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Welcome to The Indie Hustle - a pivotal Substack from the team behind the Indielab Innovation Awards, TV Accelerator and GrowthLab London.

Written by experienced journalists, this newsletter is designed for indie producers, creatives and execs who want more than headlines. They want clarity, context and a useful steer on how to grow their business in a disrupted market.

Our mission is simple. We decode the trends shaping the industry and translate them into clear, actionable insight every week.

Expect smart takes on commissioning direction, funding strategies, co-productions, development efficiency, catalogue monetisation and the growing space between TV, digital-first and branded entertainment.

We focus on what is working. We highlight the opportunities that exist right now. And we talk to the people doing it, not just observing it.

You will find practical takeaways, decision-maker interviews and guidance that helps you stay one step ahead.

The Indie Hustle is a weekly shot of clarity for people who make this industry run.

Subscribe to get the inside track on buyers, funding and strategy. Delivered weekly.

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- One newsletter every Monday

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Editorial Team

The Indie Hustle is written by a team of experienced journalists. Each contributor brings deep sector knowledge and an insider’s perspective shaped by years of reporting on the UK television and digital-first content industries. See who they are below…

Victoria Powell – Editor in Chief, The Indie Hustle

Victoria is Founder and CEO of Indielab, the UK’s leading growth accelerator for independent production companies. Across Content Futures, GrowthLab London and the Indielab Innovation Awards, she has supported more than 200 indies to scale, adapt and navigate the shifting TV landscape. Victoria draws on a decade of close collaboration with founders, networks, broadcasters, studios, distributors and investors to shape the editorial mission and direction of The Indie Hustle.

Tara Conlan – Commissioning Editor

Tara Conlan has been writing news and features about media for The Guardian since 2005 and was previously the Daily Mail’s TV Editor and TV columnist. She has also penned columns for The Observer Media & Business section and Grazia and worked on the Evening Standard and Daily Mail city desks and Londoner’s Diary.

Other newspapers and broadcasters she’s contributed to about media and the arts include the Sunday Times, The Times, The Independent, Radio Times, Variety, The British Journalism Review, The Journalist, Radio 4’s The Media Show, The Media Podcast, the Today programme, BBC Ten O’Clock News, ITV’s News at Ten, BBC News Channel and LBC.

Tara began in journalism on The Stage newspaper and was a reporter and news editor for Broadcast magazine, which she still contributes to.

She has hosted sessions at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, for BAFTA and TV conference Content London. Tara is also a juror and writer for the Royal Television Society, an executive committee member of the Broadcasting Press Guild and has been a consultant for the newspaper industry’s marketing body Newsworks and TV industry body ScreenSkills.


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A pivotal Substack brought to you by the team at Indielab, covering TV and digital-first content.

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