Tue 21 Oct, 4 Nov, 18 Nov, 2 Dec & 16 Dec, 5.30-7.30pm
This October, Let's Make Films are bringing a brand-new series to The Bluecoat. Five sessions, every two weeks, designed as a space for artists and creatives to hang out, experiment, and try new ways of working.
Think of them as creative hangouts, places where you can play with ideas, take risks, and learn from each other. Each session tackles creativity from a different angle, through film, sound, drawing, writing, or performance, giving you fresh ways to approach your own work.
You might leave with a new idea, a half-formed sketch, or just the buzz of being in a room full of other creatives testing things out. It’s a chance to hang out with other creatives, learn something new, and remind yourself why making can and should always be fun.
Shot Analysis & The One Shot Story
This Alternative Development Session dives into the craft of visual storytelling. We’ll slow things right down and look at the power of images in cinema; how a single shot can shape mood, guide emotion, and tell a story without words. Together we’ll study the opening five minutes of a chosen film, breaking it apart shot by shot. What do the choices in framing, lighting, performance, and design really do? How do they work on us as viewers, often without us even noticing.
Then we’ll turn that lens onto our own ideas. Each person will be given a single word and challenged to create one shot that captures it visually. Back in the group, we’ll share and discuss what’s been made to see how the same word can spark completely different approaches and meanings.
It’s all about playing with images, discovering new ways to express yourself, and developing a sharper eye for what makes moving pictures so powerful. Open to all creatives, filmmakers, writers, musicians, poets, or anyone curious about storytelling, this session is an open invitation to experiment, learn, and hang out with peers who want to push their creativity further.
Tue 21 Oct, 5.30-7.30pm
Tickets: Pay what you can
Lateral Thinking
This Alternative Development Session is about breaking habits and finding new ways into stories. Too often, we fall back on the same methods when we create; a blank page, a laptop screen, or the familiar script format. This session is designed to push you away from those routines and open up fresh paths into storytelling.
You’ll be working with materials that don’t usually belong in a writing or filmmaking process: poems, photographs, everyday objects, even textures like fabric or stone. These prompts will guide your imagination in unexpected directions, encouraging you to uncover hidden connections and surprising meanings. Some ideas might click straight away, others might take you somewhere stranger, most importantly... both are valuable.
The aim is to unlock stories that sit beneath the surface. By the end of the session, you’ll leave with fragments, images, and short sketches that could grow into something much bigger.
This session is open to all creatives, not just filmmakers or writers, but anyone curious about how stories take shape. It’s a space to play, to experiment, and to hang out with other artists who are also pushing their creativity into new territory.
Tue 4 Nov, 5.30-7.30pm
Tickets: Pay what you can
Drawing Characters & Worlds
This Alternative Development Session is about using drawing as a way to break through creative blocks. Sometimes the hardest part of storytelling is simply getting started, building characters, inventing worlds, or finding the spark that makes an idea worth chasing. Here, we’ll use drawing as a tool to bypass overthinking and unlock new ideas.
Through a series of quick exercises, you’ll sketch characters, places, and backstories without worrying about skill or polish. These drawings aren’t about being “good” in a traditional sense, they’re about capturing instinct, impulse, and imagination. From there, you’ll start to see patterns, connections, and stories emerge.
By the end of the session, you’ll leave with at least one character, one setting, and one backstory that you can develop further in your own work. For some, this might be the seed of a script or short film; for others, it might be the foundation of a completely different kind of project.
This is for creatives of all kinds. You don’t need to be an artist or a filmmaker to take part, just open to experimenting and seeing what your hand puts on the page when you let it move freely. It’s a relaxed space to play, to hang out with others, and to discover how drawing can open up whole new directions in your storytelling.
Tue 18 Nov, 5.30-7.30pm
Tickets: Pay what you can
Broken Structures
This Alternative Development Session looks at how stories shift when their structure is taken apart. We’ll use A Christmas Carol as a starting point so we can both analyse it as a finished piece and to treat it as raw material that can be reshaped and rebuilt
Working in small groups, you’ll experiment with reordering scenes, swapping perspectives, and bending the rules of the narrative. What happens if you begin with the ending? What if the central character changes completely? How does the meaning shift when the structure is broken and put back together in a new way.
This exercise is about exploring how fragile and flexible stories can be. It shows how structure influences character, theme, and impact and how breaking away from traditional forms can create unexpected results.
It’s open to all creatives. Whether you’re a filmmaker, writer, performer, or artist, this session gives you a chance to test how stories work, stretch your imagination, and play with form alongside others.
Tue 2 Dec, 5.30-7.30pm
Tickets: Pay what you can
Live Script Hijack
The final Alternative Development Session of the year explores the creative push and pull between writers and directors. In pairs, you’ll be given the challenge of coming up with a story idea together. The writer will set down the foundations, and then the director will begin to shape it, testing how far a vision can bend without losing its heart.
The focus is on dialogue and trust. How do you protect the writer’s original intention while allowing the director to bring new energy and ideas? Where do the tensions appear, and how can those tensions actually strengthen the work rather than weaken it?
By the end, each pair will have a shared concept that reflects both perspectives. You’ll experience first-hand how negotiation, compromise, and collaboration can change a project, sometimes in surprising and inspiring ways.
This session is for any creative who wants to understand collaboration better, whether you see yourself as a filmmaker, storyteller, or simply someone curious about the way ideas shift when they’re shared. It’s a lively, practical way to end the series and a reminder that creativity often works best when it isn’t done alone.
Tue 16 Dec, 5.30-7.30pm
Tickets: Pay what you can