FROM 30 NOVEMBER 2020 BIGISSUE.COM | 41
CULTURE |
FILM
I
solation and problems paying bills leading to ghastly consequences. No, this
isn’t a documentary about Covid Britain, but a new indie thriller I’ve been
producer on.
Funded by Ffi lm Cymru, it’s called Concrete Plans, which has become an
increasingly ironic title in the weeks, months and years it took to make.
I am trying to forget how long I’ve been working on this fi lm. British independent
fi lmmaking is, like all cinema, a slow process. A short half-page synopsis was emailed
over to me in March of 201 4 by writer-director Will Jewell; exactly fi ve years later we
were up a mountain in the wilds of mid-Wales shooting.
Here’s an outline of the story. A manor house is in disrepair and a landowner with
a fi erce temper meets his match when confronted with a bill he can’t pay. � e builders
living on his land want their pound of �lesh as events spiral out of control and a simple
dispute turns into a shockingly horrifi c display of violence.
We had no idea how much the story would come to re�lect our British situation.
A fi lm about class, migrant workers and the social tensions between the haves and
have-nots felt like a strong premise for a British thriller, then Brexit took over the
news cycle... suddenly we found we were shooting around the fi nal weeks of the initial
timescale for Britain’s exit from the EU, wrapping on the original departure date.
Goran Bogdan, playing our Ukrainian brickie Viktor, was unsure what to make of it all.
As we geared up for fi lming it genuinely felt like we were taking a snapshot of the
state of the nation (albeit with additional power tools and terror). For just under a
month, the cast and crew clung to the side of a rocky outcrop and shot scenes driven by
the fear of outsiders, greed and casual prejudice. Our set – a crumbling manor house
for the landed gentry and a grim portacabin for the workers – was fast becoming a
loose metaphor for the country.
Of course, it’s really exciting feeling that you are telling a story that is truly of
the moment, that might strike a real chord of resonance and be part of an ongoing
conversation – but then the conversation that never seemed to stop did stop.
Something else came along to take over the news cycle.
We all had plans for 2020. � e fi lm Will and I had been making in one form or
another for six years was going to fi nd its audience, but the audience was having to stay
home. Festivals were forced to rethink, go online; cinemas were closing their doors.
We’ve actually been one of the lucky ones, our fi lm did get a premiere, with
strong reviews and audience reaction, but Will and I never got to be part of that
theatrical experience.
Just like other viewers, we clicked a button at a certain time and watched at
home on screens of varying sizes. Never knowing if a joke landed, a twist was
spotted or a broken bone felt. It did however create a di�ferent vibe. More family andIf you build it
It’s a state of the nation
commentary – with
terror in spadesBrexitmeantRobAlexander’s newindiethrillerwas
grimly topical. But then Covid-19 changed everythingThe best laid plans
friends watching, people
connecting and discussing
characters and scenes on social
media as the plot was unfolding. It
made it a more communal, if less
emotional, experience.
Now the fi lm is coming out on
those on-demand platforms that
have kept us sane over the last nine
months, and due to the Welsh dancing
to the beat of their own lockdown
drum, we’ve even got some screens
there showing the fi lm.
Indie fi lmmaking is so very o�ten
about trying to get something done,
more than it is the doing, and maybe
that spirit has helped shape our
attitude as we continue to get the
fi lm’s voice heard. You just have to get
on with it – James Bond needs to get
up o�f the �loor, quite frankly.
Perhaps when we go back to a
more normal way of living we’ll be
able to see what the fi lm business did
rightly or wrongly during this time.
Some things, no doubt, will be lessons
you wish you’d already known with
the advantage of hindsight. However,
some of the approaches we have taken
will stay with us and it’s those that
will hopefully make independent
fi lmmaking stronger as a result.Support independent fi lm and
watch Concrete Plans on VOD: Sky
Store, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play,
Rakuten, Xbox/Microso�t Store, BT
and Virgin MediaPhoto:
Steve Read