Every dog has its day
Jonny Madderson (MA Hons 2003) and Jono Stevens (MA Hons 2003) reflect on their filmmaking beginnings at St Andrews following their recent BAFTA win for their documentary, Hustle and Run. From their first short film produced as students for iMovie Fest, to the smash-hit YouTube series that would launch their careers in film and TV, and their recent award-season sweep, Jonny and Jono’s friendship has remained steadfast through the years.
To win a BAFTA is special. To win a BAFTA with your best mate is the stuff of dreams. We, Jonny Madderson (MA Hons 2003) and Jono Stevens (MA Hons 2003), met at the University of St Andrews in 1999 and started making films together on a camcorder around 2003. Standing on stage to collect our BAFTA together in 2026, we were both visibly choked up. It’s been some journey.
Neither of us studied film. Jono studied Philosophy, Jonny studied Geography. Turns out to be quite a good combination for a documentary filmmaking duo. But St Andrews gave us something more valuable than a degree: it gave us the freedom to play, and the encouragement to try things. There was a university film festival called iMovie Fest, where we made our first short; we felt the thrill of making something and showing it to an audience (even if the film itself wasn’t losing Michel Gondry any sleep!). We’d head to the DVD rental shop in town called Alphabet, run by a film buff who’d recommend things like Donnie Darko and Y Tu Mamá También. It all got in our blood. We were two friends who loved film – but had absolutely no idea what to do with that yet.
The idea that changed everything
What came next was the gift that changed everything. In 2007, fresh out of advertising jobs, Jono had the bright idea that became Black Cab Sessions: an intimate YouTube music series where we filmed artists playing in the back of a London cab. Featuring over 300 stripped back sessions with the likes of John Legend, Brian Wilson, Bon Iver, Mumford & Sons, The National and Charli XCX, the series was critically acclaimed and became a Channel 4 TV series. Time Out called it ’the savior of music TV’ and SXSW ‘the most innovative thing going on in music’. But this YouTube series wasn’t just a breakthrough project – it showed us the way.
We founded our film studio, JustSo, out of that spirit. Twenty years on, we’ve made work for Channel 4, Netflix, Disney, Adidas, Expedia, Red Bull, the Olympics, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and LEGO, and we’re proud to be a certified B Corp. Our team has grown, but the storytelling DNA hasn’t changed.
The making of Hustle and Run
Which brings us to our BAFTA-winning Channel 4 film, Hustle and Run. The Usain Bolts of the canine world. A posh game of fetch. Whatever you call it, the sport of flyball is joyful, exhilarating – and untapped. As filmmakers, it felt like a chance to bring together two much-loved storytelling worlds – sports documentaries and dog stories – into something feel-good and thrilling. Full disclosure: we’re not impartial. Jonny is a whippet ultra (Enzo has melted his heart). Jono has a sighthound (love you Lupa). We are a couple of softies. When we stumbled across flyball at Crufts on YouTube – millions of views, utterly electric – we were hooked immediately. Teams of friends and their pets going pedal-to-the-metal under the lights of the world’s greatest dog show. With dogs in our lives and given all the sports documentaries we’ve made together, we felt there was something in flyball. The sport had charmed our socks off.
We started ringing flyball teams, and the early conversations were sweet, filled with love, teamwork and community, but lacked the edge of a great sports documentary. Then, Jonny rang Jeannette Shelley, captain of the Aces flyball team in Kent, and everything changed. It was one of those rare encounters every documentary filmmaker chases: that feeling of gathering excitement as someone tells their story, and the tuning fork goes off in your heart. Jeannette, maverick captain of an underdog team once ranked in the lowly 200s, had stormed the sport with a revolutionary strategy. For 25 years, flyball had been dominated by border collies. Whippets – fast as lightning but deemed too lazy, too naughty, too mercurial – had never won on the elite stage. Jeannette saw something others didn’t. She bet on the long shot. In her own words, we gambled on balls-to-the-wall speed’. This was Moneyball with whippets.
The underdog takes the win
The making of this film shared a similar underdog energy. No major sports IP, no famous sports stars. But Channel 4 saw its potential, and we are so proud of our film Hustle and Run, co-directed by us, produced by Sara Conlon and the wonderful team from JustSo. The film won awards internationally at festivals, won Sports Documentary of the Year (under 60 minutes) at the Broadcast Sport Awards, and then this all culminated in May 2026, when we won a BAFTA.
Rowben Lantion / Getty Images
We are so happy that the film has made this impact, because it’s about things the world needs more of right now: love, community and whippets. To win the BAFTA as friends who started making films together way back at St Andrews is very, very special. And just goes to show – every dog has its day.