Three writers have been named as Film London Lodestars for 2021 and tipped as future stars of the industry. You can learn more about them below, including messages from the people who nominated them for the award.

Kam Odedra (@kamodedra)

Originally from the midlands, Kam Odedra is a screenwriter living in London. She began her career as a script editor working for Nicola Shindler at Red Production Company. Her editorial credits include Happy Valley (1 & 2), Last Tango In Halifax (1-4) Banana, Gangs of London and she story produced Ackley Bridge (4).

As a writer, Kam has numerous original ideas in development with production companies including Lime Pictures, World Productions and Tall Story Pictures. She also has an original idea with Echo Lake in the US which is a TV series set in India with Academy Award nominee Deepa Mehta attached to direct.

Her recent writing credits include Ackley Bridge (series 4), McDonald & Dodds (series 2) and an episode of an untitled George Kay series for Apple TV. She's also the show runner and lead writer on the This Life reboot which is in development at Britbox.

Jayisha Patel (@jayishapatel)

Jayisha is an Award-winning London based filmmaker and Artist-in-Residence at Somerset House who creates at the intersection of Film and VR. Her body of work focuses on telling the stories of women of colour in intimate, often unconventional ways. Her films have screened at festivals such as the Berlinale, TIFF, Sundance, SXSW and BFI LFF amongst others. In 2020, she was named a Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow. She is currently working on her debut narrative feature, Amazon for which she received Early Development funding from BFI Network x Film London and Arts Council England.

Joshua Robertson (@yeahmanOG)

Josh had a quad bike accident at age 11 that left him severely disabled. He was told he'd never walk or talk again. Now a professional comedian, actor, and writer, he regularly performs at The Comedy Store London. Josh co-wrote and starred in the Film London short Dad Joke, which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in 2019 and was nominated for Best British Short at LSFF. Josh was shortlisted for iFeatures the same year with his debut feature script.

Josh then received a John Brabourne Award to support the adaptation of this short into a TV series. In 2020 he was selected for EIFF's Talent Lab Connects, where this development was overseen by mentors Kate Leys and Keith Potter. He also made his feature debut as an actor that year, in Rocky Palladino's indie feature Phea, due for release in 2021.

You can see the full list of Film London Lodestars for 2021 here.