Producer Maria Caruana Galizia recently completed a 7 month professional development programme with Creative England called the Creative Producer Initiative.

The initiative was designed to help emerging producers generate and develop projects, strengthen their skills and learn more about developing projects for a variety of formats and platforms. The final module consisted of a day pitching to financiers, sales agents and agencies, followed by the opportunity to pitch a new project by a new filmmaker.

Having already worked for several years in the industry as a professional screenwriter, Kat wrote and directed her first short film HOME earlier this year. Starring Academy Award nominated actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and produced by Kevin Spacey (House of Cards, The Social Network), HOME won Kat the Jameson First Shot Competition – making her the first UK recipient of this coveted directing award.

“The CPI has been nothing short of amazing. I think everyone involved feels indebted to the team at Creative England who put the program together. Without it, I would never have had the opportunity to meet with such a wealth of people and companies.”

Maria Caruana Galizia

You can read about the participants and course here