"Creative freedom" in UK broadcasting

(The above image is what Ghost offers up when you type "Warren Ellis" into its image search. It seems strangely appropriate for this piece.)

Echoing this piece by Warren today: https://warrenellis.ltd/work/on-not-working-in-britain-where-i-live/

Although I've worked plenty for British broadcasters in the past, I haven't done anything for a UK company (with the exception of a podcast series we make for BBC Sounds) since around 2015. That wasn't a conscious choice, just the way it's worked out because it turned out that appetite for what I do is far greater in the US than it is here at home.

If the BBC want to tempt people back, then they need to look at their definition of "creative freedom", because I've had more of that in the US than I ever got here. And they also might want to brief their business affairs people on the "we don't want to own you" thing, because the contracts coming out of the BBC at the moment are demanding exclusive rights on any IP you generate for them for years into the future for a tiny fraction of the money the US companies pay.

I'm not going to pretend to know the answer to the BBC's problems. I can't imagine how you even begin to run an institution like that. But I can say, from a creator's point of view, that most of us would welcome a place to bring our ideas that was open, brave and offered real freedom to play and to experiment. The BBC isn't that. But hopefully one day it can be.