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Drama production speaks for itself

FortitudeLast week I attended an industry event for The Knowledge which proved an enormous success. There was a real buzz as hundreds of movers and shakers debated, discussed and did deals around drama in its many forms.

The overall consensus was that the state of drama production has never been healthier. The speakers and delegates frequently returned to the subjects of the UK's great tax credits; the amazing crew on offer; the burgeoning number of major international co-productions and the increasing number of non-linear broadcast platforms.

We drew up a quick list of some of the best quotes out there to give you a flavour of the upbeat atmosphere:
 

"You'd have to have been on Mars not to be excited about drama today" - Helen Jackson, chief content officer, BBC Worldwide.
 

"Co-prods give us a massively increased opportunity, both for the channel and the talent we work with" - Simon Maxwell, head of international drama, Channel 4.
 

"The power really lies with the writers and producers" - Steve November, director of drama, ITV.
 

"Everything needs to feel like an event in the schedule" - Liam Keelan, director of scripted, BBC Worldwide.
 

"Once you have got over the idea that a story has to be told in English, the world is your oyster" - Sarah Doole, director of global drama, Fremantle Media.
 

"Finding Richard [Dormer] was one of the most exciting moments of my career" - Patrick Spence, executive producer of Fortitude (see picture), on casting the northern Irish actor as the sheriff of an Arctic town.
 

"We go for popular, premium, mainstream" - Steve November, director of drama, ITV.
 

"Linear TV is still how 85% of people watch, but new platforms are changing the types of content that get made" - Helen Jackson, chief content officer, BBC Worldwide.
 

"There is a gap for a really authored crime show that reinvents that genre" - Simon Maxwell, head of international drama, Channel 4.
 

"It's an enormous relief we don't have to make things on our own any more"- Simon Vaughan, chief executive, Lookout Point, on co-producing content.
 

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