Hot Shots 2024: Olaide Sadiq

Rob Miller, director of the Rogan Productions documentary The Final: Attack On Wembley (Netflix), describes Olaide Sadiq as “quite simply the most capable producer I have encountered in nearly 20 years working in the TV industry”.

Sadiq served as senior producer on the doc and what makes her stand out, says Miller, is that she’s “brilliant at access, but with a great understanding of storytelling and visual flair”. What’s more, “she genuinely cares about her contributors and operates at the highest ethical standards”.

Wendie Ottewill, executive producer on Rio Ferdinand’s Tipping Point, made by Circle Circle for Amazon Prime Video, on which Sadiq was lead producer, concurs: “Laide is one of the best producers I’ve ever worked with, but also with a director’s chops – she just makes things happen.”

Seven years ago, Sadiq quit her full-time job copywriting at John Lewis to join Twofour as an intern. She quickly identified documentaries and factual production as the place for her and has since cast vital or high-profile contributors, locked-in last-minute locations and conducted brilliant interviews with key contributors.

After impressing Miller on The Final, Sadiq joined Mindhouse to produce the Joan Collins and Ashley Walters episodes of the Louis Theroux Interviews… series for BBC2.

The partnership with Mindhouse has been fruitful – she has since produced a yet-to-be-announced 3 x 60-minute retrospective music documentary series for the indie and served as a development producer on a Netflix-funded project. She’s also poised to direct her first feature doc – a Rogan Productions project for a streamer.

As Ottewill notes: “She’s going to be an exec producer or running a broadcaster one day.”