One Year Later - The Remaining Perks

(Mark and Rhys from the auditions, photo by Dougie Coull)

ONE YEAR LATER - THE REMAINING PERKS

With our crowd-funding campaign coming to an end yesterday, and our target reached, we still have some remaining perks left if anybody would like to donate money to "One Year Later" in return for them.

"But you've hit your target! Why do you need more money?"

Good question! The money we raised on Bloom was in order to pay our cast and crew for the two day shoot. Now we've hit that target we can make sure everybody involved gets paid for their work. However we still need to pay for production costs such as: props, costumes and catering. A fed crew is a happy crew. A hungry crew... will eat the director. It's happened once before. It's not pretty.

We would also like to take our film to as many festivals as possible this year, and possibly next. Not all of the film festivals we are aiming for are free to enter films into, so the more money we raise, the more festivals we can go to. The end result being more people get to see our film, including industry professionals, who may in fact offer us more work, or see that there is potential in the indie filmmaking industry and open a few more doors for those of us who are working in it. The very worst case scenario is that it just means more people will see our film, and that's not a bad thing in our books.

"Okay, so what's left then?"

Listed below are the perks that are available, how many are left, and how much each perk is, as they were on our Bloom crowd-funding campaign. You can of course donate more money for more perks.

Simply send your donation through PayPal to frasercoull@gmail.com - but PLEASE state what perk or perks you are claiming. Thank you.

The Website and End Credit Thank You - 90 Left - £1

For a £1 we'll credit you on the website and on the end credits of the movie.

The Movie Poster - 94 Left - £2

The poster from the short film, signed by me. 

Updates on the Film - 98 Left - £3

You'll be added to a mailing list and emailed with progress on the film.

The Postcards - 45 Left - £5

A set of postcards including the poster and set photos, signed by cast and crew.

The Soundtrack - 9 Left - £5

We'll have music from upcoming Scottish artists including Emerald Sunday, Del and music from our composer. We'll make up a CD of the songs and send them to you!

The Vanilla DVD - 28 Left - £10

A signed copy of the film on DVD

The Movie on Blu-Ray - 13 left - £15

As above, but on blu-ray! 

The Premiere of the Movie - 6 Left - £15

We'll be holding a cast and crew screening of the movie in Glasgow once the film is complete and you can come along and see the film before anybody else and meet our cast and crew. We'll all be dressed up and you can be too! There might even be a red carpet. We cannot pay for travel or accommodation for this perk.

The Special Features DVD - 36 Left - £20

Throughout filming we'll interview cast and crew, shoot a behind the scenes look and add a production gallery slide-show to the DVD including the movie.

Production Scrap Book - 15 Left - £20

Our stills photographer Dougie Coull will be on hand documenting our shoot and we'll put the best photos into a scrapbook for you to keep. We'll even sign it for you.

The Set Visit - 8 Left - £30

We're filming in Glasgow on the 27th and 28th of April and you can come along one day to see how the film is made, meet the cast and crew and watch the magic of cinema happen. We cannot pay for travel or accommodation for this perk.

The Signed Script - 4 Left - £30

Cast and crew will sign their scripts and you can have them as a momento of the project!

Be in The Movie - 6 Left - £50

There are two scenes in the movie on the 28th of April where we will need people in the background and it could be YOU! The shoot is in Glasgow and we cannot pay travel or accommodation.

The Hollywood Make Over - 9 Left - £50

Our professional TV and film makeup artists will arrange a day with you to provide you with a Hollywood makeover, including 1 free photo.

The Executive Producer Perk - 8 Left - £200

You are entitled to every single perk and you will be credited as one of our Executive Producers on our film.

Thank you for your continued support.

One Year Later - Funded!

ONE YEAR LATER - FUNDED!

Thank you to everybody who backed our project! We reached 103% of our target, ensuring we can pay our cast and crew for their involvement, as well as securing locations, props and costumes.

Filmmaking isn't a cheap profession and we are using our experience and skills to shoot our short film over 2 days in April. Once it's completed we will edit the film and take it to as many film festivals as possible, hopefully gaining exposure for our cast and our crew, with the intention of opening more doors and opportunities for us all to further our careers. 

It also proves that, if done right, crowdfunding can help you make your project. While the £2060 we raised might not seem like much for a film, it is a lot to us, and means we can pay our team SOMETHING for their time over the weekend.

