the TV Festival to stay the same. Graham Norton, friend of Taylor Swift and one of the UK’s most recognizable faces on TV, is a Fringe Ambassador. In a YouTube video posted a few weeks ago, Norton, who got his big break at the Fringe, said it would be “crazy” to move the fest. “In my view, [the two being at the same time] it wasn’t very important, it made me a broadcaster,” Norton said in the video. “Phoebe Waller-Bridge could be doing a show above a pub in Islington waiting for someone to find her, but Edinburgh quickly followed all that.”
We are told that the decision to invite bids from rival cities for the festival was mainly driven by the cost of accommodation and renting the convention center. Rooms to rent in Edinburgh in August are very expensive and have risen sharply since then, putting people off attending the event in recent years.
Campbell Glennie, the festival’s CEO, told Deadline that the renovations and possible relocation will make the event “affordable, accessible, inclusive and help it thrive for years to come.”
Lankester admitted that Edinburgh was an “expensive city” in August but said it was “a form of economy”, as he urged organizers to think about the situation holistically.
“The industry comes to Edinburgh because they can come here and not go to other festivals around the world,” he added. “There’s a monetary value to that. They won’t have it in Manchester or Newcastle. So it’s easy to say that accommodation is expensive and that’s put people off.”
Another person in the comedy space involved in the bids, who chose not to be named, said it was “myopic” to blame the cost, as he criticized any move as “a huge tactical error.” The person said strong “feelings” between Scottish and English industries were at risk if the move was rubberstamped.
The Edinburgh TV Fest board is very knowledgeable about the relationship between these two celebrated events, and will no doubt consider it. The board will spend the next few months investigating proposals from all three cities and speaking with their champions at length. Someone familiar with the process said a decision could be made in May.
Glennie said: “The TV Festival has always been about the industry and we are doing this review to make it more affordable, accessible, inclusive and help it flourish for many years to come. Part of the reason for announcing the shortlist is to be transparent about the options and so we can express the views of all sides of the industry to inform those who were part of our decision, especially those who support us and our story. I hope people respect this program, which is still going on, and the reasons for it.”
