Based in London and Manchester, DARE Pictures is an award-winning  UK-based and internationally focused company led by Derren Lawford, a pioneering  executive who has helped to launch two TV stations, the UK’s first Black radio station, an SVOD service, and a shortform content division.

As a company we’re in the business of creating premium, inclusive and popular unscripted, digital, branded and scripted content that elevates and celebrates important and inspiring stories from around the world to the biggest possible audiences.

DARE stands for Diversity, Allyship, Representation and Empowerment  and aims to reflect that in everything they do, both on and off screen.

Taking an entrepreneurial approach to  developing, producing and financing ambitious, exciting and important stories, beautifully and boldly told from anywhere in the world, we’ve quickly become a magnet for award-winning and talented, emerging directors, authors, writers and producers from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and North America equally dedicated to bringing compelling true stories and IP to life.

Our first year saw us hit the ground running in unscripted, securing a high-profile international co-production, FUGITIVE: THE MYSTERY OF THE CRYPTO QUEEN, a three-part series, with Channel 4, Sky Germany and Fremantle directed by Rudolph Herzog and co-produced with award-winning German production company, Tondowski films. Named one of the Top 15 TV shows to look forward to in 2023 by Variety it has since been nominated at the True Crime Awards in 2025.

North America’s largest documentary festival Hot Docs and SAP also invited DARE Pictures to produce and curate inspiring films on climate change pioneers from filmmakers in India, Nigeria, Japan, Lebanon, Germany, America and the UK on the subject of climate change. Screened at COP27 and Davos this year, the feature-length compilation, ROADS TO REGENERATION also premieres at Hot Docs Festival 2023. 

Then there’s DALTON’S DREAM, a feature documentary for the BBC’s award-winning Storyville strand directed by Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown. Backed by the BFI’s Global Screen Fund, distributed by Dogwoof and produced by Sungazer in association with DARE Pictures its world premiere was at Sheffield DocFest.

This was followed by THE SECRETS OF UK PRISONS, a one-hour special for Channel 4’s flagship youth skewing current affairs strand, Untold, which sees former prisoner David Navarro expose the tough reality of life inside prison with shocking footage illegally filmed and posted on social media by inmates from across the UK. SELLING MY VIRGINITY was the launch episode for In Too Deep, a brand new investigative strand for Channel 4 Digital and both shows were nominated for Broadcast Digital Awards in 2024

That same year, we were named as one of the Top Ten Emerging Indies in the RealScreen Global 100. After receiving angel investment from Rosegown in 2022 we’re also now delighted to have agreed a strategic investment partnership with US based Pantheon Media Group, part of WME Group. We ended 2024 with the release of our MTV series EVERY WOMAN WITH SOPHIE KASAEI which has since been nominated for a Broadcast Digital Award and 2025 has also seen us named Emerging Indie of the Year at the Broadcast Awards.

We’re currently in production on CONFESSIONS OF A PRISON OFFICER for Channel 4, as well as a series for a streamer and a prestigious feature documentary narrated by Sir Stephen Fry.