Conference Host

Josie D'arby

Josie D'arby

Broadcaster

She began her career as a junior reporter on ITV children's programmes, whilst still a pupil in school in Wales. After A levels Josie won a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where she studied acting for 3 years. Prior to graduation she began presenting programmes for Children's BBC , where she worked on many of their high profile shows, and presented many events including the Children's BAFTA awards, and Children in need Red Nose Day programmes.

Josie fronted channel 5s youth programmes for two years, before joining Ben Shepard and Dermot O’Leary on Channels 4s the Bigger Breakfast. Before a return to the BBC, where she specialised in music broadcasting, working on shows such as Top of the Pops and Tune Team . A return to acting saw Josie land lead roles in Drama and comedy for the BBC and channel 4 , as well as numerous guest appearances on shows for many channels including Sky One. Josie has most recently been working in the Arts and has been a regular face on BBC Four arts, dance and classical music programmes. Including Dance passion 2022, BBC Young Musician, BBC Proms, and The BAFTA nominated Life Drawing Live. Josie was part of ITV’s broadcasts following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Josie has presented many national programmes from here in Wales as well as working on broadcasts for BBC Wales and ITV Wales. She is delighted to be a part of the team welcoming you to Wales and showcasing what we have to offer nationally and globally.

Guest Speakers

Ian Katz

Ian Katz

Chief Content Officer, Channel 4

Ian Katz is Chief Content Officer of Channel 4. Ian has overall responsibility for the creative output across Channel 4, its portfolio and All 4, leading the creative commissioning team to ensure Channel 4's unique remit to innovate, take creative risks and represent all of the UK on screen is reflected in its programmes and content. Under his leadership, award-winning output includes It's a Sin; For Sama; Derry Girls; Help; Stath Lets Flats; This Way Up; We Are Lady Parts; Joe Lycett's Got Your Back; Jeremy Kyle: Death on Daytime. Ian has led Channel 4's digital-first commissioning strategy which has seen viewing to Channel 4's On Demand platform increase by more than 20% over each of the last two years. Before joining Channel 4 in 2018, Ian was editor of BBC's Newsnight, a role he took up after 23 years as a newspaper journalist, including serving as Deputy Editor and Head of News at the Guardian.

Siân Doyle

Siân Doyle

Chief Executive, S4C

Siân Doyle has been S4C's Chief Executive and designated Accounting Officer since January 2022. Prior to S4C, Siân has had extensive experience in the telecommunications and retail sectors in the UK, Canada and the United States. A former Managing Director of telecommunications company, TalkTalk, and prior to that she was Director of Retail at EE, responsible for developing the retail strategy and leading a team of 3500 staff across 600+ stores in the UK. She was also Senior Vice President, Retail of Comcast Cable in Philadelphia.

Ben Frow

Ben Frow

Chief Content Officer, UK Paramount

Ben is Chief Content Officer, UK, at Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS), with oversight of Channel 5 and its digital brands, the wider Paramount channel portfolio, and the global streaming service Paramount+ UK which launched in June 2022. Under Ben’s leadership, Channel 5 has undergone a creative transformation through continued investment in high quality originations across all genres, and a focus on increasing original commissions for peak time. Channel 5 has broadened the scope of its programming, commissioning drama, history and more, to build on its roots in factual programming and attract talent including Michael Palin, Susan Calman, Jay Blades and Jeremy Vine. This fundmental shift in the channel’s perception – and wider audience appeal – has been recognised with a raft of industry awards, including Channel 5’s first ever BAFTA for Cruising with Jane McDonald, Channel of the Year awards from Edinburgh and the RTS, and accolades for programmes across a range of genres.

