‘More fool us’

“Using comedy to explore mental health issues? That’s crazy!” I hear you exclaim, fully aware of the bad pun.

That’s what I am working on with IJP for Southside Partnership, a mental health charity that works with a lot with ex-offenders and prisoners with severe mental health issues.The project is multi-faceted, combining a promotional film for Southside (completed late last year), a live performance by a comedian in Downview prison, plus a DVD of that performance intercut with “behind the scenes” footage, including interviews with comedian John Ryan and focus groups conducted at four Surrey prisons.

Thankfully, I have one of the easier jobs. I am creating a narrative, telling the story of John’s journey to find out about mental health issues in prisons. John, on the other hand, has to make it funny! I will be interested to see how he does that in the final performance. My guess is that he will focus on the absurdities of prison life – of which there are many – and tell some of the stories he has heard in focus groups about what prisoners do on a day-to-day level in order to get through their sentence. I’m expecting a bitter-sweet show.

Shooting inside prisons has a number of challenges, many of which we have faced so far on this project, and there may be more to come! The main challenge is getting permission to film inside a prison. Even for a company like Inside Job Productions, with a long track record of this kind of work, in addition to Southside, who go into prisons all the time, we have had stumbling blocks from prison bureaucracies in terms of gaining entry. Luckily a history of experience in how to negotiate such hurdles helps us navigate the many layers of management in a prison, ensuring we’re doing everything that we need to in order to secure the shoot.

The other element is the shoot itself, as one rarely has complete control over the location. Shooting schedules have to work around the prison schedules, there is limited time to prepare a room/location for filming and there is almost nothing you can do about the noise – a working prison is going to be noisy so you just have to accept it and hope you have a good sound recordist!

But with challenges come creative solutions. I find that, in all filmmaking, there are obstacles and blocks, people who tell you what you CAN’T do, which just makes you think more laterally about what you CAN do. Plan A on this project has already fallen through, so we’re on to Plan B and also have Plans C&D in reserve, just in case. However it happens, we’re going to make an interesting film.

Charlotte George, Producer/Director, Inside Job Productions

Being a production trainee at IJP

I first started working for Inside Job Productions three days before my 26th birthday, and found myself feeling more like an 18 year old just leaving school. I was so nervous, terrified of talking to and being around people I didn't know. For the last ten months I'd only had to talk to people I knew, and if I didn't know them I knew where they were coming from, they were in the same place as me.

Quicker than I thought I got used to being out in the world and doing normal things, which helped my confidence and self-esteem immensely. Also being in an organisation that was sympathetic to my background really helped. I did loads of different jobs, from basic things like answering the phone and sorting the post to helping out on shoots and even filming and editing.

After being at IJP for six months I got a temp job as an admin assistant and I found it difficult not being able to be open about my past. Although I didn't have any problems with my confidence I didn't relly feel comfortable. I feel a lot happier where I am now, at Clean Break, as they're an organisation that's also sympathetic to people with experience of the criminal justice system. My experience at IJP has helped me in so many ways, I wouldn't have even heard about the job at Clean Break, let alone got it!

Verity LaRoche, Production Trainee, Inside Job Productions

Giving women a voice

I've been freelance producing for IJP for three years now. I love the fact that on every job I'm plunged into scenarios which are fascinating, eye-opening and often quite bizarre. On a dark rainy Wednesday evening last week, I was shown down to the basement of Albany Street Police Station in north London and led into the cells where 5 police officers were waiting to be interviewed, by me. It was late, stiflingly airless, and totally surreal to be directing police custody sergeants from the side of the desk where if I'd had a different kind of life, I might be standing handcuffed, answering questions, rather than asking them. 

I just thought - wow, here I am, talking directly to police on the front line about the way they deal with the most vulnerable women in society. They had all just come off long shifts to be filmed for a DVD, which will help to raise awareness of the issues faced by female offenders.

The DVD was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice in response to Baroness Corston's report for the Government on the treatment of women in the Criminal Justice System. At the beginning of the project, we filmed an interview with her at the House of Lords. She cried as she talked about some of the women she had met in prison, and the stories they had told her about their lives. I've also felt very emotional whilst making this film. Some of the women that we met at Anawim Women's Centre in Birmingham told us things that I could hardly believe still happen in Britain today. They bravely lifted the lid on traumatic experiences to talk to us on camera, and in doing so they will have an important impact on how Police, Probation officers, Judges and Magistrates will handle cases in the future.

This type of commission pushes the envelope of film as a communication tool. The Ministry of Justice won't just use the DVD as part of a new training programme for staff. It will also be distributed to government departments, agencies and policy makers, bringing the lives of the women who spoke to me and the experiences of the staff working with them directly to the heart of national debate about policy and practice in the Criminal Justice System.

Heidi Perry, Producer/Director, Inside Job Productions