Are you interested in finding opportunities that utilise your transferable skills? Curious about being connected to those who are looking for your storytelling skills?
Directing Outside The Box (DOTB) looks to inspire screen directors and is designed to stretch beyond the familiar edges of film and television. DOTB invites you into the fast-shifting worlds where storytelling meets games, brand marketing, AI, VR, and emerging technology.
Across a curated series of online and in-person sessions, you can connect with commissioners, creatives, and innovators who are actively seeking directing talent and fresh narrative thinking. Just as importantly, you will join a community of fellow directors exploring similar questions.
DOTB is not about leaving film and TV behind. It is about expanding your creative toolkit, discovering new applications for your directing skills, and opening doors to unexpected collaborations. If curiosity drives your practice and evolution excites you, DOTB is your invitation to step confidently into what comes next.
DIRECTING IMMERSIVE SPACES
WEDNESDAY 3RD JUNE 2026, 6.30PM
Our next Directing Outside The Box event will explore directing for and within immersive spaces. Hosted by Alix Austin, the event will feature insights from Sophie-Alicia Shaw of Stormjar Studio, and will take place at the Virtual Production Studio in Garden Studios, north west London.
Register your interest in attending here admin@directorscf.org
SOPHIE-ALICIA SHAW
Sophie’s career is built on making the impossible just possible enough to pull off. From immersive TV dramas and amazement parks to overnight adventures on remote islands, she has spent her time turning ideas that really shouldn’t work into experiences people never forget.
It started with directing 2.8 Hours Later, the world’s largest street game of the 2010s, a cross-city zombie chase that brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets. Since then, she has worked with some of the leading names in immersive entertainment on ambitious projects, including Boomtown Festival, a 70,000-capacity music and arts event that transforms into a temporary, fantastical city, and The Third Day, a 12-hour BAFTA-nominated psychological horror series produced by HBO, Sky Atlantic and Punchdrunk.
She is currently Creative Producer at Wake the Tiger, the UK’s largest immersive art experience, and Co-Founder of Stormjar, an immersive storytelling studio.
SAM KEMP
Sam is Virtual Production Supervisor at Garden Studios and will take you through the world of Virtual Production. Drawing on experience from one of the UK’s longest-running virtual production stages, Sam will provide an accessible overview of modern in-camera visual effects workflows and explain how Virtual Production is being used across today’s film and television industry. From script to screen, he will break down the production process while exploring both the creative opportunities and practical limitations of working in a virtual environment.
Garden Studios
Garden Studios is one of the UK’s leading film and television production studios, located in Park Royal, West London. Spanning over 400,000 sq ft of production space, the campus includes traditional sound stages ranging from 5,000 sq ft to 24,000 sq ft, workshops, offices, unit base areas and parking, making it a versatile home for productions of all sizes.
Garden Studios was an early adopter of virtual production in the UK, opening one of the first permanent LED volume stages in London. Its virtual production facilities combine advanced LED volumes, motorised modules and real-time workflows to support filming with Unreal Engine and in-camera visual effects.
Garden Studios takes a flexible, supplier-agnostic approach, enabling producers to work with the teams and equipment they choose while benefiting from in-house support for scheduling, budgeting and technical planning. The studio is also recognised for its commitment to sustainability and responsible production: it is B Corp™ certified, Albert Studio Sustainability certified, and a London Living Wage employer, reflecting its focus on social and environmental responsibility.
The studio has supported a wide range of projects including high-end television dramas, feature films, commercials and music videos, and continues to expand its facilities and services to meet the evolving needs of global production.
See our previous 2025 events here.
AUDIENCE INTELLIGENCE WEBINAR - Alex Stolz in conversation with Bec Mortimer
DIRECTING OPPORTUNITIES WITH BRANDS…AND BEYOND - Alix Austin hosts Mediazoo
A.I STRATEGIES FOR DIRECTORS WEBINAR - Alex Stolz in conversation with Ben Mole
DIRECTING THE VIRTUAL WORLDS WEBINAR - Alex Stolz in conversation with HaZ Dulull
Register your interest in attending our future DOTB events by emailing our Head of Operations, Alexandra Harris.
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If you’d like to suggest an area that you’d like us to cover as part of DOTB, please email admin@directorscf.org.
