Hot Shots 2022: Hollie Abbott

Hollie Abbott has come a long way from her roots in a small Cornish town. A skyrocketing career has so far taken her to the top of Boom’s development department, with an expectation of more to come.

Abbott hit the ground running at the Welsh indie, securing BBC3/BBC Wales ob-doc Hot Cakes after just six months, swiftly followed by More 4 travelogue Alan Carr’s Adventures With Agatha Christie and further funded developments from the BBC, C4 and C5.

Access doc Hot Cakes encapsulates her strengths – with Abbott playing a key role in the development process to ensure the idea was bang on brief.

Abbott is determined to lower the ladder for the next generation of creatives. To that end, she has mentored entry-level talent from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, and acted as a guest lecturer for the NFTS, local universities and further education colleges.

Boom managing director Nia Thomas says Abbott is the most creative and committed development executive she has worked with.

“Collaborative and positive, she has an incredible work ethic, an exceptional flair for factual entertainment, entertainment and reality formats, and is thriving in this competitive and often dispiriting world of TV development,” Thomas adds.

“To be such a bright and capable department head at her age is remarkable, but despite such weighty responsibility on her young shoulders, she’s always calm and professional and has an innate ability to express herself clearly and persuasively in pitch meetings with senior commissioners.”