This post might seem downbeat and pessimistic, so to balance it out, here's the shiny HD-version of the Night is Day trailer - enjoy!
Did you all enjoy that? It was made from early footage of the film, as we made it for an event called Collectormania which is held in Glasgow every year. Stars of sci-fi in TV and Film go to an ice rink and people from all over the country come and meet them to get their autographs and here them tell their tales. We were honoured to have a stall at the 2010 event and we debuted the trailer, it got some great feedback and a lot of people had their photos taken with our cast and crew.
That trailer is just over 2 minutes long - I edited it, then sent it off to our visual effects animator who added all of the special effects (even the hundreds of demons at the end) then he graded it to make it look like a film. While he was doing that my sound team, just two of them, were making the sound right, adding sound effects and mixing the music that my composer made for it. It took weeks and that's the final product. And it's beautiful.
These four people, Jack, Gillian, Mathew and Philip, all worked on it for free. Why? Because they are passionate about the film. It's something different from Scotland. I have nothing but RESPECT for those in the country manage to say "I have an idea for a film" or "Here's my TV show idea" and get it from there, right the way through to the end. It takes an amazing amount of balls, talent and skill to find a crew that are capable and willing, locations, props, equipment, actors, etc, for either no money at all, or very little money.
Yet, the same product seems to be coming out of Scotland - dramas and horrors. And they aren't doing too well at the box office over here. Is it because they aren't very good, or because there isn't a professional body willing to put some money into advertising the films? In America this year there are 8 new movies being advertised at the Superbowl - each with a 30 second slot, and it's $3 million each!
The last film I saw from Scotland being advertised on TV was "N.E.D.S.", while not my cup of tea, I tip my hat to the cast and crew to getting their film made. However the writer and director is well known in the UK, and he's already made a couple of films and been in quite a lot of films too, so it's no surprise that what little money our professional bodies are giving out, went to that director and project.
Again, the Scottish film industry is putting out the same films again and again - dark comedies, or kitchen-sink dramas - "Donkeys" (which had a big hoopla, then vanished!), "Red Road", "Wild Country" (although that was a werewolf horror film that didn't quite work, but Peter Capaldi was excellent) a few years back, Gamerz (a nice original idea yet just vanished after being in Cineworld for two weeks!), "Valhalla Rising" didn't even get a cinema release in it's own country! Hallum Foe flopped, and I'm struggling to name other Scottish films in the last 5 years.
Surely it's time to try different genres? Where are our "Back to the Future", "Ghostbusters", "Scott Pilgrim", "Inception" and even the re-booted version of "Batman" which is filmed in the UK yet, known as an American film. At least "Kick Ass" had a go at it (and again, suffered at the box office, but DVD sales have secured a sequel, "Balls to the Wall").
The UK (or, England) has two massive franchises - James Bond (23 films and counting!) and Harry Potter (I think there will be 8 films by the time the last part is released) and they have made billions and billions of pounds worldwide.
In Holland in 2009, 66 films were made. In Scotland there was about 6. Can you name them? There needs to be a change - different genres, that might be a bit more affordable, to be explored. Romantic comedies like "The Decoy Bride" with David Tennant and Kelly MacDonald, and "Fast Romance", a low-budget romantic comedy with some well known names involved. I just hope for the sake of the latter, a distribution deal within the UK can be found, but I don't doubt for a second they'll get picked up in Europe.
I was told by the head of Creative Scotland in a recent radio interview that I had finished my first film, Night is Day, and what could they do to help me and I was told right now they have no money and that when my movie was finished, it would be my calling card and I was to pitch another movie idea to them then and they'll see what they can do. So I need to make a film first, before they'll help me make a film? So how do I get money to pay all of my cast and crew? Lottery funding? Nope. Max out my credit cards ala Kevin Smith? Nope, not in today's financial market. Give the script to a casting agent and hope that Harvey Keitel reads it and part-funds it and stars in it ala Tarantino? Or make a shock-horror film about zombies in the woods in a cabin and hope that it gets banned in cinemas so a low-key UK distributor buys it and then I'll go on to make Spider-Man 10 ala Sam Raimi?
There is so little support and affection for new talent in Scotland, anybody trying to break through the ranks are stopped at the first hurdle and forced to go think of something new to try. Well not this filmmaker. I've got ideas for films that international audiences will lap up - not ground-breaking, thought-provoking, award winning movies - but fun films where you can go to the cinema for 2 hours (well, an hour and a half, if I have my way...) and forget what's going on outside in the world. Then hopefully like the soundtrack enough to go out and buy it!
So tell me Scotland - what does it take for a rising filmmaker in this country to make it? Will I be forced to move country just to get some recognition?
Surely, I'm not alone in thinking there needs to be a change?
But rest assured, I am not giving up.
