Production Guild Inclusive Best Practice Day 2026 - Production Park

Fri 19th Jun 2026

Last week, the Production Guild UK welcomed members, partners and industry leaders to Production Park in West Yorkshire for our Inclusive Best Practice Day — a day dedicated to exploring how our industry can build a more accessible, equitable and inclusive future for everyone working within it.

Two Panels, One Powerful Conversation

The day was structured around two panel discussions, each tackling a different — but deeply connected — dimension of inclusion in our industry.

Our first panel, Championing & Embedding Inclusive Best Practice, brought together voices from across production to explore what genuine, lasting inclusion really looks like in practice — not as a checkbox exercise, but as a fundamental part of how productions are built and run. Chaired by our CEO Kaye Elliott, the panel featured Leo Martin, Head of Production at Warp Films, Rhona McKenzie, Access Coordinator, Cameron Roach, Founder & Executive Producer at Rope Ladder Fiction, and Karl Liegis, Head of Production at 60Forty Films. The conversation was candid, practical and refreshingly honest — covering everything from the realities of implementing access provisions on set to the cultural shifts still needed across the industry.

Our second panel, Pathways to Progression, turned the focus to the future — exploring what genuine career progression looks like for those entering and rising through the industry, and what more needs to be done to ensure talent from all backgrounds can build lasting careers in film and television. Chaired by Valeria Bullo, Head of the Production Guild EDI Committee, the panel featured Oli Mortimer, Trainee Assistant Director on Waterloo Road; Rhona McKenzie, Access Coordinator; Rio Gayle, Operations Director at MAMA Youth Project, and Assistant Director, Charanprite Dhami.

What struck us most was the sheer quality of engagement from everyone in the room. Questions were strong and poignant, with conversations spilled out of the panel sessions and into the breaks. The sense of genuine, shared commitment to doing better was felt by everyone in attendance. This is exactly the kind of dialogue our industry needs more of — open, constructive and rooted in lived experience.

A Home Worthy of the Occasion

None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary hospitality of our hosts, Production Park. Set across a remarkable campus in South Kirkby, West Yorkshire, Production Park has spent over two decades building a reputation as one of Europe's leading creative campuses — and from the moment our guests arrived, it was clear why.

The story of Production Park began in 2005, when founders Adrian and Lee Brooks opened Studio 001 — Europe's first purpose-built arena rehearsal facility, welcoming Coldplay as its very first act. What started as a single studio has since grown into a sprawling campus home to multiple rehearsal and production spaces, scenic and set-build facilities, virtual production capabilities, and the Academy of Live Technology, training the next generation of talent in live events and production. In the years since, Production Park has welcomed some of the biggest names in music and entertainment through its doors — and has become a trusted home for major film and television productions too, including Adolescence.

It is a campus built on exactly the kind of values our Inclusive Best Practice Day set out to champion — ambition, collaboration and a genuine belief in nurturing talent. We are enormously grateful to the entire Production Park team for their warmth, generosity and outstanding hospitality throughout the day.

A Very Special Visitor

We were honoured to welcome HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to Production Park in West Yorkshire — a site His Royal Highness officially opened over 20 years ago, and one that has since grown into one of the UK's most ambitious and forward-thinking creative campuses.

During the visit, The Duke took the time to meet with Production Guild UK members, industry partners and students from the Academy of Live Technology, hearing directly from the people who are shaping the future of our industry — from established professionals to the next generation just beginning their careers.

His Royal Highness was given a tour of Production Park's world-class facilities and discussed with Guild members and attendees why inclusion matters — a fundamental part of building an industry that reflects, represents and makes space for everyone within it, now and years to come.

Thank You to Our Partners

A heartfelt thank you also goes to our event sponsors, Production Park and Cockney Productions Ltd, whose support made the day possible. Their commitment to inclusion — not just as sponsors of this event, but in their everyday production practices — reflects exactly the kind of industry leadership we want to see more of.

Inclusion: Not a Moment, But a Mission

Days like this matter. But we are also acutely aware that one day, however brilliant, is not enough. Inclusion cannot be something our industry returns to once a year — it has to be woven into the everyday fabric of how we work, who we hire, who we train, and who we make space for.

As an organisation, the Production Guild UK is committed to ensuring inclusion sits at the heart of everything we do — not as a single initiative, but as a continuous, evolving commitment. That means listening to our members, working closely with partners like Production Park, Hartswood Films and Cockney Productions, and holding ourselves accountable to the standards we ask of our industry.

The conversations that took place last week will not end here. We will continue to champion accessibility, progression and representation across every part of our work — because a stronger, more inclusive industry is a better industry for everyone within it.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, spoke, listened and contributed. This is just the beginning.