This is the first time I've been in a position where I can do this properly and I hope it's not the last.

I am very excited about making the short, it's my most personal script so far and I hope I can do it justice. We've got such a brilliant cast and superb crew and I know we will do our best to make it special.

You can follow the film's progress on Twitter by following us at https://twitter.com/OneYearLater1

News of our appearances at film festivals will be made here and on Twitter.

Now we move on to locking down our last few locations after confirming The Libertine, The Tall Ship and Skin in Glasgow for our first meeting scene, the proposal and the hospital waiting room. Props are also being secured for the short and costumes are next! 

We will be filming a behind the scenes look at how we make the film and it will be available on a special features DVD to all of our backers who purchased it.

Wish us luck! 

Creative Talent Connections and One Year Later in the News

IN THE NEWS

We've been fortunate this past week or so with STV running a story about One Year Later and the work that we are striving to achieve with Creative Talent Connections.

The Press and Journal in Aberdeen have also ran a feature on Mark Wood, who will be playing Steven in One Year Later. Here's the article:

The Greenock Telegraph also ran a story on the film and CTC:

With just 4 days left to hit our target for our crowd-funding campaign it would be amazing if you could support us, tell your family, friends, colleagues, EVERYBODY! 

Head over to http://www.bloomvc.com/project/One-Year-Later-A-Supernatural-Rom-Com# to see what perks you can claim in return for your donations. Thank you.

Creative Talent Connections Podcast - James Moran

CREATIVE TALENT CONNECTIONS - JAMES MORAN

("Severance" & "Crazy For You" writer James Moran with myself)

Last night I was lucky to attend a screening of "Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever") directed by Scottish filmmaker Callum Waddell, with a Q and A from horror legends James Moran and Norman J Warren after. Classic horror film "Intruder" preceded it and it was great to see it for the first time and on the big screen too. 

Afterwards I was able to grab James for a 10 minute interview, asking him about his career and for advice for budding writers. He said some very, very important things and it's worth a listen if you are thinking about getting into the TV/feature film writing game. 

I highly recommend you go and watch Cockneys Versus Zombies and Tower Block, both written by James, and stunning pieces of work.

("Threesome" and "Doctor Who" writer Tom Macrae)

During the Glasgow Film Festival this year I was also able to grab Tom Macrae, writer of hit Comedy Central series "Threesome" and "Doctor Who", who also gave some invaluable advice for writers. 

The aim is to bring in a Scottish writer for an interview in a future podcast so we can put together a writers special podcast and get it online for you all to hear.

Our next podcast is recording in April 20th with actor Colin McCredie and producer/director Michael Hines. 

Now back to pushing and working on pre-production for my own short, "One Year Later"

One Year Later - The Tall Ship

THE TALL SHIP

(Photo by Dougie Coull)

Our brilliant producer Claire Mcguire has secure the Tall Ship at the Riverside Museum for one of our locations in "One Year Later"! 

This is fantastic news as the Tall Ship was included in the original script for our supernatural rom-com short film. Thank you to the Tall Ship for accommodating us. As time goes on we'll be able to announce more locations throughout Glasgow.

Meanwhile Douglas Young has become one of our latest backers, along with Markus Innocenti and together they have helped us reach the 70% mark with 7 days left to hit 100%.

Head over to our crowd funding page and see what perks we are offering in return for your support. We can't make this film without you.

One Year Later Crowd-Funding Page! 

One Year Later - Meet Our Cast (Updated)

ONE YEAR LATER - MEET THE CAST

As we reach the end of our crowd funding campaign and continue with pre-production with our film, our locations are being locked down and we'll soon be seeking out our costumes. After the videos below you can see example of the mood boards for each character that our talented costume girl Katy has come up with for myself and my producer Claire to choose from.

Here are some examples of work from our cast on One Year Later!

Rhys Teare-Williams - David

Mark Wood - Steven


April Pearson - Katy


Simon Weir - Doctor Evans

COSTUME MOOD BOARDS

STV Online features One Year Later

(Mark Wood and Rhys Teare-Williams)

STV ONLINE FEATURES ONE YEAR LATER

One Year Later producer Claire Mcguire and myself were invited along to STV yesterday to be interviewed about our new project. We met with Kayleigh Mcleod and had a nice chat about the movie, what our goals are, why we're crowd funding etc.

