The Griffin Report: Film production boss on working with Tom Cruise and Gareth Southgate

From wedding photography to working with the likes of Tom Cruise and Gareth Southgate – Streetly-based JAKE BARRATT now runs a UK global film production company. JON GRIFFIN caught up with the boss of the now half-million-turnover company.

A tiny slice of Birmingham industry played a major part in bringing the build-up to the biggest annual sporting event in America to millions of TV screens worldwide - with the help of Tom Cruise…

But one of the biggest names in Hollywood history had been just as keen to discuss the delights of the menu at renowned Brummie Indian restaurant Asha’s when filming for the Superbowl preview, which took place at Pinewood Studios.

Jake Barrett, founder and production director of city-based film production company BTV.UK, is recalling his one-off afternoon with Hollywood royalty which would provide the TV introduction to February's world sporting spectacular.

“We were talking about curry and he said has anyone got any good recommendations for London restaurants because I fancy an Indian tonight? I said ‘funny you should say that because we are from Birmingham’.

“He was like ‘I love Asha’s, the food there is so good’. We were talking about that for ages. On the shoot day we had him for three and a half hours - it was supposed to be an hour.

“But he gave us so much time - it was amazing. I had a lot of respect for him before but to work with him and to see his work ethic and how much passion he’d got for everything was unreal.

“That job was amazing proof of what we can do as a team. We just pulled in the very best people that we know, that we’ve built relationships with and we trust.”

BTV’s afternoon filming with Tom Cruise at Pinewood Studios - the firm’s fourth collaboration with FOX Sports - provided the starring screen role so far for the Birmingham film venture founded by Streetly-based film production director Jake.

BTV had also previously worked with high-profile names such as legendary film director Sir Ridley Scott, baseball star Chase Utley and at St George's Park, Burton, with the England football team led by then manager Gareth Southgate in the build-up to the Qatar World Cup in December 2022.

Quite a roll-call of international talent - but the former Cannock schoolboy, who has built BTV into a six-figure turnover operation within a few short years, is keen to stress that he doesn't rub shoulders with the likes of Tom Cruise or Gareth Southgate every day of the working week…

“Those jobs aren't every day - they're not our bread and butter. It doesn't matter whether you are a small business wanting to do their first ever promo all the way up to FOX Sports. We come with the same process and drive and passion for all of them - it's not like you have got to pay £100,000 to work with us.”

That attention to detail has brought BTV a string of blue-chip clients, from E.ON to FOX Sports, Subaru, Isuzu, Bosch, and many other well-known names as well as smaller one-off jobs as the Birmingham firm’s reputation continues to grow.

A keen horse-rider in his youth - a hobby shared with his mother and sister - Jake developed a taste for photography, capturing images of his horses.

“It was just a hobby and by the age of 15 I was doing weddings for people.”

That talent for photography would prove the catalyst for the fledgling business that would eventually become BTV.

But working with the likes of Tom Cruise and Gareth Southgate didn't just fall into Jake's lap - they were the culmination of years of hard work leading on from his days photographing horses and weddings before a two-year course in creative media production at Birmingham Ormiston Academy.

From 2015 he built up his camera experience in a series of roles at a string of film and video ventures, including London TV production company Dragonfly, North One Television with the Gadget Show, co-founding Hipster with TV, billboard and social media assignments.

And Bromsgrove-based Superdream, managing film content for international clients - before branching out on his own with BTV.

“There were about 40 of us over at Bromsgrove. That was just great for me because I had learnt so much about the film side of stuff and Superdream provided me with fundamental marketing knowledge which was like gold - it set me up for the rest of my career.

“I just decided that I wanted to go solo so I set up what was originally the Barrett Film Company. I gradually built a network of people who I knew I could trust - that's kind of how we started.

At that time I was still unsure - am I a director? Am I a camera operator? What do I want to be? I don't quite know.

“We’d gone from Barrett Film Company to Barrett TV and then I was in a position where I wanted to get my name off the door.

“I wanted this to be very much about the team and what we’re trying to achieve as a brand rather than just myself - we shortened the name to BTV.UK back in 2022.

“Since then, we’ve just kind of run with it. It's developed so much since then in so many different ways and I focused on what I do best as a producer.

It's my absolute passion being able to run the projects, oversee budgets, manage clients - I now very much take a back seat from filming.”

BTV'S reputation has grown to such an extent in a relatively short period of time that an overwhelming 95 per cent of its business is from referrals, often from agency clients and contacts established over the years.

“One of our biggest retained clients right now is E.ON - it gives us the stability as a business to know we've got regular work coming in from them.”

Jake - with another full-time employee Leah Hosker helping mastermind the talents of an army of 250 freelances - is now looking to cement a profitable future for BTV.

“We’ve hit half a million turnover so far in 2025, considerably more than we’ve done previously. This is an extremely competitive world we are working in and I’m very proud of what we're doing. We’re so passionate about it and hungry for more. I’m putting in ridiculous hours - but I love it.

“It's not work to me - it's life.”

This article first appeared in the May 2025 edition of Chamberlink magazine.

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