Film
Baby On Board
A production diary
Andrew David Barker shares this ongoing production diary charting the making of the short film Baby On Board, written by Stephen Volk and directed by Andrew…
This is an ongoing production diary charting the making of the short film Baby On Board, written by Stephen Volk and directed by me, Andrew David Barker. With each entry, I will detail the production, from pre to post, and beyond. This will all be exclusive content to Horrified, and as we go on, it will include production stills, interviews, and more. I hope you will join me on this adventure and enjoy what’s to come.
If you would like to support this project, I have a BUY ME A COFFEE page. Any contribution will go directly into the film and would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Andrew David Barker
Thursday 9th November 2023
The day came. I picked up my friend Cassie Leedham at half five and we drove over to Coventry. An old closed-down pub called The Litten Tree has been turned into a pop-up art centre and heritage and cultural space managed by a great guy named Alan Denyer. Cassie, an artist herself, knows Alan and put me onto the place for the cast and crew screening of Baby on Board.
Tom Williams arrived early and set up the film on the big screen in the centre of the large space. Cassie became our barmaid and photographer and I think had a blast meeting and talking to everyone. Thanks, Cassie.
The first to arrive were Stephen and Patricia Volk.
So, let’s be honest here, my nerves were on edge because, well, Stephen hadn’t yet seen the film. I’ve kept him informed, of course, but he wanted to hold off actually watching it until this screening. Here I am, entrusted with a major screenwriter’s material, which I’ve made into a DIY short. He has worked with Ken Russell, William Freidkin (although I’m not sure he likes to bring that one up), and Nick Murphy, to name but a few. What will he make of my skills as a director? And a director operating on no money, as well. Jesus.
Anyway, it was great to see Stephen and to meet his wife, Patricia, who everyone adored. Jason Adam arrived, along with crew members Maya Taylor, Charlie Cooke, Luke Sloan, and Claire Lapworth from Leamington College. A few of them brought family and partners. Andre Pierre brought his mum, who was awesome. Danielle Beckner brought her family, including her son Roan, who appears in the background in the film and acted as a runner. The only ones missing were Amelia Rizzo, who, via Jason’s phone, watched the screening from her holiday in Barcelona - I don’t know how much she could see or hear - and co-producer Jack Norris, who couldn’t make it, nor could Demezla O’Sullivan, who appears off-screen in the film.
We all chatted for a while, and then around 8pm we screened the film.
Tom and I watched from afar. We didn’t sit. I’ll admit, I kept looking at Stephen Volk.
I felt while it screened that people were really engaged. 15 minutes later it was over and everyone clapped, then…
Stephen Volk hugged me and said it was really good.
Phew…
Jason and Andre were also very pleased. In fact, it took Jason a little while to process it. Cassie said it made her cry. In fact, Tom and I found, after keeping this film to ourselves for the past four months, that it was a joy to let it go and have people embrace it. And it seems, by all accounts, everyone embraced it, which, I’ll admit, felt good. I felt relief.
I want to thank the cast and crew for coming on this journey with me, and to Stephen Volk for entrusting me with his words. It’s been a great adventure.
Now comes the next stage, the slow process of entering into festivals and seeing if we get accepted into any. I hope we do. I want people to see it.
Let’s see where this little film takes us. The adventure is just beginning.
Thank you for reading,
Andrew David Barker
Tuesday 25th October 2023
Here’s a short teaser trailer for Baby on Board which Tom Williams cut together last week…
Wednesday 18th October 2023
Tom and I completed the film last Thursday. Like done done. As always with these things I felt relief, pride, and a strange sense of anticlimax. Always happens. You visualise the moment of completing a project for so long that when it actually happens, you do get a bit like, ‘Oh, is that it?’ Nobody cares. There is no party, no bells and whistles, and no cake.
The flipside of this though is a stronger sense of personal achievement. This is my 6th film as a director, including the feature I made (probably my 50th if you count all my mess-about films with my mates back in the 90s and early 2000s) and with this one, I feel a real sense of growth. I’ve made all my films and written all my novels in obscurity, really. Outside of a handful of people, I’m not really known. Nothing I’ve done has really advanced my career. I’ve always had to start all over again on the next project, self-generating, self-financing, and, more than anything, just betting on myself, again and again, in the hope of something breaking through and having someone see the talent I have. Having that project that will finally push my career to the next level. Maybe this film is that project? Maybe, who knows? Time will tell, I guess.
We’re arranging a small cast and crew screening at a location in Coventry in early November. Jason and Andre will be there, hopefully, and most of our wonderful crew. We’ll also invite a few people who have helped us with this project, plus Stephen and Patricia Volk may also attend, so that won’t be nerve-wracking at all, will it? After that, it’ll be a slow process of submitting to festivals. I think I’ll also approach a few agents with this one, for directing. That’s something I’ve never done really. All my agent attacks have been for my writing (no dice yet), so I’ve never really tried to get an agent solely based on my skills as a director. We’ll see what happens there.
