Derren Lawford: Creating Media With Purpose
- Mark Walmsley FRSA AGSM
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
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Meet Derren Lawford.
In this interview, Mark created Derren Lawford's fantasy cultural year from the answers to some easy questions to which there were no wrong answers.
Mark had a magic wand and a time machine at his disposal, so expect some surprises, laughs, anecdotes and conversational detours.
Some producers make programmes. Derren Lawford builds platforms for ideas.
An award-winning executive producer, creative strategist and editorial leader, Derren Lawford has spent more than two decades working across broadcast, streaming, digital-first platforms, brands and cultural organisations.
His career spans newspapers, magazines, online journalism, radio, television, digital content and global media strategy, giving him a rare understanding of how stories move across formats, audiences and cultures.
Derren’s work is driven by a clear belief: media can do more than entertain. It can inform, challenge, connect and change how people see the world.
As founder of DARE Pictures, he developed premium programming with purpose, working across documentary and fiction and helping bring ambitious, culturally significant stories to audiences.
His projects have included international documentary work, premium factual storytelling and content designed to travel across borders.
Today, Derren works as an executive producer, creative strategist and advisor, helping organisations, broadcasters, platforms and brands shape ideas with editorial clarity and commercial purpose. His approach combines creative instinct with strategic thinking, enabling him to move comfortably between big-picture vision and the practical realities of production.
What makes Derren especially distinctive is the breadth of his cultural imagination. His interests move from Jamaican history and global politics to music, faith, sport, technology, identity and social change.
Derren’s work sits at the intersection of media, culture and impact. He is interested not only in what stories are told, but who gets to tell them, where they are told, and what they make possible.
In a media landscape often driven by speed, noise and short attention spans, Derren brings something increasingly valuable: purpose. He understands that powerful storytelling is not simply about content. It is about consequence.
Derren Lawford's Fantasy Cultural Year ... with a magic wand and a time machine to hand.
From the Pyramids to Peace: Derren Lawford's Fantasy Cultural Year.
Every Arts and Culture Network member is invited to embark on a Fantasy Cultural Year—an imaginary twelve-month journey designed around their passions, curiosity and imagination.
For Derren Lawford, the year becomes a global exploration of storytelling, culture, history and the power of media to connect people.
It begins beneath one of humanity's oldest achievements. Standing in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza, Derren settles into a quiet café overlooking the desert. Beside him sits a chilled glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. Resting on the table is Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens, a fitting companion for someone fascinated by civilisation, communication and humanity's shared story. Soft gospel house music provides the soundtrack as the late afternoon sun begins to sink behind the ancient stones.
Then the phone rings.
A prestigious - if fictitious - Egyptian philanthropic foundation has spent years following Derren's work as an executive producer and creative strategist. They have secured funding to launch an ambitious international media network dedicated to dialogue, education and cross-cultural understanding.
They would like Derren to lead it. The project is called Peace TV.
His brief is simple but extraordinary.
Travel the world.
Build local partnerships.
Train emerging producers.
Launch channels that tell stories capable of building greater understanding between cultures.
Upon completion, his work will be celebrated through an international documentary, keynote speaking tour and media leadership programme.
The first destination is Gaza.
In this imagined future, peace has taken hold and a new generation is rebuilding through education, creativity and journalism. Derren is welcomed by enthusiastic young media students who believe stories can become tools for reconciliation.
That evening they attend an exhilarating dance production inspired by the energy, charisma and revolutionary stagecraft of James Brown. The performance celebrates resilience through music and movement before everyone gathers to enjoy authentic Jamaican cuisine—a reminder that culture can cross oceans as easily as ideas.
The journey continues east to Tokyo.
Rather than visiting tourist attractions, Derren heads straight for centre court, where Roger Federer is somehow persuaded to return for one final exhibition match. Watching one of tennis's greatest ambassadors perform with elegance and composure feels entirely appropriate for someone who appreciates mastery of craft.
The next stop is Johannesburg.
Here a revolutionary digital gallery allows visitors to step inside famous works of art using virtual reality. Derren chooses Salvador Dalí. Suddenly he is walking through melting landscapes, impossible architecture and dreamlike symbolism, experiencing surrealism not as a painting but as a place.
Eventually the journey returns to London for an unforgettable week of culture.
An impossible concert brings Jimi Hendrix back to life, recreating the electricity of Woodstock and the intimacy of his final Soho performances.
The theatre programme begins with Shakespeare's blood-soaked Titus Andronicus, followed by the original Broadway production of Hamilton, whose fusion of history, politics and contemporary music perfectly reflects Derren's fascination with storytelling across generations.
Choosing between opera and ballet proves surprisingly easy. Matthew Bourne's bold reimagining of ballet wins the day.
The week concludes with a screening of the Powell and Pressburger masterpiece The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, a film whose humanity, complexity and moral courage continue to resonate decades after its release.
Finally comes the traditional Fantasy Cultural Year lunch.
Derren chooses one of Jamaica's greatest national heroes: Nanny of the Maroons, the legendary leader who resisted colonial oppression and inspired generations through courage, intelligence and determination. Every guest may invite one additional person.
Nanny chooses Napoleon Bonaparte.
The conversation that follows ranges from leadership and empire to resistance, freedom, identity and the stories societies choose to remember—or forget.
As lunch draws to a close, one theme has quietly connected every stop along the journey. Whether launching television channels, rebuilding communities, celebrating music, experiencing great art or reflecting on history, every experience has reinforced the same belief. Stories matter. Not because they entertain us. Because they shape the way we understand ourselves—and one another.
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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