Bustr builds Trinidad and Tobago’s creative economy

AT just 24 years old, Arouca-born entrepreneur Seth Nurse has taken on the monumental task of helping to build what he calls a “creative economy” in Trinidad and Tobago and hopefully one day, the Caribbean.

As CEO and founder of Bustr Media Enterprise Ltd, Nurse has transformed frustration into innovation, establishing a creative hub that aims to provide the structure for and support the local entertainment industry.

Bustr is dedicated to empowering creators, entrepreneurs and intellectual property (IP) owners. Its core focus lies in content development, creative management, media infrastructure and cultural engagement, with the overall goal of streamlining the creative pipeline for the distribution of film, games and books.

Nurse told Newsday it is something he has been working on for a while, born out of frustration with the lack of structure in the local creative industry and a desire to play his part in developing it.

Bustr offers two main types of services to creatives – extended and commission-based. The extended services include development, marketing, legal guidance and distribution, while the commission-based ones see the company attaching itself to an IP as producers. This allows them to guide creatives through the publishing, distribution and marketing process and get their projects off the ground.

“Basically we connect them with resources and personnel required for getting their projects into shape for release to the larger world.”

Building a creative network

Bustr’s first client was author Ciara Attong, whose book Dark and Cold inspired one of the company’s first major projects. Bustr proposed adapting the novel into a short film called One of Iron, republished a new edition of the book and planned to use the film as a marketing tool to revitalise it through events and screenings.

Another collaboration is with Accent Game Studios, a small studio that developed Riddim Rabbit, a steelpan-based video game expected to be released around Easter 2026. Both projects reflect Bustr’s commitment to content that is authentically local but commercially viable beyond TT’s borders.

But Nurse’s vision does not stop there.

The company has been working on several new initiatives aimed at building a stronger creative network. Among them is WI of the Future, an online magazine expected to launch next year, featuring Caribbean creatives doing “cool things” and connecting them with others in the field.

Another project, Bustrmrkt, takes creators, including game developers, on tour around the country to showcase their work at comic conventions, malls, schools and other venues. Bustrmrkt is also a precursor to a digital marketplace now in development. This online platform gives creators exposure, allowing people to engage with content and products such as merchandise and products created by Caribbean artists.

Katrina Khan-Roberts was one of the participants of Bustrmrkt tour in September. She is the author of the children’s books Mertrina: Marine Minded and Anaparima and took on the role of Mertrina the TT Mermaid. Mertrina is the embodiment of the ocean and is the title character guiding people of different ages towards ocean literacy.

Khan-Roberts spent her childhood at the beach and witnessed the changes of the coastal zone due to human activities. Using her BSC in environmental and natural resource management, minors in marine biology and zoology, and MSc in tourism development and management from UWI, as well as her vast experience, she published books and resources related to educating others about the ocean and how to protect it.

“Through our licencing and creating of products through the IP of our clients, we do get returns from that. And, like I said, we do commission-based services as well. And a lot of the things that we pull off is through connections, so we don't necessarily pay full price to get something done," Nurse explained.

“That is the business model – fostering collaborations to make the ‘pipe dream’ every creative has possible. So sustainability is definitely something that we're working towards next year, which is why we're launching a shop and creating a bunch of IP that has product potential.”

Becoming Bustr

Since age 14, Nurse has been involved in creative work – drawing, acting in theatre and advertisements, working as a production assistant and even teaching guitar. He wrote hundreds of songs before his curiosity led him to film. He spent countless hours reading scripts and learning how to format screenplays, eventually writing his own.

“The switch came from me being curious about creating stories. When I wrote my songs I used to imagine music videos and other visuals in my head as well. So, the storytelling aspect was a very easy lateral movement to film.”

As his passion for film evolved, he decided to pursue it formally.

He attended the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of TT (COSTAATT) and graduated with an associate degree in film and video production in 2023.

During his first year at COSTAATT, he attended several film workshops and notices a pattern of complaints among creatives – a lack of structure, resources and support. At one of the last sessions he attended, in October 2019, the facilitator challenged participants to create something tangible that could address these issues.

Then the covid19 pandemic hit. He found himself thinking deeply about his life’s direction and began to sketch out the idea for a collaborative and supportive business structure that would eventually become Bustr.

Around that same period, he joined the youth jury at the TT Film Festival, which turned out to be an excellent networking opportunity. He later launched the comedic sketch series Kix at the festival in 2024.

Nurse also earned his teacher’s licence in 2022, taught social sciences, English and theatre at a private school and is currently doing a bachelor of laws degree from the University of London through the Academy of Tertiary Studies.

“I dabbed in a lot of things. But it led me to the realisation something needed to be done towards supporting the industry. I frame what we do as ‘guidance,’ because whereas we don't fully have the resources yet to sustain a full production, we are connected with a lot of people, and we make a lot of partnerships towards making whatever the person is trying to create possible. Which is why we try to make our services as affordable as possible.”

As Bustr grows, Nurse hopes to expand its reach, deepen its sustainability and create a model that can stand on its own.

“I hope that five to ten years down the line, it could be a body that essentially functions on its own, is self-sufficient to the point it can run its operations without me being the spearheader, a company that easily connects industry people and that does what it's intended to do but on a larger scale.

“I also see it as a hub for games, films and books that makes them more commercially acceptable in an international capacity. The obvious trajectory is a streaming platform for the films, an arcade for local games and stuff like that. There's a lot of options, but it must have the core goal of supporting the industry and creating infrastructure for it to be viable careers for people.”