Melli Bond

Accents & Dialects: American-New York, American-Southern States, American-Standard*, Latin America, London*, Mid0Atlantic, RP, Spanish

Languages: English*, Spanish*

Music & Dance: Ballet, Choreography, Commercial Dance, Dance (general), Jazz Dancing, Rap, Street Jazz, Tap

Performance: ADR-Additional Dialogue Recording*, Autocue trained/experienced*, Comedy*, Dancer-Professional*, Dubbing*, Motion Capture*, Radio Drama*

Sports: Ice Skating, Mountain Hiking, RollerSkating, Rollerblading, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga

Voice Over : Voice Over + Home Studio*, Voice Over Professional/Specialist*

Vehicle Licences: Car Driving Licence

Other Skills: Drama Workshop Leader, Improvisation, Narration

* = Native / Highly Skilled

Spotlight CV

Zishan Afsar

Accents & Dialects: Cockney*, English-Standard*, Essex*, Estuary English*, Indian, London, Pakistani, RP*, Yorkshire*

Languages: English*, Hindi*, Punjabi*, Putwari*, Urdu*

Music & Dance: Dhol Drum

Performance: APC Basic Rapier & Dagger, Commedia Dell’Arte, Corporate Roleplay, Immersive Performance, Laban Training, Role Play, Story Telling

Sports: Cricket, Football, Kick Boxing*, Running, Skipping Rope, Yoga

Vehicle Licences: Car Driving Licence

Other Skills: DBS (CRB) Clearance

* = Native / Highly Skilled

Spotlight CV

Holly Race

Before becoming a writer, Holly worked as a script editor for various production companies.

She has been a full-time writer since 2020, when her debut Young Adult urban fantasy trilogy, MIDNIGHT’S TWINS was published by Hot Key Books. The sequels, A GATHERING MIDNIGHT and A MIDNIGHT DARK AND GOLDEN followed in 2021 and 2022.

Her adult, Tudor-inspired fantasy SIX WILD CROWNS will be published by Orbit UK and US in 2025.

She is a fellow of the Royal Literary Fund and has been shortlisted for BBC Writersroom and 4Stories.

Jill Worsley

Jill Worsley is a multi-award winning and twice BAFTA nominated film maker. With a career spanning 20 years in the industry, she has directed and scripted a wide range of documentary & drama doc programmes for BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Whatever the genre, she strives to make films with humour and pathos.

In 2019 she was BAFTA nominated for feature documentary ‘School For Stammerers’. The press described it as ‘a remarkable documentary, told simply and respectfully’, and ‘an emotional journey – there are tears all round. Practically drama’. She also directed the first two series of Paul O’Grady’s: For the Love of Dogs, developing the style and tone that won it millions of loyal fans, multiple awards and a BAFTA nomination.

During Covid lockdown, Jill entered a BBC Writersroom opportunity to script a short film to be filmed entirely on Zoom. Of 6800 scripts entered, ‘Fred Gets Feedback’ was one of 8 chosen to be made, and it was the first fiction script she’d written. It went on to win a Rose D’Or for Best Multiplatform. She has now written and directed multiple shorts. Choked Up, a social satire starring Maxine Peake, screened at multiple BAFTA & BIFA qualifying film festivals including Aesthetica, Norwich and LOCO. Horror comedy ARM premiered at Frightfest, played at multiple festivals and won her Best Director at the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival.

Jill is currently developing two feature scripts and a comedy drama series, and completing her latest short film, which definitely isn’t the grief catharsis film that every writer has to write at some point in their career.

Al Weaver

For the past three years, Al has been one of the lead directors of the prime-time ITV drama, GRANTCHESTER, starring Robson Green, Tom Brittany, Charlotte Ritchie and Rishi Nair.

He wrote and produced the BAFTA long-listed short film THINGS HE NEVER SAID starring Ruth Negga. He was also an EP and actor in the feature film I’M NOT IN LOVE, directed by Col Spector, which can be seen on Amazon Prime.

He is currently developing a number of projects both in film and TV.

In addition to his work behind the camera, Al has worked extensively as an actor with directors such as Sofia Coppola, Richard Linklater, Mike Leigh, Sean Durkin and Thomas Schlamme to name a few.

Dujonna Gift

Dujonna plays the female lead in the two-hander hit musical TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK) which is set to transfer to the Criterion Theatre in the West End this April following a record-breaking run at Kiln Theatre.

On the big screen Dujonna will be seen in Disney’s live action feature SNOW WHITE.

Alex Lanipekun

Alex Lanipekun was born in London. His father is Nigerian and his mother is half-Italian and half-English. He was a member of the MOBO nominated Hip Hop Collective, ONE, before obtaining a BSc and Master’s Degree in Anthropology, from University College London.

Alex trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His stage credits include shows at the National Theatre, Royal Court and Donmar Warehouse. His screen work includes DOMINA, THE RISING, HOMELAND, 24 and SPOOKS Mi:5.

Alex wrote, directed and produced his first short film, RUN (Aneurin Barnard, Nathalie Emmanuel, Wunmi Mosaku, Nicholas Pinnock, Jonathan Pryce), which went on to receive the Screen Craft Fund Award and the Ischia Global Film Festival ‘Art Award’. His second short film, SYCORAXE (Nathalie Emmanuel, David Gyasi, Nicholas Pinnock, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Joel Fry), is in post-production. He is currently developing several original projects for film and television.