Derren spent over a decade at the BBC where he helped launch 1Xtra, was Panorama’s first digital exec, secured a number of BBC Three commissions, was the Mutliplatform Exec for the award-winning Our War and helped launch the Global iPlayer in 16 territories around the globe. He then left to join youth engagement agency Livity as Head of Content, before joining London Live as a commissioner specialising in documentaries and breaking new talent on and off screen.

He is currently Creative Director at Woodcut Media where he is responsible for development, strategy as well as securing commissions, co-production and programme finance opportunities domestically and internationally. Executive Producer credits include Idris Elba documentaries Cut From A Different Cloth and Mandela, My Dad and Me, Fiennes: Return to the Nile and the BFI supported feature documentary, Generation Revolution, currently on Netlfix.

Aside from Woodcut, Derren is a Trustee for Sheffield Doc/Fest and on the Advisory Board for the David Lyle Foundation. He’s also a Documentary Mentor for Europe based filmmakers with the Documentary Campus Masterschool programme and for African documentary filmmakers via Hot Docs Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund.