How did you get into film and scriptwriting?
I started in TV, and my very first job was on Popworld, if anyone remembers that? It was presented by Simon Amstell and Miquita Oliver. I was the studio runner, which is the person who gets sent out on "runs" for teas and coffees or whatever anyone needs, but I quite quickly became known as the studio walker. Apparently, I took my time about things. I did love it, but I knew I wanted to be making stuff rather than fetching stuff.
How has your career progressed and changed over the years?
After Popworld, I carried on working in TV for a while, and then, via tv commercials, music videos and studying film at university, I started writing and directing. I made a short film called Dust, that Alan Rickman and Jodie Whittaker starred in, which did quite well at the festivals, and that gave me the confidence to keep progressing — working with Derwent over the years has been great for that because you've always been up for trying different things!
How did your company name A Thousand Words come about?
It's a play on "a picture painting a thousand words" because I do both - video and writing.
What was your first project with Derwent London?
The first project was a vlog with Directors David Silverman and Nigel George, which I remember being a really fun day out. The first big project was for The Buckley Building — a dancing love story around Clerkenwell.
What was the inspiration for 'What's in a Name'?
I remember I was listening to George The Poet a lot, and I really loved the rhythm and play of his delivery. I've also always been interested in place names and how the sound of them, the phonetics, sometimes, somehow evoke the character of the place itself, and I wonder which came first. My dad used to be into that kind of thing too, and he gave me an amazing book called London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd, which has some fascinating stories in it. So, a bit of that, a bit of George The Poet and a lot of walking around Fitzrovia, which is where the Popworld studios were, as it happens, and so maybe it all started way back then while I was out on one of my "runs"?
Apart from ‘Whats in a Name?’ what are your other favourite films you have created for Derwent London?
Every so often I’ll watch the location film for Brunel Building again and it always makes me smile, same with the more recent follow-up launch film. And I really enjoyed making Buildings & Art from a few years ago too.
Check out more of Jake’s work here.