20 UK-based screen content creators selected for UK Global Screen Fund 2023 International Business Development Strategy Days

The UK Global Screen Fund’s International Business Development Strategy Days programme is a participatory two-day event for UK-based screen content creators. Consisting of panels, talks and workshops delivered by a range of industry experts, the programme is designed to focus on building a successful international growth strategy for the development of UK screen content businesses with the goal of increased revenue generation and international expansion.

It takes place in-person on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 November 2023 at the University of South Wales in central Cardiff.

Speakers will include:

• Denitsa Yordanova, head of UK Global Screen Fund and International Funds
• Alison Warner, managing director, Blue Zoo
• Arabella Page Croft, founder and creative producer, Black Camel
• Chris Filip, international business development manager, UK Global Screen Fund
• Christine Howard, business affairs executive, UK Global Screen Fund
• Emma Curtis, head of production, Firecrest Films
• Emyr Afan, CEO, Avanti Media
• Guy Phenix, business development manager, Dog Ears
• John Giwa-Amu, CEO, Good Gate Media
• Richard Johns, founder and CEO, Argo Films

The selected participants are:

Alec is managing director of Triongl and recently executive oroduced Y Golau/The Light in the Hall, managing multiple co-production partners and successfully securing the HETV Tax Credit – the first back-to-back series ever to meet the criteria and break the £1 million cost per hour.

An experienced line producer, he worked with Kindle Entertainment on The A List series 2 (Netflix, 2020) and produced Triongl’s Pili Pala and Other Voices/Lleisiau Eraill (2019/21). In 2020 he successfully applied to Clwstwr for R&D funding to investigate the possibility of establishing a back-to-back consultancy – the evolution of this research became Tri. In 2017 he line produced the hugely successful and popular drama Un Bore Mercher/Keeping Faith, managing a multi-partner funded budget upwards of £5 million.

Prior to Keeping Faith, Alec worked for Fiction Factory, helping set up internationally successful detective series Hinterland/Y Gwyll and line producing long-running popular high-school drama Gwaith Cartref for S4C. In 2022 Alec was invited to be part of the HETV (high-end television) ScreenSkills working group in Wales working on training initiatives for drama crews.

Barry is the joint MD and creative director of The Format Factory. His media experience spans presenter to reporter, runner to researcher, assistant producer to producer, director to series producer and all roads leading to executive producer. He has produced for all of the UK major networks as well as American and European broadcasters. He has been a development executive, a head of production, a head of programmes for a Chinese television channel, a deputy head of department, a commissioning editor and a head of everything. He has been independent and in-house and the architect and follower of his own rules. The Format Factory is the house he built with some brilliant creative people.

Craig has been designing and supplying technology and live graphics for entertainment shows since 2000, starting with the global roll out of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Craig has got significant experience of non-scripted formats and the creative and technical requirements during format development, production and post production.

Dewi is an experienced producer and co-producer of feature documentaries from south Wales. He established his company Truth Department in 2005, having previously worked for BBC, S4C and Channel Four as a producer and director of television programmes. Truth Department is the only producer in Wales dedicated solely to making non-fiction films for the cinema.

His previous films include the BIFA-winning film Orion: The Man Who Would Be King and The Borneo Case, which premiered at Tribeca and IDFA respectively. His film Donna, directed by Welsh director Jay Bedwani, was nominated for the Bafta Cymru best feature film award and was distributed theatrically in the UK and Ireland in 2022.

He is currently producing Smoking Shores, an immersive cinematic film about surfers and the permacrisis by debut filmmaker and writer on philosophy, David Warwick. The film is executive produced by Michael Sheen and Sonja Henrici and was selected for this October’s BFI London Film Festival Works-in-Progress Showcase. He is also producing films in advanced development by two Edinburgh-based filmmakers, namely Night Gardener, an animated documentary film by Daniel Gough, and Nucleus, an immersive film by James Thomson. He is an EAVE Producers Workshop graduate (Group Leader: Lise Lense-Møller) and Creative England Market Trader delegate.

Emily has written and/or produced 16 feature films to date. These films have been distributed internationally to the likes of Netflix, Universal, Sky, Saban and Vertigo. Cork Films has recently started to provide production service and finance films for television and has just completed their first this year. Their action movie, Duchess, will be released theatrically next year globally and their thriller, Compulsion, will complete post production at the end of the year.

Hollie is the managing director of Bonsai Collective. They are an experienced producer who has guided multiple studios to launch with BAFTA award-winning Overcooked, Yoku’s Island Express and other games working at Team17. Most recently they have also been involved in Horizon: Call of the Mountain. Hollie has been featured in MCV 30 under 30 and nominated for the 2020 Game Dev Heroes Production award.

