Talking To: Michael Jenkins

From music videos to documentaries, from short films to spoken-word pieces, Michael Jenkins knows a lot about the film industry. The owner of two production companies in Bristol, one of which he co-owns with Mena Fombo, he works hard to promote untold stories and give a step up to those breaking into the film industry from underrepresented backgrounds.

We caught up with him to chat about his work with the BBC and Channel 4, to discuss his company being the first Black-owned production company in Bristol and whether Bristol is as progressive as people say it is.

How did you get into film production and filmmaking? 

Initially through making music videos, I was a hip-hop artist, probably about 10 years ago. So that’s how I started getting into it, making music videos for myself and other people.

Then when I went to the Prince’s Trust, my camera broke and I needed a new one but I had to get some funding to get another camera. So I went through the business enterprise scheme with The Prince’s Trust and that flipped everything for me and made me realise I could take my passion for making music videos and maybe turn into some sort of a business.

I was successful through their scheme and got some money so I got a small little DSLR and went out and started filming.

I got into making documentaries by doing a three day course and I went to Sheffield Documentary Film Festival and after that I decided to pursue other filmmaking.

Is there much of a difference between making music videos and documentaries? 

With music videos you can be quite creative, obviously the music kind of dictates what you have to do but you can be quite experimental but with documentaries it’s showing all these characters and stories that aren’t really being told on TV.

I learnt how to follow different people and talk to them and the first documentary I made was called Black Soldier, White Army which is about a Black soldier who fought in the army during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the racism he experienced.

Documentaries are a lot more personal – do you prefer making documentaries to music videos? 

That’s tricky because I do them for different reason. With a documentary, I do it because I feel like there’s a story that needs to be told and it can be an inspirational story or a tragic story but it’s something I want to tell.

But with a music video, when I want to get really creative and quite experimental then I really like that form to delve into. I’m not really doing music videos at the moment and I’m doing more art films at the moment which are more abstract and don’t have to follow a musical structure in that sense.

Tell us a bit about 8th Sense Media; when was it set up? Why did you decide to set it up? Is there a big team of you there? 

8th Sense Media was set up in 2012 after I won the funding from The Prince’s Trust. I’ve done a documentary called Dubplay to Dubstep, chronicling the musical journey of British music from the Caribbean which was fascinating.

I then got a commissioning from the Avon and Somerset Police to make a film for them to train their officers about Stop and Search and the effects on the Black community. There was a statistic at the time that said if you are Black male in Bristol then you’re 4 times more likely to be stopped and searched. I think this has increased now but at the time it was 4 times more likely.

Ironically, I got stopped while I was making that film by the police which really did highlight the issue. The incident put me in the spotlight with the local media at the time because I was making a film that was commissioned by the police but at the same time showing the police of what it’s like to be a Black male even if I’m being paid in a professional capacity, I’m still seen as a criminal.

I then started working with an amazing company called Calling the Shots, they did a scheme with the Arts Council and Channel 4 called Random Acts and they bought me in to be a producer on that project and my company to be a production partner; working on that made me understand how TV works.

You’ve also co-founded Blak Wave Productions this year (one of Bristol’s only Black owned TV production companies) – was that difficult to set up with everything going on in 2020? 

Last year I was obviously noticing the conversations about diversity and representation and I decided to set up Blak Wave Productions with Mena Fombo.

We launched it in 2019 but registered it as a company at the beginning of 2020 – we had some really good support, we were being incubated by Drummer TV and they were giving us some space and mentoring all for free.

Drummer TV and we could see that everyone was talking about diversity but out of 150 production companies in Bristol, none of them are Black owned or Black led. This got us thinking about the people who are pitching these stories to the channels, it’s not coming from a place of authenticity.

It was going well until COVID hit… we were in the same boat as everyone else; we didn’t know what was going to happen or where it was going to go. Being a filmmaker, I went back to writing and then the Black Lives Matter march happened – I filmed the one that happened four years ago in Bristol and then I saw it was happening again so I grabbed my camera and went out and filmed it. Who would have known that the statue of Colston was going to get ripped down but I managed to capture it so it was good because I was at the right place at the right time and that is how we got our first commission by Channel 4 which was a short film about that which was a co-pro with Milk and Honey Productions.

