Premieres and Goals.
Saturday 21st May dawned bright and fresh. Down by the Broadway Cinema in the heart of Nottingham, kids were collecting round a blow-up goal post and a football stunt artist, for the launch of the new season of CBBC drama Jamie Johnson. The new children's TV show, filmed in and around Nottingham, focuses on a young teenager, Jamie, as he starts at a new school, deals with his parent's breakup and unleashes his amazing and almost superhero football skills on the world. Based on the popular books by Dan Freedman, the character seems to not just have captured the hearts of many football loving fans but others besides. Alongside Jamie there is a strong female lead, Jack, who fights to be able to play alongside her male friends in the school team, and the lovable red-headed school nerd, Boggie, who helps Jamie to prioritise the importance of friendship over peer pressure.
The children, and their adult guests were invited to watch the premiere of the first episode of season two, followed by a Q&A panel with the lead actors, Louis Dunn, Patrick Ward and Jonnie Kimmins, as well as director Joe Talbot from the Short Form Film Company, and author Dan Freedman himself. I've been to many Q&A sessions over the years, and I have to say that this was one of the most enjoyable panels I've ever seen. The kids were all actively encouraged to ask whatever questions they could think of, and it was entertaining and interesting to hear such brutally honest and curious questions coming from members of the audience - including the question to Dan Freedman about how much money he got from writing the books, and whether Louis Dunn (Jamie Johnson) really did do 100 kick-ups. There were plenty of questions for the young actors, children are always drawn to children, and I hoped as I watched the session progress, that inspiration and encouragement might be influential in the direction of the lives of some of the audience members sitting there with so much potential...
Having arrived in Nottingham a couple of days previously, after uprooting my home in Brighton and moving north, the creative spark that I had been looking for was glimmering in front of me - in the team of people who wanted to make something that spoke to kids about dealing with issues in life, but focusing on the aspects that make life worth living, about aiming to use your talents and do something that you love. Whether that's football or not, Jamie Johnson was a good starting point, for those children, and for me...