Growing up in underprivileged communities, our founders and many of the individuals whom we work with have experienced poverty, crime and violence throughout their life. When these settings become a person’s norm, it becomes extremely difficult to find solace, entertainment or pleasure in reading and writing. Nevertheless, we believe that these skills are paramount to emotional, mental, academic and intellectual development, which is why encouraging young people to enhance their writing abilities and read more often is at the heart of what we do.

Founded in 2023 by Robbie Peter & Leon Williams, BTWN The Lines was born out of a passion for literature, film and a desire to help others. Crowned winner of both London Metropolitan University: The Big Idea Challenge’s Community Award & Grand Champion Award in April 2023, BTWN The Lines has solidified itself as the pioneer of the creators of MovieBooks (books that incorporate QR code technology, which once scanned, reveals like-for-like scene adaptations from the corresponding text on the page).

Although he hadn’t read a novel until 2020, Robbie Peter, who writes under the pseudonym Michael Peter, completed his debut novel A Life Not Lived in December 2022, but after seeing multiple rejections from dozens of publishing companies, decided to self publish his novel through Amazon KDP. What followed was months of trying to conquer the arduous task of marketing his book to a wider audience, which led Robbie to realize that there had to be a better way.

Robbie’s experience isn’t unique, in fact, less than 2% of all books submitted to publishers in the UK are accepted, leaving over 98% of stories written by aspiring authors lacking the knowledge and financial support, needed for any book to reach a wide audience, never realizing their full potential.

Now, the proud producers of the inaugural MovieBook: A Life Not Lived: The MovieBook, BTWN The Lines CIC wants to help other struggling authors get their voices heard. We believe everybody has a story to tell, no matter their age, race, religion or gender.

• 20% of all books we publish are from unpublished writers.

• A minimum of 30% of all cast members we employ are from under serviced communities.

• A minimum of 25% of all cast members we employ are from BAME communities.

• 25% of all crew members we employ are students or freelancers.

• 25% of all crew members we employ are from underprivileged communities.