About

Wrights Productions is a homemade video development company. It was created in 2004 by its founder, Adam Wright. As digital cameras and faster computers were becoming more common in the household, it was now possible to create your own videos and share them online. With the likes of YouTube, MetaCafe and DailyMotion video services becoming popular, the time seemed right to start homemade videos.

What Wrights Productions does is write, direct, film and edit video productions for the online market. One thing that Wrights Productions does not do is pay for professional standard software and training. They have been using standard editing software and applying all the features to there maximum potential. Camera tricks, good planning and merging effects is what brought Wrights Productions to success in the homemade video market.

The aims of Wrights Productions is to provide video entertainment to the young Internet market and encourage fans to join in via comments, forum discussions and video submissions. WP has never focused on high-end TV quality productions in the hope of becoming noticed. It is here to serve the general public and covers various formats including talk shows, sci-fi action programmes, blog chats and music videos.

The early days [ 2004 ]

Welcome to Wrights Productions, a world of homemade video for the Internet. Wrights Productions was created by Adam Wright back in 2004 and since then it has grown into a fully fledged video production site and support service. With the motto ‘Quality Homemade Videos’, the site aims to provide just that.

Adam Wright got his first computer in October 2003 which came with a Packard Bell digital camera. As Adam played around with the computer and digital camera, Wrights Productions was ignited. 2004 was the year when Adam and his cousin Joe Scampion trailed this new digital camera, a piece of equipment that was relatively new to us at the time. During that time, Adam was also printing out CD cover art for his home-brew CD-R music discs using Microsoft Publisher. Publisher has an organisation logo wizard and during this phase, Adam decided to use the pyramid icon with the name Wrights Productions. From this moment, the actual name Wrights Productions was used on Adam’s media.

During March 2004, Adam Wright and Joe Scampion took the digital camera out with then during a scenic bike ride. As teenagers, they hung out at a woodland bridleway named Dunes. Filming with the camera soon began and resulted in a documentary-styled tour production about the woodland. This was a typical exploration video to suite the teenage lifestyle. Also throughout 2004, Adam and Joe recorded scenes for the Homemade Harry Potter Video 2004. The Harry Potter franchise was one the pairs favourites and therefore decided to make their own version. Despite the Harry Potter production failing on its original release due to a formatted computer containing half the scenes, it was patch edited and released in 2007. 25 January 2004 saw the first music video recorded with Billie-May Kirlew. The video was a random clip with the camera resting on top of a unit. This sparked off another genre of homemade video for us. More music videos featuring Adam, Joe, Jack Wright and Sophie Kirlew were shot throughout 2004.

With 2004 coming to a close, Wrights Productions had established its name and its purpose, homemade video development. The prime ingredient that was missing was publicity. At the time, the availability of video sharing websites and their specifications were not to the standard we see today. Secondly, the speed of the Internet wasn’t sufficient. A prime aim of Adam Wrights was to get their homemade videos online.

The start of all things to come [ 2005 ]

2005 soon slapped everyone in the face, and so did the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC were about to relaunch their former flagship franchise, Doctor Who. Doctor Who ran from 1965 to 1989 and reappeared in 1996 for a one-off TV movie. This was exciting news for old fans and new fans alike. It isn’t very clear how it happened, but Adam Wright and Joe Scampion certainly found Doctor Who interesting. The hype about its return and the memories being churned out by the parents possibly helped the situation. On 27 March 2005, Adam recorded some episode clips for WP’s own Doctor Who series. The videos featured Joe Scampion as The Doctor and Jack Wright as the assistant. Once the official first episode was aired, Adam went back to the drawing board and re-started recording for WP’s proper Doctor Who series. Starting on 2 April, this became the legendary Homemade Doctor Who Series 2005.

Doctor Who was to become Wrights Productions flagship franchise and had entered the homemade sci-fi world. WP’s 2005 Doctor Who Series spanned seven episodes whilst producing comedy music videos throughout the year. As a side project, 2005 also took host to a one-off homemade movie called the Homemade Tomb Raider Movie 2005. This was carried out to break that Doctor-Who-only appeal. The Tomb Raider production wasn’t released until 2006 however. As the final quarter of 2005 loomed, WP’s Doctor Who series had also come to a recording close in the August.

