Oscar winning support
One of the world’s leading non-profit funders for documentary films is celebrating a year of success after building its London-based team.
Doc Society, which provides advice, funding and training for aspiring, independent filmmakers, credits the success of its London office since the start of 2018 to HR consultancy, Cream HR, which has helped the organisation to grow its UK team.
The award-winning organisation, which was founded in 2005, has offices in New York and the Netherlands and focuses on helping filmmakers make a global impact and create social change with their documentaries. It has helped some of the most famous documentary films make waves including the Oscar winning CITIZENFOUR in 2015.
In early 2018, Doc Society was named as the delegate partner of the prestigious British Film Institute (BFI) Fund, which aims to develop documentary makers from across the UK, by supporting projects with bold cultural and social ambitions. The creation of the BFI Doc Society Fund meant the organisation had to grow their presence in the UK by expanding its London-based team with some of the best film talent in the country.
Director of Doc Society, Sandra Whipham, commented on the organisation’s expansion in the UK and the role Cream HR played in it.
She said: “I’ve known the MD of Cream, Anthony Sutton, for years and after we were awarded the BFI contract, I knew he was the person to be in touch with to help establish our new team. Having always dealt with our own HR and recruitment in the UK, it became increasingly obvious and important that to expand our team in the necessary way, we would need external expertise to advise us on how to get this right.The impact of Anthony’s outside perspective and professional approach has been immeasurable – alongside his team of legal experts he has overhauled our company handbook and helped us to recruit some of the leading professionals in our field through the application of a highly effective recruitment process. It has taken so much off of our plates.
“Alongside his practical work, Anthony has been with us every step of the way to provide general HR and legal advice to help us with any potentially difficult employee situations. Winning such a huge and public contract as the BFI fund, which has ties to the National Lottery, has meant that it has been more important than ever to remain compliant and become the most professionally run organisation we can be. Anthony and his team have undoubtedly played a key role in enabling us to become the well-established and respected non-profit in the UK that we are today.”
Anthony Sutton, MD of Cream HR, said: “Doc Society is one of the most exciting and ground-breaking clients we have ever worked with. The work the team does creates incredibly moving and impactful films, and we are really proud to have played a small part in that process over the past year.”
“A key aspect of recruiting for Doc Society is the niche nature of the job roles – there are not many equivalent positions out there, meaning each role needs to be properly understood and applications must be gone over with a fine-tooth comb to establish whether a candidate is the right fit. With the correct HR and recruitment procedures in place, Doc Society have been able to create a fantastic team, who love what they do. And this, of course, creates the best results! We look forward to seeing what documentaries the BFI Doc Society Fund produces.”