Jo Street

Jo Street

Head of Daytime & Features and Head of Hub Glasgow, Channel 4

Jo Street is Channel 4’s Head of Daytime & Features and Head of Hub in Glasgow. She was responsible for Steph’s Packed Lunch which started in Leeds in 2020 and amongst other things: Escape to the Chateau DIY, Come Dine with Me, Four in a Bed and Countdown. Before joining C4, Jo spent 25 years at the BBC where she started as a PA in radio at Pebble Mill in Birmingham and ended up as Commissioning Editor for Entertainment & Daytime based in Glasgow. She’s pretty much worked all over the UK in various production and commissioning roles. Some shows she’s worked on include: Countryfile, Weakest Link, Homes under the Hammer, Money for Nothing, Eggheads, The Hit List, I’ll Get This, Antiques Road Trip, Getting Hitched Asian Style, Rogue to Wrestler and Test Drive.

Maartje Horchner

Maartje Horchner

EVP of Content, All3Media International

Awaiting Bio...

Dawn McCarthy-Simpson MBE

Dawn McCarthy-Simpson MBE

Managing Director of Business Development & Global Strategy

Dawn has had a varied media career spanning over 20 years, which started with five years in the world of commercial radio with Emap Plc, before launching her career in TV. As a pioneer of local TV, she was head hunted to launch Yorkshire’s first local terrestrial TV channel, where she remained for a further two years as Managing Director. Dawn then went on to be involved with the launch of a second channel, which was the UK's first short film channel which aired on the Sky platform. In her final year she successfully launched the channel into a further seven European countries. Not satisfied with having experience both in TV & radio, Dawn also ventured into the literary world when she became a published author in June 2006.

Kaoi Grizzelle

Kaoi Grizzelle

Digital Commissioning Executive, Channel4

Kaio has been working in the production of original entertainment programming on YouTube since 2017, with an ongoing focus on reaching young audiences through premium, format-led digital series starring youth talent and creators. Spent 3 years directing and leading creative on PAQ, a hit fashion & streetwear entertainment show created by digital publisher Kyra. Now part of team overseeing original commissioning for Channel 4’s new digital-first brand Channel 4.0, which was created to reach 16-24s with series featuring the UK’s most exciting content creators. Bringing Channel 4 values to a new, digital audience through joyous, playful, and mischievous entertainment programming.

Evie Buckley

Evie Buckley

Digital Commissioning Editor, Youth & Entertainment, Channel 4

Evie Buckley is the Digital Commissioning Editor for Youth & Entertainment content at Channel 4 with a particular focus on Channel 4.0. Evie is responsible for commissioning both Original and Branded Entertainment series for Channel 4’s Digital and Social platforms, including award-nominated series Secret Sauce, Harry Pinero’s Worst in Class, Tapped Out and It’s Alright to Be White. Working with a wide variety of the UK’s top production companies, directors and talent, Evie is overseeing the channel’s youth-skewing and teens entertainment digital commissioning slate as well as working strategically across social to bring in new audiences. Prior to working at Channel 4, Evie was Head of Development and Executive producer at Acme Films, an independent production company who champion new onscreen and offscreen talent, making TV, films and digital content for all of the major UK channels and platforms. Evie has also worked at Bauer, Endemol and TwoFour, with experience across all factual TV genres.

Kate Phillips

Kate Phillips

Director of Unscripted, BBC

Kate is responsible for the strategy and output of all Entertainment, Factual, Arts and Classical Music, Daytime and Events programming across BBC Channels and iPlayer amounting to over 3000 hours of content a year. Previously she was Director of Entertainment at the BBC commissioning over 500 hours of original programmes a year, including shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice, Top Gear, The Graham Norton Show, Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You, Masterchef, University Challenge, Dragons’ Den, The Wheel, The Hit List, Drag Race UK, Eurovision, the BAFTA awards and The Traitors During the pandemic Kate was Acting Controller of BBC One, overseeing a vast array of programmes, working and commissioning with many genres including all of Factual, Current Affairs, Sport, Comedy, Drama and Entertainment. In 2014, Kate was Creative Director of Formats for BBC Worldwide. In this role Kate oversaw all of BBC Worldwide’s scripted and non-scripted formats, over 200 in total. She led the Formats team in London and worked closely with Sales and Production teams across all of BBC Worldwide’s Global Territories. Prior to this Kate worked as Channel Executive for BBC1 and BBC3, working closely with the Controllers to oversee all editorial content on both channels, managing early development of commissions and formatting and liaising with scheduling, budgeting, marketing, press, and social media planning and strategy. Kate’s extensive TV production experience was garnered through producing numerous comedy and entertainment shows for many broadcasters, as well as being a co-owner and Director of Mast Media, an award winning television formats company which developed multiple shows airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and across the globe. From here Kate turned her attention to development, joining the BBC as Head of Development for BBC Children’s, and overseeing the development of multiple BAFTA winning shows for CBBC and CBeebies. She consequently became Head of Development at BBC Entertainment, increasing production turnover significantly and helping to win multiple commissions for the department. Kate also created and ran the successful BBC training scheme Future Formats and resided as the BBC Formats Representative on the European Broadcast Union. In this role she helped devise and establish the annual Creative Forum in Berlin. Kate has a degree in Politics from Bristol University.

