Meet the Delegates: SuperSizing Development Teams

Based on TRC’s longstanding SuperSizer training, SuperSizing Development Teams is a creative development programme for indies. In this first edition, SuperSizing Development Teams will work with Scotland-based indies MacTV, Firecracker, Cut Media, and Red Sky Productions.Here are the brilliant delegates that will be taking part in the programme.

Jennifer Gilroy headshot

Jennifer Gilroy, Firecracker

Jennifer is an Executive Producer with more than 20 years’ experience in
documentary, features and factual entertainment formats.

Together with Creative Director Elspeth O’Hare, she was hired to set up and run Firecracker Films’
Scotland base in 2016.

For the last 6 years, Jennifer has been working across development and winning many commissions,
whilst also series producing, and now exec producing Firecracker’s extensive range of factual
output. Recent successful commissions include a 6-part series for Paramount Plus, several C4
documentaries and 2 x 90-minute specials for Channel 5.

Elspeth O’Hare, Firecracker

Elspeth is the Creative Director of Tinopolis Scotland.

Based in Glasgow, she has over 20 years’ experience of successfully developing. producing and
executive producing a wide range of documentaries, factual entertainment and formatted singles and
series for the main UK broadcasters. Working across Firecracker and Mentorn credits include
Class of Mum and Dad (Channel 4), Save Well Spend Better (Channel 4), The
Customer is Always Right
(BBC1), Sky High Club (BBC3+ BBC Scotland), Getting
Hitched Asian Style
(BBC Scotland) and The Great British Urine Test (Channel 5).

Majella McNeaney headshot

Majella McNeaney, Firecracker

Majella first caught the development bug as a researcher devising games for CBBC’s
Copycats after which she joined BBC Scotland’s factual entertainment team where she secured her
first commissions.

Majella went on to work for many Scottish based indies across both production and development roles
including Thames, STV, Mighty and Friel Kean Films for whom she produced BBC One Daytime series
Getaway for Winter.

Joining Firecracker Films in January last year, Majella helped win new series commission
Strip for Paramount+ and is currently working on an innovative slate of new and funded
ideas across all major channels.

Sean Maguire headshot

Sean Maguire, Firecracker

Sean joined Firecracker in March 2022, where he has helped win commissions and works
across a varied and eclectic slate of ideas.

Before joining the Firecracker development team, he worked in tasks and games for shows like The
Circle, Too Hot to Handle and Glow Up where he got to do all the fun side of development with none
of the heartbreak.

Sean loves all television from Housewives to Homes Under the Hammer which makes him perfect for
development.

Mathias Vandekerckhove headshot

Mathias Vandekerckhove, Firecracker

Mathias started his television and development journey at Firecracker in May after
being selected for the TRC Rad scheme.

Growing up in Belgium gave Mathias a very diverse and different perspective on television: he always
tries to incorporate out of the box references in his new ideas. There he studied Cultural Business
Management, which included courses about the television, fashion, music, and arts industry, and he
spent his final semester studying in Scotland as part of the Erasmus programme.

He is very passionate about formats that really grasp you, as well as telling inspiring stories from
unheard, disadvantaged voices in a refreshing and exciting way.

Jane Rogerson headshot

Jane Rogerson, Red Sky Productions

Jane Rogerson co-founded Glasgow Indie Red Sky Productions with Ross Harper in 2016
and steers the business-winning of the company. Commissions have included documentary series as
diverse as Island Medic, Tiny Lives and Life on the Bay, fact-ent format Puppy
School
(winner, Most Inspiring TV Show/NRTA Awards), Scotland’s Greatest Escape
and The Saved & Remade Workshop, and hit entertainment series Socially
Distant
with Susan Calman.

Prior to co-founding RedSky, Jane held senior roles at broadcasters and indies. She was Director of
Commissioning at UKtv, Controller of Features at ITV and Creative Director at Mentorn. Jane has
produced & developed a wide range of TV & digital content for BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5,
RTÉ, UKTV.

Ross Harper headshot

Ross Harper, Red Sky Productions

Ross is co-founder, joint managing director and executive producer at Red Sky
Productions, which focuses on uplifting factual content.