James comes from a management and business background forming a web and marketing agency and working within the construction industry overseeing projects over 1 million euros in Dublin. James formed Rocket Flair Studios from a lifelong passion for gaming and gaming production. He has successfully formed close personal contacts with large companies, which include Paradox.

Janine is an award-winning writer and producer based in Belfast. With a background in business and finance, she has produced films funded by NI Screen, RTE, and BBC, national advertising campaigns, and line produced a BBC Comedy and feature films. Her debut feature as producer, Black Medicine, supported by Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme, was released in July 2020 and Janine was selected for the Puttnam Scholarship in 2020 and the BIFA Springboard programme for 202½2. This year, Janine has been co-producer on Sunrise (dir. Andrew Baird starring Guy Pearce and Alex Pettyfer) and Old Guy (dir. Simon West starring Christoph Waltz and Lucy Liu).

Jon is the founder and CEO of Newyonder, a global streaming service, multi award-winning films studios and Certified B Corp that not only delivers captivating and thought-provoking content but actively works towards restoring the planet – donating 5% of all revenue to regenerative impact projects, putting the subscriber and community in control of the planet’s future. Jon’s business-specific remit spans across the entirety of the company. He is a multi award-winning filmmaker on Newyonder Originals and a director, writer, producer, impact producer, drone DoP, sound op. He has many awards and recognitions to his name and his previous work has been featured in Forbes, NatGeo,WWF, DailyMail and Yahoo News, to name a few. Prior to founding Newyonder, Jon was a creative director at adam&eveDDB, one of the world’s most renowned creative agencies.

Jon is managing director of Cloth Cat, an award-winning animation and games company specialising in the children’s market. He started his career in games, then filmmaking and visual effects, before settling on the animation industry and forming Cloth Cat in 2012. Over the past 10 years, the company has continued to develop new games and series ideas, and was the recipient of an Epic Megagrant in 2021. Projects include the Emmy-nominated Luo Bao Bei, Shane the Chef, The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, Olobob Top, Ethel & Ernest, Boj, Grandpa in my Pocket and Disney’s Tales of Friendship with Winnie the Pooh. Jon is based in Cardiff and when he isn’t working he’s building Lego, watching movies and travelling the world.

Kate has worked in production for the past 25-years, alongside an array of critically acclaimed filmmakers. She has produced cutting edge stories from the multi-award winning BBC musical drama Glasgow Girls featuring Gary Lewis and an ensemble cast of young actors, to the political thriller Julius Caesar directed by Gregory Doran of the RSC. In 2014 she saw the theatrical release of her first feature Leave to Remain, a coming of age drama about the lives of teenagers seeking asylum in the UK, featuring Toby Jones and a soundtrack by the multi-award winning band Alt-J. Her most recent work includes Murder in the Car Park, The Interrogation of Tony Martin, played by Steve Pemberton, Unspeakable starring Indira Varma and Luke Treadaway, The Watchman starring Stephen Graham and The Cure for Channel 4 – the inspirational true story of Julie Bailey, a mother who exposed one of the worst scandals in the history of the NHS.

She is co-founder of Bristol-based Indefinite Films, selected as one of Channel 4’s emerging indies, a BBC Small Indie and PACT’s Future 30, which is focused on developing feature films and genre TV series based on true stories and their companion documentaries. The company has a number of funded developments and is working with a diverse range of established and emerging talent. She is the co-founder of Bristol Screen Producers a collective set up to support the creation of narrative work in the Region, an is active member of the RTS West committee and alumni of Creative UK’s Female Founders.

Laura is a writer, director and producer. She is a co-founder of Up the Lagan production Company. Laura has written and produced a short film, video installation piece and an audio drama in partnership with Maeve O’Lynn. Their short film Smashing and Entering is currently doing the festival circuits. Laura’s play, The Cassandra of Ulster, which she wrote and directed, was a sold out across Ireland.

Luke Gibbard is a co-founder and CEO at No Ghost. Since 2016, Luke has been working in the immersive space with No Ghost, overseeing VR games such as Wallace and Gromit: The Grand Getaway, and 2021’s Emmy award winning Madrid Noir.

Before No Ghost, Luke worked in feature film VFX with credits including Gravity (2013), Robocop (2014) and Paddington (2014).

Martin is currently producing pre-school stop-frame animated series Tweedy & Fluff. Prior to producing Tweedy & Fluff, Martin forged a career in advertising and brand strategy, working with blue-chip brands at high-end international advertising agencies such as TBWA and McCann. With Tweedy & Fluff he is bringing his knowledge of brand development and communications to the children’s sector.

Nick is an experienced executive producer at The Illuminated Film Company, an award winning animation studio based in Hammersmith, London, with over 30 years experience in 2D animation. Nick has worked on a number of projects and developments including five 2D animated series, two specials and two commercials. These include The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, Little Princess, special A Bear Named Wojtek and Barbour Father Christmas commercial.