Steven Handley

Steven Handley

Commissioning Editor, Entertainment, Channel 4

Steve has been at Channel 4 for 5 years, covering Reality, Comedy and Live. In that time he has commissioned The Last Leg, Jimmy Carr’s I Literally Just Told You, Sink Or Swim, The Bridge, Joe Lycett’s Big Pride Party amongst others, and in 2023 has new shows The Wonders Of The World I Can’t See, Fred’s Last Resort, Late Night Lycett & Tempting Fortune.

Sebastian Cardwell

Sebastian Cardwell

Deputy Chief Content Officer, UK, Paramount

Sebastian Cardwell is Deputy Chief Content Officer, UK, at Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) which includes Channel 5 and its digital brands, the wider Paramount channel portfolio, and the streaming service Paramount+ UK. Reporting to Ben Frow, Chief Content Officer, Sebastian is responsible for devising strategy across the portfolio, with a specific focus on drama and original content. Cardwell first joined Channel 5 in 2011 and has been instrumental in Channel 5’s continued evolution into a destination for high quality originations across a range of genres, with an emphasis on drama and original commissions in peak slots. Spearheading Channel 5’s increased investment in drama, Cardwell has changed the face of the genre on the channel, giving rise to hit-rating titles such as the All Creatures Great and Small reboot, Penance, The Deceived and The Drowning, Prior to his current role at Channel 5, Cardwell was Digital Controller, responsible for the day-to-day running of Channel 5’s digital channels, overseeing all commissioning, acquisitions and channel management. Here, he commissioned titles such as prison drama Clink, as well as Celebs on the Farm and It’s Your Fault I’m Fat. In his time at Channel 5 Cardwell has also held roles as Commissioning Executive and Channel Manager, and Channel and Acquisitions Manager, primarily for 5STAR, as well as undertaking a stint as Acquisitions Manager for the Channel 5 family. Prior to this, he spent five years in the programming and acquisitions team at the BBC. Cardwell holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Kings College London, which he attended in 2000.

Rhuanedd Richards

Rhuanedd Richards

Director of BBC Wales

As Director of BBC Wales, Rhuanedd has overall responsibility for the content strategy and editorial priorities for BBC Wales across all media platforms and services – radio, video and online - in both the English and Welsh languages. Rhuanedd started her career with BBC Wales as a journalist in 1997, initially as a TV and radio Reporter in the Swansea region, before being becoming a Political Correspondent in the Welsh Parliament. During the formative years of the National Assembly for Wales, she was a familiar face and voice to audiences as presenter of some of BBC Wales’ flagship news and political programmes. Rhuanedd continued to present TV and radio programmes after becoming Assistant News Editor at BBC Wales. Having left the BBC in 2007 she worked as a special adviser to the Welsh Government, chief executive of Plaid Cymru and latterly as a policy adviser to the Presiding Officer of the Welsh Parliament. In 2018, Rhuanedd returned to the BBC taking up the role of editor of Radio Cymru and Cymru Fyw before being appointed Director in 2021.Originally from the Cynon Valley, Rhuanedd now lives in Pontypridd with her family. She is a member of Aberystwyth University Council and will this year be awarded an Honorary Fellowship.

