Time For a Change

The last few weeks have been really hard, a combination of ill health and just general contract negotiations have meant that we really haven’t had the time to update the website. However, this has been a positive overall and allowed us to really prioritize the future of the Lost as a concept.

One of the biggest things to come out of this has been our creative director JamesC has made the decision to close his current portfolio website, we have maintained control of the domain name, and will be starting from scratch with a new fresh work in conjunction with a select number of very good photographers hand picked from a list of contacts and sources, the images from which will be submitted to publications.

We are also looking at reshuffling all the domains we own and bringing a more mixed media focus to our work with films of varying lengths and commercial status being worked on to change the very restricted state we are in.

Over the next month there will be more updates and galleries showcasing fresh work and taking the whole Lost concept back to basics and putting the energy where we want it to be as a whole with a focused print/digital fashion portfolio and a slate of smaller video projects that have been carefully researched and plotted around our requirements for festivals.

More updates will be released soon.

Creating a Story and Building the Brand

When Lost Creatives was first started it was about a journey and finding a path, in that time we have covered a wide range of people’s stories and given a voice to some amazing filmmakers who have helped bring our creative narrative as well as their own, to the public domain.

Over the next few months we plan to add to the stories in a more visual sense, with so much of our work having to be held due to publication terms, it will be fun to finally be able to showcase the work that has been done in the background by our creative director and head of makeup JamesC. Some new portfolio pieces are being finalized with the JamesC portfolio site (frustratingly) taken longer than planned we will be reverting back and reworking the current site with the new content and bringing in a much more cohesive workflow across the sites we already have with the additions of showcasing his work as a photographer into the bargain.

When it comes to production, there is some light at the end of a long tunnel, we have chosen two TV shows to produce along with two short films that we will use as entry back into the market, and with our work with some Amazingly talented filmmakers when it comes to cost, we have been able to work the angles and find additional avenues of marketing, sales, and of course open up our team to different potential projects outside of horror and thriller.

Naturally, we will be working with vshowcards who have been fantastic and are rapidly gaining ground in the production realm and have even got Bollywood on their side which is an amazing coup for the team.

In the next few weeks, we will be making a return to social media with the Lost Creatives and Lost Agency Instagram being updated with new work and some experimental shots we have been playing around with as part of a planned concept.

More news and updates on The Lost coming soon.

Talking Youtube and Politics With That Preston Journalist

As a social and political commentator, That Preston Journalist Channel has become a go-to for a grassroots style of social and political commentary, as the journey continues we wanted to talk to founder Ashley Karmanski about his motivations, plans, and the future of the channel. 

Your Youtube channel is growing in numbers thanks to your quick news bite style of work and narrative approach to the work. Can you tell us more about what motivated you to start this channel? 

I have been in politics and political campaigns for many years now, but I myself have become disillusioned with the way British politics is conducted, the tribal nature of it today seeks to prevent any meaningful debate or sensible discussion. I believe people can, and should be able to disagree with each other without resorting to personal insults.

I wanted to create a channel that provides common sense, from the mouth of a working person in the UK. Too much of the media, especially the mainstream media, comes from the rose-tinted spectacles of the London metropolitan bubble, but the views held by people in wealthy areas are rarely those held by the wider public. 

I try to say things as I see them. Members of the public have bigger things to worry about than what the latest political correctness crusade is, I believe they want the truth with no hidden agenda behind it, I believe they want to be aware of how government policy will impact them without being talked down to by the BBC, Sky or ITV news. Most of the mainstream media are privately educated and do not know the daily struggles or concerns of working people in this country, but I do, that is my world as well, I want to be, and am slowly becoming the go-to place for unedited news, and the truth about how our lives are being impacted by the politicians in the UK.

I do not do this for profit, I work full time as well as running my channel, it may sound cheesy, but I really do it to bring simple, to the point, effective news to all the millions who no longer trust the mainstream media anymore. When I first started the channel, I had three or four subscribers, and to see it reach over two thousand in just a couple of months, is hugely rewarding and I enjoy every minute of it.    

