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“I’ve written 30,000 words on my 10-year plan,” smiles Joseph Morel, co-founder of indie production company Neon Picturehouse and member of 2024’s Investment Readiness cohort. He’s not lying either. A note-filled A4 page sits directly behind him as we speak, presumably detailing how he hopes to change the world with his studio’s intimate and powerful storytelling.
“In five years, I’d like our first film to be finished and to be working on a second feature, possibly with more projects from other writers and directors under the Neon Picturehouse banner. I’m less concerned with making the company the biggest thing ever,” he says, candidly detailing his visions for the future. “The films are the main thing and Neon Picturehouse is a home for them.”
Founded in 2021, Neon Picturehouse started life as a production service company assisting with other people’s passion projects. However, it wasn’t long before Morel felt the urge to put that same time and energy into his own creative endeavours. “We really wanted to create our own stuff that we believe in truthfully, morally and artistically. We’re currently working on two big projects,” he explains. “One is a live-action interactive video game for Netflix and the big passion project is a feature film about homelessness that I’ve been working on for three years.”
Entitled Home, Neon Picturehouse’s feature debut utilizes new interviews that Morel conducted with charities, ex-offenders and psychologists from his home town in Gravesend, Kent. It’s also the sobering story of how easily things can fall apart when circumstances get rough. “It’s about an ordinary man’s decline into alcoholism and homelessness after a tragedy in his life,” reveals Morel. “It shows that thin line and how easily the average person can get there, regardless of how well built up we think we are.”
Morel’s extensive work on the film led him to Creative UK’s Investment Readiness programme, a tailored package of mentoring and support aimed at making screen-based companies ready to raise finance. Having spent time as a director and producer, Morel knows how rare bespoke guidance like this can be: “It can often feel a little like an exclusive club and it can be hard to get in,” he says of some support options. “What I liked about Creative UK’s scheme is that it’s very open. They want to help creative businesses who have something to say.”
As for what he wants to take away from the experience: “I’m looking for advice on how to market and sell this feature film so there are two main things: how to speak to investors – so understanding the value of our product and how to communicate that – and secondly, contact,” he tells us. “Having a name like Creative UK link up their reputation with me and my company, it’s definitely a boost.”
By pairing entrepreneurs with industry mentors, the cohort gains access to exclusive insight on how to navigate the often complex world of investment. For Morel, this element has revolutionised the way approaches his pitch deck. “Now, only about 10% of it is about the actual film and the rest is about the problem it’s solving, its target audience, sales projections and the commercial side of things,” he says. “It’s so useful to get that perspective because at the end of the day, however much you believe in a project, it’s still a product. Having an official mentor is so useful and I don’t know if I’d have been able to get one without Creative UK, especially without paying considerable money.”
By the time Investment Readiness has come to a close, Morel hopes to have brought his company to an exciting new place, one where he’s better suited to tackle that 10-year plan. “Ideally, we will have sorted Home in terms of its commercial availability and have some initial investment. We have this product and all of these resources and we’re confident in how we’re presenting it. Now we’ve just got to make conversations happen,” says Morel, looking to the future. “For me, Neon Picturehouse is a vehicle to make more feature films.”