and it’s a no from me…

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” - Steve Jobs

Yesterday I made impulsively made the rash decision that I should write a blog on a daily basis as a first manageable step in my journey to a new working life.

Today, I have to think of something to write.

So, what have I been doing? Mostly thinking and talking. As I see it there are two distinct paths if it turns out that I’m leaving my role at the BBC.

Path one: get another full time job. This has the advantage of causing the least disruption to my life and is compatible with two key aspects of my lifestyle that at this point feel non-negotiable ie. living under a roof and eating everyday. The downside is I’m not enjoying my working life and swapping one full-time role for another does not feel like it changes anything.

Path two: Establish a portfolio, entrepreneurial, freelance, self employed career. I love the idea of being my own boss and setting my own agenda each day but I have been freelance in the past and the accompanying financial uncertainty is no picnic.

So I’m thinking about options and talking them through. At this point I have pretty much cast aside the options of “creative diversity consulting” and full time creative diversity. With my knowledge and experience I could help production companies/broadcasters/streamers deal with all aspects of building inclusive productions. However, initial conversations exploring this idea suggest that it is not important enough to the bottom line of most productions to outsource this work. Additionally, my specific niche of film and TV creative diversity appears to be a contracting rather than expanding area and another full time role that pays enough feels unlikely at this point and frankly doesn’t appeal anyway.

So, have I worked out what I should do next yet? No! But I do know whatever I do next I don’t want to be sat on the sidelines trying to convince people to act inclusively I want to be in the game showing people how it’s done.

Taking the plunge.

So apparently, I'm writing a blog?

Why, in 2025, am I, a grown ass man, starting a blog? Well in short, I am at a cross roads in my working career and I have decided that I want to enjoy, rather than dread, working.

As I audit all the various things I am involved in I realise that the greatest joy I get working is during the time I spend on S.O.U.L. and so want to transition into running S.O.U.L. Film and S.O.U.L. Fest full-time.

I want this to be my full time job!

This is scary! The film festival has been running for seven years and I am currently working on getting it to its next iteration and thinking about what the eighth year of the film festival is going to look like.

But ask me how much money I’ve made doing S.O.U.L. Fest in that time. I’ll give you a clue it’s a really round number.

So what makes me think that could change now, I’m not sure, instinct maybe?

I’m just hoping that I can pull all the various threads of all the things I do and that I dream of doing into a cohesive and, hopefully, lucrative business and I believe that the start of that is right here blogging my progress.

So, if you’d like, please follow along. I’m committing to writing something here everyday and documenting my journey, however it turns out, of leaving a full-time job and chasing my dream of creating a media brand.

S.O.U.L. blog

We did our first ever S.O.U.L event in 2014. We have always wanted to build community in the film, TV and media industries and that’s what those early events and the last seven years of film festival were about.

A blog that keeps you up to date with how and what we’re doing seems well over due so, here goes…