A new digital-first Gaelic language production will be launched in Scotland after a joint agreement between BBC Alba and BBC Scotland.
The first-of-its-kind co-commissioning project commits £800k over two years, funded by MG ALBA and the BBC, and aims to identify and develop projects that resonate with all Scottish audiences.
It will also develop homegrown talent in the Highlands and Islands. Producers are being encouraged to submit proposals in response to genre-specific briefs with a strong emphasis on creating Gaelic content that reflects the culture, skills and talent of the Highlands and Islands creative sector, both on and off-screen.
The first thing they are looking for is digital-first dramas that are targeted at younger viewers. This comes after the success of award-winning short-form dramas such Float and Dog Days on BBC Scotland, and will consist of short 10 minute episodes intended primarily for BBC iPlayer and BBC ALBA’s YouTube channel.
Following an initial development phase, the ambition is for successful projects to enter production in 2025 with further opportunities in unscripted content to be announced later this year.
READ MORE
-
Pupils get to secondary and think 'Why am I learning Gaelic?'
-
Oban welcomes long-awaited return of premier Gaelic cultural spectacle
Margaret Cameron, Director of Content at MG ALBA said: “MG ALBA is delighted to partner with the BBC on this exciting initiative for digital-first content across BBC ALBA and BBC Scotland platforms and channels. It’s critical that we make every effort to engage with all sections of our audience while promoting our language and offering opportunities to new or more established talent in or from the Highlands & Islands who may not always have the same access to development and production opportunities. We look forward to building on, with BBC Scotland, their previous short form, digital-first successes.”
Louise Thornton, Head of Commissioning at BBC Scotland said: “I’m proud of BBC Scotland’s strong track record for developing and producing award-winning quality short form content that audiences love and we’re looking forward to building on it through this partnership with MG ALBA. Backing homegrown storytelling is central to the BBC’s purpose and this initiative is an excellent demonstration of it. We’re excited to see what ideas come in to us.”
The commissioning round is now open and initial Ideas should be submitted to gaelicdigitalcommissioning@bbc.co.uk before 6 January 2025.
While all Scottish production companies are invited to submit pitches, it is essential to demonstrate how their projects will contribute to talent development and production in the Highlands and Islands. Proposals that include two or more of the following elements—stories, locations, production, or company base—in the Highlands and Islands will be prioritised.
More information about the call-out and criteria can be found at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/scotland/commissioning/gaelic/
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here