People’s Powerhouse: For the North
The brief
People’s Powerhouse exists to give people across the North a voice on the issues that matter to them, bridging the gap between the public and the people who make decisions. They needed a film that could explain who they are, and why that matters, quickly and persuasively to local authorities, community leaders, policymakers and potential partners.
It had to work in rooms where a slide deck usually does the talking: polished and credible enough for senior decision-makers, but human enough that communities would recognise themselves in it. The tone needed to be hopeful and constructive, acknowledging people’s frustrations without pointing fingers, and the film needed to stay useful long after any single event.
On the day
We filmed all over the North: community rooms, an old mill floor and a walk along a Manchester canal. Andy Burnham was at the event and we filmed him, but he didn’t make the final cut. The film had to stay non-partisan, and the focus was always the people who live there.
Our approach
We built the film around real voices rather than a run of talking heads, and filmed it coast to coast over four shoot days in November 2025:
- Houghton-le-Spring: Coast to Coast listening sessions with a youth group and adults at Kepier Hall.
- Manchester: the Greater Manchester Playbook event at the Science and Industry Museum, with Eve Holt and Steve Everitt.
- Hulme, Manchester: Edna Robinson at the Kath Locke Centre.
- Liverpool: Tracy Fishwick at Blackburne House.
Every day was planned around other people’s time. At the Playbook event we filmed around a live programme without getting in its way, and set up a separate room for the interviews with Eve and Steve. Edna was available for a single hour, so the set was lit and ready before she arrived. Between interviews the crew gathered vox pops and street footage in Manchester and Liverpool to give the film a real sense of place.
In the edit we shaped the interviews, vox pops and event footage into one story, moving from the frustration of not being heard to a hopeful picture of a North where policy starts with people. We worked through review rounds with the People’s Powerhouse team to balance the voices and keep it clear for viewers who had never heard of the organisation.
Deliverables
- A five-minute main film for presentations, stakeholder meetings and partner conversations.
- A one-minute edit for shorter introductions and online channels.
- A 30-second edit for social media.
The result
All three films were delivered to an exceptionally tight deadline, and People’s Powerhouse has used them heavily since across its communications and stakeholder work.
The project also funded a paid creative traineeship, advertised through People’s Powerhouse and open to someone from the North with no previous filmmaking experience. Our trainee, Sophie, joined the crew on the Manchester shoot days and saw a real production through from planning to filming.