Reema Lorford appointed COO at Gritty Talent

Following a 30+ year career in Network Production including leadership roles on some of the UK’s best loved content for BBC, Reema Lorford takes the reins as COO at Gritty Talent this week.

Reema will take over leadership of the Bristol based company from outgoing CEO Mel Rodrigues, who begins her new job as CEO at Creative Access this month.

Mel will move to a non-executive director role on the board at Gritty Talent.

A long-time supporter and nurturer of talent, Reema has worked extensively as a Series Producer in the BBC Factual Entertainment, Natural History and Children’s departments, on award winning titles such as ‘Springwatch’, ‘The One Show’ and ‘Deadly Mission Shark’. She also worked on productions for ITV and Channel 4 and across the sector’s Nations and Regions bases.

Reema was also a Senior Lecturer in the inaugural year of the Wildlife Filmmaking MA at the

University of the West of England. Designed in conjunction with the world-renowned Natural History Unit, the ground-breaking course was a pathway for mature students to gain the highest level of production and craft training to develop some of the industry’s most highly skilled individuals.

Reema joins Gritty Talent at an exciting moment for the company, which has recently secured £100k in innovation funding to build the next phase of its Inclusion Accelerator platform.

The Inclusion Accelerator is a programme of support, training and smart data analysis for senior leaders in TV and Film, to help them assess their actual diversity and talent gaps, and create thriving and inclusive teams.

Her first engagement as COO will be at the Accessible Futures Summit on 10 September in Cardiff, where she’ll be presenting the results of Inclusion Accelerator Wales – a Gritty Talent programme working with 10 Welsh indies to super-charge their talent and inclusion capabilities, funded by Media Cymru, Channel 4’s 4 Skills and BBC Cymru Wales.

Mel Rodrigues, Founder and Non Executive Director at Gritty Talent said: “I am delighted that Reema Lorford is Gritty Talent’s new leader. Reema’s passion for talent and inclusion, and extensive leadership experience across production genres, make her the ideal person to lead Gritty Talent in its new chapter, as it ramps up activities to support the TV and Film sector to deliver on its critical diversity and inclusion commitments.”

Reema Lorford, Chief Operating Officer at Gritty Talent said: “I’m thrilled to be taking up the COO role at such a pivotal time for talent and the whole of the creative sector. I truly believe in Gritty’s mission to help talent from under-represented groups progress and thrive in their careers. Bringing the best performance out of the best people both on and off screen is core to my values.”