If you ever bought a medium steak from Rebs Fisher-Jackson when she worked in the Truro branch of the Oggy Oggy Pasty Shop, you might be surprised to find you inspired her creatively.

“I wrote customers into my stories – visitors and locals alike,” she admits. “I also drove colleagues nuts with tales of how I wanted to go to Cardiff, work in films and write for Doctor Who. They kindly humoured me.”

But these were no pipe dreams. Having studied English literature at Cardiff University, Rebs moved into scriptwriting and directing.

Now, with a clutch of screenwriting credits and film shorts to her name, she has bagged a BAFTA-Fulbright scholarship to study screenwriting at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), for two years from September.

Rebs, 26, attended Truro School, where she directed and acted in productions and bombarded teachers with her writing, from weekly fiction chapters to film reviews.

Inspired by the US “dramedies” of her childhood, she was also influenced by the film La La Land, which she saw at Truro’s Plaza cinema.

“I knew at that moment that I wanted to move people with my stories,” she said. “I also knew that if I wanted to make it work, I needed to fully commit.

“I come from a working-class family, and was the first to go to university. I also spent a lot of time off school due to ME. But I was adamant I would do this, even if I was told no.”

Her university course was chosen for its module in Hitchcock films, and its closeness to the lively Welsh film and television industry - including Doctor Who – which provided post-graduation employment.

“I was willing to do any job on set, even organising the parking,” she laughs. “I grabbed any opportunity with both hands. And if you talk to people, they like authenticity, and dreams. They keep you in mind.”

Her tenacity paid off, and she has worked on some of the most popular shows around, from Casualty and Doctors to current BBC hit Lost Boys and Fairies.

As part of UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television, Rebs hopes to learn how to use her voice as an LGBTQ+ filmmaker to champion diversity on-screen.

She will work under one of her all-time favourite screenwriters: Phyllis Nagy, whose screenplay for the 2015 film Carol, starring Cate Blanchett, was Oscar-nominated.

“It’s such a powerful film,” she recalled. “It was like watching myself on screen.

“Working with Phyllis is a full-circle moment. I would love to inspire the next generation of film-makers the way she inspired me.”

Her ultimate ambition is to come home. “I still feel Cornish, and I hope to bring Hollywood back to Cornwall.”