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Creative Enterprise Presents:

Fast Forward:
Growth-Focused Business Support Programme

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Designed for ambitious screen businesses, Fast Forward provides the strategic clarity, expert mentoring, and commercial insight needed to accelerate growth, unlock new revenue, and build a resilient, scalable future.

The Creative Enterprise Fast Forward programme, sponsored by Barclays Bank, is designed to support screen businesses to jump‑start and accelerate sustainable growth. It provides a structured framework to strengthen the long‑term positioning and resilience of your business.

If you have a clear ambition to expand your business in value, reach, or impact, and want to explore the most effective routes to scale, Fast Forward is for you.

The programme focuses on strategic partnerships, product diversification, governance, financial strategy, decision‑making, exit planning, and investment. It addresses the often unseen but essential groundwork that underpins genuine growth and investment readiness.

This six‑month programme delivers highly tailored support, beginning with a comprehensive diagnostic to assess your current position, challenges, and opportunities. These insights will inform a customised development plan, culminating in a robust and actionable growth plan by the end of the programme.

 

Applications Extended.
Submit by 9am Monday 21st of September.

Apply Here

sponsored by

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supported by

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What Previous Participants Think 

“Through the programme, we’ve developed our revenue model...We now have a strong product roadmap and a much clearer idea of our launch and our road to market. All of this stuff was so important for a business that has scale ambitions and now all of those building blocks are in place.”

 

“It sharpened my proposition...The programme’s mentors challenged me to put myself and my vision at the centre and show how the model can scale. That shift turned the pitch from ‘here’s a great history brand,’ into ‘here’s a replicable studio model with multiple verticals and revenue streams.”

 

“This process helped us sharpen our commercial positioning, clarify routes to revenue, and define a scalable roadmap across content, interactive, and licensing. [...] As a direct result, we have progressed conversations with potential investors and partners, explored new digital-first products and interactive extensions of the IP. The programme has materially improved our confidence, clarity, and preparedness to raise investment and scale the business in a sustainable way.” 
What is Fast Forward?

Fast Forward is a 6‑month growth programme for ambitious screen businesses ready to scale.

Through expert-led workshops, tailored diagnostics, and up to 14 hours of mentoring, the programme strengthens your commercial foundations, spanning strategy, revenue, governance, finance, and investment, to build a clear, credible growth plan and position your business for long-term resilience and profitability.

 

What is involved? 

Through a series of structured workshops, tailored diagnostics, and expert mentoring, you’ll explore the key commercial drivers behind sustainable growth. The programme will support you to develop:

  • A clear growth strategy aligned to your ambition
  • Stronger routes to revenue through partnerships and product diversification
  • Robust governance, financial planning, and decision‑making frameworks
  • Confidence in investment readiness, exit planning, and long‑term positioning

You’ll be supported by an experienced team of mentors with deep expertise across finance, people and governance, brand and communications, innovation, content, and revenue growth. Having worked with a wide range of screen businesses, they bring practical insight and challenge shaped by real‑world experience.

Throughout the programme, you’ll benefit from focused one‑to‑one mentoring alongside peer learning, helping you stress‑test assumptions, sharpen your commercial thinking, and build the clarity and confidence needed to scale your business sustainably.

 

Eligibility & Fees

You will need to show that your business has the potential and ambition to scale up. To be considered for the programme, companies must:

  • Be a founder (or co-founder) of a screen based narrative business working in storytelling for the moving image (this can include film/TV, games, immersive, createch)
  • Be registered and trading in England
  • Have successfully created a revenue generating product, reached a market/audience of scale or launched a new platform/ tech service that has enabled storytelling through moving image.
  • You must have employed a minimum of 2 people (including yourself) at some point in the last 5 years
  • Have generated consistent sales revenue in the last 3 years in addition to any funding secured via grants, investment etc.
  • Be committed to the long term development of your company

The fee for participation in the programme is £250 + VAT per company. 

Creative Enterprise is a BFI Lottery funded programme  – overall, the support including group learning sessions, coaching and personalised mentoring  you receive during the Fast Forward programme is valued at over £5,000 per person.

There is also a bursary (contribution towards travel and accommodation) available for in-person sessions if needed. If you feel like this fee is a significant barrier to your participation in the programme, please speak to Creative Enterprise team to discuss options.

