“The film industry has world-class talent, but the infrastructure around it has lagged behind for years. Brilliant filmmakers still miss opportunities because they are not in the right networks or connected to the right people. FILMD exists to change that by creating one trusted place where careers, collaboration, and productions can truly live and grow.” – Craig Heyworth

We are excited to welcome Craig Heyworth, Founder@ FILMD. FILMD is a network and workflow platform designed for the film and television industry, helping filmmakers discover collaborators, secure opportunities, and manage productions more efficiently. Based in the UK and serving filmmakers globally, FILMD is reshaping how creative professionals connect, build careers, and bring productions to life.

Who is Craig Heyworth & FILMD?

I’m Craig Heyworth, founder and CEO of FILMD. I build products that help filmmakers find collaborators, get hired, and run productions with less chaos and more trust. My role combines product strategy, community building, and making sure we continue delivering what the industry genuinely needs.

How did you start FILMD?

I started FILMD after living through two careers that did not initially seem connected: acting and technology. I trained as an actor on scholarship at the Guildford School of Acting before moving into software and helping scale a US platform used by major media brands.

The turning point came when I realised filmmaking still relied heavily on closed networks, informal recommendations, and fragmented systems. I launched FILMD in my late 30s because I wanted to build the infrastructure I wish existed when I was trying to break into the industry myself.

What does FILMD do and where is the company based?

FILMD is a network and workflow platform built for film and television professionals. The platform combines profiles, discovery, collaboration tools, job opportunities, and production workflows in one place. The goal is to make it easier for productions to crew up and for filmmakers to build sustainable careers.

We are based in the UK, but FILMD was designed to serve filmmakers globally. The challenges around networking, trust, and fragmented production systems exist across the entire industry, not just in one market.

What was the “aha moment” behind Craig Heyworth & FILMD?

The insight had been building for years. During my acting career, I watched talented people remain invisible because they were not connected to the right WhatsApp group or agent. Then, working in technology, I saw entire industries rebuilt around platforms where hiring, payments, and reputation all lived in one ecosystem.

Film stood out as the exception. The work itself was world-class, but the infrastructure around it felt outdated and fragmented.

The defining moment came when I tried crewing up a project myself. I realised I was using six different tools, several group chats, and spreadsheets to complete what should have been one streamlined process. That became the brief for FILMD: build the platform the industry should already have.

The people who helped most were working filmmakers themselves. Early users joined when the platform was still small, gave honest feedback, and shaped many of the product decisions we made. Their trust mattered enormously.

How long has FILMD been operating, and what milestones stand out?

We have been operating for several years, and the development has been intentional from the beginning. We prioritised community first, product second, and monetisation third.

One of the earliest milestones was proving that filmmakers would use FILMD as a genuine professional identity platform rather than another social network. From there, major moments included launching the core platform, shipping mobile applications, and seeing productions successfully hire through FILMD.

Crossing 20,000+ members and supporting more than 430 productions showed us the platform had moved beyond proof of concept into something genuinely valuable for the industry.

Introducing paid memberships for power users was another significant milestone. Charging for the product forces you to build something people genuinely value, and that level of accountability is important.

What has been your biggest lesson as a founder?

The biggest lesson has been the importance of explicit, written agreements. Scope, timelines, payment triggers, intellectual property, approvals, and what happens when priorities shift should always be documented clearly before work begins.

I used to think flexibility was the fastest route to building trust. Over time, I realised clarity creates stronger trust under pressure. Written agreements provide stability when circumstances change, which they inevitably do in business.

I now see documentation as a form of respect. It protects both sides, keeps relationships focused on delivery, and removes unnecessary ambiguity.

How has this lesson influenced your leadership and decision-making?

It completely changed how I approach uncertainty. I rely on written alignment rather than assumed alignment. If something is unclear, I stop and clarify it before work continues.

We also maintain clear decision trails documenting what was agreed, when it changed, who approved it, and what impact it has on timelines and budgets.

Although it sounds formal, it actually reduces stress across the business. Clear records create confidence, protect momentum, and keep everyone moving in the same direction.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Stop waiting to be picked. The people you think will validate you are usually too busy to notice. Build the thing. Share your work. The right people find you when there is something meaningful to find.

I would also say trust the long game. The careers and companies I admire were rarely built on one dramatic breakthrough. They were built through hundreds of smaller wins that compounded over time.

