Studio BYW began one rainy day, when Tom Williams and Indigo Jones began brainstorming how they could create a community of media professionals to make projects that they felt invested in from beginning to end. They wanted to make a company that wasn’t just about churning out your average media content and instead wanted to create original ideas that were fuelled by passion and outlined what Welsh Creatives were all about.

This stemmed from both Williams and Jones’ experience in the mainstream media and wanting to create a diverse working environment that reflected the content that they were making. The media as a whole has been impacted by the cost of living crisis, whether this is due to funding issues or simply a deficit in creative jobs and as result prospective filmmakers, photographers, editors and journalists alike are struggling to get a foot in the door. Studio BYW was created as an opportunity for those at the beginning, middle or end of their creative careers to be part of a production company, gain experience and create content that they can feel passionate about whilst struggling to work in a field that they have always dreamed about working in.

The name Studio BYW comes from the Welsh word ‘BYW’, which means ‘Live’(/lʌɪv/), something which is happening currently, similar to broadcast televison or alternatively ‘Live’ (/lɪv/) , to be alive and have an exciting or fulfilling life. We chose this to represent our bilingual work within the media, and how we wanted to create current and reactive content of real life stories within Wales. The word ‘BYW’ summed this up perfectly and demonstrates exactly why we started the company in the first place.