Services
What are you looking for?
Many creative business leaders are so busy doing what they do best - developing ideas, pitching and delivering projects - that they don’t have the time or mental space to stand back and work out their longer term ambitions and what their strategy should be to get there. Or they have a specific project that needs expert help to get it to happen. This is where I come in.
I provide business, strategy and leadership expertise to TV and film producers, broadcasters, publishers, digital content businesses, charities and arts organisations. I can help you create a business strategy for the next five years to grow your business and increase profitability, as well as build your leadership skills to create a positive company culture and attract the best talent. And if you need support for a specific digital or commercial project, or a looking for wholesale digital/multiplatform transformation initiative, I can deliver real lasting value and change for you and your company.
As well as business strategy, I am a professional coach that helps people make a positive change within their careers, businesses and working relationships. We all face challenges in our professional lives, and often we can get stuck in a particular way of thinking and behaving, sometimes which isn’t helpful. Read more about my coaching practice.
Business strategy
Whatever your size or stage of your business, I can help you stand back from your company, acknowledge and evaluate your real longer term ambitions and devise a plan for how you are going to get there. Sometimes this is a fixed period of work, other times I am engaged as an advisor over a longer period to help you stay on course and tweak the plan as events change and your business grows.
Growth planning & financial forecasting
Especially for companies in their early stages or those going through a period of growth, it is essential to have accurate and reliable tools to understand your true financial position, what your KPIs should be and whether your strategy is working or not. Not just your cashflow and P&L, but also being able to evaluate whether your business model is creating a sustainable organisation for the future, and what sources of investment are needed to achieve your goals.
Leadership and company values
Organisational culture comes from the top, and so it is important to ensure your leadership style is creating the type of company you and your colleagues appreciate. Company values are your hiring super power - knowing these and hiring people who share them means you’ll create, retain and grow a great team around you.
Organisational Change
There are three elements to organisational change - strategy, planning and implementation. I often am hired to deliver all three, or sometimes only one or two of these elements, delivering transformational change in areas such as editorial, resourcing, technical, commercial and operational. I’ve been involved in many projects to help adapt to the changing media landscape. These include helping transform a TV news division into a multiplatform publisher; a commercial review of a studio for a Microsoft Corporate Vice President; integrating Channel 4’s digital budget, processes and teams into a coherent operation; and establishing a new digital entertainment network within a print business.
Multiplatform
I’ve worked on online content, apps, games, social, VOD platforms, interactive services for TV, film and tech companies for the bulk of my career. From my first newsroom at the BBC (which was one of if not the first multiplatform newsrooms in the world) I’ve specialised in creating content across TV, radio and online platforms, and the operational, editorial, commercial, technical and staffing challenges this involves. I’m often hired to use these skills to set up a new digital business or team within an existing organisation, transform a traditional content operation into a multiplatform machine, or advise on the market opportunities and profitability of a digital strategy.
Commissioning Opportunities
There are a lot of UK and international networks and platforms out there looking for content, with ever changing needs. I have my ear to the ground on their strategies and latest wants, and am experienced at evaluating your development slate and identifying potential commissioning opportunities . I work cross genre including News, Factual, Kids, Entertainment and Scripted, and am experienced commissioner-side as well as with the production sector.
Commercial
Projects can be financed in many different ways - commissioned, brand funded, self funded retaining advertising income, work for hire versus rights retention, PPV and subscriptions, new partnerships, tax credits and secondary sales. I can help you quickly evaluate what are the best and most viable routes to get your project off the ground.
Policies and Protocols
New operations often need processes and rules to reduce risk and enable greater creativity. I can produce and implement the right editorial, compliance and operational processes and policies for you especially for your digital, editorial and social output. I’ve often been a safe pair of hands to deal with tricky online audiences and editorial issues. I’ve written and implemented editorial, compliance and operational processes and policies including Channel 4’s online editorial guidelines and first social media policies for Twitter and Facebook. Especially in these times, Covid mitigation policies are essential and I can advise on partners to help you ensure best practice.