In other news, Tom Williams and I created a series of posters for Baby on Board, which I think are pretty cool, and I did some maintenance on Baby’s IMDb page and Letterboxd. All the little things a filmmaker also has to keep on top of. Please add the film to your Letterboxd account if you have one…
Outside of Baby on Board, filmmaker David Bryant and I are close to completing work on a feature script. A low-budget horror film which we’re having a huge amount of fun with. It’s something we’re thinking of trying to get off the ground next year with both of us co-directing. I do think it’s time I try for a feature again. Perhaps I’ve gone as far as I can go now with these DIY shorts. It is time for the next level. And as much as I’ve loved making these short films over the years, I know that it is a feature that will really push things over. It’s daunting to think about a project that large, and after the trial by fire that was A Reckoning, it is something I’ve probably resisted. But if I am going to keep on this path, I know I’ve got to do it. And man, have me and Bryant got something cool. But first, to get our Baby out in the world…
Thursday 5th October 2023
Stephen Volk first mentioned Baby on Board to me on the 23rd of January. Ten months ago, more or less. From that date to this I’ve done everything I can to get this film made with my limited resources, connections, and budget (well, no budget, really) and this evening Tom Williams and I put the finishing touches to the edit.
Tom spent the last week working on the sound design and has done a wonderful job. Rhys Morris’ music was placed into the film - subtle, haunting - and works beautifully, and then we put all the titles on, which is always fun. There is always a thrill in seeing your name on a film. We just have the grade to do now, which Tom will work on next week, so by Friday the 13th (somewhat fittingly) this film should be done done. Phew. It’s been quite a journey.
I want to thank Stephen Volk for entrusting his beautiful story with a scrappy nobody like me, it’s been an honour. Only hope I’ve served him well. Time will tell. But for now, I’m going to enjoy this (probably brief) moment of feeling like I’ve achieved something. Plus, on Monday the 16th of October, the first block of filming should take place on The Wilding - the feature I’m a screenwriter on - so things feel like they’re moving again. Long may it continue!
The thing to do now is find a small venue for a cast and crew screening and then start the (often long) process of getting the film out into the world. I’ll try the festival circuit first and see what happens, but really I want to try and get as many folk to see this one as possible. But one step at a time. First, we get the grade done and then get ready to show it to the world.
Onwards!
Monday 2nd October 2023
Baby on Board is so close to being finished. So close. But still, a bit to do. The edit has been locked for a while and Tom Williams has been busy working on the sound design. Jason Adam had to do a little ADR and I added a couple of lines to Demelza’s side of the phone conversation. Also, Rhys Morris has composed a haunting, minimalistic score. All that needs to happen now is to put all these elements together.
What’s frustrating about the way I work, or have to work, is that I can’t just sit down and edit myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked with some wonderful editors over the years - Tom on this film, Mick Walker on Shining Tor and Two Old Boys, and my old mate Adam Krajczynski on A Reckoning - but back in the early 90s when I first started messing about making films I used to do all the editing myself. I went to Wilmorton College in Derby from 91 to 93 - now torn down - and I spent most of my time there in the editing suite making zombie films and comedy skits. Back then, I would edit tape to tape. Yes, VHS tape to VHS tape. That’s how old I am. I would spend hours, days, editing stuff together. I loved it, and I got pretty good. After college, I didn’t make anything again until 2002 (I was having far too much in the 90s), and by then, technology and editing software had moved on, and I never relearned how to use it. And now we’re in 2023. A long way from then and it’s all passed me by. Or at least, it feels like that. My mind, however, works in edits and I know what I want. When I’m writing and designing a film, I can see it all. It’s the sitting down and physically doing the work myself that I can’t do. Maybe I’d be more productive if I could do it myself? I could be completely self-contained.
These are dangerous thoughts. That is the ego talking.
My mate Ash Price is self-contained. He can shoot and edit and has all the gear to make whatever he wants (within reason, of course) and I’m a little jealous of that. Yet, even with all that, he’s still trying to finish a short film called Glory Days he began shooting in March 2022. Indecision and a fear of finishing has become his own worst enemy, so maybe there is some kind of lesson there? It’s a strong film as well, but he’s blocked for some reason. Too many choices and no one to bounce ideas off, maybe? Although I’ve tried and tried, that’s another story.
Maybe the key to filmmaking really is collaborating with others. If a film’s credits read, ‘written, produced, directed and edited by’ maybe you should take a step back. Maybe. I don’t know. I guess, like writing, it works differently for everyone. But perhaps, for me, this is how I work best: with others, collaborating, guiding, and directing my vision with a team of like-minded creatives, and, if I’m honest, although I like the idea of hiding away and doing everything myself, I know I’d miss the joy of working with others. I have writing for solitude. Filmmaking, however, is definitely a group activity.
