Hello. I am a writer, director, screenwriter and all-round fan of putting positive stories into this world.

I love telling stories, particularly from kids’ perspectives, and I love making up worlds but always in a way that connects us back to this one and the people we’re living in it with.

For me, the primary role of storytelling is to move people, to engage their hearts and maybe even their tear ducts. Not sad tears but those great big heart-heaving “oh-flippin’-heck-isn’t-it-all-so-beautiful-I-just-want-to-call-everyone-and-tell-them-I-love-them” kind of tears.

Know what I mean?

While I have your attention there’s something else I want to say here, something that runs through me like a watermark on a £5 note…

I grew up on an estate in the Black Country, which is literally the place that inspired Tolkien’s Mordor in Lord of the Rings. I was a benefits boy on free school meals and a regular rider of that big ‘going nowhere’ train, so I know what it is to be one of those kids now labelled ‘disadvantaged’.

I also know that being one of those kids doesn’t mean for a second that you don’t have big ideas, a wild imagination, or a yearning to do more than you’re told you can.

But sometimes you need a helping hand.

So for years now I’ve been mentoring kids who are on the thin end of the opportunity wedge, helping them to find their creativity, their own voice and how to use it. I dream big for their potential and also our society’s potential in tackling these imbalances.

So that’s what I’m about. If I can combine my creative life with making a difference in this world, well that would be just ace.