Press release · London · 19 August 2026
Damian Collins OBE joins Screenburn Group as Chairman
C21 Media and Chudor House co-founder Odiri Iwuji joins advisory board as company prepares autumn raise
LONDON, 19 August 2026 — Screenburn Group, the London company behind the free screenwriting app Screenburn and microdrama intelligence service CherryBowl, has appointed Damian Collins OBE, former UK Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, as Chairman of the Board. Odiri Iwuji, co-founder of C21 Media and Chudor House Productions, joins the company’s board of advisors.
The appointments come as Screenburn Group prepares to open a funding round this autumn. Both products serve vertical microdrama, a format that research house Omdia expects to generate $14bn in global revenue in 2026, up from $11bn in 2025.
Founded by Emmy-nominated game designer / film director Dr Charles Kriel, and TV showrunner Kat Gellein Viken, the company builds tools for scripted entertainment around a patent-pending retention scoring engine.
Screenburn offers the features of expensive screenwriting subscription software alongside live retention scoring, instant format flipping (including to microdrama), forensic IP protection and walled-off AI structural guidance. Now in beta, the free version is already used by hundreds of professional screenwriters worldwide.
CherryBowl is the world’s first vertical drama cataloguing and intelligence platform. Built and operated in the UK, it tracks more than 74,000 titles and 3.6 million episodes across 27 platforms and 32 source languages, publishing daily global rankings and a continuously updated intelligence library for executives, producers, studios and platforms.
Quotes
Damian Collins OBE, Chairman, Screenburn Group: “Pound for pound, perhaps no other nation has contributed more to cinema and TV than the UK, and global vertical microdrama is the new high-growth frontier. Screenburn has built two platforms to help the UK and global film and TV industry retool for the microdrama revolution and earn their share of the vertical goldrush. I’m delighted to come aboard.”
Odiri Iwuji, Advisor, Screenburn Group: “The foundational tools for the short-form economy are now built. What excites me is bringing them to the world — and particularly to growth markets like Africa, where the appetite for this format is enormous. I look forward to bringing my experience as a producer and founder to Screenburn Group’s journey.”
Dr Charles Kriel, co-founder and CEO, Screenburn Group: “We’re overjoyed to add these two titans of media to our team. I’ve worked with Damian on the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, and seen up close his passion for UK innovation, and the global credibility he has earned in digital safety. Odiri has pioneered global collaboration and diversity of opportunity for nearly three decades, shaping much of what is positive in the industry today.”
Media contact
Charles Kriel – [email protected]