(Image: Newsquest)
TV production quotas designed to bring more work to Scotland have been branded “a work of fiction” amid concerns companies are finding ways to pass off programmes as regional productions.
The damning verdict comes in new analysis which warns that the system designed to bring more television work to Scotland can be manipulated through loopholes and token local operations.
The research commissioned by Screen Scotland and carried out by the Diffley Partnership and Solid Media, found widespread support for the principle of regional production quotas but fragile confidence in how they are applied and enforced.
It says that quotas can spread production spending and activity without necessarily shifting commissioning power, ownership of intellectual property or the financial rewards from successful programmes.
One producer based outside London said: “We don't necessarily need to ask people to invoice from a non-London address so we can hit those quotas. But you know that it happens all the time. So many companies are producing things notionally as regional or even nations, I suspect. And you know that it's a work of fiction”.
Rules allow BBC television shows to qualify as Scottish with as little as one staff member north of the border as concerns resurface that the broadcaster is hitting quotas on paper while real jobs and money stay in London.
Under Ofcom rules, productions can qualify as Scottish without most spending or staff being based in Scotland, with the BBC acknowledging some shows can qualify “solely” because of the location of their production office.
Screen Scotland has raised concerns that all a company may need is a small Scottish office — potentially staffed by just one person — for the production to qualify under Ofcom’s system, even if much of the real work and money remain elsewhere in the UK.
Traitors was filmed in Scotland
London-based production companies accounted for two-thirds of the leading producers whose programmes were counted as Scottish in a two-year-old Screen Scotland study.
The 2024 analysis of programmes made between 2014 and 2022 found that only five of the 15 producers with the most episodes counted as Scottish were headquartered in Scotland, while ten were based in London. The findings raise questions about how much the quota system is helping Scottish-owned businesses grow.
Another industry contributor described the process as “a box ticking exercise that's never audited”, saying they had never experienced a thorough check of regional spending.
The report does not establish that quotas are routinely being breached, but records concerns from production companies, freelancers and people with experience of broadcasting and media policy that the rules can be met without delivering the lasting benefits intended for Scotland.
The rules apply to the BBC, ITV/STV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, but the requirements differ between broadcasters. The BBC must ensure at least eight per cent of its UK network programme hours are made in Scotland each year, and at least eight per cent of its spending on UK network programmes is allocated to production at centres in Scotland. It must also meet separate targets for production outside London. Channel 4 has its own requirement for programmes made outside England, while ITV/STV and Channel 5 have different obligations for production outside the M25.
Under Ofcom's criteria, a production must meet two of three tests: having a substantial business and production base outside the M25 from which the programme is managed, spending at least 70 per cent of its production budget outside the M25, or employing at least 50 per cent of its off-screen talent by cost from outside the M25.
But the analysis says interviewees questioned whether those tests are sufficiently robust to distinguish between a business with a genuine regional operation and one that establishes only a token presence to qualify.
One practice described by contributors is known as “brass-plating”, where a company sets up a small office, desk or even a post office box outside London to meet the requirement for a regional base.
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A Scottish-headquartered production company told researchers: “I think the principle of it is good. And it should work. But ultimately, I see people just getting around it, unfortunately – they'll just find ways around it. They'll do the brass plate stuff. Or they'll film a whole show and then they'll do like a final colour grade in Glasgow or something like that”.
The report also highlights concerns that work is moved out of London to meet regional targets while the company commissioning or controlling the programme remains based in the capital.
One Scottish-based production company said: “There's a lot of lift and shift productions being commissioned up here where the actual head office is in London, but they're commissioning programmes from Scotland, which are meant to be Scottish and using Scottish freelancers. And that's been going on as long as I've worked in Scotland and it doesn't seem to be policed. There seems to be loopholes in the system where people are finding a way to make it work."
The findings raise questions about whether the system is helping Scottish-owned production companies to grow or allowing firms headquartered elsewhere to benefit from work that qualifies as regional.
A key concern is that the location where a programme is made does not necessarily determine who owns it, controls its future sales or benefits from its long-term commercial success.
A UK policy research participant told Screen Scotland researchers: “It's not how much you spend, it's what you spend it on. So you can hit your number, right? But what we've been saying for many years now is what's underneath the number is the critical point”.
One former public service broadcaster employee told the researchers there had been a move towards “low risk but also quite low-profile content” being sent to the nations, adding: “Anything that was likely to pick up an award at a major award ceremony wouldn't be either commissioned out of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland”.
The report also raises concerns that senior staff can be brought in from elsewhere to meet production requirements, limiting opportunities for Scottish professionals to gain credits and develop relationships with commissioners.
Production activity within Scotland is itself unevenly spread, with much of the industry concentrated in the Central Belt, particularly around Glasgow, according to the report.
The latest study is based on desk research and interviews with 38 stakeholders from areas including policy, broadcasting, production and academia. Its conclusions reflect the experiences and views of those interviewed, rather than an audit of individual programmes or a finding that named companies have broken the rules.
BBC Scotland is based at Pacific Quay in Glasgow
But supporters of the quota system have argued that the rules provide a necessary counterweight to London-based commissioning and help sustain production companies and jobs elsewhere in the UK.
One participant described the quotas as having “provided some kind of counterbalance to the pull of London commissioning”, adding that they had been “culturally useful as well”.
The report does not recommend scrapping the quotas. Instead, it calls for improvements to the criteria, monitoring and accountability, alongside greater attention to where production companies are based, who owns programme rights and whether regional production creates lasting economic benefits.
It also argues that quotas alone cannot guarantee a stronger Scottish television industry if commissioning budgets and decision-making remain concentrated elsewhere.
The central challenge, the report concludes, is to ensure that the rules do more than record where money is spent or hours of television are made, and help build a sector in Scotland that can sustain companies, develop talent and retain more of the value created by its programmes.
A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC allocates its spend in line with the criteria set by the regulator, Ofcom. We have previously set out our plan to go well beyond the existing ‘qualifying criteria’ for regional production that Ofcom uses to assess how we’re delivering on our public commitments."