Firebird promotes Ayela Butt to lead on editorial output 

Firebird Pictures has promoted exec producer Ayela Butt to the newly-created role of creative director.  

In the new post, Butt will work closely with Firebird’s co-founders Liz Kilgarriff and Craig Holleworth to build on the indie’s recent success with shows such as The Jetty and to focus on character-led contemporary series.  

Ayela headshot

Ayela Butt

The establishment of the creative director role comes at a busy time for BBC Studios-backed Firebird, which has upcoming commissions including Nicôle Lecky’s thriller Wild Cherry (BBC), Theresa Ikoko’s adaptation of Nikki May’s Wahala (BBC) and Outrageous (UKTV/BritBox). The latter and Wild Cherry will be presented to global customers at BBC Studios Showcase on 24th and 25th February.

Last year the indie saw success with a pair of Jenna Coleman-starring vehicles. As well as The Jetty (BBC1), which has recently launched on Hulu and BritBox in the US, it was behind Wilderness, which was the number one watched show in 27 countries on Amazon Prime Video.  

Butt joined the indie in October 2023 from the BBC, where she served as a commissioning executive in the drama department. Her credits during her time there include The Gold, The Pursuit of Love and Lecky’s debut project Mood.  

Kilgarriff and Holleworth said: “[Butt’s] vision, talent and enthusiasm will be invaluable as she leads Firebird into our next phase of creativity and growth. With her keen eye for nurturing talented writers and spotting bold innovative ideas, she’s the perfect fit to guide our creative team to even greater success.” 

Butt said: “I’ve loved working with Liz and Craig over the last year – they are brilliant creative leaders with exceptional taste who have always championed bold and ambitious storytelling. I couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter at Firebird.”

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