Derren Lawford

Derren Lawford entered the industry as a trained journalist before helping to launch a youth TV station (whereits.at) and then joining the BBC where he worked for over 10 years. There he helped to launch radio station 1Xtra, SVOD service BBC Global iPlayer, secured a number of BBC Three documentary commissions and was heralded as a short form documentary pioneer advising a then unknown YouTuber, Jamal Edwards. He then went on to launch a content division with award-winning social enterprise and marketing agency Livity before joining the launch team at London Live as a commissioner specialising in documentaries and breaking new, diverse and online talent. He joined Woodcut Media as Creative Director a month after a MBO in 2014 and played a pivotal role in the creation of over 300 hours of IP via commissions, co-productions and private equity investment. His EP credits include a trio of docs bought by Netflix - the BFI funded feature doc Generation Revolution, Mandela, My Dad and Me, and Cut From A Different Cloth, both co-produced with Idris Elba. In 2022, he launched DARE Pictures, a transnational content studio dedicated to premium programming with purpose.