Plan For UK Unscripted TV Tax Credit Gathers Pace; Will Be Presented To Broadcasters, Trade Bodies & Culture Secretary

EXCLUSIVE: The British producer calling for an unscripted TV tax credit is planning on taking his blueprint to the broadcasters and organizing a letter to new Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

Derek Drennan’s petition for the new credit has been signed by more than 150 execs via LinkedIn as Deadline goes to press.

The Nest Productions founder and former Lime Pictures exec told us that a tax credit for factual, reality and entertainment shows regardless of budget would be “massive” for an industry that is “struggling to fully fund projects.” “I am working across 10 projects at the moment that are all deficit financed and I just think if we had access to a tax credit then we would have these programs so much more quickly,” he said.

Drennan cited two unscripted projects he is working on, both of which have benefitted from credits abroad. Paramount+’s Rylan Clark-hosted Dating Naked obtained 40% against local spend in Colombia and ABC’s Shaquille O’Neal-presented format Lucky 13, for which The Nest is doing production services, took advantage of the 20% Las Vegas rebate. “Why does [Lucky 13 producer] Studio 1 need to go to the U.S. to make that show using that tax credit?,” queried Drennan. “That money could be pumped into the UK economy.”

The UK already has a wealth of tax credits for different genres including a new 40% indie movie credit, a game-changing high-end TV (HETV) rebate for shows above £1M ($1.3M) per hour and credits for children’s TV, the latter of which can be obtained for shows at any budget level, akin to Drennan’s plan for unscripted. BBC comedy boss Jon Petrie, meanwhile, has submitted plans for a tax credit for comedy shows that don’t meet the HETV budget threshold.

Drennan plans to let the petition gestate for another couple of weeks or so before contacting the broadcasters, trade body Pact and broadcasting union Bectu. He wants to leverage the power of the industry to pen a letter to Nandy, the Labour Culture Secretary, who has been busy meeting industry bigwigs such as BBC Director General Tim Davie and getting to know the sector since taking on the job.

“A lot of people in factual, reality and entertainment have never been part of the tax credit regime and yet this is potentially life changing,” Drennan said. “My job is to say, ‘Well you’ve got the broadcasters interested, let’s find some money’.”

Drennan’s petition came a year after Bectu launched a campaign to standardize working conditions in the unscripted TV industry.