Director Koby Adom and Shadow Director Akwasi Poku shared tips with budding creatives and spoke about their experiences of filming in the town during a talk last week.
It was familiar surroundings for Koby, who had hosted his wife’s baby shower at The Nest a few weeks earlier. Having grown up in Clydesdale House, on Kale Road, he was also in his hometown while filming Supacell. The popular sci-fi show explores the stories of a group of Black people in south London who develop superpowers because of sickle cell disease.
“I grew up really close to where the Tower Boys’ estate is in Supacell, and I used to play football in The Cage, so it was funny that I was shooting there. It was a full-circle moment,” said Koby, who has also directed episodes of Top Boy for Netflix and BBC series Noughts + Crosses and Dreaming Whilst Black.
“I got to show off my area a little bit to all the crew and cast. We’d be shooting at The Cage, and I’d see people I grew up with going past on bikes. It was a very nice feeling talking to people I’ve known since I was a child and just being like, ‘yeah, we’re here shooting with Netflix, man’.”
Akwasi was a regular visitor to Thamesmead growing up because friends from Crown Woods School in Eltham – now the Leigh Stationers' Academy – lived in the town.
“I saw the old Thamesmead, and to see it change has been interesting. Some of it is still there in the Misfits blocks – although they’re probably the Supacell blocks now!” he said. “One of the best moments was seeing the cast and crew, all from south London, reflecting the area and capturing the scenes on a great Netflix budget.”
Koby’s next project focuses even more heavily on the town. He has written the script for a film called SE28, a period drama based on his life as a teenager in Thamesmead.
“It’s the only place where you can have blocks on one side of the street and across the other side there’s a Traveller community and horses grazing. You don’t see that anywhere else – that’s why I like this area,” he said.
“I want people to see that it’s a proper community in Thamesmead. Everything I’ve ever made has been influenced by that, and my aim is to amplify the voices from around here.”
Film and TV shoots in Thamesmead are managed by FilmFixer on behalf of Peabody, with income going straight into the Thamesmead Community Fund. This money is then awarded as small grants to local community and cultural projects that benefit local communities. A panel of local people decides which projects should get support.
“Having productions like Supacell shooting in Thamesmead not only puts the town on the map but also funds grassroots projects in the community,” said Lisa Drew Peabody's Senior Cultural Programme Manager in Thamesmead.
“It also creates opportunities for local people to break into the industry, and Koby and Akwasi were both very generous in sharing a lot of practical advice with residents at the event.”
Find out more about the projects supported by film and TV shoots in our publication The Power of Community.