Nick Andrews

Nick Andrews

Head of Commissioning, BBC Wales

Nick leads BBC Wales commissioning across television, iPlayer and interactive platforms. He is part of the Content Group which brings radio, television and online together to share cross-platform ideas and seek out ambitious and impactful content. His recent scripted commissions include hit crime dramas Keeping Faith, The Pact, Steeltown Murders and Wolf. In Unscripted factual series Slammed, Reunion Hotel and A Killing In Tiger Bay. He has also been responsible for launching BBC Wales comedy strategy green-lighting situational comedies The Tuckers and In My Skin.

Kaio Grizzelle

Kaio Grizzelle

Digital Commissioning Executive, Channel 4

Kaio has been working in the production of original entertainment programming on YouTube since 2017, with an ongoing focus on reaching young audiences through premium, format-led digital series starring youth talent and creators. Spent 3 years directing and leading creative on PAQ, a hit fashion & streetwear entertainment show created by digital publisher Kyra. Now part of team overseeing original commissioning for Channel 4’s new digital-first brand Channel 4.0, which was created to reach 16-24s with series featuring the UK’s most exciting content creators. Bringing Channel 4 values to a new, digital audience through joyous, playful, and mischievous entertainment programming.

John McVay

John McVay

John McVay, Chief Executive, Pact

John McVay OBE is the Chief Executive of Pact, the UK’s leading Trade Association for Film, TV, Animation, Children’s and Digital production companies. John contributes to many UK government and international policy fora on the creative industries, broadcasting, trade and investment. John has extensive experience of policy development across all aspects of broadcasting and television production and leads on all Pact policy development in the UK and Europe. He also maintains excellent relationships with all of the UK’s major political parties and the devolved assemblies and parliaments. John is currently; a Board member of the Creative Diversity Network, a member of the Creative Industries Council (CIC), an industry advisor to the AHRC Creative Industries programme, Industry board member of the British Film Commission and a board member of the Creative Cities Convention.

Guto Rhun

Guto Rhun

Young Audience Commissioner, S4C

Guto Rhun is currently working as Young Audiences Commissioner at S4C. In this role, he is responsible for developing and commissioning a wide range of content for S4C’s 16-25-year-old audience. One of his primary responsibilities is Hansh, S4C’s online youth Service. He is currently developing Hansh to be a hub for long-form entertainment formats, scripted comedy and drama, and the place to be for emerging Welsh talent. Guto started his career as a presenter for BBC radio Cymru and since then moved along to the production side of things eventually producing digital content for Boom Cymru. He is passionate about leading change in diversity and inclusion within the industry. He helped lead Hansh’s Medru Project, which saw deaf and disabled talent be mentored for roles in front and behind the camera.

John McVay

Jo Clinton Davies

Controller of Factual, ITV

As ITV Factual Controller Jo's commissions include: BAFTA -winning Long Lost Family; Diana Our Mother; Queen's Green Planet; 56 & 63 Up; Crime & Punishment strand; Trevor McDonald's Mafia; Joanna Lumley's Silk Road; landmark singles e.g Kate Garraway Finding Derek; Kevin McDonald’s Story of Us. At the BBC, Jo was Head of Independent Commissioning & commissions included Masterchef & Hairy Bikers. Jo Directed & Produced BBC One's 7 part award winning documentary series 'Making Babies' & 'The Shop' about Selfridges, plus single docs for award winning strand 40 Minutes & Inside Story. Cut (long) teeth on Newsnight, Crimewatch etc.

Hollie Abbott

Hollie Abbott

Director of Development, Boom Cymru

Hollie is the Director of Development at Cardiff-based Boom - part of ITV Studios. She oversees a broad slate of network and internationally focused factual and fact ent formats, that range from medical rig-shows to talent-led travelogues, bold new reality concepts to supersized competition formats. Originally from Cornwall, Hollie is a development specialist having worked at a wide range of companies including Zinc Media, Firecracker, Keshet UK and STV. Her credits include Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over (W), Big Zuu’s Big Eats (Dave), Hot Cakes (BBC Three), Alan Carr’s Adventures with Agatha Christie (More4) Adults Only (5Star) and upcoming Our Little Farm on the Prairie (C5).