“Build the thing. Show your work. The right people find you when there’s something real to find.”

What are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the film technology sector?

The biggest opportunity is that the film industry is finally ready for proper infrastructure. For years, the belief was that filmmaking was too relationship-driven and too creative to operate on platforms. That mindset has changed.

Productions increasingly want one place to hire, manage, and pay teams, while filmmakers want one place where their careers, credits, and professional reputation can live.

The biggest challenge is trust. The industry has seen too many “Uber for film” ideas and low-quality exposure platforms. Building genuine trust takes years and can disappear overnight with one bad experience.

That is why we treat verification, accreditation, and payment integrity as product priorities rather than hidden legal processes.

There is also the challenge of fragmentation. The industry is global, and solving workflows at international scale is a long-term challenge. We are optimistic about that future, but realistic about how much work it takes.

Industry-wide changes in creator economies and digital infrastructure are also accelerating, as seen across the wider media technology market explored by Forbes Technology Council.

What three tools make FILMD run more effectively?

• Asana – Used for roadmap planning, scoping projects, and maintaining decision trails. It ensures important context is never lost.
• Slack – The communication layer connecting product, operations, and marketing teams. As a distributed and asynchronous-first company, Slack keeps collaboration flowing.
• GitHub – Essential for software development and shipping product updates. GitHub issues and project boards keep engineering work visible and tied directly to production releases.

Without these tools, there would be more meetings, more confusion, and more moments where people believed different things had been agreed.

What has been your proudest achievement so far?

A recent highlight was FILMD being featured on Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 100 Startups to Watch in 2026” list. Recognition like that matters because it reflects the wider industry beginning to notice what our members already experience daily.

But the proudest moments are often quieter ones. Hearing members say, “I got my first break through FILMD” or “We crewed our entire production on FILMD” means far more than external recognition.

Those moments are when the platform stopped being an idea and became part of someone’s career journey.

How do you measure success beyond revenue and growth metrics?

We measure success through careers rather than transactions. Did someone land their first role? Did someone progress from runner to director while using the platform? Did professionals return repeatedly for work opportunities?

Those are the indicators that tell us whether FILMD is genuinely creating value.

We also focus heavily on trust signals. Are members verifying their profiles? Are productions returning to use the platform again? When issues arise, do members feel comfortable sharing honest feedback with us?

Revenue matters because we are a business with significant operational costs, but revenue is a lagging indicator. If trust and careers are growing, sustainable business growth follows naturally.

What do you know now that you wish you had known earlier?

You cannot shortcut community. You can buy traffic and engineer marketing campaigns, but you cannot fake belonging. People know immediately whether a platform was built by people who genuinely understand them.

We chose the slower route: building through real members, real productions, and genuine word of mouth. I would make the same decision again.

I also wish I had taken pricing more seriously earlier. Founders often avoid charging because they believe keeping everything free accelerates growth. The reality is that paying members are more engaged and more invested in helping improve the product.

What future goals do you hope to achieve?

Professionally, I want FILMD to become the platform every filmmaker uses at some point in their career. A place where profiles, credits, collaborators, projects, and payments all exist in one trusted ecosystem.

That is not a short-term objective. It is a decade-long vision, and we are building with that timescale in mind.

Personally, I would like to spend more time on set and less time inside spreadsheets. My background in acting is important to me, and staying close to productions ensures we never lose touch with the people we are building for.

I also want to mentor more founders emerging from creative industries because there are not enough people bridging creativity and entrepreneurship successfully.

What advice would Craig Heyworth & FILMD give to other founders?

Solve a problem you have personally experienced. The hardest part of entrepreneurship is not the strategy or fundraising. It is surviving years of ambiguity and persistence. You only stay committed if the problem genuinely matters to you.

Build community before product. Speak to hundreds of users before writing code. Look for recurring patterns in what they tell you and build around those realities rather than assumptions.

Most importantly, document everything. Agreements, priorities, changes, timelines, and decisions should always be written down. Written records protect alignment and create clarity for both current teams and your future self.

Thank you Craig, it has been great learning more about your leadership story and FILMD.

Want to connect with Craig or learn more about FILMD?

Check out their channels below:

LinkedIn: Craig Heyworth

Website: FILMD

Company LinkedIn: FILMD

Company X: FILMD

Company Instagram: FILMD

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