Hot Shots 2023: Calum Leslie

Having started out as a development researcher at Finestripe four years ago, Leslie has gone on to work across both development and production, even winning commissions for his original ideas.

He was the mastermind behind This Is Our Land for BBC Scotland, for which he also became the programme’s researcher.

Finestripe executive producer Lorraine McKechnie says he showed “incredible potential from the off ”, with “impeccable writing skills, tenacity and attention to detail.”

Honing his editorial skills, Leslie made the step up to assistant producer, working up storylines and tracking down contributors, locations and archive.

For his recent BBC Arena doc The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld, he managed to bring the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s niece (who had never spoken about her uncle before) on board, uncovered key pieces of unseen archive, dealt with notoriously guarded fashion house Chanel, and negotiated international clearance rights.

“Calum was unflappable and turned around a very demanding director’s request with speed, care and patience,” says McKechnie. “His investigative qualities have come to the fore several times in the six productions we have worked on together and have at times singlehandedly transformed them.”

She also praises his “compassion” and duty of care towards contributors.

“He manages to get people on board and to open up in a way highly experienced film-makers struggle to do,” says McKechnie, citing ITV series Boris Becker: The Rise And Fall, for which Leslie persuaded two US lawyers to talk about Becker’s divorce from his first wife.