Watching your videos, you have a very grassroots style of working with a simple, clean background, talking about political scandals in a fact-based manner adding your own thoughts to the piece, are you planning to stand for election or will you continue to focus your energy on the channel?  

I have no plans to stand for any elections, but as for campaigning, I am very open to getting on board, and try to campaign in the hope that common sense will once again prevail in this great country of ours. 

I keep the videos and backgrounds simple because that’s how I want the channel to be. A trustworthy source of news, I do receive negative feedback for my background to the videos, for my northern working-class accent, but that only strengthens my resolve and keeps me going. In fact, it proves to me that what I believe to be true, that working-class people are looked down on by the metropolitan elites, is the case in the UK today. Free speech has been on the decline for some time, people are no longer allowed opinions that don’t go along with the “be kind” brigade, who, by the way, is the first to call somebody a “racist”, or a “fascist” for not having the same opinions as them, and that is completely wrong, and that isn’t democracy. 

There isn’t a political party out there at the moment that really represents working people, there aren’t many media organizations that do either, so it is up to people who still hold common sense and traditional values to bring that news into the public domain. I believe it is the overwhelming consensus within the UK, but the elitist minority pressure groups get all the air time, telling people what to think, rather than actually providing news and letting people make their own minds up. We see it time and time again, every time there is a vote, be it a referendum, or a general election, the media get it wrong every time, and that proves how out of touch they are with the common man and woman today.

I do try and keep my personal opinions out of my videos where I can, but I am only human. I am unapologetically passionate about the UK and my belief that we are all better together as one country. On the other hand, many people on my videos ask about my political allegiances or asking how I vote. This tells me that I am doing a good job of being reasonably impartial on most issues. 

I do not, and will not ever tell people how to think, I simply wish to present the news in a simple, easy-to-understand format, and people can make their own minds up about what is best for them, and their lives. Politicians and the media seem to have forgotten that people have their own brains, and their own common sense, they know what is best for them. This means people disagree and agree with me at times, and that is healthy for any democracy to function.   

In creating That Preston Journalist you have tapped into what could be called “the working class” experience and focus on the dangers of political blindness to the people outside of those enclaves.  Do you think that Youtube has allowed you a greater platform to air your views and what challenges have you faced with tackling the subjects you do? 

As I’ve said before, I am a working-class person, which qualifies me to talk to a working-class audience, unlike many in the public eye who don’t talk to their audiences, but down to their audiences. YouTube has been an excellent outlet for me, if anything I did or said was discriminatory YouTube would shut me down, but it isn’t, and although I do tackle tough subjects, I do it in a way that I believe brings balance and common sense to the table.

The vast majority of the wider public in the UK do not subscribe to the views held by the mainstream media, if you ever wanted to see evidence of this, you only have to look at their audience viewing figures, and their short, sharp decline. 

Personally, I haven’t found any major challenges as of yet, sometimes you get negative feedback from people, but that’s part of the course, if you are going to read positive comments about your work, you have to accept the opinions of people who disagree, that is why I don’t delete negative comments from my videos unless they are personal attacks upon me. Personal attacks are what I am trying to stop, and open up sensible debate, so I can’t allow it on my channel as it defeats the overall message I am trying to get across. The message is that we all have opinions, and we all have the right to disagree in an assertive, yet polite manner. Politics does not have to be the toxic cesspit it is at the moment.  

 If you could offer advice to someone starting out as a political or social commentator what would it be and why? 

The most productive piece of advice I could give is to keep it simple and stick to your principles. With today’s world being what it is, you will come up against trolls who wish to close you down, you will receive abuse, but you must not let that stop you. 

Nothing in life worth doing is easy, and getting involved in politics, or political commentary certainly isn’t. But if you truly believe in what you are doing, you will succeed. 

Patience is also very important. Don’t expect job offers or subscribers to start appearing immediately. Share your content to as many different social media sites as you can, post the link to your website/YouTube channel, etc… everywhere you can. 

Once you start getting more and more followers, your content will grow much more organically, but the initial hard work is all down to you, and it can be a hard slog. 