Wednesday 30th August 2023
It’s incredible how quickly creative projects can derail. A month ago, I was riding high from shooting Baby on Board, plus I had the horror feature I co-scripted - The Wilding - about to shoot in September, and I had my name on a ten-part music documentary I’d written for a (very well-known) company still on the table. Then, little by little, things started to go awry. First, funding issues halted The Wilding. The September shoot is now out the window. The film was supposed to be shot in the, err, wilds of Scotland, and so, missing this late summer window means that the main shoot can’t now happen until the spring. Director Adam Park is still planning on shooting other sections of the film before then, but it means a longer game on that one. I really hope it happens. I think it’s a pretty cool, zeitgeisty script and has some great names attached to it. So, all is not lost there, but I really wanted it to go into production. I’d feel I was finally making headway as a screenwriter then.
The real kicker though was a Notice of Termination on the music documentary. A new production company is coming in to ‘rework’ what we’ve done so far and, well, I’m out. My first real kick to the kerb as a screenwriter. I’ve asked about my screen credit, but no answer yet. Man, I think it’s time to join the WGGB.
Always seems like when I think my career is finally moving, like it’s all going in the right direction, the promises never actually materialise. One step forward, three steps back, always.
Sorry to go on about this, but I wanted to write it down because I think it’s important. It shows a little of what goes on in the background of an artist. Any kind of artist. There are constant stop/starts, constant disappointments and setbacks, and the age-old human factor of people saying they’re going to do something and then going back on their word. Often, it’s out of people’s hands, but not always. The only person you can really rely on is yourself if you want to do this stuff. The cavalry is not coming.
The only good thing - creative thing - is Baby on Board. Tom and I now have a locked cut and I really feel like it is the most grown-up, professional-looking film I’ve made so far. And the performances are so good. Tom is on holiday next week and while he’s away Rhys Morris and I will get the music nailed, then once Tom’s back he’ll be able to tear into the sound design. Plus, I’ve got to get Demelza O’Sullivan (playing the Policeman’s wife) to record some ADR. Might need Jason to pick up one or two lines as well. All that will hopefully happen in the second half of September (now there’s no Wilding shoot), and all being well, the film will be done by the beginning of October. That’s the plan, anyway.
All of this has taken its toll though. I can feel how creatively drained I am. Very much running on empty. Think I’m going to get Baby done, have a small cast and crew screening, and then start the process of submitting it to festivals for next year. I’ve got a couple of film festivals to attend with Here Lies… in the autumn, but really, I plan on hiding away for the winter and writing. I can really feel the pull now. The need to write something.
That something should really be a low-budget feature script. Something I could direct myself next year. One of the ideas is to adapt a short ghost story of mine called The House on Lidderman Street. That’s a possible, anyway. It could certainly be made on a low budget and be pretty effective, I reckon. But we’ll see. I’m also burning to write a new novel, which might be a kind of sequel to my 2015 novella Dead Leaves (which was set in the video era about a group of school leavers hunting down a copy of The Evil Dead). I need to try and get another screenwriting job as well.
But for now, I need to recharge. I need to finish Baby and then go to ground for a while. I also need some good news.
I need something to happen.
Thursday 27th July 2023
Somehow, Tom has managed to put together a very solid rough cut already. I’m not sure if he sleeps. It currently runs at 13 minutes and if you’ll allow me one bit of indulgence, I reckon I’m getting better at shot design because it all cuts together really nicely, even in this rough form. I say this because the first cut of Here Lies… was very sketchy, so this makes me think I might have learned a few things since the last one.
Anyway, it looks great, the performances are really strong, and I think once we’ve tightened it and sorted the sound, we should be pretty close. I sent it straight off to my composer, Rhys Morris, who has composed music for A Reckoning, Two Old Boys, and Here Lies…, and who I’ve known since 1984 when we were 9. So yeah, one of my best mates and one incredible musician. Other filmmakers should think about hiring him.
I’m now recovering from the shoot, doing some DIY on the house, and getting ready for a holiday with the family in Pembrey, Wales. Feels good to have the film shot and cut before I go away. I’ve given Tom a few notes to crack on with while I’m away and Rhys will start in on the music, so we’ll see where everything is when I get back.
Phew, what a ride.
Night 2 - Monday 24th July 2023
Night 2 was all the exterior stuff, so we were all praying for no rain. We’d had some rain the night before, but luckily this night would remain dry.
Danielle had arranged with local company Dodo Pizza to bring us all free pizzas and these came around 9 pm and we all got to sit and chat and eat for a while before the work began. Thanks, Dodo.
Tom and I set up the first shot and we again got rolling at 10 pm. The big thing this night was the police car, which we’d arranged to arrive at 10 and Sergeant Thompson from Warwickshire Police came ahead of time and allowed us free use of his vehicle for a few hours. He just set up his laptop inside Lina’s Place, did a bit of work and chatted with the crew. Top guy.
We cracked on. Jason had completed most of his scenes the night before, so there were only a few things to do with him. It was mainly Andre who had scenes to complete. Mainly a phone call which will be a two-way conversation with the policeman and his wife - who I named Sophie as she isn’t specified in the script - and whom I will get my friend Demelza O’Sullivan to read the lines in Post (I worked with her on Here Lies…, which she’s great in, by the way). I also got her to send me a picture of herself for us to use for a shot of the policeman’s phone.
