28 APRIL 2020 http://www.writers-online.co.ukTunstall, if he’d be up for doing it, and
he in turn suggested his friend Phil
Molloy. Then I asked around a few
pubs in Derbyshire, where I originally
come from. Luckily we got a pub, for
free no less, up in Heanor. We had
the pub for the day, except it would
still be open. This was something
we just had to work around, again
using the obstacle and making it part
of the film in that we just had the
background noise of the pub play as
it happened. We just went with the
noise and it ended up really adding to
the atmosphere.’
Two Old Boys was shot in a day
in April 2018 for ‘no money other
than a bit of food for everyone. It’s
important to always feed your cast and
crew.’ Three months later, in June,
‘we were back filming Shining Tor. I
allowed myself to think a big bigger.
For starters Tor takes place outside,
up the wilds of the country, so you’re
at the mercy of the elements, and this
one was a fantasy, which required
some special effects.
‘Now I should say that I’m very
much the writer and the director on
these films, meaning, I don’t pick up
the camera, I don’t know how to edit,
or do special effects. I found someone
better than me to do those things, and
I think that’s a big part of it. You do
have to find what you’re good at, don’t
try and do everything yourself. I’ve
been lucky that Mick is really good
at those things. He won an award for
Best Visual Effects for Shining Tor.’
The film was another example
of where contacts comes into play.
‘I asked Laura Rollins and Ashley
Rice, who star in Doctors, if they’d
do my short and they said yes. Laura
also won an award for her acting in
Shining Tor, so that really paid off. But
again, it was made on nothing more
than sheer will and sheer goodwill. It
didn’t cost anything really, other than
time. And both films have played in
festivals around the world. Shining Tor
was even screened at Cannes in 2019.’
Reflecting on the films he’s made
so far, Andrew offers that ‘shorts are
a great proving ground – they’re a
great place to experiment without
too much weight on them. When I
made A Reckoning, I was pretty much
putting all my eggs in one basket, and
I destroyed my life in the process. I
went for broke and well, ended up
1 Use what resources you have. Have you found a
brilliant location? Write using it.2 Write your film around your resources: locations,
people, equipment, budget.3 Build flexibility into your script. If shooting outdoors
allow for what the weather might do.4 Make contacts. Online there are whole
communities of people equally keen to make a film.5 Get to know people who already are filmmakers.
Enlist their help.6 Contact university film or drama departments.
They are full of students looking for filmmaking
experience.7 Whenever money is involved have a contract.8 Don’t try to do it all yourself. Know your skills and
weaknesses and work with other people.9 Feed your cast and crew. Like an army, a film
production marches on its stomach.10 Don’t give up, and don’t be put off.TOP TIPSfor writing and
making your film
broke. But with a short it’s much
more manageable. They’re still quite
an undertaking – any film is – but
nothing on the scale of a feature.’
There is something else Andrew
thinks new filmmakers should take
into consideration – that in just the
decade since he made A Reckoning,
‘times have changed. The entire
landscape is different. Low-to-no
budget feature films are a very
tough sell. There is no DVD market
anymore, not really, but I think
streaming and the way we consume
content now has opened up the
market for shorter-length narrative
films. Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the
co-founders of Dreamworks, is about
to launch Quibi, which is all short
content, and I’m embracing that now.
I’ve shaken off my old Gen X ideas of
a theatrical feature.’ Basically, Andrew
suggests, unless you’re making a $200
million franchise movie, traditional
cinema ‘is over, but all new options
are opening up and it’s really exciting.’
In the end, Andrew says, ‘For now,
I’m happy making short form
narratives. I’ve written a couple
of scripts for films made by other
directors and that’s been exciting.
We’ve got a sci-fi short coming in
2020 called Endling, which I’m really
pleased about. I wrote it back in
2018 and a filmmaker named Rishi
Thaker has directed it and I’m looking
forward to seeing how it came
together. I’d like to write more for
other directors.’- A Reckoning is on YouTube:
https://writ.rs/areckoning - Mick & Sarah at the Pictures:
https://writ.rs/micksarah