A room full of people who had never been on a set.

We were fortunate enough to spent a few days at Digbeth Loc. Studios running the IGNITE Your Creativity workshop, a crash course in filmmaking with National Youth Theatre and Netflix. By the end, a group who had mostly never touched a camera had shot and produced their own scenes.

We covered camera, storyboarding, how a production actually runs, and the routes into the industry that nobody explains to you. Then we split everyone into groups and told them to go and make something.

That is the part that works. You can talk about blocking for an hour, or you can hand someone a camera and let them discover that the actor keeps walking out of frame.

Nobody in that room was short of ideas. They were short of a set to try them on.

They picked it up fast — lighting, camera, how to talk to each other while the clock is running. What struck me most was the collaboration. Nobody had to teach them that a film is made by a group of people; they worked it out within about twenty minutes of the first setup going wrong.

Workshops like this matter because of what they hand over: professional kit, people who will answer the question honestly, and a few days of real experience. Most young creatives get none of that through school, and the ones who do usually get it because somebody in their family already works in film.

That is the barrier. Not talent, not appetite — access.

We have kept the relationship going since. George and I ran two Introduction to Production sessions with NYT off the back of it, starting from what actually makes a film tick and then getting the students shooting their own scenes. Same lesson both times: give people the room and the equipment and they will surprise you inside a morning.

Keep telling your stories

Thanks to National Youth Theatre for having us back, Netflix for backing it and to Digbeth Loc. Studios for providing the space. And to everyone who came through the door not entirely sure they belonged there.

You did. Keep going. We can't wait to see where you end up.