To learn more about That Preston Journalist or to subscribe to the channel see:

That Preston Journalist Youtube.

That Preston Journalist Twitter.

Strategically Lost

As we come closer to the final launch of our additional sites, Lost Agency, and Lost Stills, which will be used to manage and market the team with our commercial-based projects both stills and print, being organized around the Lost Concept.

Staying within the film and TV project base we will also be working on some more fashion-oriented images with possible fashion films into the bargain, *focusing on the behind-the-scenes elements of our creative shoots which in turn will give us some footage to be used as showreel material and marketing fodder.

We will also be continuing our Q and A blogs in support of the indie scene and looking at different elements of filmmaking and giving voice to campaigns, fundraisers, and individual talents.

Over the next few weeks, we will be finalizing and putting out the new work with a full and comprehensive business plan being polished to meet the new standards within the industry.

Stay tuned for more updates from the lost team.

Updates From The Creative Sphere

Over at the Lost Creatives home office, we have been plugging away at our work and will have some project announcements and cast/crew requirements going live very soon. While this is being worked out, we have some announcements that as a team we are really excited about and wanted to share.

As creative director and head of makeup, JamesC, has been instrumental in the development of his new site and working on a consultation basis, for Sons of Adonis makeup (it will be added to his working kit), as part o this a limited edition brush was created featuring his logo and the brand: available from the Sons of Adonis site.

In terms of production and editorial, we have decided to add to our site holdings and will be launching a separate photography site that will feature the work of JamesC both his commercial work and the behind-the-scenes stills on film and TV shoots. The reasoning for this is to allow an expanded sense of his creative work and offer a different perspective on the work of a makeup artist.

Lost Agency is being formed and set around the needs of the main business and will handle the overall marketing, banking, and other elements of our work as an umbrella creating an in-house and full-spectrum setup that is own, controlled, and managed for the needs of the Lost team.

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing additional details on what is happening and casting/crew opportunities for smaller festival entry projects.

Showcasing Talent: Introducing vShowcards

What started as a dream and project on paper has become a force to be reckoned with in the casting world, vShowcards is fast becoming the place to be seen and has garnered attention from casting agents, directors, actors, and more as the team takes their passion for acting and all things media, and offers up a new portal for talent.  

Building on their own experiences as working actors, the team behind vShowcards has gone one step further than the average casting site and brings back the personal to the process with their social media presence on Twitter being part of the discussion, supporting, and promoting each other, whilst talking about their own frustrations within the business giving the whole thing a more family feeling, taking the isolation out being an actor and putting the emphasis on friendly support that is refreshing for talent and has in short order created a series of questions about their status in the market, a positive move that has taken them from outside the bubble to a companion and contender.  Talent is being seen in a new form and it is to vShowcards credit that they are building on the successes of the initial launch with a host of new elements to be revealed soon. 

Looking to reach out to creatives across the spectrum, vShowcards is the epitome of a new wave that has been steadily building across the film and TV realm as digital platforms become more common, the need for artists and creatives has increased with the traditional sources losing ground to newcomers like vShowcards whose dedication to their clients, focus, drive, and passion, has shown them to be open to new ideas and avenues with an eye for detail, the sites entire ethos is built on showcasing and supporting people versus collecting names.

There is a raft of digital production houses that are looking at the site and seeing the potential for productions built entirely with vShowcard people, an accomplishment that is new for many and shows the scope and talents of the people already in place.  

Leading the way and taking on the market with a fresh perspective vShowcards is more than just a casting and crew site, it is the future of the industry’s new wave and a force to be reckoned with.  

To learn more about vShowcards or to join see:

vShowcards Website.

vShowcards Twitter.

vShowcards Facebook.

vShowcards Instagram.

A New Year A New Plan

In many respects, 2020 has been a lost year for a lot of people with the world changing dramatically. For us, it has opened up doors to a whole host of new potential avenues and given us a chance to reevaluate what we have been doing and look at how we can fit ourselves into the market long-term. To do this we have broken our work into key areas that will be public and those which will be kept private to the inhouse team.