His exec producer credits include Channel 4 hits Spring at Jimmy’s Farm and Jimmy’s Big
Bee Rescue
, BBC’s award-winning Climategate: Science of a Scandal, landmark doc
series Who Owns Scotland? and Can We Still Save The Planet?

Prior to Red Sky, Ross was responsible for critically acclaimed factual series including Robbie
Coltrane’s Critical Evidence
, Slow Train Through Africa and The Inca: Masters
of the Clouds
. He produced the first series of Extreme Fishing with Robson Green
and directed the programme that spawned multiple iterations, Crop to Shop: Jimmy’s Supermarket
Secrets
. He began his career in news and politics.

Jacqui Hayden headshot

Jacqui Hayden, Red Sky Productions

Jacqui is passionate about development and has been leading development teams for
the last 16 years, at IWC Media, for 10 years at Matchlight and for the last two years at Red Sky
Productions. Jacqui has developed projects that have gone on to win Emmy, BAFTA, Broadcast, RTS and
Grierson awards.

Her curiosity is endless, and her interests eclectic – and that’s reflected in the projects she’s
devised and developed – from critically-acclaimed documentaries like ‘My Baby, Psychosis and Me’ and
‘Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive’; to high-end Arts projects including ‘The Story
of Women and Art’, ‘Rembrandt’ and ‘Sold: Inside Christies’ to factual series like ‘The Highland
Midwife’, ‘Transplant Tales’, ‘Mountain’, ‘Lost Kingdoms of Africa’, ‘Robbie Coltrane’s B-Road
Britain’, and ‘Extreme Fishing with Robson Green’.

Claire Tippett headshot

Claire Tippett, Red Sky Productions

Claire has worked in factual television since she graduated with an MA in Film & Television
Studies from the University of Glasgow in 2009. At Red Sky Productions, she works between
development and production as a Producer.

Claire is currently Edit Producing on a new eight-part factual entertainment series for BBC Scotland
titled ‘Scotland’s Greatest Escape’, which she had a hand in developing after returning from
maternity leave in early 2022. Most notably, Claire nurtured an idea from initial concept to green
light, resulting in a 20-part format for BBC Two, Saved and Remade – filmed and edited
entirely in lockdown. The format has since been picked up by Discovery UK and series two is airing
on REALLY.

Claire most enjoys working up fact-ent formats as well as big specialist factual stunts and
experiments.

Kirsty Fraser headshot

Kirsty Fraser, Red Sky Productions

Kirsty is an Assistant Producer at Red Sky. She’s been a key part of their
development team for six years and has helped win a raft of multi-genre commissions, from docu-soaps
on caravan parks, to competition formats, to Red Sky’s brand-new 20-part Food Stories (w/t)
series for the BBC. Kirsty works across genres but is most passionate about formats and daytime.

An avid consumer of media in all its forms, there isn’t a TV show, magazine or podcast she’s not
across. In life before telly, she was a writer and digital content producer for Time Out Glasgow and
WOW 247

Seamus MacTaggart headshot

Seamus MacTaggart, MacTV

Over a 30-year media career, 25 as a TV Producer and as a Senior Executive latterly, at both the BBC
and with MacTV, Seumas has established a reputation as a talented and creative
individual who delivers across a range of programming and has multi-platform experience across the
creative industries.

He has worked extensively in Children’s, Youth, Education, Music, Documentary and Drama programming,
and has produced many key and landmark projects. With a focus on factual content over the last 12
years, he has led MacTV’s drive for new commissions – including international co-productions.

Seumas is currently Head of Development & Co-Productions / Commissions at MacTV.

Peter MacQueen headshot

Peter MacQueen, MacTV

Peter has worked across a wide range of genres from documentary to factual
entertainment, and obs doc to children’s TV in the last 25 years.

Having been a researcher, director, presenter and producer, Peter hopes that the variety of his
experience in production will help him to work with established and emerging talent, develop
returnable ideas and to collaborate with colleagues to supersize their aspirations.

Joanna Young headshot

Joanna Young, MacTV

Joanna has been development producer at MacTV since 2015. She lives in Edinburgh and
works remotely for Hebrides-based MacTV.

