Floortje Dessing’s travel program is a lot more expensive now that she is suffering from all kinds of medical problems. But that doesn’t cost taxpayers anything, she emphasizes. “BNNVARA will pay for it.”
Floortje Dessing has benefited from taxpayer-funded TV trips all her life. In recent years she has been away from it completely due to a terrible medical condition, but now that she says she is back to 85 to 90 percent of her abilities, she has also started her long-distance TV trips for the NPO again.
Expensive TV trips
Floortje’s TV trips are now a bit more expensive, she admits VARA guide. “With some adjustments, it worked out. I travel slower, I stay longer than I normally would. It used to be three or four days maximum, now five or six. And I now always have someone with me.”
She continues: “We used to go just the two of us, the cameraman and I, which was nice and intimate, as if you were two friends just visiting somewhere. But that’s no longer possible. I did everything: dragging tripods, the receipts, calling the taxi, making sure the cameraman got to eat on time. That’s too heavy.”
Producer involved
Floortje’s travel team has therefore been expanded. “Now I have a producer with me, someone I have been working with for 25 years, who is fantastic. I got sick again in Canada, and then he was able to go out with the cameraman. That gives me peace of mind.”
Can these extra costs be justified at a time of cutbacks at the NPO? “BNNVARA has covered these costs, so they fall outside the fixed budget. But Floortje to the End of the World is not an expensive program. I do almost everything at home. I write the texts, do the final editing, and am involved in the editing.”
‘Physically not possible’
Floortje comes up with half of the topics herself. “I have a researcher who works four days a week, a producer for one or two days a week. That’s the entire editorial team. That’s not much for a primetime program. Only now the extra producer is added, because otherwise I can’t make the program anymore. That’s not physically possible.”
She concludes: “And we keep travel costs as low as possible. We do not have expensive hotels, we look for the cheapest tickets. We are always trying to keep this program as affordable as possible with a minimal team. But if it becomes too expensive, we will stop. (…) And who knows, no one will watch anymore, then it will be over.”