The Our Jay Foundation was created following the tragic death of Jamie “Jay” Rees, who suffered a cardiac arrest when no defibrillator was available nearby to help save him. Following this devastating experience, Naomi and the foundation team began campaigning to improve public access to defibrillators and raise awareness around CPR and emergency response. Their work has since helped provide life-saving equipment to communities across the UK while also educating people on the importance of acting quickly during cardiac emergencies.

Although the idea for the documentary started in 2025, the full production process did not properly begin until January 2026. During this time, I had my first official meeting with Naomi alongside Isabelle, who came on board as the documentary’s director while I took on the role of producer. In this initial meeting, we discussed the overall structure of the documentary, key filming dates, and the different events and activities happening within the foundation that we wanted to capture on screen. It was important for us to create a documentary that not only told Jay’s story but also highlighted the continuing work being done through the foundation.

Our first major filming period took place in February 2026. During this stage, we filmed one of Naomi’s CPR training events alongside Naomi’s master interview. Normally, a master interview would be filmed later in the documentary process once more footage had been gathered, but due to our production schedule and deadline of May 2026, we decided it made the most sense to film it earlier. This interview became a central part of the documentary and helped shape the emotional direction and structure of the film moving forward.

In March, we returned for additional filming across multiple days. One of these shoots involved filming with Nic, a paramedic connected to the foundation, where we captured further interviews and insight into the importance of emergency response and CPR awareness. We also spent time filming observational footage and additional interview content with Naomi at the cemetery, which became some of the documentary’s most emotional and reflective moments.

The following day, we filmed a police handover event where seven defibrillators were donated to West Midlands Police. This shoot allowed us to capture the real-world impact of The Our Jay Foundation’s work and document the growing reach of the charity’s mission. Filming these public events helped balance the documentary emotionally by combining personal grief and remembrance with positive action and community support.

Once filming had been completed, we moved into the incubation and post-production process, reviewing all footage carefully and making sure we had everything needed to tell the story effectively. The editing stage took approximately two to three weeks, during which the documentary gradually came together through interviews, observational footage and archive material.

Producing Our Jay: Every Second Counts was an incredibly meaningful experience and one that taught me a huge amount about documentary storytelling, sensitive interviewing and producing factual content around real-life experiences. I’m extremely proud of the final documentary and grateful to everyone involved for trusting us to tell such an important story.