The interview went live today and you can read it here!

Things are progressing nicely with locations becoming closer to being locked down, the costume mood boards are in from Katy Taylor and all of our cast is in place.

We've got just 9 days left to hit our target and we're already at 57% so please visit our crowd-funding page here and pledge! We've got set visits, Hollywood Makeovers, signed copies of the DVD, invites to the screening, the chance to meet the cast and crew, movie posters, production scrapbooks and more! Plus all backers are entered into a prize draw to win a movie perk bundle! 

Filming takes place on the 27th and 28th of April in Glasgow and I can't wait!

In the meantime here is my showreel with examples of the projects I've worked on so far...

Creative Talent Connections - 2nd April

CREATIVE TALENT CONNECTIONS - 2ND APRIL 2013

Our next networking night will take place at 7.30pm in the basement of Blackfriars in Glasgow City Centre. Following on from our night in January we are booking established professionals from the world of TV, film, theatre and radio to give an informal chat about their careers and offer advice to those who attend our night.

We'll also be showing a few short films on the night from our members of CTC and allowing people the chance to network, get to know one another and help each other on various projects. We really want to push Scotland as a thriving film and TV capital, encourage people to go out there and make their projects happen with the support of fellow filmmakers, actors, writers, etc. 

All information, updates, confirmation of our guests can be found on our Facebook page here!

It's a free event and all you need is an interest in being a part of the world of TV, film, theatre and radio to come along!

One Year Later - Casting Announcement - Rhys Teare-Williams

ONE YEAR LATER - CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT:

RHYS TEARE-WILLIAMS

I am pleased to announce that after an excellent casting session, and 72 hours of careful contemplation, upcoming actor Rhys Teare-Williams has joined our cast, playing the role of David, the geeky, sensitive younger brother of Steven (Mark Wood). The film focusses on David's mission to propose to his equally geeky, sassy girlfriend Katy (Skin's star April Pearson) with the support of his cheeky, self-confessed playboy, Steven.

Check out some of Rhys' work at Blates Productions YouTube page above!

Mark and Rhys at the day of the auditions

With our cast complete we will be moving ahead with confirming locations, scheduling, costumes and props. We have just 2 weeks to find £855 to hit our crowd funding target with signed scripts, copies of the movie on DVD, blu-ray, copies of our soundtrack, set visits, Hollywood makeovers, production scrapbook and more to claim in return for your pledge! Please go to http://www.bloomvc.com/project/One-Year-Later-A-Supernatural-Rom-Com# and pledge whatever you can! If we don't hit 100% then we get none of the money we have been promised so far!

Joining April, Mark, Rhys and Simon are Paul Murray and Tam Toye, who are playing the security guard and the Maitre 'D respectively. 

Cannot wait to start shooting One Year Later! 

One Year Later - The Audition Process

Some of the One Year Later team

From l-r, Scott Forrest (AD), Sarah Mooney (AP), Rachael Darroch (BTS), Fraser Coull (writer/director), Mark Wood (actor) and Claire Mcguire (producer)

Photo by Dougie Coull

ONE YEAR LATER - THE AUDITION PROCESS

We had a brilliant time on Sunday the 10th of March meeting 13 brilliant actors who wanted to audition for the role of David in my new short film, One Year Later. We've had around 5 video auditions also and I can honestly say it was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in my life.

I arrived at Blackfriars in Merchant City on at around 12.30pm where I met with Mark Wood, who is playing Steven in the film. Mark had come up from London to join us at the auditions and to read in with the actors who were auditioning to play his little brother. 

We were joined by our brilliant producer Claire Mcguire, our assistant producer Sarah Mooney, the film's behind the scenes filmmaker Rachael Darroch, the assistant director Scott Forrest and my Dad, professional photographer, Dougie Coull.

Mark Wood messes around in between the auditions

One by one the actors from all over Scotland appeared, even some familiar faces from people who have worked with me before, and it was great to see everybody's interpretation of the script they were given. It also let me see how Mark would play the role of Steven and allowed me to try different approaches with him, a very valuable experience indeed. 

Auditions started at 1pm and finished at 5.15pm, with only 3 actors not showing up. One or two of them had the decency to tell us, but I think it's very unprofessional to not let the production company know that you weren't going to show up, as it would have allowed us to seen another actor who didn't make the short-list. Very disappointing indeed.  

