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About Us

Rakie Ayola - Co-Founder

In 2023 Rakie received the BAFTA Cymru Best Actress Award for her performance in The Pact (BBC) and was also honoured with the BAFTA Cymru Siân Phillips Award. In 2021 she received the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Jimmy McGovern's Anthony (BBC).  

A graduate and Fellow of The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Rakie has played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Royal Court and the West End - including a year appearing as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. 

On screen her work includes Doctor Who, Under Milk Wood, Shetland and Noughts and Crosses (BBC), Grace (ITV) and No Offence (Channel 4) and Persephone in KAOS (Netflix). In 2025 she completed filming on Falling (Channel 4). 

Film credits include The I Inside, Sahara, Dredd, Now Is Good, and the 2018 Netflix hit Been So Long.  She features alongside Saoirse Ronan in Bad Apples that is set to premiere at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival and has been selected for the official competition at the 69th BFI London Film Festival.

Various Executive Producer credits include The Pact (Series 2, BBC) and the feature film Diamond Sky (2024).

Adam Smethurst - Co-Founder

Adam is an actor, writer and filmmaker. He has appeared extensively on stage and television since his debut in 1992.  He later completed the MA Screenwriting at UAL and went on to make  several corporate films before adapting and directing William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (2018) starring Sheila Atim (The Woman King).

He received the Best Supporting Actor in a Short Film Award at the 2024 British Independent Film Festival  before releasing Hedgehog which won Best UK Short: Jury Prize at the 2024 London Independent Film Festival. In 2025 Adam completed filming on the television adaptation of Rev Richard Coles Best Seller Murder Before Evensong (Acorn & Channel 5).

His short story On Such A Winter's Night was published by The Write Launch in December 2024. 

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