We got all the police car stuff done around midnight and let Sergeant Thompson get back to work. Then we just had the opening scene to shoot. Yep, we ended on the opening.
We wrapped at 3:30 am. I then drove Andre and Jason back to Birmingham (as the first train to Brum wasn’t until 5:45) and got a speeding ticket for my trouble. Then I returned to Lina’s Place to make sure everything was set back in place and tidy. Only Tom was there still, having just packed everything away. I locked up and went home; the film shot.
I had about three hours sleep, then got up and returned to Lina’s Place with my wife to give back the keys. Danielle had arranged flowers and a card as a thank you and Lina and Elias were just lovely and welcoming. My wife Kate and I had a cup of tea and chatted with them, I looked around the cafe and thought about what we’d all just done and I felt an immense sense of gratitude and inner calm.
This film came to me from Stephen Volk, who entrusted me with his story, and his words, and I hope I’ve honoured that. I know that Andre and Jason have delivered great performances, that the location is perfect, that Tom’s lighting and photography are beautiful, and that I was blessed with a great and willing cast and crew. Baby On Board is the third short film I’ve directed since the beginning of 2022, after How Would You Like to Pay? and Here Lies…, and I feel this is another step up from what I’ve done before. It feels more grown up, more nuanced, and sophisticated. I hope, anyway.
But we’re not done yet. Post-production now begins.
Night 1 - Sunday 23rd July 2023
The thing about making films on this level - that of the no-to-low-budget, beg, borrow, and steal level of filmmaking - is that you never truly know whether or not the film is going to happen until it actually does. At least, it seems that way to me. On every film I’ve made, I’ve fretted until the last moment that something would derail that entire thing. An actor dropping out, a location being pulled, or crew members not turning up. Anything that could collapse the already teetering house of cards that is film production. And yet… none of these worries have ever actually happened to me. Yet. They will, one day I’m sure, but up until now, from A Reckoning to Here Lies…, every production I’ve somehow managed to pull together has always seemingly gone to plan. Every one of them surely some kind of miracle.
And so it was that on the evening of Sunday 23rd of July, 2023, at 7:30, I drove down to our location, the Portuguese restaurant Lina’s Place, just at the back of Leamington train station, and half expected something bad to happen, but Tom Williams, my DOP, arrived shortly after me, then came my producer, Danielle and her son, Roan, followed by my other producer, Jack Norris. I’d picked up the keys the day before - Idalina (Lina) and her husband, Elias, were gracious and trusting enough to allow this privilege - and so I opened up and we got all the kit in.
Tom was shooting on a Sony FX6 which has all kinds of bells and whistles. Plus, some fantastic lights. I also picked up some tracks from Leamington College and a few other bits and bobs. Around half 8 other crew members started to arrive. Runner Charlie Cooke, Costumer Amelia Rizzo, Sound Recordist Luke Sloan, Camera Assistant Maya Taylor, and Liubomir Lissitchkov, who I worked with on Here Lies… and who is fast becoming my go-to guy for just getting shit done. A great cameraman in his own right, Liubomir oversaw the sound with Luke and shot behind-the-scenes footage on Baby on Board, and also took the wonderful stills attached to this entry.
So, with all the crew in the building, I just had to have my cast arrive. Danielle went with Roan over to the station and at about 9 o’clock Andre Pierre and Jason Adam came walking into our location having come in together on the train from Birmingham. First time I’d met them both in person. Both have a lovely, easy-going way about them and they came wanting to tear into it.
Two weeks before I watched Stephen Volk give an intimate reading of the short story version of Baby on Board to about 20 or so people at The Dolphin in Derby, now I had to do justice to that story. No more thinking about it. We had to get it done.
The main bulk of Volk’s script is set in a service station, which I’d changed to a late-night cafe (after Lina’s Place became an option) and the one long sequence is broken up into three as there are cutaways written into the script to give the piece its structure and sense of pace. This gave me three distinct scenes to work with. To save time I suggested to Tom and Jack that we set up the master shot - a side angle framing both Andre and Jason - and film all three scenes back-to-back before re-setting for the singles. They agreed as did Jason and Andre. This meant they would have to perform one scene after the other, then we’d change the camera set up onto the singles on each actor and they’d have to do it all again from the top, one scene after the other. Then again for the single on the other actor. Doing it this way did save time on lighting changes and camera setups, but still took us most of the night.
As soon as darkness fell at 10 pm, we started turning and Andre and Jason were locked into their characters. What’s incredible about watching great actors is the layers and textures they bring to the text. The inflections and the reactions. Andre and Jason brought it all and then some. They made my life very easy because there was little directing required on my part, just the odd suggestion here and there. That’s the real trick to directing really. Cast well and the battle is almost won.