Claire and myself discussing the actors we had seen up to that point

What's great about auditions from my point of view as writer/director is that I can see how my writing can be interpreted a different way, and spot things that weren't immediately noticeable, allowing me to tweak the script, change lines here and there, or have the cast deliver the dialogue in a different way. 

Another brilliant thing was having Mark there from the start. Knowing that he is playing Steven in the film allowed me to see how he gelled with each other actor who was auditioning. It let me see who looked like the younger brother, who had the best chemistry with him. It's a key point to the film. This is a story about two brothers who have always been there for each other, and even though they tease each other and mock the other, deep down they are very supportive of their sibling and protect them. Even after death that relationship continues - the whole point of the film is how relationships work between siblings, and how your relationship with your partner is affected by that, and David's inability to move on after his brother has died. 

Watching all the actors I was thinking "Does this feel like a movie?" "Do I believe they are the young brother?" "Is he vulnerable enough to need his older brother?" "Does he look like he'll be a good match for April (who is playing Katy)", "Am I rooting for him?" All of these thoughts pop through my head as well as "Will they gel with my crew, will we work together well, can they take direction?" 

All important questions. For me anyway.

Mark Wood

After the dust had settled and the auditions were over, all of us discussed it. The guys told me who they thought were good for the part, and after Claire and I had a drink to discuss it. Since Sunday I've been watching the auditions over, and over, and over, and over again. Researching each actor online, watching their other work to see how they were in other projects etc. 

I have now made my decision and everybody who auditioned has been notified. We will announce who will be playing David in a day or so.

Now we have to lock down the rest of the locations, organise costumes, finish our crowd-funding, source the props, get the schedule sorted and then shoot the film in two days in April!

Ah, filmmaking, how I love thee.

Recap of Work

RECAP OF WORK

Tomorrow sees our auditions for One Year Later, my new supernatural rom-com short film starring April Pearson (Skins/Tormented), Mark Wood (Trinity, Taggart) and Simon Weir (River City/Highroad). I'm pleased that the crew that worked with me on Bloodline and Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor, such a talented team of people, with some new recruits (Sarah Mooney as Assistant Producer, Katy Taylor as our wardrobe mistress and Sean Patrick Gill as Sound Recordist) to keep things fresh. The weekend of filming on the 27th of April will be great fun. Claire Mcguire, my ever-fantastic producer, is working hard on sorting out locations, with a couple of big ones lined up, so fingers crossed!

To ensure we can pay our cast and crew, props, locations, food, costumes etc, we're crowd-funding the project. Currently we're at 53% with 20 days left to hit 100%, or we will receive none of the funding promised so far. We're offering set visits, Hollywood hair and makeup sessions, copies of the film on blu-ray and DVD, copies of the soundtrack, signed scripts, posters, postcards, invites to the screening and more, all at http://www.bloomvc.com/project/One-Year-Later-A-Supernatural-Rom-Com so if you can donate anything myself and the entire crew would be eternally grateful.

There will be a blog entry tomorrow about the auditions, with photos and hopefully a small behind the scenes video, but I just wanted to share a few of my projects throughout the years. I started off at the BBC training programme E-Force in 2003 before studying TV operations and productions at James Watt College in Greenock on 2004, since then I started my company Silly Wee Films, produced 2 seasons of superhero web series "Night is Day" and the feature film spin-off, short films, corporate videos, music videos and more. All to learn how to work in this industry, develop my ideas and hopefully soon be working in broadcast television producing TV shows.

Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor - 48 Hour Film Project Glasgow 2012

Bloodline - Proposed Scottish Supernatural TV Series: Trailer

Del - The Greatest Trick: Music Video

Night is Day - Scottish Superhero Feature Film: Trailer

Night is Day - Scottish Superhero Web Series: 1st Episode



Late Nights - 48 Hour Film Project Glasgow 2011



Two and Half Minutes - Thriller Short Film

Actress Required For Music Video Shoot

ACTRESS REQUIRED FOR MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT

We're shooting a music video for Scottish rap artist's latest video, "Talking About Me" in Glasgow on either the 16th or 17th of March.

The age range is 18-25.

The actress will be required to mime along to the song's chorus and will be needed for 3-4 hours on location.

This is a paid job so please email your headshots and CVs to castings@sillyweefilms.co.uk before the 8th of March. Thank you.