About Adam CollinsEXPERIENCE ON
BOTH SIDES
of the lens.

My first films were made with my dad’s camcorder and whichever friends I could persuade to stand in front of it. Cinema had captured my imagination early, and I wanted to discover how to create that feeling for someone else.

Growing up, martial arts and cinema became my refuge. I earned black belts in both karate and kickboxing, and won national and European championships. At sixteen, I began working towards the British Stunt Register, a path that led to an audition for Batman Begins. From around four hundred hopefuls, I was among the small group chosen to portray a member of Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Shadows.

Watching Christopher Nolan work gave my ambition a sharper focus. His composure, meticulous preparation and command of detail showed me how a director could make an extraordinary world feel entirely convincing. That experience stayed with me, even when my life took a different course.

At twenty, with limited means to fund my stunt training, I joined the Royal Marines. Commando training demanded everything I had and gave me the foundations for much of what followed. I served with 40 Commando and deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 on Operation Herrick 9. I later joined the Royal Marines Reserve, bringing my combined service to more than ten years. The responsibility, discipline and experience of working under pressure continue to shape both my approach to a set and my understanding of the people I write.

After leaving the regulars, I worked in maritime security and close protection, leading armed teams protecting ships from pirate attack groups around the Somali basin. Deployments funded my stunt training; between operational duties, I began writing Outlawed.

Back home, I developed and co-wrote the screenplay with Luke Radford, then co-directed the film through to its release in 2018. It secured international distribution through Vision Films and subsequently reached Netflix. Taking a feature from the first page to a finished film taught me to consider every creative decision alongside the practical demands of delivering it.

Qualifying for the British Stunt Register brought me back to Nolan on Dunkirk, followed by Michael Bay’s Transformers: The Last Knight. Working across major films and television, including Mission: Impossible, No Time to Die, The Gorge and Doctor Who, broadened that experience as I progressed into stunt coordination, action design and second unit directing.

Writing and directing have remained central throughout. Alongside commissioned commercial work, I have written Hood: A Legend Reborn, the now-optioned Knightfall, and Knightfall 2, co-written with Ray Bullock. I am a full member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and the British Stunt Register, and a member of Equity and SAG-AFTRA.

These experiences meet in the work I make today. My military background lends authenticity to action and informs my tactical advice and cast training. My years on set give me the practical knowledge to realise what is on the page. At the heart of it all is the same ambition that first drew me to cinema: to tell a story that holds an audience completely, and stays with them afterwards.