Bringing Human Rights Closer to Home

Amnesty International sits at the heart of the global human rights movement. But in the UK, much of their work goes unnoticed – with many people failing to see the crises on their doorstep as the erosion of human rights. The brief was to change that with a campaign led by AIUK ambassador and national treasure, Olivia Colman.

One thing that does cut through? The gritty British TV drama. Stories like Happy Valley and Broadchurch draw millions, often exploring safety, dignity and injustice without ever calling them human rights. And with Olivia Colman attached to the brief, it felt like the right language to speak.

So instead of writing an advert, I wrote a trailer.

Campaign concept, idea development, scripting, creative direction.

Finding the right story

Once we knew drama was the way in, the question was which story to tell. We dug into Amnesty’s UK work on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, looking at the real life intersection between housing, health and cost of living crises.

Temporary accommodation kept coming up – an overlooked issue where human rights failures are playing out quietly across the UK. Conversations with people who had lived through it, including a single mother experiencing homelessness with young children, helped shape both the story and how we chose to tell it.

and writing it like drama

I built the script as if Before Our Eyes were a genuine TV series. I studied drama trailers to understand the beats they rely on, then mapped out a six-episode mini-series that could realistically exist beyond the trailer itself.

I wrote key scenes from each episode in full, before shaping two scripts: one designed purely for the trailer edit, and one for filming – giving the actors and crew space to sit in the emotion and bring the story to life. Treating it like real drama, rather than an ad, was what made the final film feel convincing.

Drop it like it’s not
(an ad)

The campaign was rolled out as if Before Our Eyes were an upcoming series. Teasers, stills and behind-the-scenes content were released on social, building anticipation (and an audience) not for a launch – but for a trailer drop.

When the trailer landed, the reveal happened within the film itself, so it worked just as powerfully in isolation as it did as part of the wider campaign. The film was shown in cinemas across the UK, reaching millions, with additional content following to open up conversations around human rights and the realities behind the story.

the campaign secured coverage in over 200 outlets