Filmmaker Interview – Jack Tompkins – Fighters

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, Jack Tompkins shares the inspiration behind his new disability equality documentary film, Fighters, and the work that went into producing it.

 

Written by JJ Barnes

www.jjbarnes.co.uk

I interviewed Jack Tompkins about his life and career, what he loves about making films, and making Fighters about disability equality in sport.

Tell me a bit about yourself.

I’m Jack Tompkins, a director and producer specialising in sports documentaries that explore important social issues.

When did you first realise you wanted to make films?

Making videos has always been something I’ve loved doing, it wasn’t until my last year of university when I won a snowboard filmmaking competition run by Nokia that I thought I could potentially do it as a career.

What is your favourite thing about films?

It’s definitely the people you get to work with and getting to form a relationship with someone as you document an important period of their lives. It’s a real privilege when people are willing to share their stories so openly with you and welcome you into their world during filming.

What classes or research did you take to support you in your filmmaking career?

I have a degree in sports management and specialised in sports sociology. It’s not your typical filmmaking path but it really helped open my eyes to how society and sport interrelate, which has been incredibly helpful given the area of documentary we’ve ended up specialising in.

What was your first film industry job?

After university I was hired by Lord Sebastian Coe’s London sports agency ‘CSM’ as a junior video producer and was lucky enough to be thrust straight into the commercial filmmaking space working with some incredible world-class athletes. I got to experience a huge range of productions and clients at CSM including following the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team through their London Games and working at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

What was your most recent film industry job?

Today we run our production company ‘Ben&Jack Studio’ full time from our Maidenhead production base. Together my business partner Ben Marlow and I split our time between our documentary features and other short form commercial work for our clients.

Tell me a favourite experience in your career. Something that stands out in your memories and makes you want to find more experiences like it.

We’ve been so fortunate to experience a whole range of amazing days over the last five years working on feature documentaries on professional sport with Beno Obano, Victoria Rush and Sue Anstiss, that have been acquired by Netflix, Amazon Prime and ITVX.

I love sport in all it’s forms, but producing “Fighters” has been a truly special experience in following stories at the grassroots and recreational level and seeing what inclusive boxing means to all the participants as for many this the first time they will be included in physical activity.

Spending time at the Pembroke Dock Boxing club during their inclusive boxing sessions have been some of the most enjoyable filming days of my career.

What was your toughest experience in your filmmaking career?

I think often the most difficult experience is when you’re between projects. Getting from just an idea to the point where everything is lined up for the first day of filming is very challenging. Once you’ve got the first day of footage in the bank, things just seem to snowball and gain momentum but to get a strong concept, a group of people committed to the idea and a plan of how it will all come together is one of the toughest hills you have to climb in any production.

What is the title of your current project?

Our latest feature documentary production is “Fighters” which takes non-disabled viewers on a journey to the front-line of the fight for disability equality in society. Through the lens of adaptive boxing we meet those fighting both in and out of the ring for a more inclusive future.

What inspired you to make Fighters?

We’d long been trying to make a documentary that explored disability equality and in August of 2023 I connected with disability equality specialist Michael Grimmett who kindly gave his time to give us some advice on the subject matter. After several calls and meetings the idea for the ‘Fighters’ project evolved and we began production.

Getting to spend time with the incredible group of people involved in the project has not only been a real pleasure, but as a non-disabled person each shoot has taught me more and more why the disability equality fight is so important and provided continued motivation to make the documentary.

What is the main conflict of Fighters?

Our main protagonist is Matt Edwards, an amputee boxer who dreams of gaining an amateur license and representing his country. However his disability means he is constantly denied an assessment for an amateur license, stopping his dream at the first step. Matt’s only option is to fight in white collar bouts and prove that his skills mean he deserves the treatment that any other non-disabled boxer would receive and hope that through in-ring success he can inspire change in boxing regulations and have a ripple effect on how disabled people are treated in society.

How long did you spend in production?

