Who Are Outward Films?

Outward Films is a creative partnership dreamt up by writers and filmmakers Miles Watts & Oliver Semple and actor & writer Maria Gray. All three unsavoury characters reside near the hazy metropolis of York, UK.

Between us, we’ve written, produced, directed and acted in plays, series and films our whole lives, and have joined forces to create an ambitious slate of new work including feature films shot on iPhone, micro-budget movies for international audiences and a stack of screenplays across genres. 

If you look at the logo for Outward Films, designed by Vicky Parry, you’ll see it looks like a tatty luggage label bearing the image of a scruffy person - not even slightly based on someone she knows - looking out at the big wide world and daydreaming of stories and adventures.

That’s our entire ethos. We’re small-town creators with ambitious dreams. Maria is making her break into features with our first iPhone movie Your Sin, a theatre-set drama which she wrote and stars in. She and Miles have wrapped production this June on Your Sin and are now moving onto their second iPhone feature Drop Dead! which looks back to 1999 with its promise of cinematic DIY freedom that’s experiencing a renaissance in 2026.

Oliver and Miles have also co-written Christmas Spirits, a comedy screenplay based on a true crime story that happened a couple of Christmases ago in Yorkshire, and that is currently in the casting and budgeting stage.

Finally, Miles is working with UK and US producers to make several bigger budget movies a reality…

That’s all, folks. For now. 

Contact any of us at outwardfilm@gmail.com