2026 doesn’t seem like it’s gonna pull any punches – such is it’s crazy, crazy start, politically and otherwise.

Already, we’re loosing people who mean so much to us and who were making indelible marks in the entertainment industry.

It’s with deep sadness that I learned that Danielle Scott-Haughton has died suddenly in her sleep this month.

So 2026, I guess we better buckle up? 

Danielle Scott Haughton was a writer, director, producer and most recently, became a Commissioning Editor at the BBC.

Boundless energy and generous of spirit, she was resolute in her own ambitions and along the way, she brought others along with her by sharing knowledge and having them join her own platforms, that helped them build their own careers.

I first met Danielle when I was the Festial Coordinator for the late Menelik Shabazz’s long standing film festival, the Black Filmmaker International Film Festival (BFMIFF)

It was 2015 and it was the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in London’s Seven Sisters.

As part of the festival, we were incorporating seminars and workshops. It was a time when a lil thing called ‘webseries’ were at their height.

Venus Vs Mars (Baby Isako), Brothers With No Game (Leon Mayne), Ackee & Saltfish (Cecile Emeke), Housemates (Monuque Needham), to name a few, were successful, online (YouTube) short form stories, that delivered a much needed slice of Black British life that was persistently left out of mainstream telly.

These webseries were in response to black creatives continually being shut out of television commissioning. So what did they do? They went and made the shows they wanted to see themselves.

Danielle Scott-Haughton and Victor Adebodun (1985 – April 2018) were examples of innovators who created their own webseries; Victor alongside Baby Isako created the award-winning Venus vs Mars and Danielle created Dear Jesus.

I mean, of course BFMIFF wanted these two powerhouses to deliver seminars, which spilled the juice on how to make webseries and they happily obliged, such was the respect for Menelik.

Danielle and Victor, were gracious with their time and generous with their knowledge and both carried a vibrancy and excitement about them, which demonstrated how passionate they were about their craft.

Two years later, when I too created my own platform, I reached out to Danielle to join a panel that would get into the nuts and bolts of where we were as far as being Black women creatives in the industry – specifically, broadcast…television.

Danielle was joined by Carol Russel, who at the time had created Fresh Voices and Juliana Ayeni-Stevens, who had created Purple Night Colour Productions. The panel was hosted by Akua Gyamfi, founder of The British Blacklist.

Once again, Danielle didn’t skip a beat. She was so warm and generous with her time and experience. I couldn’t thank her enough.

I shall miss her. But amongst the sadness is hope and gratitude for the body work that Danielle left. We should build on this work in her memory. This building should be used as a means to fuel our own ambitions, ambitions that Danielle would have wanted to see come to fruition.

I and this platform, send our deepest condolences to Danielle’s family and friends, wishing them peace and comfort during this time.

Rest in sweetest peace Danielle.