Knowing when to pivot is key to any successful creative. It’s something Becky Rooney knows well. Having spent three decades in the TV and Film industry, working on everything from talk shows to high end TV (HETV), she decided a career move was in order to better align her work goals with her growing life responsibilities. The end result was Rooscreen, the production company she started in 2023 to make engaging and educational short films. However, once you’ve successfully pivoted into your fresh new venture, how do you ensure that it’s the best it can possibly be?
“I was a bit lost, to be honest,” says Rooney on the decisions that led her to Rooscreen. “I set up my production company with the ambition of producing short films and made three in my first year, which was great. It was what I wanted to do.” So far, so good – but a big question lingered: “What do I do next? Getting commissioned in TV is so hard in the current climate, and it’s no secret that’s amplified if you’re based in the regions,” she continues. “I also wanted to concentrate on having more than one revenue stream.”
To help gain clarity, Rooney joined our West Midlands Create Growth Programme. This intensive scheme is designed to solidify creative company founders. By pairing them up with their own industry mentor, preparing them for investment and ironing out their future plans, it aims to fully prepare both them and their businesses for future growth.
For the Royal Leamington Spa-based Rooney, having something so regionally-focused was appealing. “I worked in London for many years and I loved it – but it really is its own ecosystem,” she explains. “It operates on a completely different tangent to the rest of the country so to be on a course that understood those challenges and connected me with local people was really important.”
The scheme also helped Rooney transition from a work-for-hire approach to a model that was much more company orientated. “Being a freelancer is entirely different to running a business,” reasons Rooney, comparing her previous working routines with her current ones as a creative founder. “A limited company is a very different beast; you’ve got to be thinking about what’s coming in six months, a year, two years… it’s a different way of thinking and this course really helped me to wrangle that.”
What’s more, by working with her programme-assigned industry mentor, Rooney gained a better understanding of the raw potential of the stuff she already owns. “I didn’t even know what IP meant in the beginning and now I’m looking at how to maximise and retain IP in every single thing I develop,” she tells us. “And also leveraging the IP I already own. It’s made me look at my work as a product rather than as just a creative.”
This method even inspired Rooney to create her own spin-off consultancy business Film Friendly, designed to support location owners, tourism bodies and business organisations in managing TV and Film production from their side: “I have a whole new revenue stream now that has really taken off and that’s a direct result of meeting the mentors on this programme,” she smiles. “It’s made an absolutely massive difference.”
Together, these elements have impacted Rooney’s view of her company’s value. “I didn’t really understand why investors would be attracted to what I own but it’s changed my mindset,” she adds, commenting on how the scheme has altered her approach to investment. “It’s definitely something I’ll be looking at in the future.”
Speaking of which, Rooney’s next steps for Rooscreen couldn’t be clearer. She’s continuing her Creative UK journey as part of our new Female Founders cohort to add to the overall business acumen that the West Midlands Create Growth programme provided. “I feel a lot more confident, focused and I know what I’m doing for the next two years,” says Rooney. “I feel like I have value, my company has value and I understand what to do with that value – and that’s a direct result of this programme.”