We shot into the night. The crew was great. The script is dark and grief-stricken, and although the takes could be tense, the shoot itself wasn’t. We had fun. Andre and Jason were laughing between takes and the crew remained in good spirits, even when the hour grew very late. The lighting and location looked fantastic - Tom shot it beautifully, and Jack Norris, being a director himself, was a great sounding board and right hand.
We finally wrapped at around 5 am, having completed the main bulk of the film, and we started packing away. Andre and Jason got the first-morning train back to Birmingham at 5:45 and I left Lina’s Place at around 6, having made sure we’d left everything as we found it.
I crawled into bed around half 6, shattered but happy, and ready to do it all again the next night.
Thursday 20th July 2023
I’ve been pretty bad at keeping up to date with this production diary these last few weeks, but things have been hectic, to say the least. Outside of the film stuff, I (re-) launched my first novel The Electric at this year’s Edge-Lit in Derby with a new 10th-anniversary paperback, featuring a lovely new Introduction by some guy called Stephen Volk, and a new Afterword by me (you can buy it here!) Also got to sit on a panel about screenwriting for genre films with Volk, Jeremy Dyson, and others (nice guy, that Dyson chap).
Then, to keep the wolf from the door, I’ve been doing Unit Moves on the BBC series Father Brown and Sister Boniface. This means that once they’re wrapped for the day and are having to move to a new location, I ferry the HGV drivers from one unit base to the next, back and forth until they have brought all the vehicles over. It’s nice because they shoot all over the Cotswolds, so the locations are always beautiful, but it can be very tiring driving back and forth all night. Got in at 3:30 am the other night.
To add to all this, we’re doing some fairly major renovations on our house. So my days are bricklaying and plastering. My life is nothing if not versatile.
Oh yeah, and I’m making a short film!
So now here we are. After a few touch-and-go moments, we are four days away from principal photography. This morning, Danielle and I went to meet a Sergeant at Leamington Police Station about using one of their vehicles in the film. The Sergeant (a cool-looking guy who was younger than me) basically wanted to know that we are going to represent the police in a positive light. Luckily we are. Volk has written a very tender and kind police officer, so looks like we’ll be provided with a car on our second night of shooting, on Monday.
Then we drove over to Princethorpe College to the set of the aforementioned Sister Boniface where we borrowed a police uniform. Thank you to Costume Designer Claire Collins for that! Jack Norris has scheduled the shoot and is sorting the Call Sheets. I picked up some tracks from Leamington College which my DOP, Tom, is excited to play with, and Danielle has worked miracles in getting local food companies to donate food for all the cast and crew, for both nights of the shoot.
So here we are. The train is on the tracks and there’s no stopping it now. I’m in my usual position in the days before a shoot, feeling both excited and full of dread, but I know that once I’m on set Sunday night, I will be loving it.
Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported and even donated to this short film project. It really means a lot.
See you all on the other side!
Tuesday 4th July 2023
Got the Shot List written. I don’t do storyboards, I’ve always preferred to write each shot out. It makes more sense to me. On every film, though, I always seem to put off actually sitting down and doing it for as long as I can. It’s pretty dry writing, but it is essential. It’s almost a case of rewriting the script purely in shots.
About a week ago my DOP, Tom, and I went down to the cafe and talked through shots and logistics. Lina and her family were so wonderful and accommodating to us and wanted to help in any way they can. They couldn’t be nicer. Tom and I talked our way in and around the building, going through each sequence, how to light them, and how to shot them. We both decided that for this film, simple is better. This is a slow, considered story, and the camera has to reflect that. This film is about the actors, their faces, their reactions, their dialogue. Much of it can be played with very simple shots.
After I recce, I had a clearer idea of how to approach the film and set to work on the Shot List. Here’s an example, from the opening scene:
INT. PARKED CAR - HARD SHOULDER - MOTORWAY - NIGHT
Open on a tight head and shoulders on the DRIVER’S face. He is sitting in his car. Low lights. The frame tracks back opening up the shot to having the Driver on right of frame and his back window (and baby seat) left of frame. Camera set up across the bonnet of the car, of course, shooting through the windscreen. Policeman car pulls up behind the Driver (Driver doesn’t notice). Flash of blues, then hazards on. Light harsh in the darkness. A figure (POLICEMAN) comes to stand behind Driver’s car - his frame cutting into the lights from his car. Then the Policeman walks around Driver’s car. Cut to:
Camera positioned in the passenger seat with a tight side view of Driver behind the wheel and the Policeman coming to knock on his window. Giving a rotary motion with his finger. The Driver presses a button and the window comes down. Policeman leans down and we see his face. In their exchange, we cut between this shot and -
Wider shot from outside the car - an almost over the Policeman’s shoulder shot looking down on the Driver.
Also want to include a low-angle shot from the front of Driver’s car taking in both the Driver and the Policeman at his door.
Also need a shot from Policeman’s POV as he looks past the Driver and into the back seat and we glimpse the baby seat in the back.
