Our Working-Class Producers’ Forum was hosted by film and TV producer Sophie Reynolds in Jan 2026. Ten participants benefited from valuable industry insights from an established and respected working-class producer and took part in an open and constructive discussion about the unique challenges faced by producers with this lived experience. The aim was to provide them with knowledge, motivation, the support of a valuable peer network and the tools to help build their slate and progress their careers.
Meet the Participants
Pip Harris (she/her)
Pip is a Somerset-based producer and creative practitioner with over 10 years’ experience delivering digital content for charities, businesses and community organisations. She has worked as a Producer at Somerset Film, co-ordinating short film projects, and has more recently worked on larger branded content productions as a Production Manager/Coordinator. With a background in animation and marketing, Pip combines strong production management with a passion for creative storytelling and is keen to learn more about feature film and HETV production, with the ambition of producing a film or series in the future.
Sonia Wargacka (she/her)
Sonia Wargacka is a Polish-British producer and HETV Production Coordinator based in Bristol. She has worked on major TV series including Sex Education (Netflix), Industry (BBC/HBO), His Dark Materials (BBC/HBO) and Wolf Hall (BBC), though her heart is with the independent films that spark change.
Sonia produced the award-winning Bristol indie documentary Rave On for the Avon, praised by The Guardian as ‘joyous’. She also produced Hungry Joe, an award-winning horror short featured on Short of the Week, and What Was She Wearing?, tackling sexual harassment in schools. In 2018 she co-founded a social-impact video production company. Sonia holds a Master’s in Humanitarianism, Conflict and Development from University of Bath.
Tom Marshman (he/him)
Tom Marshman has been a practicing artist for over 25 years, producing work across multiple mediums including theatre, film, and museum audio tours. His socially engaged practice often invites dialogue through participatory processes such as Tea Parties, creating intimate spaces where everyday experiences can be shared. These encounters allow Marshman to craft poetic, accessible, and unpretentious stories. An overarching theme of his work is the figure of the outsider, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ lives and histories that have been erased through archival silence. His upcoming theatrical projects integrate film elements, exploring queer uniformed professions and queer digital intimacy.
Annie Lees-Jones (she/her)
Annie Lees-Jones is an award-winning scripted comedy producer widely recognised on the international festival circuit for producing Two Minutes, starring Annette Badland, Samuel Bottomley, and Ashley Margolis earning Audience Choice Award at the BFI London Film Festival (2024), Best Comedy Short at Flickers’ Rhode Island and over 24 official selections at BAFTA, BIFA and Oscar-qualifying festivals. Annie was then the recipient of the Centerframe ‘Get it Made’ competition as a producer on Like Buses, starring Marsha Miller and Cora Kirk. In 2025 Annie was selected for the Film London New Talent Strand and invited to attend the Production Finance Market (PFM).
She is developing a bold, genre-spanning slate from sharp, high-end TV comedies to powerful feature-length dramas, championing fresh voices and fearless storytelling. Annie established her company Well Made Films after 25 years working in comedy across theatre, film, and television gaining a sharp eye for noticing exceptional comedic talent and stand out scripts.
Coco Bond (he/him)
Coco Bond is a Cornish filmmaker who founded the production company Film Kernow, producing feature-length films, short documentaries, music videos and short films in Devon and Cornwall. He is also a film director, cinematographer, writer and editor, for which he has won a Royal Television Society Award, the UOP Film Director Award and a Cornwall Young and Talented Award.
Mikel Iriarte (he/him)
Mikel Iriarte is an award-winning Basque-British producer from coastal Bournemouth. Commercially he has worked with clients including the Oscars, Rolex, Nike, Adidas, Gucci, FIFA, and Adobe, collaborating internationally across education, sustainability and development. Driven by his working-class roots, Mikel thrives in independent cinema. Credits include casting local thriller K-Shop; producing award-winning shorts Mausoleum and climate-conscious comedy A Television Broadcast from Outer Space; assistant directing acclaimed horror shorts Outside Noise and Hungry Joe; directing one-shot microshort Dead of Night; and most recently premiering recycled-stop-motion short Hope Is Lost at the BFI London Film Festival about the refugee housing crisis.
Lily Usher (she/her)
Lily Usher is an award-winning producer. Her debut documentary short film, The Medallion, was supported by the BFI Doc Society and won Best Documentary Short at San Francisco International Film Festival (2024) and Best International Film by the Student Jury at Clermont-Ferrand (2024). The documentary has screened at over 40 film festivals around the world, was shortlisted for an IDA Award, Cinema Eye Honours (2024) and qualified for the 97th Academy Awards.
Libby Gibbons (she/her)
Libby is a creative producer whose recent work has included BFI Film Academy-supported and Screen Cornwall-funded short, Language of Life, and the award-winning documentary Recovering the Rainforest, made for The Woodland Trust. She co-hosts ‘Making Moves and Movies Cornwall’, a community of female and non-binary filmmakers designed to bring together filmmakers living and working in Cornwall.
Libby is a full-time Producer at video marketing agency Bull & Wolf. While in post, she has run projects for names like Finisterre, YMCA, Rewilding Britain, Origin Coffee and Blue Earth Summit.
Kim Brooke (she/her)
Kim Brooke is a Producer-Director-Editor-Writer with DVCam broadcast credits since 2000. Her UK TV Director credits include Bargain Hunt, Flog It!, Car Booty, Out & About and Birdwatcher for the BBC and The Good Health Guide, People & Pets & Animal Passions for HTV. Kim has been told people trust her from the start, giving her a natural flair for ob-doc filming. Kim is also a semi-pro musician with her own PA hire company, and combines music and media whenever possible, often with ‘behind the scenes’ docs. Kim also writes short stories and screenplays.
Matthieu (Matt) Gras (he/him)
Matt Gras is a French actor and producer based in Bristol. Matt started his career in unscripted television as a development producer for Endemol France before moving to the UK in 2009. Since then, he has supported the delivery of a variety of short films, indie features and collaborative narrative media. As a co-founder of Foxrock Productions Matt produced the short film Talia, which won the Aesthetica Youth Jury Award in 2020. With an aim to develop Talia as a feature – along with a slate of other projects – Matt’s main focus is developing storylines rooted in south-west culture.
Passionate about films, cinema, creative leadership and community, Matt is also the founder of CineRPG CIC providing screen industry training in Bristol and beyond.
