Here are a few of the many people who regularly lend us their advice

Robert West

Robert West is Co-founder and Executive Director of Working Films.

West, as curator of film and video at the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte NC, from 1985 – 1999, directed a well known and highly respected media program that included a national independent film festival and national touring film programs, including Conflict & Peace: Recent Israeli and Palestinian Film. West was curator of Recollections: Lumbee Heritage; a unique traveling exhibit on NC Native Americans, that continues to tour the Southeast.

West has been a guest lecturer at the University of North Carolina, at Duke University, at New York University and at the NC School of the Arts. West was a board member of the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, a funder of progressive social justice media, for four years; and a member for 2 years of the nominating committee for the Rockefeller Media Fellowships. He was a panel member of Visions: University of North Carolina Center for Public Television; and a panel member of the Media Arts Fellowship Program of the NEA, Creative Capital, the NC Arts Council, the Radziwell Documentary Fund and The Independent Television Service, a production arm of PBS. In 2004, West was a juror at the Full Frame Film Festival. He is a board member of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC).

Deborah Burton

Deborah BurtonDeborah is co-founder of Tipping Point Film Fund, which seeks to support films and film-makers whose work aimsto challenge, truth-tell and reach as wide an audience as possible on the major issues of our time. Previously, she was a campaigner on various issues including trade justice; climate change; environment and public health.Before that, she worked in the film industry – festivals, development, production, screenwriting.

“Society has always been shaped by the courageous activism of previous generations – today is no different. The more we know about – and the more we can celebrate – this current generation of climate activists, the better. JUST DO IT does just that!”

Christopher Hird

Christopher Hird is the founder and managing director of Dartmouth Films, which concentrates on making independent documentaries, pioneering new ways of funding and distributing them and encouraging new and emerging talent in the industry. A former stockbroker and journalist on the Economist, New Statesman and Sunday Times, he moved into television as a reporter and has been a producer for over 20 years. Among his recent screen credits are the Sundance premiered films Black Gold (2006) and The End of the Line (2009). He is a former chair of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, currently chair of The Channel Four BRITDOC Foundation and a trustee of Index on Censorship, The Wincott Foundation and the Grierson Trust.

“I am helping this film for three reasons: I believe we should fully exploit digital technology to find new ways of making and distributing documentaries; I believe we need to reinvigorate the political process and I believe that documentaries can play a part in achieving social change.”

Charlie Phillips

Charlie runs the marketplace at Sheffield Doc/Fest, the UK’s major documentary event. That means he brings people with money and mentoring skills together with filmmakers who need them so that they can make beautiful things happen together. In theory, he should be able to do that for Just Do It as well. He’s a big advocate for new funding and distribution models for docs that don’t involve compromise or self-flagellation and he’s helping the team to get that sorted.

“I’m helping because I believe in politically-charged docs that are high in quality as well as advocacy and activism, and I believe that giving the power to fund and distribute directly to audiences is totally vital to retain independent film. Plus all the people involved are ace.”

Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith has been active on climate justice issues since the original Rising Tide coalition at the COP 6 climate talks in 2000 and is an enthusiastic participant in the Camp for Climate Action. He is the author of reports such as ‘The Carbon Neutral Myth – Offset Indulgences for your Climate Sins’ and co-author of ‘Cashing in on tar sands: RBS, UK Banks and Canada’s Blood Oil’. In his spare time he collects second hand disco records.

“What I hope comes across really clearly in this documentary is that direct action and movement building is one of the most rational responses in the face of the threat of climate change. The scale of the challenge we face is so great, and the response from governments and the business community is so that it’s going to take huge numbers of people to get involved in some form or other to make the necessary changes to our society. A film project like this one is a way of encouraging more people to get involved.”

Becky Hogge


Becky Hogge is a freelance optimist. She writes and campaigns on the role of technology in society, for publications like the New Statesman, the Guardian and Prospect, as well as her blog. Becky used to run the Open Rights Group, which fights for civil liberties in the digital age. Before that she was technology director at openDemocracy.net, a magazine of global politics, and helped start the world’s first truly bilingual blog, ChinaDialogue.net.

“I lent this project the support I could because I believe in the ability of the web to bring powerful documentary to a wide audience. I wish Just Do It all the best.”