Joanna edit produces and produces MacTV’s slate of co-productions, from historical biogs, such as
Icelandic co-pro The Far Traveller, to internationally distributed nature series such as
Tide, and Rain: The Untold Story. She is currently working on the series
Secrets in the Peat, with production partners in Belfast and Montreal, while trying to keep
up the momentum on development.

Outside of work, she has a cheeky Lhasa Apso puppy and a guilty obsession with late night repeats of
Bullseye.

Catriona Lexy Campbell headshot

Catriona Lexy Campbell, MacTV

Catriona Lexy Campbell has worked as a theatre artist, actor and writer for many
years, primarily in her native Gaelic.

She was the first Gaelic Associate Artist with the National Theatre of Scotland in 2011. She created
and directed the site-specific show, Às an Dorchadas (Glasgow Life/Fèisean nan
Gàidheal, 2015), and wrote and directed Clach na Nathrach (Fèisean nan Gàidheal).
She wrote and directed her first short film, Na Saboteurs – produced by The
Woven Thread, in partnership with the European Broadcast Union and MG ALBA – and
broadcast on New Year’s Eve 2017 on BBC ALBA.

She is currently employed as an Assistant Producer with MacTV, and was First Assistant Director
on the 2020 EBU short drama, Am Piàno, as well as recently directing the 2022 EBU short
drama, Dad sam Bith, and the ground-breaking award-winning BBC ALBA
documentary, Trusadh – Afro Gàidheil / Afro-Gaels.

Andy Ashworth headshot

Andy Ashworth, Cut Media

Andy is the Creative Director at Cut Media, a sports content studio based in
Glasgow.

In his 7 years with Cut Media he’s worked on a wide range of projects for global brands and
broadcasters – from integrated advertising and digital campaigns through to narrative documentary
work. He now leads the Creative team at Cut Media; overseeing the company’s creative output,
developing slates of ideas and pitches, and exploring how to combine the worlds of digital content
and broadcast into something truly special.

Scott Marshall headshot

Scott Marshall, Cut Media

Born in Edinburgh, Scott spent his earlier career in a variety of roles within the
creative industry, from post-production runner through to freelance camera op on the mountain bike
circuit.

In 2014 he joined forces with Stu Thomson at Cut Media, working on multiple roles within the creative
process, from planning to editing and everything in between. Today, Scott leads the creative
direction of Cut Media, working with a number of international brands such as Red Bull, adidas and
Continental. He continues to look to expand Cut Media’s portfolio and seeks to work with inspiring
brands across different sectors. He cultivates a collaborative and open culture within the company,
believing the best ideas come from giving a voice to creative minds.

Lisa Annette headshot

Lisa Annette, Cut Media

Lisa has 15 years’ experience in production, from broadcast to commercial.

As Cut Media’s Senior Producer, Lisa produces some of their biggest campaigns and series with the
likes of Red Bull, adidas, and Monster Energy. Lisa also heads up Cut Media’s broadcast
development slate and serves on the board of MG ALBA (BBC ALBA).

Caitlin Black headshot

Caitlin Black, Cut Media

Caitlin is a Scottish director and senior creative based in Glasgow.

She has been working at Cut Media for the past 3+ years collaborating with brands like Nivea, Strava,
Monster Energy, Red Bull, and Real Madrid within the content sports sector. Previous roles have been
at the advertising giant Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, as well as Channel 4 in London. With a
background in fine art at Central Saint Martins and directing at New York Film Academy, Caitlin’s
interest in film was sparked and her motivation stems from telling stories that matter, centre
marginalised people, and are thought provoking.

Dominic Simmons headshot

Dominic Simmons, Cut Media

Dominic is a multidisciplinary creative from Edinburgh. With a love of the outdoors,
he spends as much time as possible in the forests, mountains or at beaches.

For over a decade he’s been honing his skills and learning new ones – in-house, agency and freelance
– across motion, stills and graphic design. For the past two years, Dominic has worked as a Creative
with Cut Media, working on a range of digital and broadcast sport and outdoor projects. With an
additional background in marketing, he uses this knowledge to influence his creative work.