Nick has built up experience in international distribution from the sales of the back catalogue of our titles, along with the acquisition and development of new projects. He is experienced in financing and budgeting for productions and has been involved with ScreenSkills, as an expert on their financing course.

Nikki is managing director at Tigerlily productions, a multi-award winning independent production company with a reputation for tackling powerful subject matter with sensitivity and artistry. Their output covers scripted and non-scripted documentaries, arts and music, history and current affairs across a range of media. In 2018, Tigerlily Two in Scotland was formed with the purpose of exploring new talent and stories outside London, and to be a prominent co producer for international projects and teams. It is run out of Glasgow and headed by Nikki.

In their first three years, they have co-produced two feature documentaries Poly Styrene I Am a Cliché, which won two BIFAs including best documentary, Is There Anybody out There?, which premiered at Sundance this year, and produced Hong Kong Mix Tape, which premiered at Glasgow Film Festival this year. Other documentaries in production include Eno, to be directed by Gary Hustwit, and Supernature by Ed Sayers. They are also producing two feature documentaries, Pauline Black: Black by Design directed by Jane Mingay, and Borders directed by Jessi Gutch, which will be a co-production with France. They are also prepping a Turkish/Welsh dramatic feature to be directed by the award winning Umit Unal and shot entirely in Glasgow.

Saskia began her career working in MGM Studios’ International TV Distribution team, across the launches of shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Get Shorty, and Fargo (S3) before moving to the studio’s scripted development division, where she was involved in their expansion into the international scripted co-development space.

This resulted in a strong desire to work within this independent space and more closely with the content creators themselves, which in turn led to landing a role working for a producer (and the founder/director of my current company) helping to build out the business and work across the pre-existing slate of films, several of which have since gone into production and secured international distribution.

These include sci-fi thriller Settlers, released by IFC Midnight in the US, and The Silent Twins, which premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival in advance of its distribution by Focus Features. Upcoming projects include The Brutalist, directed by Brady Corbet and Bridge to Kono, directed by Werner Herzog.

Siân is creative director at Yeti and to date has exec-produced most of their output. In recent years, Yeti programmes have won multiple awards including three RTS, a Bafta, a Celtic Media Award and an International Broadcast Award – along with a Grierson & Asian Media Award nomination. Yeti have won commissions for a range of broadcasters and are the only Welsh company in Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund. Yeti was also named Multi-Channel Production Company of the Year at the 2023 Broadcast Digital Awards with judges describing the company as “an emerging Welsh powerhouse”.

Recent productions include: The Great Big Tiny Design Challenge with Sandi Toksvig (Channel 4), The Truth About My Murder (CBS Reality), Spike Milligan: The Unseen Archive (Sky Arts), Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen (ITV1), Edward VIII: Britain’s Traitor King (Channel 4), Osborne House: A Royal Retreat (Channel 5),  48 Hours to Victory (Channel 4), My Life: I was Bullied (CBBC), Find It Fix It Flog It (Channel 4) and Style Stars (S4C).

Prior to Yeti, Siân was an award-winning programme maker and showrunner on landmark series including Coast (BBC2), The Great Guide (BBC2), The People Remember (BBC1) and Time Team (Channel 4). Described as a factual programming powerhouse, she’s led teams of 5 through to 60 on a range of output from blue-chip specialist factual through to formats, features, as-live events and obs-doc series. Siân is also a multi-award-winning radio producer, author of the best-selling book If You’re Reading This – a history of soldier’s farewell letters and a former Welsh international swimmer.

Yoyu is the founder of the independent game studio Infinite Whys. She is the producer and narrative designer of Whispers in the West, and a writer and narrative designer behind Reigns: Three Kingdoms. With a background in board games and cloud technology, she’s passionate about bringing social elements into games through innovative gameplay.

Yvonne is known for producing many acclaimed film and television series — with an eye for compelling stories and transforming them into thought-provoking content. From Ngozi Onwurah’s Shoot the Messenger starring David Oyelowo and Daniel Kaluuya to Half of a Yellow Sun based on the Orange Prize-winning novel starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Boyega and Thandie Newton to Top Boy, the ten-part series for Netflix with Drake as an executive producer.

Through her company, Yvonne is developing a variety of film and TV projects including a feature film set in Burkina Faso with DNA/Film4/MGM, a TV series with 101 Studios and a debut feature with Film4. Completed projects include Two Single Beds, a short film written and starring Daniel Kaluuya for Film 4, A Story of Bones, best documentary feature nominee at Tribeca Film Festival broadcast on PBS, and Rye Lane, Raine Allen Miller’s critically acclaimed feature film which premiered at Sundance.