Grierson DocLab: Development, run in partnership with Netflix, is an industry-led training programme for creatives with strong ambitions to specialise in documentary development roles. This year’s programme is providing eight creatives with intensive training to build and develop their skillset, together with mentoring from an industry professional, networking opportunities, and an eight-week paid work placement within a production company.

The training covers developing stories, gaining access, responding to a brief, research methods, conceptualisation, treatment writing, creating pitch materials, casting, working with talent, pitching and ethics in documentary filmmaking.

This year’s trainees, who come from a variety of locations around the UK, are Holly Bennett, Chloe Bingham, Yasmin Bowen, Laila Edwy, Jenna Green, Jehan Jeffrie, Iona Macdonald, and Kate Samways.

Sylvia Bednarz, Managing Director, the Grierson Trust, said: "This is the UK’s first structured programme dedicated to training and mentoring talent specifically for documentary development roles, recognising it as a craft in its own right. By diversifying the voices shaping stories from the outset, we hope to broaden the narratives that reach audiences. I’m thrilled to welcome such a talented group of trainees to this year’s programme.”

Nelesh Dhand, Original Documentary Series, Netflix said: “Developing documentaries which cut through a competitive landscape to appeal to audiences not just in the UK but worldwide is an important part of what we do at Netflix. We are delighted to be backing the Grierson DocLab: Development programme, which is aimed at diversifying development not just for our content but for the industry more widely, and I’m so excited by the incredibly talented trainees we have on the programme."

The Grierson DocLab: Development programme sits alongside the Grierson DocLab: Archive Producers programme in collaboration with Prime Video Pathway, and the Grierson DocLab: New Entrants scheme, which is produced in partnership with Headline Sponsors National Geographic and supporters Banijay UK and the Rank Foundation.

Alumni of Grierson DocLab programmes have gone onto work at production companies and studios including Rogan Productions, Ventureland, Box to Box, Dorothy Street Pictures, BBC Studios, The Garden, RAW, Minnow, Nutopia, Mindhouse, Curious Films, Candour Productions, Grain Media, Forest, and 72 Films, as well as on Grierson Award-winning documentaries.