Side project: Away Days (Patreon)

Hi all. Me and Jonny Pickup (who filmed Ghosts of Karabakh) are making a documentary series with a similar ethos to Popular Front, but with a different focus: underground activity and fringe communities.

I feel it's ground equally interesting to me. If you've read Gargoyle, you'll know it's always been something I've covered in my work. This stuff rarely gets reported properly though. We're coming at it with a 'no judgement, no pearl clutching' attitude. I think you'll see, when it's ready, how original it'll feel.

Away Days is basically a large side project that I think a lot of you will also enjoy. To keep up to date follow the various links here: www.awaydays.tv

This will not take away from Popular Front (quite the opposite) and will not hinder progress here. It's actually put us in a position to make more documentaries this year for PF, which I'm excited about. We have at least two new Popular Front documentaries planned in the up-coming months.

The plan with Away Days is to make the first three episodes and then see where it goes. That's all we can do right now as it's very expensive. I'm funding it through the money I made on the Sad Oligarch project from I did last year.

I'm aware it's not the best way to fund such a new project—getting paid from Peter to then pay for Paul, as it were—but fuck it. I want to make things on my own terms and this awkward balancing act will work for a few months until either Away Days gets proper funding or we have to just leave it at that. Either way, I believe in constantly trying new things and to create media as independently as possible. I also think my style of reporting can work well whilst covering underbelly societies.

Anyway, I'm sure at least some of you will be interested in this, so I wanted to drop you all a line here. To stay update in future, follow the Away Days Insta or the Away Days Telegram.

Cheers,
Jake