In the public sense, we have two key areas we will be focusing on in the first quarter of the year:

Editorial and print: we have been putting this on the backburner in some respect taking time to look at locations, edit work already shot, slowly build up a series of images and work that will be released over the early part of 2021 with additional planned small shoots that will be a combination of artistic and commercial. *This will include product placement in behind the scenes imaging and video with brands such as Lord and Berry, Mykitco, and Brushwork Cosmetics to start. We are open to new potential brand partners for projects contact the team to discuss.

Film and TV: something that we have been doing since the start of Lost Creatives is supporting a range of festivals including Micromania and The Nepal Cultural and Film Centers' own festival. We do have plans to partner with a European festival and will reveal details on that soon.

Our initial goal is to work on 3 projects that will be shorts, designed specifically to go to festivals and as an opening gambit for our planned digital TV shoots in the horror/thriller market (for Which we have already spoken to several distributors and have options in place including the HOD TV route which is our number 1 choice).

In the coming months, our projects will be smaller in nature to help push forward and test the waters of the market and expand out. Our ties to South Asia (Including Nepal Film Production and our key actor contacts in India), will play a heavy part in our work as we are questioning how we will be able to work in Scotland and the UK in general.

Each of the current websites: JamesC mua. Lost Project and of course Lost Creatives will be receiving overhauls and updated images across the galleries, and the welcome pages, additional sites are being planned for our film/TV work to keep the Creatives solely about marketing and the background elements we have built.

Further updates will be released over the course of the month. We are really excited about our plans for 2021 and look forward to pushing the boundaries of our work.

The Full Depixym Kit

The team behind Depixym paints have been building the brand and it is now seen as a staple for many in the realms of fashion and print with film and TV artists also reaping the benefits of what is a multipurpose cosmetic grade emulsion that can be used to create a wide array of looks and fits neatly into a working kit. Taking the step to create what can only be described as a covetable working case housing the full collection of the Depixym paints, they have given the artistic a professional case, a full collection in one place of colors that can be blended to make anything that you may require as a makeup artist.

Depixym is a brand that looks at the artist and sees what they need, the tubes are styled to look like traditional art materials and work in any given situation, editorial and creative artists have taken the brand to heart and are creating a storm on social media while others are integrating the range into the more day to day elements of their business, a truly must-have range that needs to be seen.

The newly launched Pro Program (we have joined) offers an even wider incentive to the professionals and has opened the door to new and exciting possibilities, which for us is perfectly in line with the editorial goals we have in motion.

To learn more about the company or to purchase see:

Depixym Website.

Depixym Facebook.

Depixym Instagram.

Frederick Edward Social Commentator and Youtuber

We wanted to look at other elements of the media including Youtube commentators and a prime example of this would be Frederick Edward who took the leap into the world of social and historical commentary giving his viewers a unique insight into the world at large. Already a respected writer with articles featured in The Conservative Woman, he is taking steps in this new direction and bringing a new perspective to the public dialogue.

Frederick Edward Social Commentator and Youtuber

Can you start by telling us a little more about your background and what led you to set up a youtube channel?

Starting a YouTube channel is something I had intended to do for years. However, I never quite got round to it. I was always interested in issues surrounding politics and ideas but had been a consumer of content rather than a producer. Perhaps I lacked confidence or was just busy with other things. For example, I spent thousands of hours in my twenties learning Chinese – an unforgiving task which I’m still trying to find a post hoc justification for.

As strange as it may sound, the thing that made me decide to become more active was the death of Roger Scruton – the finest conservative philosopher of our age. Very suddenly, one of the most robust defenders of Western civilization was no longer around. While I am in no way suggesting that I in any way fill the vast gap left by his death, it made me realize that it is ultimately up to us all as individuals to speak plainly and enter the realm of debate. It is too easy to leave it to others to do the heavy lifting!

Tell us more about your target audience and what makes your channel unique?

