About the Film

This poetry documentary film follows writer and poet Tony Williams during a unique walking and writing project that took us into the heart of the Northumberland countryside. Filming writers and documenting their creative process is always a rewarding part of my filmmaking practice, especially when landscape becomes part of the creative conversation.

About Tony Williams

Tony Williams is an award-winning poet, novelist and professor of creative writing at Northumbria University. His work often explores place, history and language in unexpected and playful ways. Known for publications including Nutcase and All the Rooms of Uncle’s Head, Tony combines intellectual sharpness with a sense of mischief, blending formal experimentation with heartfelt storytelling. His teaching and writing alike are rooted in the idea that creativity thrives through movement, exploration and active engagement with the world.

Roam to Write: Walking, Writing, Filming

The film was shot over five consecutive days, retracing the same stretch of Northumberland landscape each time. This repeated walk became a kind of ritual, a creative rhythm that allowed Tony to gradually shape and reshape his ideas for a new poem. By following the same path each day, subtle changes in light, weather and mood became part of the writing process.

For me as a filmmaker, this offered a rare chance to document creativity unfolding in real time. Each day’s footage revealed different facets of Tony’s reflections, sometimes conversational and open, other times quiet and inward. The constancy of the route gave structure to the film, while the evolving thoughts and shifting landscape provided a natural arc to the visual storytelling.

Roam to Write was conceived as a walking writing residency, encouraging writers to step away from the desk and find inspiration through movement and environment. Filming Tony’s involvement in the project took us into some of Northumberland’s most striking landscapes, moorland paths, ancient trails and quiet ridgelines, where writing could happen mid-step, or with a notebook balanced on a dry-stone wall.

My role as filmmaker was to document not only Tony’s reflections on writing and place, but also the atmosphere of the experience itself, the texture of weathered paths, the sound of boots on gravel, the rhythm of thought sparked by physical motion. These visual elements are central to my approach when filming writers, capturing the connection between inner voice and outer world.

Collaborating With Writers on Film

Over the years, I have collaborated with poets, novelists and spoken word artists across the UK. Each project brings its own tone and tempo, from the lyrical to the conversational, the academic to the instinctive. Working with writers like Tony Williams invites a deep attention to language, breath and cadence, qualities that shape not only the writing but also how I choose to frame, pace and edit the film.

Filming Roam to Write offered a rich opportunity to blend literature and landscape, thought and image. Northumberland’s expansive terrain became a character in the film, not just a backdrop, but an active participant in the writing process.

Why Filming Writers Matters

Filming writers allows audiences to see where ideas begin, in movement, in silence, in landscape, in fragments scribbled mid-walk. It reveals the process behind the page, the working mind at play in the world. As a poetry documentary film, Roam to Write shows how walking can unlock language, structure and creative freedom.

Filming writers and documenting their creative process is always a rewarding part of my filmmaking practice. It allows me to engage deeply with the rhythms of language, the solitude of writing and the often invisible journey from idea to expression. Each collaboration offers a new perspective on how place, memory and voice shape the written word. I have had the privilege of filming poet and performer Lemn Sissay for Hexham Book Festival. His powerful use of language transforms public readings into moments of collective reflection and celebration. Capturing his performance work on camera meant tuning in to timing, cadence and breath, the physicality of poetry as much as its meaning.

Writing Shaped by Place

With Benjamin Myers, whose novels are often rooted in landscape and history, I have explored how rural environments inform his writing, the texture of moorland, the weight of weather and the silence between sentences. In contrast, working with David Almond involved a more introspective process, revealing how memory, childhood and imagination intersect in his storytelling.

Whether filming in a studio, a library or out on windswept Northumberland trails, I aim to capture more than just writers at work. I try to reveal the emotional terrain they travel and the quiet, often surprising places where writing begins.