Sony’s Wayne Garvie: “We Want To Be The Biggest Drama Studio In Britain”; Chats Bad Wolf Acquisition For First Time Publicly Alongside Jane Tranter – Mip TV

Sony Pictures Television International Production President Wayne Garvie has revealed his desire for the outfit to be the biggest drama studio in Britain and push into Europe, as he spoke publicly alongside Bad Wolf CEO Jane Tranter for the first time.

Sony now owns the His Dark Materials producer along with The Crown indie Left Bank and Sex Education’s Eleven and Garvie detailed his ambitions during this afternoon’s Mip TV keynote.

He said the trio of powerhouse drama indies are “complementary” and give Sony a huge amount of scale.

“If you pitched me a book to make into a TV show I would know immediately which of these indies to give it to,” he explained. “They are very complementary.”

All drama label acquisitions have been made in the past decade and Garvie is now turning his attention to Europe, as the streamers commission more from territories including France, Germany and Spain.

Garvie and Tranter unveiled Bad Wolf’s first drama project since the Sony deal, an adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles from Peaky Blinders director Otto Bathurst, which is not yet attached to a network.

The pair backed up a string of top production execs who argued at last month’s Series Mania that major talent are choosing super-indie talent deals over ‘Golden Handcuff’-style streamer deals.

“Those [streamer] deals feel restrictive and don’t allow talent to work with the best producers or directors,” said Garvie. “They pay well but don’t necessarily give the creative freedom.”

Tranter said talent still enjoy the thrill of putting together a show before taking it out to networks, which these deals don’t allow for.

“Every time a writer sits in front of a computer screen with a blank page they are putting themselves on the line and sometimes that fear drives us creatively to be the best of ourselves,” she added.

Tranter’s Bad Wolf is gearing up to produce the next run of BBC One’s Doctor Who, taking over production in part from BBC Studios.

She revealed little about the upcoming series, however, which reunites her with Doctor Who scribe RussellT Davies