I’m not sure whether I have a specific target audience in mind. My guiding principle is to make videos or write articles on topics that I find interesting; hopefully, this cathartic endeavor will resonate with people. My worry would be that if I try and target myself specifically to anyone niche I would end up adopting a style or lines of argument that aren’t necessarily mine. Putting on an act in that way is ultimately self-defeating.

In terms of uniqueness… that is hard to say. There are many incredibly erudite, talented, and insightful people who put out content online. I leave it to my audience to decide in what ways my endeavors create value-added in that realm. Nevertheless, over the last few decades, mainstream media has become victim to an intellectual and cultural monoculture that fails to speak to a majority of people, meaning appetite has grown for people who will say things that would certainly be unwelcome in an issue of The Guardian. I most definitely fall into that category – I’m yet to receive an invitation to write a column for that esteemed publication.

As a “YouTuber” are you a solo worker or do you have a team?  What has been your biggest challenge in creating your content?

Other than my mum making me the odd cup of tea, I’m a one-man-band. There were a few hurdles to overcome when I started producing videos – specifically that I had never used a video editor – but the process has not been as technically difficult as I first envisaged.

The greatest hurdle for me, instead, was the very act of speaking in front of a camera. Feeling comfortable, sounding natural, and cogently expressing thoughts when just speaking to the camera on your phone is something I still have to try and get used to. Going through all this, I definitely have a newly discovered respect for people who can deliver pieces in one, seemingly effortless, take. I’m quite not at that point myself. 慢慢来！

What is the future of your channel?  What is the longterm plan for your work?

I will continue to make videos alongside all of life’s other commitments. I think the next stage would be to learn how to make more visually engaging content: when you see a video that has unique and interesting visuals it can be hard to take your eyes off it. There are some YouTube channels that do this incredibly well and deserve their large audiences.

Otherwise, I will try and write more articles as well. While YouTube is a good platform, one wonders what may be at work behind the scenes in the website’s algorithms. As such, getting my articles and videos out there on other platforms is something I will increasingly try to do.

What advice would you offer to anyone looking to set up a channel?

Get ready to put in a lot of work and don’t be disappointed if you don’t strike gold immediately. It is peculiar to see some people’s attempts immediately translate into stardom, but the reality is more likely to involve a great deal of effort and long hours staring at your YouTube channel’s statistics and worrying about SEO.

More broadly, I would advise people in general – but also those who are thinking of starting a channel – to speak plainly and not to be cowed by the opinions of others. Be honest and speak truths as you see them. Honesty is a commodity that is increasingly in short supply today, and the truth is our greatest weapon in combatting the madness we see around us.

To learn more about Frederick or to follow his channel and social media see:

Frederick Edward Youtube.

Frederick Edward Facebook.

Frederick Edward Twitter.

Frederick Edward Parler.

Restructuring The Lost

With our two blogs (Lost Creatives on the professional side and Lost Project on the consumer), our creative director JamesC, and a new site in the wings, the overall concept of The Lost as we started it has grown in the last 2 years into a much bigger and much more refined business that while it was our plan, is still surprising how things have changed for the better. In the next few weeks, we will be adding heavily to the various galleries we have of our work and making amendments to the overall layout and general themes of our work to better fit what we feel in the direction we are heading in. What this means is we will be changing a few of the frequently asked questions, designated accounts, and announcing the longer-term plans and goals of how we will progress in business terms including that of our base location.

*We did consider an office but in the current climate that seems like a redundant step that would be overly complicated and serve no purpose for what is coming into play.

Admittedly many of the changes will be small and have a minimal effect on the business there is something larger that will be taking public soon that focuses heavily on the vision of founder, creative director, and head of makeup JamesC, who has led the charge on the basis of “be the change you want to see.” Creating The Lost and carefully selecting who we work with, researching and planning, taking additional training as and when required, he has taken the lead on the business and we do want to offer a nod to the Nepal Film Production team who have offered up several opportunities and been a huge supporter of the work we are doing.

In an industry that is evolving and changing we fully intend to make the most of the digital landscape in whatever format we can and we are taking steps to ensure that our work is seen in the best possible light with more updates on this coming soon we are really excited about the future of The Lost.