David Simpson
BA (Hons) Media Production TV & Radio 2007
Position and company: Freelance Producer and Executive Producer
David is a Freelance producer and executive producer. After nine years working at Tiger Aspect productions in London, first as a Development Producer and then as Head of Comedy, David decided to take the plunge and went freelance in January 2024.
During his time at Tiger Aspect, David was responsible for overseeing the development of new comedy shows and the production of existing ones. One of his biggest achievements was producing four series of the multi-award-winning Man Like Mobeen for BBC3, which earned a BAFTA nomination.
When asked about his biggest challenge, David said: "Every show and every development is a new challenge, because each project is different. There's no set formula in comedy, you have to find a new one each time and navigate new relationships to try get an alchemy that works.”
David was attracted to the University of Sunderland because of the practical aspects of the course.
He said: “I liked that it was practical not just theory and we could make things and learn by doing. I loved being able to use the equipment and try a variety of roles.
“We made a mockumentary as a way of learning how to use the camera and editing software. It was just a pre-cursor to the serious doc that was part of the course. But I enjoyed the mockumentary much more and went away and developed that into a short comedy film that won some awards and got me started in making comedy from then on.”
His advice to recent graduates entering the job market is: “Say yes to everything, to begin with, try and meet as many people as possible and be proactive. You make your own luck the more you get yourself out there. And keep going because it can be a hard, long road, but most success comes from perseverance.”