The end of 2005 saw preparation for one of the biggest homemade sequels of the current time. Due to the success of the home-brew Doctor Who Series of 2005, a sequel was to be produced in the shape of a movie. This movie became the Homemade Doctor Who Movie 2005/06. Opening scenes for the movie were recorded in late August 2005. One of the biggest milestones for 2005 however was getting the Doctor Who 2005 series online. This was achieved using the service putfile.com. Towards the end of 2005, all looked up for the following year.

Mainstream productions [ 2006 ]

2006 was upon us and so was the homemade video viewers. 2006 was a big year for Wrights Productions as some mainstream production had started which would pave the way for the future. The Homemade Doctor Who Movie 2005/06 was filmed and released along with the edited Homemade Tomb Raider Movie 2005. With the Doctor Who Movie edited and released, no more Doctor Who productions were planned.

One of the biggest regimes since starting was the announcement of a homemade chat show for a newly acquired sister site, marioportal.com The series was called the Super Mario Portal TV Series 2006 and ran from July to December. It featured presenter Adam Wright and star guests including Joe Scampion and Matthew Ellis. The show had moderate success but was primarily focused on the fan base of marioportal.com.

2006 also jump started something that was to become a huge success in 2008 onwards. Adam Wright started recording scenes with friend David Harrison playing the PC game Rome Total War. This show was set to become a success during edit and release in 2008. The reason for the delay was due to the pair not thinking the 2006 and 2007 clips would become anything.

The biggest revelation didn’t involve video however. Adam had joined Matthew Ellis’ website network Ultima Development Laboratories in September 2005 and was primarily focused on the ellisfamily.tk website. Ellisfamily.tk was a community board website that welcomed discussions about anything. Adam Wright decided to develop a fan site for the site, ultimately becoming the Ellisfamily.tk Fan Site. The website provided information in the style of a wiki about topics associated on the main community boards. Adam got the Wrights Productions brand in there and showcased the Homemade Doctor Who productions from 2005 and 2006. The website performed fairly well and started Wrights Productions online presence. However, this format was not to last.

In the Summer period of 2006, Adam closed down the Ellisfamily.tk Fan Site due to a decline on the community-driven site. An independent HTML website was constructed for Wrights Productions to showcase their videos onto. It wasn’t only Doctor Who that showed an appearance, but all of WP’s productions. The putfile.com video service had become outgrown and it was time for change. At this stage, YouTube was becoming increasing popular and was chosen as Wrights Productions video supplier. The YouTube account opened on 2 July 2006 and is still used to this day. The independent WP website also included information pages on former ellisfamily.tk topics such as computing, James Bond and Harry Potter etc.

Time for change [ 2007 ]

2007 was a quiet year for Wrights Productions with the acception for Torchwood and Stupid!!! Video development had become much more professional from this point forward, making the use of green screen technology to the maximum. The Homemade Torchwood Series 2007 was a Doctor Who spin-off which ran throughout the majority of the year. Ashley Street returned from our Doctor Who Movie to take the lead role in Torchwood. Although Torchwood was also a BBC creation, WP only took the name and developed its own plot-line and character base. Torchwood included professional homemade graphics and planning which marked a standard for future shows.

For the first time, a cast member called Joe Scampion produced his own series for WP. This show was called Stupid!!! The Movie and was a homemade take on the hit show Jack Ass. Dangerous and daring stunts were performed for Stupid!!! along with a large cast line up. The show brought a more dark and dangerous side to Wrights Productions that broke tradition from the likes of Doctor Who and Dunes Tour.

The end of 2007 saw planning and early recordings for a final Doctor Who follow up entitled the Homemade Doctor Who Series 2007/09. Chris Hoeft replaced Joe Scampion as The Doctor along with the return of Ashley Street and Adam Wright. The show took many aspects and standards from the Torchwood Series 2007. Chris took a new approach to his character, The Doctor. This revitalised Doctor Who for a new and continuing audience.

