Are Producers Paying the Price for Development?

Adam Gee

Co-Founder, Traction

Adam Gee is a highly-experienced Commissioning Editor, having commissioned at Channel 4, CAA, Little Dot Studios and Red Bull Media House. He is Head of Documentary Campus Masterschool (Berlin), a prestigious documentary incubator. Adam has won over 90 international awards, including six BAFTAs, one Emmy and three RTSs. He is also Co-Founder of Traction alongside Roy Ackerman. 
 

Roy Ackerman

Co-Founder, Traction

Roy Ackerman is a multi-award-winning film and TV executive with a track record of developing, producing and executive producing compelling documentary films, unscripted formats and premium doc series. His recent work includes the award-winning Paid In Full: The Battle for Payback with Idris Elba - an exposé of exploitation in the music industry - and the feature documentary The 6 Billion Dollar Man, which won two awards at Cannes Film Festival. He loves to work with top Oscar-winning directors and A-list on-screen talent.

Programmes Roy has produced have received more than 70 major awards, including four Emmy Awards, two Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prizes, four BAFTA Awards, five Royal Television Society Awards, six Broadcast Grierson Awards, as well as Peabody, NAACP Image, Canadian Screen, Prix Italia, FIPA, NY Film Festivals, Cannes, Golden Globes and Berlin Film Festival, and a shortlist at the Oscars.  

He has a stellar track record of building and transforming independent production companies, including campaigning Jamie Oliver’s Fresh One Productions, Diverse Production, Pulse Films and Zinc Media. He is a future-facing thought-leader with experience in digital distribution and all forms of funding, who advises production companies and creative businesses all over the world - including current clients in North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia and Singapore.  

He and Adam Gee have founded the unique new ‘hive-mind’ consultancy, Traction, offering connection, advice and strategy. It works by bringing an array of specialist experts to each client looking to move their projects forward, reduce development overhead and improve their sales strategy.

After decades producing impactful series about young people, education and creativity, Roy is now a Professor at City University New York, teaching a successful documentary class. He is developing new models of combining production and education in the university sector. He mentors, leads workshops and publishes articles on creative industries for publications worldwide and is at work on podcasts, as producer and as creator-host.  
 

Bruce Fletcher

Commissioning Editor, Sky Documentaries

Bruce Fletcher is a Commissioning Editor at Sky Documentaries with responsibility for commissioning and overseeing a wide range of original films and factual series including, Becoming Madonna, Murder at the Post Office, King of the Apocalypse and the upcoming 72 Films about the X Factor.  

Before joining Sky, Bruce was Head of Documentaries at Story Films, where he developed and executive produced numerous factual projects including Hell Camp (Netflix), To Catch a Copper (C4, BAFTA winner for Best Factual Series 2025), How to Hire a Hitman (C4), Striking With Pride (Sky Docs) and the Grierson-winning Chernobyl: My Promised Land (Sky Docs).  

Prior to his role at Story Films, Bruce was a freelance documentary director and series director, working at some of the most prestigious UK production companies including Raw TV, Century Films, Dragonfly and 72 Films. Bruce’s director credits include Otto Baxter: Not a F**king Horror Story, Crime and Punishment, 24 Hours in A&E and the first two series of BBC1 returner Ambulance. As a director he has won BAFTA, Emmy, Royal Television Society, Broadcast and Rose d’Or awards.