In 2010 Bracewell met actors and writers Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond after his daughter showed him sketches from the award-winning CBBC programme "Horrible Histories". Bracewell had directed Willbond previously in "The Gigolos". Together, Bracewell, Rickard and Willbond devised an original idea for a comedy about the origins of William Shakespeare, based around the years between 1585 and 1592 known as Shakespeare's "lost years". Subsequently, in 2011 BBC Films commissioned Punk Cinema to develop a screenplay for "Bill" based on the idea.