Top TV talent will move to YouTube and TikTok, Sister boss predicts
Some of television's biggest writers, actors and directors will one day make drama for YouTube and TikTok.
That is the prediction from Jane Featherstone, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Sister. She gave it on 29 September while speaking at the RTS London Convention in London, as reported by Deadline. Featherstone leads Sister with Liz Murdoch and Lucinda Hicks.
She said the funding model for premium drama on television, meaning expensive scripted series made for broadcasters and streamers, is not going anywhere for the time being. The shift will take longer. In the medium to long term, she expects leading talent and ambitious drama to move towards platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. She framed it as a longer-term move, not an immediate switch.
The view carries weight in the commissioning market, where broadcasters and streamers order new series. Featherstone's credits include Black Doves, The Split and Chernobyl. Sister, an independent global entertainment group that develops, produces and invests, has already struck deals with digital labels including After Party Studios.
Featherstone was not the only boss to predict structural change at the convention. Tim Hincks, chief executive of Expectation, said the UK television industry's terms of trade are "not long for this world". That phrase covers the rules that allow independent producers to own their programmes and license them to broadcasters. Expectation is the production company behind Clarkson's Farm.
Her latest remarks follow earlier warnings about stretched drama budgets. In January 2025 she said the BBC has shows it cannot fund, as reported by Deadline. Her producing credits also include Kaos. The comment underlined how hard it has become for traditional broadcasters to pay alone for large-scale scripted shows.
Sister has previously looked beyond London for growth. The company produced Gangs of London and launched a North England hub, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That Manchester-based unit is headed by Lucy Dyke. Jobs follow commissions.
For viewers, the point is simple. A drama on a phone still needs a script. It still needs a crew of two hundred to make it. If Featherstone is right, where you find that story will change before the people who make it do.