Gerwyn Evans

Deputy Director, Creative Wales

Gerwyn Evans is Deputy Director at Creative Wales, a Welsh Government internal agency that supports the development of the fast-growing creative industry in Wales. They focus on developing and promoting growth across a wealth of Creative Sectors including Film and TV, Animation, Games, Music, Comedy and Publishing; positioning Wales as one of the best places in the world for creative businesses to thrive. Visit our website www.creative.wales.

Jonny Coller

Jonny Coller

Creative Director, South Shore Production

Jonny is Creative Director at South Shore, who produce content ranging from Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams for the BBC through to Cooking With the Stars on ITV. Jonny has twenty years’ experience developing content and running teams at companies including ITV Studios and Twofour. He has been involved in the development of a raft of hit shows that have gone on to win awards and sell around the world. From BBC One’s returning format, The Real Marigold Hotel, to celebrity events, The Jump and Sink or Swim for Channel 4 and Don’t Rock the Boat for ITV, to long-running reality format Weekender for ITV2. He was also instrumental in the roll-out of global format, This Time Next Year.

Bethan Roberts

Screen Academies Manager, Screen Alliance Wales

After studying Performing Arts at the Italia Conti Academy, Bethan worked as a performer both in the UK and abroad before turning her hand to stand-up comedy in 2012. In 2015 Bethan took a show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in her short comedy career was the recipient of several well-known Comedy awards. In recent years Bethan has found herself back in the film and television industry in Wales working for companies such as It’s My Shout, Painting Practice, Bad Wolf, and Screen Alliance Wales. In her newly appointed role of Screen Academies Manager, Bethan will be working alongside the University of South Wales and Screen Alliance Wales to bring awareness to the creative industries in South Wales and guarantee that future generations have the skills, knowledge and training required for a career in the Film and TV industry.

Dawn Bowden

Dawn Bowden

Deputy Minister for Arts

Dawn Bowden was born in Bristol and educated at St Bernadette Catholic Secondary School and Soundwell Technical College. She worked for the National Health Service between 1979 and 1982, and for Bristol City Council from 1982 to 1983. In 1989, she moved to south Wales to become the youngest and first female District Officer in the area. She rose through the ranks of her union to become the UNISON Cymru/Wales Head of Health, a position she held up to her election as Assembly Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney in May 2016. She counts amongst her proudest achievements leading on the negotiations that delivered the Living Wage into NHS Wales in 2014. Dawn was elected as a Member of the Senedd for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney in May 2016. In the last Senedd term, Dawn served on the Health, Social Care and Sport; Culture Welsh Language and Communications; External Affairs and Additional Legislation; Climate Change and Rural Affairs; Children, Young People and Education and Equalities, Local Government and Communities Committees. She also Chaired the Committee on Senedd Reform and represented the Welsh Parliament at the European Congress of Regions and was a Member of the Valleys Taskforce. On 13 May 2021 Dawn was appointed Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport and Chief Whip.

John McVay

Amanda Lovett

 

"Welsh estate agent Amanda Lovett hit our screens on the hit prime-time BBC One show "The Traitors" hosted by Claudia Winkleman. Dubbed as Mama Dragon, Amanda deceived her fellow contestants with her warm, nurturing and compassionate personality. Amanda, mum of five and grandmother of five, quickly became a fan favourite of the hit show and is now heralded as a gay icon by the LGBTQ+ community Amanda has recently been nominated for Celebrity of the year by National Diversity Awards and Reality Personality of the Year by the National Reality TV Awards"

Cai Morgan

Cai Morgan

Head of Social, Boom Cymru

Cai Morgan is the Head of one of Boom’s newest departments Boom Social. Boom Social are responsible for the production and distribution of over 500 pieces of digital content annually for channels such as BBC, S4C, Hansh S4C and a wide range of businesses including Welsh Government, FAW and Dwr Cymru. Cai joined Boom aged 16 as a part-time production runner and over the next decade would progress within the company to become Head of Boom Social, who today are a department made up of a 14-strong team of digital content specialists. In 2019 Cai received a BAFTA nomination for Industry Breakthrough at the BAFTA Cymru awards and his work has received multiple Celtic Media, RTS and British Podcast Award nominations over recent years.

