Hot Shots 2023: Lottie Naughton-Rumbo

When she won the Content London Global Entertainment Format Pitch last year, Lottie Naughton-Rumbo was the only candidate to have two projects on the eight-strong shortlist. She was also the only independent standing, and the youngest. And this was six months after winning a £20,000 development deal with US network HGTV for Earthships, a factual entertainment format she pitched to Realscreen’s Summit Showdown.

And the silver lining? Not only did ITV Studios Global pick social experiment format Trashure Island for distribution, but Primitive TV, taking a rare punt on a paper format, approached her directly to pick up her second contender, music talent show Mix & Mash.

ITV Studios Global exec Ella Umansky is not surprised at Naughton-Rumbo’s success. “Lottie is an incredibly dynamic, tenacious and exciting developer,” she says. “She is a truly independent thinker and born storyteller. You can guarantee that she will secure the one contributor that no one else has discovered.”

Naughton-Rumbo’s development credits include team efforts such as 12 Yard’s ITV shiny-floor show Big Star’s Little Star and CLP’s Channel 4 format How Did You Get So Rich?.

She’s now working with Hello Halo managing director Wendy Rattray and has shows under option with prominent UK companies, plus Australian producer Mint and US firm H2R, as well as distributors including Fifth Season, ITV Studios and Primitive TV.

Next up, she’s helping former Whizz Kid managing director Lisa Chapman get her start-up, Honeybird Studios, off the ground.