Register now for the first of our CREATIVE CONNEXIONS sessions:
Date: Monday 9 March
Venue: Film City Glasgow, 401 Govan Rd, Glasgow G51 2QJ
Timings: Please arrive at 2.45pm
Session: 3.00 - 5.00pm
followed by a networking reception until 6.30pm
Should your company pivot, and if so, why now?
The traditional separation between scripted and unscripted production is softening. Across the UK, we are seeing more production companies working fluidly between scripted & unscripted, as a way of protecting IP, broadening development pathways, & keeping ideas alive in a tightening commissioning market.
This session explores the practical decision-making behind a pivot. When does expanding your slate strengthen your IP position? When might it dilute focus? How do you recognise when a factual idea has the potential to become scripted IP (or vice versa)? And what does that shift mean for rights, development spend, talent attachment & commissioner conversations?
We will explore:
Identifying when a pivot makes strategic sense
Recognising transferable ideas
Rights and development implications
Financing and risk profile.
Talent and team structures
Commissioner conversations
We will also examine what differentiates scripted and unscripted at a structural level. Scripted typically carries longer development cycles, higher upfront investment, talent-driven packaging, & greater financing complexity. Unscripted can offer faster turnaround, repeatable formats & lower risk thresholds, but often with different IP and backend models. Understanding these structural differences is critical before attempting to operate across both.
For companies considering whether to pivot or how to do so without destabilising their core business, this discussion offers an insightful, strategic, & operational look at what it genuinely takes to expand across genres successfully.
Speakers:
Caroline Levy, Series Producer & Consultant
Caroline Levy is a BAFTA-nominated Producer & Exec Producer with extensive experience across both scripted and non-scripted television. She has delivered high-profile projects for broadcasters and platforms including BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Sky Studios, Paramount, FX and Showtime.
Most recently, Caroline produced the second season of The Undeclared War for Channel 4, NBC Universal and Peacock with Playground Entertainment. She is also the creative lead of BFI & TRC’s International Horizons Scripted, supporting high-end producers across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Previously, Caroline held senior leadership roles at Paramount and BBC Studios, overseeing more than thirty UK scripted productions and executive producing flagship titles including Silent Witness and Doctor Who. As a freelance producer and executive producer, Caroline has worked on an array of successful dramas including Channel 4’s Deadwater Fell starring David Tennant, action romcom Sky’s Hooten & the Lady and BAFTA nominated Channel 4’s The Mill.
Across her career, she has combined creative leadership with strong commercial oversight, navigating production, financial and strategic negotiations at the highest level.
Toby Stevens, Head of Objective Media Group, Scotland
Toby Stevens joined Objective Scotland in 2013 as Series Producer for BBC Three’s Killer Magic. Appointed Head of Objective Scotland in May 2014, he has Executive Produced the ratings success Now You See It for BBC One and both It Was Alright in the 70s and The 50 Funniest Moments of 2014 for Channel 4.
Starting his career in London in 1993 he worked on Room 101, They Think It’s All Over, eight series of Have I Got News For You and was the producer of the first 68 shows of The Weakest Link, before moving to BBC Scotland in 2001. Whilst there his extensive Executive Producer credits across Entertainment, Factual and Events included Comedy Connections, Glamour’s Golden Age, Dear Diary, Movie Connections, The Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Comic Relief’s Naughty Bits and That Was the Week We Watched.
Derren Lawford, Executive Producer, Creative Strategist and founder of DARE Pictures
Derren Lawford is an award-winning executive producer and creative leader whose career spans scripted-adjacent factual, premium true crime, talent-led formats, and global documentary co-productions. With over 20 years’ experience, he has built and scaled creative businesses, secured over 300 hours of IP, and led teams delivering ambitious content across UK and international markets.
He has held senior editorial and commissioning roles at BBC Three, Panorama, BBC Worldwide and as part of the launch commissioning team at London Live. As Creative Director at Woodcut Media (2014–2022), he helped grow the company’s scripted and unscripted slate through commissions, co-productions, and private equity investment, navigating the commercial and creative realities of expanding across genres.
As founder of DARE Pictures (Broadcast Emerging Indie of the Year 2025), Derren combined creative instinct with sharp commercial strategy, offering first-hand insight into when and why companies pivot, how projects migrate between genres, and what it really takes to protect and scale IP across an evolving commissioning landscape.
Gavin Smith, Commissioning Editor Scripted for BBC Scotland
Gavin has worked in scripted television for most of his career having spent 14 years at The Comedy Unit where he started in development and worked through various roles before becoming Creative Director. In 2018 he moved to the BBC to take up the role of Scripted Commissioning Editor for BBC Scotland.
Since joining Gavin has worked as co commissioner of scripted series across comedy and drama including Half Man (BBC Scotland/BBC One and HBO), Dinosaur (BBC Scotland/BBC Three and Hulu), Only Child, (BBC Scotland and BBC One), Guilt (BBC Scotland and BBC Two), Granite Harbour (BBC Scotland and BBC One), Still Game series 9 (BBC Scotland and BBC One), Limmy’s Homemade Show (BBC Scotland and BBC Two), as well as exec for many locally broadcast BBC Scotland scripted series including The Chief, Queen of the New Year, Stevens & McCarthy, Scot Squad and The Scotts.
Victoria Musguin Rowe, Executive Producer (Unscripted) & Factual Consultant (Scripted)
Victoria is a BAFTA and Grierson award-winning development executive and executive producer, specialising in high-end true crime and social justice documentaries. Her unscripted credits include the BAFTA-winning The Shamima Begum Story, the double Grierson award-winning Stephen: The Murder That Changed a Nation, and the Broadcast Award-winning, RTS-nominated Love & Hate Crime. Over the past decade, she has also drawn on her extensive network of barristers, law enforcement and criminals, to originate factual drama ideas and consult on scripted series. Her recent consultancy work includes research for the Emmy-nominated The Gentlemen and advising on the factual accuracy of a trial based storyline, in the BBC Three/Netflix drama A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
Please note: spaces for this event are limited and Glasgow-based companies will be prioritised.
Creative Connexions forms part of the Glasgow City Council Business Growth Programme and is funded by the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund. The programme is managed and delivered by Film City Futures.
GENERAL EVENT INFORMATION
Accessibility:
If you have any accessibility requirements, please contact the FOCUS team in advance: hello@filmcityfutures.com
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Photography notice:
Please be aware that we may take photographs and videos at this event. By attending and/ or participating in this event, you agree for us to photograph and/ or video record you and to use such images and recordings on our website, social media and other platforms as required.
COVID-19 statement:
Please do not attend in-person events if you, or anyone in your household, has had any symptoms or tested positive for COVID-19 within the past five days prior to the event.