Hannah Thomas

Hannah Thomas

Head of Drama, Severn Screen

Hannah is Head of Drama at Severn Screen, an independent film and television production company based in Cardiff. The companies’ credits include three series of Hidden, Steeltown Murders, Pembrokeshire Murders, Apostle and Denmark. Prior to joining Severn Screen, Hannah was Head of Production at Ffilm Cymru Wales where she serves as Executive Producer on a number of feature films including, I Am Not A Witch, Orion The Man Who Would Be King and A Dark Song. Hannah begun her career at the BBC where she started as a runner and worked her way up through the production ranks.

Jonathan Hill

Jonathan Hill

News Presenter, ITV Cymru Wales

Jonathan Hill has been the presenter of ITV Cymru Wales’ flagship news programme Wales at Six for nearly 30 years. He is also Editor of Network Programmes and has developed the business over the last 5 years producing programmes for ITV, BBC Cymru Wales, BBC3 and BBC1. He has a special interest in true crime and has produced several award winning documentaries for ITV Cymru Wales. Jonathan was instrumental in the success of ITV’s hit drama The Pembrokeshire Murders in 2021 on which he was an executive producer. The drama is based on a book co-authored by Jonathan that led to the commissioning of the network drama. Jonathan’s trusted relationship with Welsh police forces has also led to further successful commissions over the past few years, with Cold Case Detectives and Cold Case Forensics.

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Chris Filip

Chris Filip, UK Global Screen Fund Manager - International Business Development, BFI

Chris was appointed International Business Development Manager for the UK Global Screen Fund in October. Before joining the BFI, Chris worked with Creative England as Programme Manager for Creative Enterprise, managing the New Ideas Fund, and their games business support programmes - Foundations for Games and Games Scale Up - as part of their flagship business support and investment readiness programme, Creative Enterprise. In the past, Chris also worked to design and help deliver Payload Studios' Tentacle Zone Incubator programme for underrepresented game studio founders, and helped co-found Game Anglia, a not-for-profit community interest company growing the games industry in the East of England region. Before realising that he could help people by putting together programmes, Chris was Game Designer and Product Manager at a variety of games and tech companies.

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Neil Mcallum

News Presenter, ITV Cymru Wales

Awaiting Bio...

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Matthew Tune

Awaiting Bio...

Matthew Tune is Executive Producer at ITV Cymru Wales’ Network Programmes unit. After nearly thirty years working in the indie sector Matthew joined ITV four years ago to work alongside Jonathan Hill and build their network slate. Following on from the success of their documentary The Pembrokeshire Murders - Catching the Game Show Killer, they have built a reputation for high-end true crime docs, with recent series including Cold Case Forensics (ITV1) and Steeltown Murders - Hunting a Serial Killer (BBC Cymru Wales & BBC1). Mattthew is also an award winning producer/director and recently made the acclaimed ITV1 documentary Jason and Clara - In Memory of Maudie, with actor Jason Watkins and his wife Clara Francis as they tell the story of their daughter Maude, who died of sepsis.

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Melanie Leach

Awaiting Bio...

Awaiting Bio...

Joe Mace

Joe Mace

Awaiting Bio...

Awaiting Bio...

