In early 2026, BAFTA Albert launched its first Impact Producer Accelerator Programme, with a cohort of 15 brilliant creatives from across journalism, production, marketing, conservation and academia.
Ahead of the Edinburgh TV Festival, and in the first of a series of articles from the programme, members of the inaugural BAFTA Albert cohort reflect on what they gained from the Accelerator.
Amanda Burrell, Executive producer, impact producer, environmental broadcaster
“After ten years of making environmental programmes for Al Jazeera English, principally as Executive Producer of its award-winning environmental solutions series, earthrise, one question had increasingly been coming up for me every time a programme went to air: What next? I had seen first-hand the power of the media to raise awareness and shift how people think and act on the climate and nature crisis but increasingly felt more could be done to turn that awareness into tangible change beyond the screen.
“The Accelerator spoke directly to this, giving me a much deeper understanding of how storytelling can sit at the heart of a wider impact strategy with clear goals, identified audiences, partnerships and activities to help move people from awareness to action. It shifted my thinking from seeing impact as an outcome of a story to something that can be designed for from the outset.”
Josh Robertson, Conservation storyteller and impact producer
“A key takeaway from the Programme was how powerful strategic partnerships can be in amplifying a story’s reach, relevance, and impact in our increasingly digital world. It also gave me practical ways to define the change a story is seeking to create, understand and map the different audiences involved, find potential values-aligned funding, identify the people and organisations with the power to act, and distinguish reach from meaningful impact.
“I was really excited to put this into practice a few weeks later during a storytelling assignment with TRAFFIC across Southern Africa. Rather than approaching it solely as an opportunity to gather content, I went into conversations about issues including the illegal timber trade, new technology for detecting wildlife trafficking at seaports, and sustainable plant trade involving local communities, asking key questions: Who needs to see this story? Which partners could help carry it forward? What would success look like?
“This framing changed the questions I asked project teams and helped me develop stronger ideas for stories, partnerships and campaigns that could support our longer-term conservation objectives.”
Annika Allen Gray, Head of diversity, equity & inclusion, impact producer:
“My biggest takeaway was that impact should be intentional from the beginning, rather than something added once a programme has been made. A powerful story can start a conversation, but impact production asks the next question: what do we want people to think, feel or do as a result, and what needs to sit around the story to make that possible?
The Accelerator gave me a much stronger framework for moving from intention to strategy: defining impact goals, understanding audiences, building partnerships, considering funding and creating meaningful ways to measure change.
It also helped me recognise how much of my existing work already sits within impact production. My career has focused on DEI, community building and systems change, and on turning complex social issues into practical action. The programme has given me another lens through which to apply those skills to storytelling, alongside a deeper understanding of how social impact, wellbeing and climate can intersect.”
Leonie Rousham, Impact producer, filmmaker, POWER STATION
“I came into the Accelerator as an artist and documentary filmmaker with a background in climate and housing activism, rooted in community organising for social change. Impact has always been my starting point. The Accelerator gave me the language, tools and confidence to develop this into a career.
“Three things from the course stand out in particular; issue context mapping - understanding the scale of a problem and where it currently sits in public consciousness, audience segmentation- working through the differences between commercial, supportive and tactical audiences was incredibly helpful and lastly, Impact producers need to be brought into productions as early as possible to do this strategic work properly.”
Honey Crespo, Documentary producer, impact consultant
“Social justice has always been the foundation of my documentary work, so in the past I instinctively approached projects with this in mind. However, the Impact Accelerator Programme provided me with the formal structure and framework I needed to codify that work. Crucially, it opened my eyes to non-traditional funding models and strategic cross-sector partnerships. Learning how to identify and pitch to non-screen partners showed me new pathways to finance impact-driven work outside traditional funding models.”
Premila Puri, Founder and producer, Be Kind Productions
“The biggest shift was learning to treat impact as a discipline rather than an instinct. I came in having built the Kindness-EQ framework through Be Kind Movement, using film to create measurable change in schools, but that work was grassroots and short-form. The Accelerator gave me the scaffolding to turn instinct and that early understanding of impact into a rigorous practice: starting from a clear theory of change, mapping audiences deliberately, and designing measurement in from the outset rather than counting screenings after the fact.”
Amanda Hearn, PR consultant, specialising in social impact campaigns for TV, film and entertainment
“Confidence, community and motivation! I have always been passionate about how storytelling and entertainment have such power to drive positive change and spark meaningful conversations. This is naturally where I focus my attention – but I hadn’t realised it had a name. The programme taught me so much – but the most powerful takeaway was to be able to walk away feeling inspired that this really is a path worth pursuing.
Sophie Hoath: Impact producer, founder of GuardGoose Media
“Sarah and Catherine are absolute fonts of knowledge on impact production and climate storytelling. I felt grateful to be in the room with them, absorbing a fraction of their expertise. However, I feel like what I took away from the Programme was more than just information – primarily a sense of motivation, and a concrete signal that the UK screen industries were taking notice of impact production as a practice, and an opportunity. I’ve always wanted to be involved in making content that younger me would watch, or my parents and friends would watch. That’s not always a niche issues doc (though I love them too!). It’s also a dating show, a competition format, a soap or a YouTube series.
“These deeply popular formats can be created, produced, packaged and distributed in a way that allows them to do good in the world, and help us understand each other better at a time when we’re increasingly divided.
“Before the Accelerator I felt like that was optimistic. After, I felt like it was a realistic ambition to have.”
Louise Orton, Impact producer, filmmaker and journalist
“A much clearer sense that being a good Impact Producer requires you to be strategic, focused, creative, and a bit of a hustler! I was incredibly grateful to learn from Sarah Mosses, who embodies all these qualities in her work. I was particularly inspired by her emphasis on valuing the work of an Impact Producer and approaching it in a highly professional, but also kind and collaborative, way.
“The programme changed how I see my own experience. I have worked as a campaigner, media consultant, filmmaker and journalist, and have sometimes thought of myself as a “jack of all trades, master of none”. I came away realising that this combination of experience is actually a strong foundation for impact production.”
Deborah Brewer, Impact producer, producer, director of purpose-led content & events
“I took away an invaluable, holistic toolkit to support my freelance Impact Production work, collaboration with a network of fellow impact and screen industry professionals and the collective expertise of the cohort and its mentors – knowledge, clarity and confidence.”
Jelena Krivosic, PhD researcher, impact producer
“The programme has helped me translate my research on climate justice storytelling into practical impact production. I’ve developed the skills and resources to create achievable impact strategies, identify potential partners and funders, and build networks that can extend a campaign’s reach and longevity. It has given me the confidence to move from researching how impact works to putting those ideas into practice.”
