The Brief - Make a short documentary about the UK and Ireland’s most awarded ‘amateur’ filmmaker, Roy Spence. Northern Ireland Screen commissioned the film to add to the Digital Film Archive.

The Method - The legendary documentarian, John T Davis, gave me the simple advice to not worry about the camera but to always carry an audio recorder. He was absolutely right. I started by doing long form audio interviews with Roy and then from that singled out the most interesting aspects of his life as a filmmaker, from his answers I created questions. Next camera a sit down interview, Roy choose a tricky room surrounded by glass but I lit away from the glass and managed to expose the shot so that his cinema and beloved palm trees were visible in the background. Additionally I had hours of archive footage to work with for the edit and I also had the idea of an opening title sequence that served as a homage to Roy’s own films. He directed that part with zeal. It was a rewarding and inspiring experience.

The Result - ‘It Came From Comber’ was selected to screen in competition at the prestigious IFI Documentary Festival in Dublin and at Docs Ireland.