Phones can be more scary than you think!

It's a pretty extreme way to sort your life out but, for me, going to prison allowed me to do just that. Really. Of course, the simple daily grind and routine, slamming doors, jangling keys and shouts of 'Get your hot water ladieeeeeeeeees' probably wouldn't be enough for anyone to turn the corner but mine was a sentence laden with opportunity; opportunity I seized with great relish.

It started with a course (sorry if a song just popped into your head), a BTEC in digital media. If I say so myself I did very well, getting an overall distinction and a massive boost to my confidence and self-esteem. And that led to the ultimate prize, a placement with IJP as their first ever Production Assistant, commuting daily from prison to their offices in London. An actual job! Like a normal person!

Obviously getting the job wasn't as simple as just doing well on the course and I'm not sure that was even a factor. The application process was like that of any job including an interview at which I was more than a little nervous. But I got through it and thanks to that and some serendipitous timing regarding eligibility for licenced release the first placement was mine. I'd have loved a glass of champers to celebrate but I was in prison so I had a cup of tea. Closely followed by another one. And then maybe one more. I do like tea.

The job itself was completely different from anything I'd ever done before. It wasn't mind-numbingly dull for a start. Every day offered me a new challenge, new people to meet, new things to arrange, the odd article to write. Before I hadn't even known I could write.

There were challenges I probably felt at the time I could have done without, for example approaching Monty Don and Grayson Perry with invitations for the company launch. They looked at me as though I was mad. Maybe it was my manic fixed grin? While in prison I had also inexplicably developed a phobia of using the telephone and looked for more creative ways of avoiding it ('No really, their preferred method of communication is morse code/semaphore/beacon lighting'), and I gave a speech at a conference which was the single most fear-inducing experience of my life, worse even than my trial (which was no picnic). I was rubbish too. I'd written it before I got there and simply read it out without looking up once.

Although I felt it was disastrous it hasn't stopped me from doing it since (similarly with me never looking up) and I have IJP to thank that I now have the confidence to put myself in that position despite being useless at it. Strangely enough the phone hasn't been ringing off the hook with offers of engagement as an after-dinner speaker. Just as well as I probably wouldn't answer the phone anyway.

Fiona writes a successful blog and is currently working on a book for publication. Prior to her placement at IJP Fiona completed her studies at the Media House, a project managed by Media for Development, IJP's founder organisation which runs various projects using media as a tool to re-engage and empower isolated communities.

Saturday Night at Secret Cinema

As we get closer to Old St tube station the people in white multiply. We stream towards the venue past long lines of people putting on decontamination suits bearing the legend 'Nostromo'. Joining our place in the queue we pass a window where a group of astronauts argue around a table. We finally enter the building through a vibrating airlock...

It all started when I received an email from Secret Cinema, London's latest pop-up happening for cinephiles. Sign up to the website and Secret Cinema will eventually invite you to the next screening - film to be revealed and venue to be announced. All you know is that it'll happen on a certain date somewhere in London.

We emerge in a huge concrete space foaming with dry ice and filled with over a thousand people in their white hooded suits. A disembodied head sits in the corner of the bar and an alien form slithers round the stairwell. We sit in front of a huge screen clutching our popcorn and a glass of wine, and the lights go down...

There's a lot to be said for the power of anticipation. I lost count of the number of emails I exchanged with my sister speculating on which film we were going to see. As it turned out neither of us got it right, despite the very obvious hints (well done, movie buffs, Nostromo is the space ship in Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Alien).

The lights come up again. "That was brilliant!" enthuses my sister. We hang around a bit listening to a DJ mixing alien beats live (even worse than it sounds) and then head off to a nearby bar for a drink where, to be fair, they don't bat an eyelid at our decontamination suits.

I think it's a love it or hate it type of event, but if you like a bit of intrigue and are excited by the idea of dressing up...Secret Cinema could be your next big night out.

Naomi Delap, Managing Director, Inside Job Productions

Empowering magistrates through film

When I was asked by IJP to make a film for London Probation to give magistrates an in-depth understanding of what happened to people serving community sentences I felt excited, if slightly daunted by the vast scope of issues the film could cover. One magistrate told me he sees the same people in court time and time again and wanted to know why, and what measures could change this. Another said that understanding the kinds of day-to-day issues many offenders are struggling with would help him sentence more appropriately.

We decided to focus on the stories of three individuals undertaking different intervention programmes as part of their sentence plan. The Women's Programme is a 3-month intensive couse aiming to build self-esteem, assertiveness and life skills to prevent re-offending. Lots of the women have difficulties saying 'no' to their partners or kids, and end up living outside their means and resorting to crime. They work on thinking more positively about themselves, the goals they want to achieve and how to manage bills and money. The women we met felt the course had given them the tools they needed to change their future.

The 9-month Domestic Abuse Programme was quite an eye-opener. It's not just about physical violence, but about all the other nuances of power play in personal relationships. The man we filmed was still together with his partner and child. His partner said he had really changed since doing the programme - he understood her needs better; listened more; and differences were now being resolved through talking rather than escalating into full-blown rows and fights.

Our final contributor was someone who's spent most of his adult life in and out of prison. Currently on a methodone prescription, he was attempting to break his heroin addiction and cut down on drinking. He was under intensive supervision and had daily appointments with different agencies. He told us that in the chaos of his life this structure was what kept him feeling safe. I hope the short amount of filming we did with him will help give magistrates a better understanding of the deeply-rooted, complex issues in people's lives that can lead them to keep re-offending. And that many need multiple interventions and different kinds of support before change really starts to happen.

Rosa Rogers, Producer/Director, Inside Job Productions