MG Mason Creative

Joining Twitter has introduced me to a range of independent creatives. These are mostly writers, and I’ve discovered an enormous supportive community of BAME, LGBT, disability, and other communities of writers supporting each other through thick and thin.

I’ve connected with few independent film makers. I don’t know whether this is a tiny community anyway who connect through platforms other than Twitter, but there is one person who stands out above most others. You may have seen him on Twitter or Instagram where he has thousands of followers. That man is Jay Mullings of Written Mirror: published author, film maker, photographer. He is also on social media as a musician, operating under 1WickedPenman.

I can’t remember exactly how I discovered Jay, but at once I was struck by his passion for creativity and his multitude of talents, it was probably the “writer and photographer” moniker that led me to following his accounts in the first place, including seeing his pleas to the BBC and other producers and creative outlets to give him a voice, to do more to promote black creatives and creativity in the UK.

It was with great passion and creativity that he embarked on his self-made, self-funded and self-everything documentary film The Jam. Heralded as “the UK’s first ever one man production” it is a mix of a chronicle of his life as a young man in London, then to Jamaica, and back to London and how he came to decide that his passion and life mission was creativity.

This is also a film about his thoughts and musings on creativity, not just related to his his personal experiences as a Brit of Jamaican heritage, or as a black creative, but on the importance of creativity in the world and for each and every one of us to follow our passions.

This is an intimate view of one man trying to get by in a competitive world as an individual from an under-represented group in the creative industries. Whether you follow Jay on social media or not, you will come out the other side feeling you know him much better. This is a very human story but it is more than an extended video interview or biography. It is a 90 minute film showcasing high production values, demonstrating multiple talents while simultaneously remaining firmly rooted to the ground of telling Jay’s story.

This is a showcase a social selling platform that delivers excellently something many other creatives still do not understand: you are the brand. Jay lets us see the real Jay Mullings while showing us what he can do; and what a showcase of skills it is. The production values are high. I had to keep reminding myself that Jay was responsible for everything, from planning, to filming, to the soundtrack, setting up the interviews, and the final editing.

A lot of hard work has gone into this so I would urge you to rent this and help out a fellow creative.

If it is or isn’t your sort of thing and you’d like to help in other ways, please follow Written Mirror or 1WickedPenman or Twitter, or on the Written Mirror IG, and 1Wicked Penman IG.

The film is just £4.99 to rent on Vimeo.