BAFTA Albert’s first Impact Producer Accelerator brought together 15 creatives from across the screen industries and beyond, creating space to build new skills, share experience and connect with others working in impact production.
But what happens after the programme ended?
For the 2026 cohort, BAFTA Albert’s Accelerator has already led to new conversations and collaborations as well as clarity upon the many opportunities that exist around impact production within the screen community.
Members of our cohort shared news of the possibilities that emerged for them, after the Accelerator.
Louise Orton, Impact producer, filmmaker and journalist:
“After the programme, I saw Hope is a Word at Sheffield DocFest – a film about poetry inspiring people in the Niger Delta, devastated by 60 years of oil pollution, to reclaim their voices and believe in their agency in the fight for environmental justice.
Given my previous experience working on Shell and the Niger Delta with human rights organisations, combined with the knowledge and confidence I gained through the BAFTA programme, I approached the filmmakers about working with them.
I am now excited to be working alongside an Impact Producer from, and rooted in, the Niger Delta, as well as international human rights organisations, to build a local, national and international impact campaign.
We are very proud to have been selected for the second stage of Doc Society’s Climate Fund and are currently applying for further funding to support the campaign.
For me, this has been a really exciting opportunity to bring together my previous experience in human rights campaigning with the new skills and perspective I developed through the Accelerator.”
Leonie Rousham, Impact Producer & Filmmaker, POWER STATION
“Since the Accelerator I’ve been able to apply the learnings across several contexts, each pulling in a slightly different direction, which has been really useful.
One example is directing a short film as part of the impact campaign for Fix the Five Basics, the Trust for London funded campaign run by the Better TA alliance, twenty organisations calling on London councils to guarantee five basic standards in temporary accommodation. The Accelerator’s safeguarding frameworks were immediately and practically useful, as was the evaluation matrix for measuring the campaign’s impact accurately.
I’ve also been working as a freelance impact producer, advising on a brilliant feature documentary as it crowdfunds and moves into post-production ahead of a festival release.
Some of the most valuable contacts to have emerged are the cohort themselves, alongside the teams at BAFTA albert and Together Films. We’ve been lucky to maintain a wonderful network of peer impact producers working in strategic and collaborative ways to shape how stories affect change, and I’m very grateful for it”.
Deborah Brewer, Impact Producer / Producer/Director of purpose-led content & events
“I continue to grow my network outside of television production, in the indie and third sectors, and to draw on the collaborative support of the cohort and their expertise to elevate that work.
I am currently supporting Cornwall-based Plant One and their unstoppable grassroots campaign film; No Trees No Seas, which recently had its national premiere at Regent Street Cinema, and Blue Earth x The Kindness Forecast to launch a storytelling-focused, impact-led campaign for this year’s Blue Earth Summit”.
Amanda Hearn, PR Consultant, specialising in social impact campaigns for TV, film and entertainment
“It means a huge amount to have the support of BAFTA Albert and Together Films, and to be invited into their networking events. A couple of recent highlights have been participating in the BAFTA Albert session at the TV Foundation’s Climate Content Summit earlier this year, and attending Together Films’ Business of Impact pitch day, which connected us with producers of upcoming impact-driven films”.
Premila Puri, Founder & Producer, Be Kind Productions:
“The most valuable thing to come out of the programme is the network – both my cohort peers and the practising impact producers who led it and it’s already opening doors.
One of the impact producers agreed to introduce my unscripted format The Detectives project to a boutique factual company; and a connection through Bethany Hutchings at Open Planet has given Be Kind Movement access to a pool of climate shorts for our school’s work.
Since the programme, I’ve started building the impact strategy for Island West and, just as importantly, built the impact budget into the film’s budget from the outset rather than treating it as an afterthought, which is exactly the shift the Accelerator was designed to create.
More than any single introduction, it’s the collaborative network that has been the best asset”.
Honey Crespo, Documentary Producer & Impact Consultant
“The strength of the cohort itself has been one of the biggest outcomes as we have stayed connected as a supportive soundboard across the industry.