End of the scene on a CU of policeman saying ‘Good lad’
As I’ve found on other films. I often end up using about half of what I write in the Shot List and the rest seems to happen on the day, in collaboration with the DOP. Plus, you have to be flexible to change. A location can sometimes bring about unforeseen problems, which you have to think around. On the other hand, they can also bring opportunities, and very often, they can be a blessing. So basically, I have the Shot List as a guide which I can always come back if needs be.
Everything kind of seems to be in place now. Costumes are sorted, Police car is almost sorted, equipment all (almost) ready, and so on. There’s still a few weeks until the shoot, so still plently of time for something to go wrong (and it probably will), but for now we seem to be on track.
It’s all happening.
Friday 16th June 2023
Me and Danielle went down to Lina’s Place to try and nail down a shooting date. Jack Norris had drafted up a simple agreement and I took that along. Unfortunately, they were pretty busy, so didn’t have much time to talk, but I met Lina’s husband (and co-owner) who was warm and friendly, and very accommodating. He and I signed the agreement and locked in shooting over two consecutive nights on the 23rd and 24th of July.
So we have five weeks to pull everything together.
Now we have the location and dates, I can start the shot list. Tom (DOP) and I plan on visiting the location for a bit of a lighting and camera recce in the next week or so. Amelia is sourcing the costumes. I plan on meeting up with Andre and Jason in Birmingham in a couple of weeks, just to hang and get to know each other a bit more. Danielle’s asking local food places if they’d be willing to donate some food for the shoot. I’ve got to finalise the police car with Vic over at BBC Doctors, and I’ve also got to get one or two extras to have in the background while our two main characters have their dark conversation. Plus, all cast and crew have to constantly be informed of ongoing developments, keeping everyone in the loop at all times. Oh, and I need to find some more money.
Phew.
It’s amazing what goes into even the simplest and smallest of films. Does make me wonder. With the amount of work that goes into a short, should I just shoot for a few extra days next time and try and get a feature out of it? As long as I keep the film simple, of course. Setting up such a production would pretty much be the same amount of work as I’m doing now. You just end up shooting for longer, with a few more people.
It’s definitely time I tried to make another feature. It’s been far too long. But first, Baby On Board, and I’m getting pretty excited about it
Monday 12th June 2023
Had a couple of weeks off from Baby On Board, which was good for me. You often need to decompress sometimes when working on a project. Downtime is very important in my book. It’s not always possible to go 100% all of the time. That’s very difficult to sustain and I find a few days away (or weeks) helps considerably. There’s not always the time to do it, but if you find a cap, which I did, I find it’s really good to give yourself a bit of time away.
We’d got to a point where the cast and crew were in place, the location had been found, and I was waiting on the first payment from my screenwriting job on The Wilding, the found-footage horror which is hopefully shooting later this year. So this gap allowed a little breathing space.
So what did I do? I flipped back to a short novella I began a year or so ago entitled Sweet Dark and wrote a couple of thousand words on that (a few more thousand and I should have that one nailed. 1st draft anyway). You see, even in downtime, I NEED to be doing something, and I find writing - especially writing prose - is very good for maintaining my creativity and fuels the other projects I have on. I also find writing to be very good for my mental health. I just feel better about myself once I’ve written, and although writing doesn’t come easily to me (does it for anyone?) I do love the process.
Sweet Dark is a kind of anti-ghost story about a group of Railtrack workers (I used to be one) working on a line one night who believe they see something strange in an old Victorian train tunnel. It’s about working-class blokes and how they react when faced with the strange and uncanny. It’s also about the ripple effect of fear and how it can often bring out the worst in human nature. I think it’s shaping up to be a pretty cool little story and writing it has helped re-charge my drive to get things done. It’s another in the long and ongoing game of sustaining and maintaining creativity.
I’ll be honest though, when I’m writing prose, I do wonder whether or not filmmaking is really for me. Writing comes from the interior and I feel very comfortable there. I have to go inward in order to write a story, and it seems different somehow to when I’m writing a screenplay. I don’t know why, it should really be coming from the same place, but for some reason, it doesn’t feel like that. Screenplays are very much the in-between: there are the books and then there are the films, and in the middle of the screenplays. Film is absolutely external. They are the complete antithesis of an inward way of creating. Films are open and busy and full of people and equipment and actors and that takes a completely different mindset. At least, it does for me. Directing is nothing like writing a novel, yet they are both ways of telling a story. And when I’m writing prose, if I’m really honest with myself, I do feel more complete than when I’m making a film. Yet, I can’t stop doing both.
Anyway, after a few weeks of working on Sweet Dark, I felt rejuvenated and did feel excited to return to Baby on Board (although it is niggling me that Sweet Dark still isn’t finished). The other thing I was doing was working with a small press called Northern Republic - run by author Dan Howarth - on an all-new paperback edition of my first novel, The Electric, to mark its tenth anniversary.
