Hot Shots 2025: Ally Farrell

Ally Farrell has put his background in tabloid journalism to outstanding use since switching careers fi ve years ago. The former showbusiness reporter for The Sun won an impressive 30 hours and £3m of business in his two years at Firecrest Films, spanning true crime, popular factual and fact ent. These included six projects for a global streamer that were commissioned as one package following a competitive pitch with rival indies.

“Ally steered this process from beginning to end: generating the ideas, devising new approaches to well-trodden stories and pulling the proposal together,” says Firecrest managing director Nicole Kleeman. “It was an intense project with a ridiculously tight turnaround. Winning it has been transformative for us.”

Elsewhere, after spotting the story that became C4’s Greggs vs McDonald’s: The Fast Feud, Farrell had the idea to turn the format into a returnable brand, ensuring a series was ordered even before the initial single doc had aired.

Farrell had spent three years devising, writing and producing video formats and series for News UK when, at the height of lockdown, he decided to pursue a full-time career in TV development.

First up was a news feature producer position at Good Morning Britain, then stints as a development producer for Whisper and Little Gem, clocking up credits including feature doc Michael Johnson: Super Man and BBC single Jason & Chelcee: Eurovision Calling.

Farrell recently joined Optomen, leaving Firecrest with three paid developments for C4 and a project close to commission at a major podcast platform.

“Ally’s adept at finding extraordinary untold stories and turning them into eye-catching business. In one of the toughest TV markets we have ever known, his achievements are no mean feat,” says Kleeman.