Another large website change also took place in 2007. The static HTML website from 2006 had become outdated and it was time for a shake up. Matthew Ellis helped Adam set-up a content management system called MKPortal. MKPortal was a CMS that allowed page creation and video embedding using PHP and a graphical user interface. MKPortal also brought the member login for the first time along with other interactivity such as submitting and commenting.

Heavy schedules [ 2008 ]

2008 was just a crazy year. So much happened in 2008 that it seems all a blur. Many new productions were introduced or continuing. These ranged from the Nintendo Portal TV Series 2008, the Homemade Doctor Who Series 2007/09, the one-off Top Gear special, the Rome Total War TV Series and the resurrection of a one-off comedy music video. Time had flown by so quickly it was actually becoming frightening.

Recording for the Doctor Who 2007/09 Series was in full swing by this point. Due to the series being spread out, it allowed for other productions to be produced. The Nintendo Portal TV Series 2008 was technically a sequel to WP’s Super Mario Portal TV Series 2006. The sister website marioportal.com changed to nintendoportal.com in a move to cover more content and attract a mature audience. The 2008 series was a step up from 2006 and included guest cast, stable green screen and informative reviews.

The Rome Total War clips that were in recording since 2006 were finally pieced together with new presenting footage to create the Rome Total War Series. This series followed the PC game of the same name which was developed by The Creative Assembly. The show was one the biggest successes for WP, receiving views in the thousands after a short period of time. The PC gaming market was huge and the impact of the Total War franchise was clearly visible. David Harrison and Adam Wright presented the show with David being the bible for the hit PC game.

The one-off Top Gear special was a breakthrough for Wrights Productions. The aim of the show, staring Adam Wright and David Harrison, was to mimic the hit BBC programme as much as possible. That was certainly achieved but also received criticism from fans of the official show. The pair drove their first-time cars around a specific route in order to beat each others time. Witty banter was a prime atmosphere to the show which Adam and David could pull off effortlessly.

As 2008 was coming to an end, Christmas was fast approaching. After a long gap in the release of comedy music video, Adam decided to bring back the franchise for a one-off Christmas video. The video featured numerous cameo cast from shows running on Wrights Productions at the time. The video was large in scale, utilising green screen technology and miming techniques. The video was made large in case this became the final music video.

Another year, another website change. Due to the lack of MKPortal support, Matthew Ellis once again assisted Adam in moving the site to a new content management system. This system was called E107 and had much better media support for images, video, fan submissions and forums.

End of an era [ 2009 ]

2009 was upon us and was less jam packed compared to 2008. This was very important due to hard work on remaining franchises that were not far from closing. 2009 saw the end of an era when homemade Doctor Who came to an end after an epic five years. Apart from the Medieval II Total War TV Special, a final Total War show had started called the Empire Total War TV Series. The Nintendo Portal TV Series continued into its 2009 season with no clear light into its future after the sister website nintendoportal.com was struggling.

The ending to WP’s Homemade Doctor Who Series 2007/09 was a big blow out for Wrights Productions. Adam Wright had produced, recorded, directed and edited the show for five years as well as feature in some of them. With Doctor Who being WP’s flagship title, this would be a show to miss. The final episode went out with a big bang as a sci-fi battle began with the Daleks and Cybermen. The final episode was released on 23 November 2009 and closed the sci-fi storyline.

Work continued within the Total War franchise. A one-off special called the Medieval II Total War TV Special was produced with David and Adam. After the special, work started on the Empire Total War TV Series. Empire was the latest Total War game at the current time meaning the series would follow a game from launch for the first time. The production of WP’s Empire TV Series went into 2010.

The Nintendo Portal TV Series continued in 2009. Adam presented the three brand new episodes with special guests Joe Scampion, Max Scampion, Matthew Ellis and Richard Mann. The 2009 series introduced competitions for prizes but the scheme never took off. The sister website nintendoportal.com was still going through changes at the time and is a possible cause. Despite this, the show was still watched and enjoyed by many.

