An independent production company making documentary, drama and vertical series. London.
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An independent production company making original documentary, drama and vertical series for broadcasters, platforms, funders and brands. Founded by Billy Dosanjh: director, writer, producer, executive producer and artist. Work for multiple broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4 and DAZN.
The films
Finished work, broadcast and exhibited.
Green Lions
Year Zero: Black Country
“A lovely, tender film that uses archive footage to create a portrait of the lives and struggles of those immigrants from the Indian subcontinent who came to the industrial heartland of England in the 60s and 70s.”
Lumbu
Sikhs of Smethwick
“Beguiling footage from the intervening half century chronicling the lives of the Sikhs of Smethwick: Punjabi wrestling tournaments, wedding videos, booze-ups and dancing.”Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian “This brilliant film told the community’s journey from unwelcomed arrivals to Smethwick stalwarts.”Matt Baylis, Daily Express “Enlightening and measured.”Andrew Billen, The TimesIndi
Missing: Claudia Lawrence
“Extremely moving.”Peter Lawrence, Claudia’s father, via BBC NewsSiberia’s Next Supermodel
“It’s trafficking just under a different name.”Top YouTube comment · 13K likes “Brilliant.”YouTube viewer · 3.6K likesEndz of the World
What’s next
Drama is moving to the phone. Micro-dramas, serialised in vertical episodes of a minute or two, are the newest form on screen, and most are made quickly and forgotten quicker. We make them with the standards of broadcast drama: a director who has made films for the BBC, Channel 4 and DAZN, with grade, VFX and sound in the building. Five made in-house so far. Now in production: Time.
The Reel
Cinematic campaigns for brands and agencies, including a branding campaign for Swingers, the global golf brand. Built in weeks, under one roof. Your brief stays in the building. You see cuts as they happen.
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Let’s Make
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Originals
The slate, in development and production.
As You Speak
In DevelopmentA drama feature in development with BBC Films and the BFI, drawn from the director's documentary on the 2005 race unrest in north-west Birmingham. A story of rumour, community and reconciliation.
Drama Feature · Producer Deborah Aston · Co-writer Steven Camden
Year Zero: The Series
In DevelopmentThe dramatisation of Year Zero: Black Country, the director's acquired cine-essay. A six-hour serial of a marriage between two empire migrants in 1960s Smethwick, told in reverse, built on a twenty-year archive of testimony. With co-writer Steven Camden and the Smethwick Heritage Centre.
HETV Drama · 6 × 60 Serial · Co-writer Steven Camden · Drawn from the cine-essay · Arts Council Collection
Pandemonium
In DevelopmentInspired by Humphrey Jennings and the Donnellan archive. A documentary feature on labour, ritual, and the unwritten music of the working day in post-industrial Britain.
Documentary Feature · Source: Donnellan Archive
Time
In ProductionAn elderly Punjabi man carries a terminal diagnosis he will not say aloud, and the family keeps feeding him. A vertical drama told almost entirely in silence. After Vanistendael.
Black Country · Vertical · Silent
Spiral
Script CompleteA Punjabi woman marries into a Smethwick family and, under mounting pressure from her in-laws, her grip on reality unravels. A psychological drama of cultural clash, mental health and resilience. Script by the late BAFTA-winning writer James Walker.
Writer James Walker · Feature
Sidhu
In DevelopmentThe life and killing of Sidhu Moose Wala, read as a lens on the Punjab: partition, abandonment, and the conditions that produced a voice with billions of streams. Built on archive and close access.
Subject: Moose Wala · Feature Doc
London Story
In DevelopmentOzu's Tokyo Story transposed to a mid-1990s South Asian family in the Black Country. Elderly parents visit their grown children in London; an unspoken diagnosis forces a reckoning with how far each has travelled from home.
After Ozu · Feature
Rhapsodies for the Serially Unsighted
CompletingAn artist film whose ambition exceeded what was technically possible at the time of writing. Now realisable, and in final post. Film London FLAMIN scheme.
Artist Film · Final Post
About
A small team. Decades of film experience.
“The Edward Hopper of the Black Country.”
Billy Dosanjh
Director, executive producer and visual artist
Billy Dosanjh trained at the National Film and Television School, where he took the MA in Directing on a Royal Mail Full Scholarship. He has directed for the BBC, Channel 4 and DAZN. He was on a factual shoot in Cameroon when he found the story that became Green Lions. He wrote, directed, produced and executive produced it, and it went out on BBC4 and DAZN in over a hundred territories. His film Lumbu, backed by BBC Films and the BFI, is on iPlayer.
He is a full voting member of BAFTA. Full record →
billy@rivvystudios.com- Held in 24 collections, among them the Arts Council Collection
- Derek Jarman Award: twice nominated
- Satyajit Ray Award: won
- Grierson: nominated
Gary
Head of Post & WorkflowRuns post and the studio's pipeline end to end. Keeps the whole job in the building, which is what makes the fast turnarounds possible. Grade, VFX and conform under one roof.
gary@rivvystudios.comClaire
Production ManagerTwenty years across documentary, drama, and commercial production. Runs scheduling, logistics, and delivery for every project on Rivvy's slate. Keeps the machine tight from pre-production through final export.
claire@rivvystudios.comStart a conversation.
Commissions, co-productions, commercial briefs and press. We read everything.