Since retiring from football in 2013, David Beckham has proved himself as nimble and canny in business as he once was on the pitch. The style icon arrived onstage at the convention bearing a gift of his own brand of honey, named Sticky Vicky, which he handed to his interviewer, Jane Featherstone.

Elsewhere in his business empire, he has a stake in the electric car industry. He is co-owner of lower-league Salford City FC and Inter Miami CF, Lionel Messi’s current team. And he is a brand himself, with more than 200 million social media followers across all platforms, and partnership deals with ­Adidas, Maserati, Nespresso and more.

He joined this year’s convention to discuss another venture: Studio 99, a content studio offering commercial and editorial production. Since its launch in 2019, with Nicola Howson and David Gardner as co-owners, Studio 99 has become known for producing sport documentaries including 99 – about the treble-winning season that year of his former team Manchester United – and Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything.

The studio’s crowning glory, though, is Netflix’s Beckham, the documentary directed by Fisher Stevens and lauded for its never-before-seen insight into Beckham and his wife, Victoria. He joined the RTS Convention days after it won an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

Beckham told the London audience: “I’m very honoured to be here today. To be part of the TV industry, especially in this country, makes me very proud.”

The idea to expand his professional interests to include production came after 25 years of shooting commercials with partner brands, and two post-­retirement documentaries of which he was the subject.

His time in the US also inspired him. As Featherstone pointed out, it is more usual for talent to own production companies there than it is here. For Beckham, it was former basketball player Michael Jordan’s venture, Outlier Society, that was particularly influential. “I spent so much time there, and I look up to people like Michael Jordan. I’ve seen him go from his [sporting] career to an entrepreneur, to an owner of a team. I knew I wanted to do that if I ever had that opportunity – and we had the opportunity.”

Though the pandemic saw Studio 99 get off to a tricky start, the company soon found its stride. “The shows that we made, early doors, all came from what I like to watch. Making 99 about Manchester United was such a special moment for us as United fans and the United players,” he said.

Soon came the Disney+ series Save Our Squad with David Beckham, a co-­production with Twenty Twenty ­Productions in which he coaches a young football team in the East End of London. “I loved making it because I was working with these young kids who are from where I grew up. I got to know them, and go into their homes and be cooked dinner by their mums,” he said.

Discussing the documentary about legendary snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan, Beckham said: “I knew people would be interested, not just because he’s the best [player who] ever lived but because he’s a working-class kid who grew up to be exceptional.”

Yet it took time before Beckham was ready to put himself at the centre of a documentary as revealing as his Netflix series. The four-parter gave viewers exclusive access into the highs and lows of his football career, his psyche, and his home life with Victoria.

Beckham revealed: “When I retired, I wasn’t ready to talk about my career and what happened over that time. But coming up to the 10-year anniversary of my retirement from football, I thought maybe this is the right time.

“It worried me, and it made me nervous. It made Victoria nervous. We don’t really let those doors open to our house.” He added: “I hated probably almost every moment of making it,” before correcting himself: “I wouldn’t say I hated it, but it was very difficult.”

He thanked Howson and Gardner for “having his back”, and then addressed the question of authenticity in a project where he was production company owner and subject. The key, he explained, was to find the right director, and he found that in Stevens.

“Fisher made me feel uncomfortable from the moment we sat down to talk to the moment I finished. And that’s why I really needed him,” Beckham said. “Everyone kind of knows my career and my life, so I needed someone like him to bring something different out of me.”

Beckham stayed away from the editing process, and “never saw anything until the moment I watched it at the premiere.

“It was quite emotional, but it was one of those things I knew I was going to make [only] once, and I was going to do it in the way it really should be done. And we loved the results.”

The experience has prompted ­Victoria Beckham to step forward as the subject of Studio 99’s next documentary series for Netflix. Featherstone asked Beckham if he would give his wife notes. “Do you know my wife? Give my wife notes!” he replied.

“Actually, I’m really excited about this, because she is a strong, driven, passionate person who has gone from being a Spice Girl, as you all know. To be respected in this industry is very tough, and she’s worked hard for the last 17-18 years on her [fashion and beauty] business.

“No one sees the amount of work she puts in it. She’s over everything, from where people sit at the show to what they wear. She’s over every single piece. And I want people to see that.

“It was hard to convince her to do this, but she’d been such a big part of the process with Netflix, and she loved the people and the way they worked. So it’s an exciting time. I think she’s going to do something very special.”

Session Six: ‘In conversation with David Beckham’. The Co-founder of Studio 99, was interviewed by Jane Featherstone,  Co-founder and CCO, Sister. The producer was Helen Scott. Report by Shilpa Ganatra.