Inside Job Productions

Inside Job Productions produces professional films for social purposes, funds media projects for hard-to-reach communities and offers serving offenders training and employment opportunities which help them piece their world back together.

About the company

Inside Job Productions (IJP) specialises in producing ‘great films with a purpose, helping its clients in the third and corporate sectors communicate their messages effectively. The profits are reinvested back into Media for Development, an organisation that uses media to help hard-to-reach people improve their lives. IJP runs a production training scheme for serving prisoners at Downview women’s prison in Surrey, who travel up to the office during the day and return to the prison at night.

How is it funded?

The company received start-up funding from the European Social Fund and later from the Monument Trust. It is now working its way towards self sustainability through income from client films. All proceeds are reinvested back into the company  to further its social mission.

How is it social?

With each prisoner costing £50k to house, according to data from Social Finance, and reoffending rates hovering around the 60% mark, organisations which help reduce this figure help ease a serious burden for the Government. More importantly, IJP is helping individuals piece their lives back together and become active members of society.

What happens to its profits?

IJP reinvests all its profits into its parent company Media for Development, which uses media with hard-to-reach  groups such as offenders, gypsy travellers and young fathers to help them improve their lives.

What's the secret of its success?

The team at IJP have put their professional skills and experience in film production into addressing a serious social problem. Reoffending is a complex, difficult issue and a huge drain on the public purse, but the solutions are so long-term that politicians don’t seem able to take action. Social enterprises such as IJP are doing a tremendous job in taking this task out of government and helping people make the difficult transition out of prisons and back into the working world.