We then got commissions from BBC Arts to respond to the lockdown and restrictions so Mina and I got commissions separately and I made a spoken-word poem called We Are Not The Virus and Mina did a short film called Home Carnival Queen.

So ironically during the lockdown and during this weird year, it’s been mad.

BTS of an upcoming short, Pickney, funded by the BFI

Your most recent spoken word film “We Are Not The Virus” has been commissioned as part of BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s Culture in Quarantine – can you tell us more about that?  

Lockdown happened and it was a weird time for everybody and we were hearing reports about how it is disproportionately affecting the Black population because a lot of Black people are on the frontline and have been since the Windrush generation.

Going through Brexit and hearing the discourse around migration, a lot of people were seeing migration as really negative without understanding that is how this country has always operated because we are an island.

I was thinking about how migrants are not the virus, they are the ones keeping the country going; the porters, the cleaners, the bus drivers, taxi drivers. All these people where the majority of them are from ethnic minorities are not the virus but the antidote, the ones that are helping and will eventually fix this virus of racism and white supremacy that this country has.

I had stopped film due to COVID and so I started writing and that’s when I saw that the BBC and the Arts Council have come together to do Culture in Quarantine which I applied for with this spoken-word, visual piece and out of 2500 applications, they picked 25 and I was one of the 25 which I was so happy about.

You chronicled the Black Lives Matter from four years ago to now – do you believe much has changed? 

No, not really; what’s most changed is that people are being more overtly racist. Brexit happened and the conversation has become more polarised and then Trump got into power so within that time it’s gone downhill.

I think that is why there was such a massive reaction this time around to Black Lives Matter with George Floyd being killed. It really had a global reach and it sort of reflects on society at the moment.

There is definitely more awareness but the conversation around race is one people want to avoid.

Bristol champions itself as a diverse and cultural city – do you believe it’s as progressive as people say it is?

In some sense yes and in some senses no, it is a very segregated city. For the BBC, a few years ago, I made a documentary for them called Too Many Takeaways and that was about a group of Somalia mums travelling around the city and questioning and challenging why there’s a 10 year life expectancy gap between us living in Easton and those living in Clifton when it’s only 3 miles away. Also, why there are 50 takeaways here and only 7 in Clifton and so the health inequalities is very much evident.

Bristol is the tale of two cities as Marvin [Rees] says and that’s very true, the segregation definitely needs to be addressed and those conversations need to be had.

Bristol’s got a lot going for it but it’s got a lot of problems also, like everywhere else.

I was shocked to hear that out of 150 production companies here in Bristol, none were Black owned – I couldn’t believe that in Bristol.

It’s only recently in the last 5-10 years that the industry has been more open; Blak Wave Productions was set up specifically to be on level with the other 150 indie companies.

I only noticed this because I’m friends with Marvin [Rees] and I knew him before he was mayor, I was part of the conversations when Bristol was bidding to get Channel 4 moved here. I was sat in a room with all the top productions companies in Bristol and that’s when I realised that I’m the only Black person here.

That was the spark that made me want to create something that can stand up and go well we’re a diverse company, invest in us and we will bring more representation into the industry and help train people up. I’m very passionate about bringing more diversity not just in front of the camera but behind it as well.

What’s next for you?

The future is looking interesting – we’re in post-productions for a film that I’ve written and directed and was funded by the BFI which is called Pickney. That will be out next year which is a short film.

We’ve recently been commissioned by the BBC to do some short films that will be tools for educators on how to be better allies to their diverse students.

We just got some support from Channel 4 to develop our ideas so we can pitch something longer to them. We are a brand new company and even though I’ve been doing film for 8 years, we still are only 1 year old as a company, so getting support and some mentoring will be incredible. We love doing shorts, shorts is what we do but we do what to try some longer form content and we have some feature film and documentary series ideas that we do want to try get off the ground.

We are also partnering up with the BFI to help first time filmmakers and the next generation come through; we’re really passionate about changing the industry and making it more accessible for people.

So 2021 is looking good!