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Why is there no Welsh Government policy to promote the story of Wales through the broadcast media? One would have thought that would be a no-brainer for any patriotic Government interested in the wellbeing of its own people and in "marketing" its image to a global audience. But apparently this rather simple idea has bypassed the Welsh Government completely. My MS kindly tabled a question on this (WQ83849) in the Senedd, and received the reply that there are NO mechanisms or financial preferences in place that are designed to encourage the telling of Welsh stories to a global audience, in film or TV. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in Ireland and Scotland, and it is extraordinary that the forceful comments made on this matter by Sam Parry, Gareth Leaman, Nina Jones, Angela Graham and others in recent years have simply been ignored.
Leaman wrote this about what he called "official Welsh culture": ".......no real representation of ourselves on screen; a superficial idealisation of the natural landscape; exploitation of crumbling socio-political structures. Wales as a hyper-real netherworld in which decaying infrastructures can only be used as props to tell other people’s stories.” Nina Jones complained: “Apart from the occasional Welsh accent in Casualty or mention of Wales in a small number of Doctor Who episodes, by and large, these dramas are set “elsewhere”. They do not directly represent a Welsh way of life. Even if Wales’s beauty is seen as an asset by BBC producers, Welsh issues have not been deemed worthy to commission shows for national audiences.” Some years ago the actor Michael Sheen claimed that the people of Wales are being short-changed by the broadcasters, who feed them largely on a "British" diet when much of it should be much more specifically Welsh. That is not to argue that Wales should be more introverted or parochial. He suggested that unless the current situation changes, the broadcasters will be complicit in the campaign to write Wales out of history and to deny Wales a recognition of its own character and its own narrative.
So what's to be done? The Irish Government declares that in assessing applications for TV and film financial support, “strong preference" will be given to projects that "tell Irish stories, drawing on and depicting Ireland's culture, history, way of life, view of the world and of itself.” Here is a message to the Welsh Government: The template is there. Please just copy it and act upon it, and the sooner the better!
Why is there no Welsh Government policy to promote the story of Wales through the broadcast media? One would have thought that would be a no-brainer for any patriotic Government interested in the wellbeing of its own people and in "marketing" its image to a global audience. But apparently this rather simple idea has bypassed the Welsh Government completely. My MS kindly tabled a question on this (WQ83849) in the Senedd, and received the reply that there are NO mechanisms or financial preferences in place that are designed to encourage the telling of Welsh stories to a global audience, in film or TV. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in Ireland and Scotland, and it is extraordinary that the forceful comments made on this matter by Sam Parry, Gareth Leaman, Nina Jones, Angela Graham and others in recent years have simply been ignored.
Leaman wrote this about what he called "official Welsh culture": ".......no real representation of ourselves on screen; a superficial idealisation of the natural landscape; exploitation of crumbling socio-political structures. Wales as a hyper-real netherworld in which decaying infrastructures can only be used as props to tell other people’s stories.” Nina Jones complained: “Apart from the occasional Welsh accent in Casualty or mention of Wales in a small number of Doctor Who episodes, by and large, these dramas are set “elsewhere”. They do not directly represent a Welsh way of life. Even if Wales’s beauty is seen as an asset by BBC producers, Welsh issues have not been deemed worthy to commission shows for national audiences.” Some years ago the actor Michael Sheen claimed that the people of Wales are being short-changed by the broadcasters, who feed them largely on a "British" diet when much of it should be much more specifically Welsh. That is not to argue that Wales should be more introverted or parochial. He suggested that unless the current situation changes, the broadcasters will be complicit in the campaign to write Wales out of history and to deny Wales a recognition of its own character and its own narrative.
So what's to be done? The Irish Government declares that in assessing applications for TV and film financial support, “strong preference" will be given to projects that "tell Irish stories, drawing on and depicting Ireland's culture, history, way of life, view of the world and of itself.” Here is a message to the Welsh Government: The template is there. Please just copy it and act upon it, and the sooner the better!
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The Irish policy regarding funding for screen projects:
Quote:
SCREEN IRELAND
Principles & Criteria
FÉ/SI's funding programmes are guided by some fundamental principles which form the basis of the decision-making process Developing Talent, Cultural & Industrial Priorities Consistent with its government remit and responding to the present perceived needs of the Irish audiovisual production industry, FÉ/SI considers that certain projects, in terms of their content, provenance or benefit to the industry, represent clear priorities for its funding.
Strong preference will be given to submissions on behalf of projects which:
*are of Irish initiation in a creative sense; that is, conceived, written, produced and/ or to be directed by Irish talents
*entail new and emerging Irish talent in key creative roles, i.e. director, writer, producer, composer, principal actor
*tell Irish stories, drawing on and depicting Ireland's culture, history, way of life, view of the world and of itself
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