Joy's Place - Creative TV for Creative Families

Aim

To make three preview episodes for TV, that teach children to be creative - a puppet, live action show, set in a stunning old theatre

What Happens When A Troop Of Misfit Puppets Band Together To Run An Old Theatre?

Joy's Place is a wonderful world, set in a dusty yet magical old theatre. Inside live a mischievous group of puppets, all here because they have no place else to go, because the shows they were created for are over! The theatre owner, Joy, a warm-hearted human trying to run the place on a shoestring, has given them a home, and they help her to fix and clean the place. They welcome the many artists and performers who come to rehearse at the theatre. 

The puppets are always curious and through meeting the artists, they are able to learn new skills from them and in turn, so do the families watching. We meet actors, musicians, songwriters, poets, jugglers, dancers, designers and even a resident puppet maker! 

Joy's place is a charming show about discovery and friendship, supporting each other to have ideas and try them out.

Why We’re Making This

We have been working with children since the inception of our work, with over 30 years’ experience, and are passionate about three things:

• children's creativity
• families enjoying things together
• ALL children should have equal access to the arts. 

We want to start creating our wonderful TV series, so that everyone can get to watch and learn.  Each of our theatre shows has been made with children as part of our creative team, as equal collaborators, bringing a resonance to our shows that families really connect with.  We love the magic that happens as we learn from each other and empower the children to embrace their creative ideas.

About The Creators

Our creative team, led by Artistic Director Niki McCretton, is made up of puppeteers, performers and musicians skilled in understanding children’s sensibilities. They are all artists with whom we have collaborated and had fun for many years.  All passionate people, with quirky imaginations and high levels of skill. We have advisors and mentors from Children’s Television to help us. We are also working with some young creative graduates, who will gain work experience by being part of this project.  It will be filmed at our base – a real, old theatre (over 200 years old) where we are based, and all of our puppets have been born!  It’s called the Lyric Theatre and is in Bridport, Dorset, UK.  It’s a treasure of a building and in a way is the main character! 

We always collaborate with children and young people in the creation of our productions.

We are working with local primary schoolchildren in Bridport as well as several older pupils who have been alongside us for several years now and act as our advisors.

All will help us find and test ideas for characters and storylines – tell us what they want to see and what they want to learn from viewing and co-viewing with their parents and siblings. Their collaboration is always invaluable and we have an immense amount of fun in our creative process because of their ideas.

Why Support This?

Supporting Joy's Place will enable us to reach more children, to use brilliant artists and creatives to show our viewers how to try things out for themselves. With this guidance they might write poetry, make brilliant songs, or create something no one has ever seen before! This is not just for children… We also know from creating our live theatre shows how to entertain and transfix adults - we would never make a show where you simply watch your children watching. Many parents and grandparents have thanked us for making something witty and clever that entrances the whole family.  They talk together excitedly with their children about what they all just saw, and come back to see us again and again, wanting to know how we made such clever and imaginative scenes!  

Joy's Place is being created to help parents come back to watching TV alongside their child. So much content today is watched by children on their own because it is not designed for you, the adults, to enjoy! It’s too fast, too loud, too repetitive. Joy’s Place is different. It is something heartfelt and meaningful to watch together, with a pace that engages and enthrals. It will offer something creative that you can all enjoy doing together.  It’s proper, good, old-fashioned telly! 

How Will You Use My Money?

By supporting Joy’s Place, you’ll be funding three brand-new TV episodes made in a real theatre with professional artists, writers, and puppeteers. Your backing pays directly for the cast, crew, sets, music, and the puppets themselves - everything needed to turn this idea into a broadcast-quality show. Most importantly, you’ll be helping us share stories that inspire children to be creative, confident, and to be proud of who they are, whilst giving families something they can enjoy together.

Your generous support will go directly into:

• 🎥 Cast and crew: We have a superb, tight-knit team of actors and crew who will bring creativity, talent, and joy to this project. They’ll make the puppets sparkle with life, capture the magic on camera, and ensure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes.
• 📝 Writers: The witty, warm-hearted scripts will be written by our Artistic Director, Niki McCretton. Niki is a well-established writer-director behind all our Stuff and Nonsense theatre shows, and together they’ll create the playful, meaningful stories that Joy’s Place is built on.
• 🎶 Songwriting: Every TV show needs a catchy theme song. Our trusted composer will sprinkle his musical magic.
• 🎭 Set builds/hire and props: The home of Joy’s Place will be the Lyric Theatre in Bridport – the perfect space for a puppet theatre run by puppets! 
• 🐷 Puppets: The beauty of this project is that we already have plenty of established puppet characters ready to perform, borrowed from our theatre shows. But they’ll need some tender loving care – touch-ups, fresh costumes, and possibly the creation of a few brand-new friends.
• ✂️ Editing & Post-Production: After filming comes the polish - editing the footage, adding titles, sound design, and making sure everything feels smooth and broadcast-ready.
• 📺 Distribution: We want Joy’s Place to be seen by as many families as possible – and to get it in front of industry decision-makers. Some funds will go toward making sure the show reaches a wide audience and has the best chance to grow.
• 📣 Marketing & Materials: Making posters, digital graphics, and social media content to build buzz around the show.
• ♿️ Accessibility: Creating captions, transcripts, or audio description versions so Joy’s Place can reach as many children and families as possible.

This Is For Fans Of:

Sesame Street & The Muppets

The Repair Shop

Fraggle Rock

Stuff and Nonsense Theatre shows

Family Entertainment

Note From Our Patron

'Take a child (by which I mean, anyone from 3 to 103) to a show by Stuff &Nonsense. Watch how, within a minute or two their smile begins to widen, their mind starts to expand ... witness how they’ve been converted to the mad, impossible beauty of theatre, & how life will now be so much richer for them...Niki [McCretton]'s a magnet for talent & great artists: we need to treasure her.'

Chris Chibnall (Writer: Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Torchwood and Stuff and Nonsense Patron)

From our Benefactors

'We are excited to support the crowdfunding campaign for Joy's Place. There is a real need for slow, more educational, creative entertainment for children as an antidote to the more frenzied offerings that dominate the market.  We love Niki's puppets and feel they should have their moment to shine in the incredible setting that is The Lyric, Bridport.' Vic and Chris Davison

Show Credits

Director - Niki McCretton

Puppeteers - Jenny Harrold & Toby Gascoigne

Design & Puppets - Holly Miller 

Director of Photography - Elliot Millson

Sound Recording - Gerardo Pastor Ruiz

Writing Consultant - Kate Scott

Assistant - Rosie Matthewson

Editing - Elliot Millson & Cal Chibnall

Executive Producer - Jane McGibbon

Associate Producer - Spoon McGibbon

Any Questions?

Contact us here: [email protected]

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made