We began filming in late November 2024 and started following Matt through his regular white collar bouts. As of June 2024 we’ve just wrapped up principal photography with a few pickup days scheduled over the next few weeks.

How long did you spend in post production?

We edit concurrently to help us keep a close eye on how the story of the documentary is coming together and help guide us during the later stages of production. Editing started mid-December 2024 and we hope to be finished a few weeks after we’ve wrapped on the final filming.

Did you work with a writer, or write Fighters yourself? Would you do the same again?

We write the film ourselves and adapt and evolve the story as we go. Working with Michael has been amazing and his knowledge, lived experience and network has really shaped the content and overall story of the documentary, it’s been a real pleasure to collaborate with Michael on this production and it wouldn’t be the film it is without him!

How did you find your cast and what made you choose them?

We started by exploring Michael’s network, disability equality is far too vast a topic to tell successfully in one standalone feature but we wanted to include a range of people with varied experience. We started with pioneering disability boxing coach Christopher McEwen, who is doing groundbreaking work in the world of inclusive and adaptive boxing. Chris introduced us to Matt, who he has been supporting in his amateur boxing ambitions as well as Amelia, a young boxer at Chris’ Pembroke Dock boxing club.

We also include a range of disability equality experts, including Esi Hardy, Isaac Harvey MBE and Peter Hull MBE as well as Shreen, a fantastic wheelchair rugby player who uses boxing as a key part of her training.

How big was your crew? Would you choose the same size again?

We specialise in small agile crews and have shot the whole documentary with a crew no larger than two people. For an intimate subject matter like this the smaller the crew the better, as it allows the interviewee to feel more comfortable sharing their story. We’ve also been able to be nimble and lean moving around boxing gyms and arenas, as we followed Matt and Amelia through their training and fights.

The backstage moments are definitely some of the most powerful moments in the documentary and small, lean crews have allowed us to get cameras into to capture these vital Verité moments that we wouldn’t have been able to if we were trying to follow the action with multiple camera and sound operators.

We choose the crew size bespoke for each project, often we like to go with the leanest crew possible but for key master interviews or major sports events we’ll expand the crew to ensure we’re getting the quality coverage we need to tell the story.

How did you find your locations?

We’ve quite naturally followed our characters in this production, whether that be around Wales as Chris coaches and trains his boxers and around Portsmouth and London as Matt and Shreen compete.

The most interesting part has been finding accessible studios for interviews with our contributors who are wheelchair users. There are some really fantastic spaces in London and on the South Coast of the UK and this accessibility doesn’t only benefit our talent, it’s so helpful from a crew perspective loading in and out equipment too.

Tell me some career goals. What would you like to achieve?

Throughout my career I’ve had the same, very simple goal of trying to make each project better than the last and that’s largely in terms of the craft and storytelling involved.

It’s a very difficult one to choose any external goals or metrics, but particularly for Fighters I would love a non-disabled audience to have the same experience I’ve had making it. Now wherever I go I’m thinking could a wheelchair user get in this building? Could someone who’s deaf enjoy this content?

My real goal for this project is for anyone who watches it to come away and have that switch go in their head to where they’re thinking inclusively in their everyday lives too. And I think for a vast majority of people (myself included only a year ago), thinking in an ableist way isn’t a deliberate choice and hopefully this documentary can be the catalyst that starts their disability equality journey.

Tell me something you were surprised by, something you had never realised about being a filmmaker.

I think it’s the places that your camera will take you to, not necessarily traveling the world but the rooms it can get you into. Being in an NFL Locker Room was something I never thought I’d experience in life and there’s been lots of occasions where you’ve had to stop and think wow I can’t believe I’m here.

What are words of advice you have for other aspiring filmmakers?

Some of our greatest successes have come from passion projects where we weren’t thinking about the financials, but instead the importance of the message and subject matter. 

Give me your social links so people can come and find you!

My Instagram is @jackwrtompkins and you can follow our production companies across all socials @benandjackstudio