Me and Dan have struck a deal. The press, as it stands at the moment, will be a platform for us both to release (and re-release) our work. We’ll help one another get our books out there and have editions we are proud of. Dan has already seen his excellent short story collection, Dark Missives, and a short novella, Territory, released, and has plans for more in the coming year(s). I’ll have the tenth-anniversary edition of The Electric (launching at this year’s Edge-Lit in Derby on the 8th of July), an all-new paperback of my horror novel, Society Place, later in the year, and also the never-before-published, Mick & Sarah At The Pictures (which I was awarded an Arts Council Grant to write), and Aftershocks.
The reason for this rush of activity on the book side of things is twofold. The first reason is that both me and Dan are just sick of waiting, sick of agent rejections (as our stuff doesn’t seem to tick any of the boxes those entities seem to be after), and being messed around and often disappointed by other small presses. The other reason is the deeply worrying prospect of A.I. In the next few years, all art and entertainment (not to mention education, law, finance, the list goes on and on) will potentially be completely upended by this rapidly advancing technology. And before that happens, I just want all my stuff out there. I want my I.P. to exist, for better or for worse, while it can. Pretty bleak view, I know, but I’m just trying to future-proof myself in the only way I know how. If the books exist, then they exist in their original forms before strange new technologies begin to take hold.
Am I being overdramatic? I hope to god I am. I really hope I’m wrong. I hope that the things I’m reading and the predictions I’ve seen predominant people make are wrong. I truly hope that this entirely new (possibly someday sentient) alien race of our own making will not happen at all. Even writing that sentence down felt somehow ridiculous, but it seems that is what’s happening. There is an A.I. arms race happening and nobody knows where that will take us, what that will mean for… well, everything.
(Go check out The Diary of a CEO Podcast with Steven Bartlett interviewing Mo Gawdat about this subject. I found it to be profoundly moving and terrifying. Even if Gawdat is only half right, it’s still a massive worry.)
Anyway, this entry seems to have been about where my head’s at at the moment. A lot of noise and distortion, balanced by the insular and quiet pleasures of writing. But I am ready now. I’m ready to head out and make this short film.
I got my first payment for The Wilding screenplay last week, so I now have something of a budget, although could do with more, but that’s always the case.
Dates are being locked down now for a late July shoot and all cast and crew are in place. Just go to draw up the agreement with the location, get that signed off, and then it’s action stations.
Baby On Board is happening.
Wednesday 24th May 2023
There’s been a lot going on. Firstly I met up with Jack Norris, a local filmmaker who is on the rise with his company Press Record Films. He also made the acclaimed short, Irish, Blacks & Dogs, which I’ve mentioned before and which co-starred Andre Pierre. Jack is also working with Baby On Board’s DOP, Tom Williams, on a number of projects, so we have a lot of connections.
We met on a late afternoon in a local pub (best place to do business, I reckon) and traded a few filmmaking war wounds and talked about various projects and ideas before getting onto Baby On Board. Jack told me he loved the script and was interested in getting involved. I snapped his hand off and asked him right then and there if he would be up for being a producer on it and bringing Press Record Films on board.
He’s in.
Next, I had a wonderful Zoom call with both Jason Adam and Andre Pierre and did a read-through of the script. Both of them absolutely nailed it. They became the characters right before my eyes. That’s the magic of actors, they can elevate a script immeasurably and bring a nuance to their characters that you didn’t even think of.
Watching the script come alive was wonderful, but also made me realise that this short will be somewhat different from most shorts I see. Whereas most short films have to, quite rightly, grab your attention straight away and move like lightning in order to tell their story within a condensed time frame (if done right), Baby On Board won’t feel like that. By design, this is a thoughtful, somber, and very considered piece that will need space and time to tell its story. And it’s a pretty heavy story at that, certainly if you’re a parent, as I am.
I will have to make a comedy after this one, which fits because I’m trying to line up mine and Matthew Waldram’s crime comedy Empire Amusements to do after this one.
Next bit of business this past week was finding a new location. I’d noticed a small eatery at the back of Leamington train station, so me and Danielle took a walk down there and tried our luck. It is called Lina’s Place and bills itself as a Portuguese Restaurant, but also serves as a lovely old-style greasy spoon, which is what I’m after.
We talked to the owner, Lina (obvs), and explained what we’re looking to do - two consecutive night’s filming in the summer - and outlined how it would all work, etc. Danellie turned on her American charm as an added bonus and also had the good fortune of knowing a little Portuguese, but then for reasons only known to Danielle, she tried to say to Lina, “You are a fat pig” in the woman’s native tongue. Why this was the phrase Danielle learned to say in Portuguese, I cannot say, but it did provide me with much amusement, so it was totally worth it. However, Danielle got the words completely wrong, thankfully, so we dodged that bullet.
So anyway, after laying down our pitch, Lina said, quite simply, “Okay, you can do it.”
So looks like we have a new location.
It’s on.