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Jo McClellan

Jo McClellan - Commissioning Editor, BBC Drama

Since joining BBC Drama in 2018, Jo has worked on I May Destroy You by Michaela Coel, US by David Nichols, The North Water by Andrew Haigh and Silent Witness. Jo joined BBC Drama from Seven Stories TV where she was Creative Director and Executive Producer on Selection Day (for Netflix, writer Marston Bloom, director Udayan Prasad). Prior to that she was Executive Producer at Sky, where she oversaw many projects, such as The Tunnel series 1 and 2 (Kudos/Canal+, show creator Ben Richards, starring Stephen Dillane & Clemence Posey), The Last Panthers (Warp/Haut et Court/Canal+, writer Jack Thorne, director Johan Renck, starring John Hurt, Samantha Morton & Tahar Rahim), both for Sky Atlantic. She also Executive Produced many projects for Sky Arts including Birthday (Slam/Free Range, writer Joe Penhall, director Roger Michell, starring Stephen Mangan & Anna Maxwell Martin) and The Nightmare Worlds of HG Wells (Clerkenwell Films, directed by Adrian Shergold starring Michael Gambon, Luke Treadway, Rupert Graves). Before Sky, Jo spent ten years at Film4 in Development on films such as ‘Submarine’ by Richard Ayoade and ‘Attack The Block’ by Joe Cornish and as an Executive Producer for short films such as BAFTA-winners ‘Pitch Black Heist’ (starring Michael Fassbender, writer/director John Maclean) and ‘Dog Altogether’ (starring Peter Mullan, writer/director Paddy Considine).

Joe Mace

Judith Winnan

Head of NFTS Cymru Wales

Judith has been leading the Wales training hub of the National Film and Television School since it opened in 2021. Prior to that she worked in production, most recently as a freelance Executive Producer working on shows for BBC One and ITV. Having started her career as a director specialising in factual and arts documentaries, she has also run an independent production company, led the Factual & Music department at BBC Wales and worked as a Commissioning Executive. A former Chair of RTS Cymru Wales, she has also been a mentor to students and those in the industry for many years.

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Rachel Evans

Executive Producer, Boom

Rachel Evans is responsible for a slate of Boom’s factual and scripted series for multiple broadcasters. Trained as a journalist, she worked in BBC newsrooms in Cardiff and London before moving into children’s, factual and scripted content and has overseen large scale pre-recorded and live shows in Welsh and English.

She’s an external examiner for the Media and Communication Department at Swansea University and sits on its Industry Board.

Boom is part of ITV Studios.

Joe Mace

Matthew Barry

Writer

Matthew Barry is a Welsh screenwriter living in LA. He studied History and Politics at Warwick University.

Matthew's original drama, Men Up, (Quay Street Productions/Boom Cymru), based on the first ever Viagra trial in the world, held in Wales, in 1994, will air on BBC One in 2023.

Previously, Matthew worked on season 2 of Industry for HBO/BBC, Daddy for Amazon Studios, and was a Supervising Producer / Writer on all four seasons of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for Netflix.

His credits also include Cucumber/Banana, EastEnders, Casualty, Death in Paradise, Stella and Waterloo Road, and Matthew’s original series, Perfect Summer, was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Youth Series.

Matthew is a Broadcast Hot Shot, BBC Writers' Academy Alumni, two time Brit List nominee, and recipient of the BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy Award.

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Davina Earl

Head of Development and Executive Producer, Quay Street Productions

Davina Earl is Head of Development and an Executive Producer at Quay Street Productions, which was founded by multi BAFTA-award winning producer Nicola Shindler in 2021. Quay Street Productions’ inaugural drama - Russell T Davies’ Nolly - launched on ITVX earlier this year.

Through her role as Head of Development at the Manchester based production company, Davina oversees a varied slate of projects across terrestrial channels and streamers, and she is an Executive Producer on Men Up, a forthcoming feature-length single drama for BBC One, starring Iwan Rheon, Aneurin Barnard, Alexandra Roach and Joanna Page.

Previously, Davina was Head of Development and a script executive at RED Production Company, and held roles as assistant producer, script editor and development producer across drama and continuing drama for BBC and Lime Pictures.

Quay Street Productions is part of ITV Studios.

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