If any of you know me at all, you know that this is my favourite weekend of the year. The London Screenwriters’ Festival. This was the second festival that’s happened and I’ve been to both and I cannot even begin to try to explain to you how much I get out of this weekend. If …
Of Videos and Haunted Blinds
It’s been a week since the first rehearsal and all seems to be settling well. I have some ideas as to how to tackle the next rehearsal and the particular things I want to focus on with the actors in the second rehearsal the week before we shoot. Jamie, my DOP, is coming along too, …
Of Learning Lines and an Abundance of Laughter: First Rehearsal
Sunday morning dawned chilly and frosty but it didn’t deter me – it was our first rehearsal day for With A Little Help From Our Friends. First rehearsals are pretty special things. You get the cast coming together for the first time. You often get the main heads of department showing up as well to …
Pre-Production: Cast List
Auditions are done. Tough decisions have to be made. In this particular film, it is vital that the comradery between the actors is right, that they all look compatible as best friends, that they all look right on screen together. Don’t ask me what right looks like because it’s different for every filmmaker. This film …
Pre-Production: Auditions Part 05
For my previous posts on auditions, choose the one you want and click: A Cautionary Tale, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. When we last left talking about auditions, we were nearly ready to have the actors walk into the space and do their thing. Before you get there, you have to book …
Updates!
Sorry for the radio silence over the past two weeks, but I’m back and ready to go! A quick update on where we’re at with the film: We’ve had to shift the shoot date by two weeks, due to a couple of little things popping up, so we are now not shooting until November. This …
Writing Short Films
Hey gang, I’m currently on restricted internet access for the next week, but I promise I’ll finish off my posts about auditions and introduce you to the cast I settled on really soon! For now, I decided to gather together all my posts on writing short films and short film structure in one place, so …
Swapping, Changing, Compromising – Locations
Taking a break from talking about auditions and casting (although we’re nearly done there, I promise!), I thought I’d let you guys know what’s been happening with organising locations. About a month ago, I blogged about how we had managed to find a location but were still locking in dates. After casting, one of the …
Pre-Production: Auditions Part 04
More in the auditions saga (A Cautionary Tale, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Where you hold your auditions is also important. You want somewhere that has enough space for the actors not to feel inhibited but, as it’s for a low/no budget film, you don’t want to have too much physical space between you …
Pre-Production: Auditions Part 03
The casting call. It’s tough. Like I outlined in my post from earlier this week, the casting call is your pitch to actors. You want to inspire them to get involved in the project. You want them to take the time to click the ‘Apply’ button. You want them to want to give up their …