Ten puts Batavia on ice after being unable to secure funding
Troubled TV drama Batavia appears to have been scuppered with Network Ten admitting it has been unable to secure funding for the eight-part epic, which was first announced two years ago.
Based on the Peter Fitzsimmons account of a shipwreck and subsequent massacre of a Dutch ship off the coast of Western Australia in the 17th century, the series was initially announced by Ten in its 2013 upfront presentation in October 2012.
However, in a statement today to TV Tonight Ten said: “Screentime was unable to finance Batavia in the timeframe we were aiming for, but we are not ruling out an opportunity with Batavia further down the track.”
Slated to launch ion 2013 the show ran into monetary problems from the get go, although last December Ten told TV Tonight the show would start filming in mid-2014 after Screentime, which optioned the rights for the series in 2011, had completed its financing.
Another lame horse in the Ten stable. Here’s an idea… Don’t put forward programming to your clients and advertisers that has not been properly funded. This never looked like a Ten program anyway, SBS maybe..
Ten were ill advised to commission 8 hours of this very expensive one-off mini -series. With the same money it could have commissioned a 6 or 8 part series which had repeat potential and run for many seasons. Ten needs real continuity in drama to build its audience. Unfortunately it also needs a real financial commitment to drama. If the CEO looks for cheaper reality programs etc he will just perpetuate the problems. It is clear he has little experience in television commissioning or production. It seems embarrassing to have to go onto a media blog site to point out the bleeding obvious.
Bring back quality programming with decent actors – Rush is a good example of a show that could have had many more years in it. They’ve got Offspring right, surely that’s a good base to work from. C’mon channel 10 – LIFT!
But they renewed Wonderland which was a dog the first time. With Ten’s stocks so low they could have canned Wonderland and commissioned 2 short form series which if worked could have been renewed. If they don’t adopt a creative approach then this management will have to go. You can take intelligent risks in TV if you have the experience. They clearly don’t.