Forward Film & Television Festival: Industry Day sponsored by Production Central & Create Central

Sponsored by Production Central

A day of panels and networking for professionals and aspiring professionals at any level

Film Funding Panel - 11am

Filmmakers who funded their projects through different routes, some conventional, some creative share their experience and advice 

Daniel Alexander (dir. Gale: Yellow Brick Road)

Phillip Ray Tommy (dir. Lotus)

Andrew Rutter (dir. Peter The Penguin, Personal Growth)

Middling Women (Quiet (2026)

Working In Production Panel - 12pm

Hear from professionals working at all levels of the industry share their experience and advice for working and surviving in television production

Colette Foster - CEO, Full Fat TV

Jake Clifford - freelance producer (Joe Lycett's United States Of Birmingham, The Yorkshire Pub with Jon Richardson, Travel Man)

Jen Smith - production assistant, Fable Pictures (The Cadbury's)

LUNCH 

(Please note lunch is not provided, but there are an array of food vendors at Alfred Works)

Apprenticeships + In Roads Panel - 2pm

Get advice and insights from those in the know on routes into the industry

Rico Johnson-Sinclair - director of CrewHQ at Warner Bros Leavesden

Anthony Brown - Creative Diversity Partner at BBC Studioworks

Leigh Yeomans - Head Of People Services, PRG

Ellena Stojanovic - Portfolio Manager, Outreach & Preemployment - BBC Apprenticeships Team

Actors Workshop - 3pm

Presented by actress Poppy Abbott from Untamed, who recently launched a Midlands actors directory, this panel is for

Jo Enright - actor (The Job Lot, Trollied, Life's Too Short, Pheonix Nights)

David Avery - actor (The Night Manager, Domina, We Are Lady Parts, Gangs Of London)

Jo Farrugia - casting director (Rocks, How To Build A Girl, Wild Rose, The Cadbury's)

Ian Manboarde - Equity Midlands Region Official

Ticket types

Morning only - (Film Funding Panel & Working In Production) £5

Afternoon only  (Apprenticeships and In-Roads & Actors Workshop) £5

All day £8