Beginning of the end [ 2010 ]

2010 arrived and it is six years since the creation of Wrights Productions, five years since WP’s videos went online and four years since WP had its main online presence. The year of 2010 saw Wrights Productions 1st party content (developed by Adam Wright) starting to slow down in production. Adam stated that he will be stepping down from mainstream production in the near future, with specials and editing work to continue. 1st party productions in production throughout 2010 included Empire Total War, Nintendo Portal TV Series 2010, My Blogs, Behind the Science Special 1, Ghost Stories with Adam and Matt, and Step Back in Time, a one-off 1990s and 2000s history special.

The three brand new productions for 2010 are My Blogs, Step Back in Time and Ghost Stories with Adam and Matt. My Blogs is a blog-based series by Adam Wright. Adam shares his life stories and current goings on. Step Back in Time is a two part special which looks at the highlights of the 1990s and the 2000s. The show features Adam Wright, Joe Scampion, David Harrison, Matthew Ellis and Sophie Kirlew. This reunited all the major WP cast over the years. Ghost Stories was a new mature programme that WP created to investigate the paranormal. Adam was joined by Matthew Ellis to present the show.

Empire Total War ended our long-running Total War TV Series with Adam Wright and David Harrison. This final series spanned four episodes before it was put to bed forever. David became busy as he was studying his masters, and Adam started his new teaching career. The pair decided to close down the show whilst the going was strong. Behind the Science also returned in its 2nd outing, coming in the form of a special. Matthew Ellis retuned to present the show with Adam Wright. The Nintendo Portal TV Series of 2010 saw widescreen, HD productions of Nintendo’s finest games. The show has been going for four years, having started in 2006 with a break in 2007. Joe Scampion, an original WP cast member, returned with Adam in the final episode. Long-term presenter Adam Wright decided to close the show to end it on a high, with personal workloads increasing.

March 2010 saw a new development on the website front of Wrights Productions. With the support of Matthew Ellis, the site moved from the E107 content management system to WordPress. WordPress was traditionally designed as a blogging system but has become widely known to be a powerful website backbone. The website sees a fresh, moderner appearance with improved forums and video embed services. In October of that year, the website became merged with the Tweaked for your Pleasure (TFYP) network, ran by Matthew Ellis. WP originally began in website form with Ellisfamily.tk, an earlier iteration of TFYP, back in January 2006.

Quiet but fresh [ 2011 ]

2011, and who’d have thought it, Wrights Productions was still on the go since 2004. With mainstream productions being slowed down at 2010s end, the year of 2011 was quiet but fresh. The hectic schedules and expectations had gone, and the fresh low-key shows that reminded had room to shine with more time to work on them. The shows that were running in 2011 included My Blogs, Ghost Stories with Adam and Matt, and Nintendo Portal Video.

My Blogs returned with a brand new look for 2011. Less blogs were produced but the events and aspects they covered were carefully picked. This was mainly down to Adam’s busy schedule with his new career. Ghost Stories also continued in 2011 and will draw to a close nearing the end of the year. Adam and Matthew went on location to film some spooky location for the programme in the summer.

The new show that arrived in 2011 was Nintendo Portal Video, a new direction from the recently closed Nintendo Portal TV Series. Where as the TV series involved presenting cast and constant research, the new video show delivered castless content showcasing the latest news, trailers and previews of Nintendo titles. Two big events for the show were the release of the Nintendo 3DS and the E3 announcement for the new Wii U console.

On the website front, the WordPress system was holding nicely and the integrated relationship with the Tweaked for your Pleasure network was as strong as ever. Unfortunately, the TFYP network was going in a different direction and in turn, simplified its content and split away its community forum board. From September 2011, the Wrights Productions website was once again, stand-alone. Despite this, the relationship with the TFYP network remains strong. Adam continued to edit some of the TFYP shows which had begun during the merged era, and remains close friends with TFYP owner Matthew Ellis.