Thursday 11th May 2023
Back in January, I wrote the first draft of a found footage horror feature entitled The Wilding. The project is the brainchild of director Adam Park, whom I met last year. He has made a great short film called The Drowned and a whisky documentary called The Amber Light (which you can find on Netflix) and he first told me about The Wilding in late 2022. Without wanting to give too much away, Adam pitched me a unique spin on the found footage sub-genre which tapped into the zeitgeist of tech billionaires (and all the crazy shit they’re getting up to) merged with good old survivalist horror.
I wrote a draft based on a treatment Adam wrote with Canadian writer Chris Wilson-Smith and then Adam wrote on top of me and pretty soon a cool movie began to take shape. So much so that investors are now coming in and some fairly well-known actors are attaching (although I can’t say who they are yet) and it’s all starting to look like it might actually happen later this year. Adam’s been scouting locations up in Scotland and crew members are being put in place and I think soon I’ll be writing a shooting script for the project. It’s all pretty exciting.
If the planets really do align on this one then it’ll really help Baby On Board. For one thing, I should get paid for my work as a screenwriter and I can use some of this to fund the short, or at least partly fund it. Moreover, if this film happens, it should give me more standing within the industry itself, and that can only help Baby On Board’s chances when it comes to putting it out in the world. It should also help me get some more screenwriting gigs, hopefully.
But these are all maybes. Nothing is for certain in this game (perhaps even more uncertain as AI begins to rapidly disrupt and upturn everything), but dare I believe that this is feeling closer to actually happening than any other feature I’ve been connected to over the years (bar the one I actually did make).
Time, as always, will tell, but at the moment, it’s looking pretty good.
Tuesday 9th May 2023
Went up to Manchester to film a small cameo role in Hayden Hewitt’s forthcoming horror film Cara. I’ve known Hayden for about a decade and I mentioned a while back that if and when he got to make a feature film, I’d come and do a small cameo role and he held me to it. Hayden’s been making short after short for the past two years, has found investment, and is now making his horror debut. It’s been inspiring to watch him. And, of course, I’m also dead jealous.
Once in Manchester, I found Hayden at his small studio space surrounded by a great cast and crew and I got to see some of the footage they’d already shot. It’s going to be a pretty twisted and brutal horror, this one. Might make a few waves when it comes out.
We drove across the city to a leafy suburb for the afternoon shoot and I met the actors I was sharing a scene with - a young lad named Tom, and Johnny Vivash, a lovely bloke who has been in loads of stuff and seemingly knows everyone. We even found we had a fair few mutual acquaintances. I got on well with Johnny, possibly opening the door to working with him on something of mine somewhere down the line. It’s always good to meet great actors who are up for making stuff, particularly someone with Johnny’s list of credits and experience. Plus, he’s a great champion and advocate for UK horror.
It didn’t take too long to shoot my scene (I’ve got two lines!) and then I was on the train back home feeling inspired and encouraged. You see, doing anything creative, particularly when you’re doing stuff off your own back, is often a pretty lonely business and so I believe it’s sometimes important to go and see other people out there doing it. It shows that there is a wonderful filmmaking community up and down the country, making stuff against the odds. Moreover, being around dedicated casts and crews is positively infectious.
As the train cut through the English countryside on the way back to Warwickshire, the sun low in the sky, I thought hard about Baby On Board. I’ve got a great cast and a great script. I can’t sell this short. I’ve got to somehow push this as far as I can. So with that in mind, I decided that I want to change the location. The college just isn’t quite right, in look and feel - plus they want me to pay to have a Warden on site and yet still haven’t given me a cost for this - and so I want to find somewhere more fitting to what’s in my mind (and what’s in the script). This might push the filming back to later in the summer, but if that’s what it takes, then so be it.
Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.
Wednesday 3rd May 2023
Me and Danielle had our first production meeting with the crew the other day. Met my costume designer, Amelia Rizzo, and talked through each character’s wardrobe, and allocated specific roles for some of the students. Then we talked dates, trying to pin down a day for the test shoot in early May, and the actual shoot, over two nights in June (the latter proving difficult to pin down).
I maybe waffled on too much and kept thinking about the production meeting in my favourite documentary American Movie - “… the film starts… check it out… beautiful, stunning black & white shot right now at the magic hour…” - love Mark Borchardt.
The real trick now is how to pay for it all. The ball is rolling down the hill and picking up speed and although myself and Danielle have managed to pull a lot of this together on nothing but goodwill and people’s generosity, there is still the police car to hire and the fact that the college won’t let us film overnight without a Warden being present, who, of course, needs paying. Plus, we’ve got to feed everyone, pay for people’s petrol, train, etc. It all starts to mount up.
I reckon I need about a grand to pull this film off, and even though I’ve got a Buy Me a Coffee page (see above), I really dislike asking for money. Yet, I think I’m going to have to as I’ve only raised £13 so far. The whole crowdfunding thing seems like a bit of a minefield to me, but guess it’s time to bite the bullet if I’m going to have any chance of pulling this off. And I haven’t left myself much time (as always).
If anyone out there can help with a few quid via my Buy Me a Coffee