Attending The Business of Impact Pitching Day in London was also a revelation in understanding how impact work can be applied to scripted spaces.
As the only participant selected based in the Northwest of England, representing Liverpool was a real honour. So, a major route forward for me is demonstrating that high-impact documentary work can be spearheaded from the regions”.
Sophie Hoath, Impact producer, founder of GuardGoose Media
“I loved helping to run the impact production workshop at IGNITE TV festival this summer, and attending Together’s Business of Impact Day at the BFI – both amazing opportunities to meet likeminded production teams working to create entertainment that intersects with issues myself and the wider cohort care about deeply.
That said, I think the best opportunities off the back of this experience have come from the confidence it has granted me to go out to production teams, or commissioners, and say: impact production is not just a good thing to do, it’s an opportunity you’re missing out on if you don’t see the value in it.
The vote of confidence from institutions like Together Films and BAFTA Albert really changes the way that conversation is perceived. I’m grateful to them for championing us, and have since been able to go on to get an original format I co-developed in front of major broadcasters and streamers, with impact production firmly part of the conversation. That’s been very exciting”.
Amanda Burrell, Executive Producer | Impact Producer | Environmental Broadcaster
“The frameworks and ideas I gained through the Accelerator have helped me identify new opportunities to use my experience to create real-world change beyond broadcast.
Since the Accelerator, I’ve begun new conversations with media outlets, as well as organisations working across environmental communications and purpose-driven storytelling. I’m currently exploring several programme and film ideas designed for impact from the outset, as well as new models for impact-led media”.
Jelena Krivosic, PhD Researcher / Impact Producer
“The amazing network of Impact Producers from my cohort is one of the programme’s most exciting outcomes. Our diverse skills and expertise have created a valuable network for advice, collaboration and future opportunities. The programme has also introduced me to potential partners, funders and organisations across the media and impact production landscape that I hope to work with to support future campaigns”.
Josh Robertson, Conservation Storyteller and Impact Producer
“Since completing the Accelerator, I’ve been contacted by several people on LinkedIn to discuss supporting impact campaigns and related projects. It’s been a really encouraging sign that there’s growing recognition of this role, and it’s given me the confidence to position myself more intentionally as an impact producer.
The Accelerator has connected me with an invaluable first cohort of impact producers, as well as practitioners working across storytelling, campaigning, partnerships, distribution and evaluation through BAFTA albert and Together Films. Having a community with such varied experience has created opportunities for peer learning, collaboration and continued support beyond the formal programme.
It’s also given me the language and confidence to recognise and articulate the impact-producing work I was already doing within conservation. For more than a decade, I’ve worked across field conservation, journalism, filmmaking and campaign communications, creating stories intended to influence behaviour, mobilise communities and support real change.
The Accelerator has helped me see a much clearer route for bringing together that conservation knowledge, storytelling experience and strategic approach through dedicated impact-production work. And I’m already incorporating this approach into my work at both TRAFFIC and CCI, while exploring further collaborations where strategic communications can support wildlife conservation, environmental sustainability and wider social good”.
Annika Allen Grey, Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Impact Producer
“One of the most valuable outcomes has been gaining a new community of Impact Producers and practitioners through the cohort, Together Films and BAFTA Albert, alongside greater exposure to different approaches to impact across film and television.
I have also started socialising impact production within my own business. In my role at All3Media, I advise across production companies on DEI, culture and wellbeing. I am now exploring how an impact lens could complement that work by helping productions identify opportunities for social or environmental impact around their content.
My role would be strategic: helping teams ask the right questions early, identify audiences and potential partners, consider DEI, wellbeing and climate, and determine whether a project has the potential for a wider impact campaign. Where there is a strong opportunity, the production could then bring in a dedicated Impact Producer to develop and deliver it.
The Accelerator has therefore created a route for me to become both a practitioner and an internal advocate for impact production”.
Find out more & contact the 2026 Cohort
Coming up: BAFTA Albert’s Impact Producer Accelerator 2026: What’s next?