BBC Boss Tim Davie To Urge The TV Industry To Put Sustainability Content Front & Center: “We Have A Huge Creative Opportunity”

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Director General Tim Davie will get on the front foot when it comes to sustainability and climate change this week and urge the industry to put content speaking to these issues front and center.

Speaking at the Climate Creatives event this Wednesday, Davie will say that focusing on content that addresses sustainability and climate change is a “huge opportunity.” Deadline has obtained a sneak peek of a video address Davie will give at the fourth edition of Climate Creatives, a cross-industry event organized by the BBC that gathers commissioners, production staff and storytellers to examine how the industry can come together to find sustainability solutions. “Surely now we’re at a point where sustainability, the agenda around nature, must be there, front and center,” Davie will say. “This is a real moment for us to do that.” Producers and commissioners are increasingly tuning into how to create climate-related content that sits outside of the docs and current affairs space, whether that be in entertainment or drama or kids programming. “The audience is very interested in this topic and we as public service broadcasters have a huge creative opportunity, it’s not just a corporate initiative,” Davie will say. “That is the priority for next year, to bring it alive even more in programming beyond the obvious strands.

That really excites me.” The industry effort is two-fold; it encompasses reducing carbon footprints as well as on-screen messaging.

Davie will speak at Climate Creatives in his capacity as BBC DG but will call on the whole industry to get behind a push to start sustainability conversations. “We have got a voice,” he will say, referencing the indie community and TV sector as a whole. “I would love