 

Applications Are Now Extended
- Deadline for Submissions is Monday 21st of September at 9am. 
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Meet The Mentors

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Aimee Bateman

People, values and recruitment
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Cecilia Thirlway

Comms and Brand
AP (73)

Martin Backlund

Content, Distribution Strategies and Investment
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Sandra Tusin

Financial Planning and Investment
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Tim McSweeney

Innovation and Process
TB Headshot

Travis Baxter

Revenue Growth and Governance
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2-Aug-20-2025-08-52-40-1091-AM

Aimee Bateman

People, values and recruitment
I’m a former recruiter who placed more than 2,000 professionals into new roles, before becoming an executive coach and the award-winning (exited) Founder/CEO of the venture-backed Edtech company, Careercake - voted UK’s #1 career development platform. As founder and CEO, I defied the odds by securing both VC and angel investments across two continents, despite operating in a landscape where less than 2% of funding is invested into a female founded company. In 2022 my company was successfully acquired.
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Cecilia-C-3

Cecilia Thirlway

Comms and Brand
Cecilia is a communications professional with 30 years' experience in organisations of all sizes, with a particular interest in the creative industries and emerging technology. She lectures at the University of Bristol’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is a Fellow of the RSA.
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AP (73)

Martin Backlund

Content, Distribution Strategies and Investment
Martin spent thirteen years at Amazon, most recently as MD of Prime Video Nordics, where he grew the Nordics business through content, marketing and distribution partnerships. Before that he ran content acquisition for Prime Video UK, negotiating licensing deals for films and series. He now invests as an angel and sources deals for a growth-credit fund. He can help founders understand how investors view their business, and draw on years as an operator to help them deliver tangible results.
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IMG_9651-1

Sandra Tusin

Financial Planning and Investment

Sandra Tusin is an investor, entrepreneur and former investment banker specialising in AI, Web3 and blockchain. Recognised as one of The Telegraph’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch, she has worked with leading venture capital firms and founded her own investment accelerator company and is a qualified accountant. She specialises in AI ethics at the University of Cambridge and mentors founders scaling innovative technology ventures.

 

 
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TimMcS Headshot 21

Tim McSweeney

Innovation and Process
Tim McSweeney is a strategic advisor who bridges the gap between technology, business and creativity. He guides entrepreneurs, industry and investors helping them identify and capitalise on emerging opportunities.

Drawing on twenty years of experience in equity investment and venture strategy, Tim specialises in translating cutting-edge technologies into tangible business outcomes.
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TB Headshot

Travis Baxter

Revenue Growth and Governance
CEO and Chair of large media companies in Europe including start-ups and exits up to c£500 million.

Initially a BBC broadcaster, then corporate management and private equity.

Currently Chair: Smart Avenue Media, Director: Bauer Media, Chair: DCMS 2026 Future of Radio Sector Review, Advisor: Emerging media / tech businesses.

Learn More About Each Mentor Here 

Ready to grow your business? 
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More Creative Enterprise Programmes 

Our programmes have proved transformational for participating businesses, with an earned reputation for providing intensive support, connections and opportunities to fulfil growth potential.

They are designed by industry leaders to help entrepreneurs working in moving image storytelling - spanning film and television, games, digital content and createch - grow, scale and strengthen their businesses.

 

Screen Launchpad

Screen Launchpad is a support programme for aspiring, diverse leaders in the screen industries. It is the entry point for aspiring founders as well as early-stage businesses, with two tracks of Pre-StartUp and Early StartUp.
Find Out More

Fast Forward

This programme is designed to bridge the gap between ambition and action for growth-stage creative businesses, addressing key executive development areas to develop truly resilient screen businesses.
Find Out More

Female Founders

Female Founders is a prestigious programme supporting women leading screen businesses. This initiative helps founders strengthen leadership skills, develop confidence and connect with a network of peers.
Find Out More

Female Founders: Introduction to Investment

Female Founders: Introduction to Investment, is a brand new programme addressing the gaps in investment knowledge amongst female founders. Sponsored by British Business Bank.
Find Out More

 

Supported by

 

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We are deeply grateful for the support of the BFI, National Lottery funding, which makes the work of Creative Enterprise possible. Their commitment to building a thriving, inclusive, and sustainable screen sector has enabled us to support founders and businesses across the UK, helping them to grow, adapt, and reach their potential.

Thanks to the BFI’s continued support, we have been able to deliver impactful programmes, connect founders with mentors and investors, and help businesses become investment ready. This support has been instrumental in building a stronger, more connected screen business ecosystem, and we are proud to work together to back the ambition of the UK’s screen industries.

 

Creative Enterprise Newsletter 

If you’d like to see more inspiring case studies, founder stories, and opportunities to help your screen business grow, sign up to the Creative Enterprise newsletter. You’ll get updates on our programmes, events, and practical resources straight to your inbox, along with the latest stories from the businesses and founders transforming the screen industries across the UK.

 

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