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The BUFF Blog (by Ross Bispham – May 2014)

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On the 3rd of March 2013, it was reported in the Sunday Telegraph that Revolver, at one point the UK’s most prominent urban theatrical and home entertainment film distributor, had entered into administration. Commentators had cited that the West London outfit (established in 1997), which brought iLL Manors, Anuvahood and Exit Through the Giftshop (to name but 3) to the masses had failed to keep up with the cultural shift in how their content was being consumed and appreciated. A lot has happened since then as the wheels continue to turn and the face of distribution takes on a different look.

Fortunately for those who associate themselves within the British Urban Film fraternity, as one door remains firmly shut (literally), another door digitally opens. And although the traditional windows of distribution still remain a lucrative avenue for filmmakers (albeit via the middlemen) self-distribution then becomes a tempting proposition. Cometh the hour, cometh Ross Bispham. If there’s one individual (who previously worked at Revolver) who can put their finger on where we go from here regarding distribution and more importantly how everybody gets well paid in the process – then it’s most probably going to be Ross. With a team including Tom Westgate (who previously worked for the London Film Festival), Ignite Film Fans has been set up to fill the void which many believe to have existed in the 14 months since the house of cards that was Revolver, folded. So why should we care about Ross and his gang? Probably for the same reasons you continue to read this blog in your thousands. Writing exclusively for the British Urban Film Festival, here is this month’s edition of the BUFF blog from Ross Bispham…

 

The British film industry is currently in a very exciting place that is evolving at an incredible rate, presenting the perfect opportunity to introduce new production, distribution and audience involvement initiatives. For years, there have been many obstacles, which have kept film a virtually closed-off industry, available only for people with cash, the right connections or an indomitable obsession for success, but effectively closed to a huge number of highly talented people desperately attempting to nose their way in any which way they can.

However, I believe that trend is now changing and is no longer the norm. With the increasing popularity of open castings, crowd funding and fan development websites throughout the movie world, there are more independent films in production today than ever before. And all of them want a shot at the big time.

Working at Revolver Entertainment was an exciting and eye opening experience. With an abundance of arthouse and indie productions on its slate, Revolver won many awards for diverse and innovative release campaigns and strategies on films such as Mum and Dad, Iron Sky and Ill Manors. Through courage or fearlessness, some releases were highly successful, others not so. Yet my time there offered me an invaluable lesson when it comes to film distribution – timing is key, placement is important, but understanding and meeting the needs of your audience is paramount.

The rise of two aspects in the independent film world are particularly fascinating at this moment in time. The first is the phenomenal success of and response to crowd funding, not only as a concept, but also in its execution. The way in which it has been accepted and embraced by film makers and, of course, the general public has been pivotal to the ongoing development of film making as we know it. Secondly, it is incredibly refreshing to witness a new era of varying and daring release strategies across the board. From multi-platform releases to self-distribution, it never ceases to amaze each and every time someone is brave and determined enough to attempt a completely unique approach.

Crowd funding has come up with some unbelievable success stories in recent years. In 2012, the release of Iron Sky, which began life as a trailer in jest, raised in the region of £10million from a combination of crowd funding, contributions from private investors and the pre-sale of its distribution rights. It went on to become a global sensation, having sold in thirty three different territories to date and became the biggest straight to DVD release of the year in the UK, supported by a small multi-platform release. The resounding success of this film was predominantly thanks to the simply staggering amount of awareness and support it gathered while it was merely a concept and then throughout pre-production. This just goes to show how a great idea can pick up an absurd amount of steam.

Iron Sky was merely the beginning and this method of film financing has spread rapidly – now even utilised by the already rich and famous. Less than a year ago Zach Braff successfully raised over £2.7 million from over forty one thousand contributors for his new film Wish I Was Here.

This could be a sign that the public and movie lovers understand some of the plights faced by independent film makers and are keen to help. Crowd funding is possibly the first time in history that the man (or woman) in the street has been given the opportunity to get involved with productions at such an early stage in its development; an opportunity that many have shown to be willing to seize with both hands.

We already know that the landscape of film is drastically changing and it doesn’t stop with production. The way in which we all view our films is constantly evolving thanks to a host of new and innovative distribution strategies. From services such as the Netflix binge viewing culture to immersive cinema experiences the public are accepting of and relating to the opportunity to view content in new and innovative ways.

This is good news for the plethora of UK film makers who are desperate for their films to reach the audiences they deserve. The birth of self-distribution presents film makers with a fantastic abundance of different opportunities to get their work seen. Importantly, most of these new methods are very cheap.

With the rise of digital distribution, directors and producers no longer need to secure a distribution deal to allow them to showcase their film to the public. Red State was a prime example of this. The film was touted to be auctioned off to distributors at Sundance until director Kevin Smith instead announced he would hold on to the rights for it and take it on a national tour securing cinema runs and university screenings across America. The film was later released through the Lionsgate video on demand service, proving a film doesn’t need to follow the accepted norm to achieve profit and gain international sales.

Does this suggest an end to traditional cinema? No, not at all. We can all rest assured that the demand for seeing films on the big screen will not diminish – at least not for the time being. Studios will continue to produce and distribute blockbusters and independent distributors will continue to pick up and release arthouse films. Will the box office continue to bring in substantial profits? That remains to be seen. It would be fair to argue that film makers face a bigger battle with illegal downloading acting as a drain on their monetary success. And let us not forget that the cost of digital distribution is considerably less than that of traditional methods. All we can be certain of is that the times are changing, and if film makers do not keep up with and adhere to current technologies and trends then they will be sure to lose out.

The undeniable potential of digital distribution does not come without its risks however. As previously mentioned the number of independent films in production is currently higher than it has ever been. If all of these seek a digital release could that spell disaster? Film fans and movie goers are anything but in short supply, but how do you find your audience in a saturated market? And as a film buff yourself, how do you find a film you will really enjoy in an endless and confusing sea of potential alternatives? These are just two of the many questions to which Ignite Film Fans hopes to provide the answer to.

Ignite Film Fans’ mission is to help independent producers and film-makers across the United Kingdom to connect with their audience and build a dedicated fan base for their projects during development and production stages. In doing so, they will be able to translate this accumulated support into a tangible value and driving force to help them achieve their long term goals, be that film festival selection, obtaining further funding, or securing distribution. But there is a vital flip side to this. It is also essential that the fans get something back in return.

By signing up to Ignite Film Fans free service and offering their support to individual films and concepts, members of the public will be rewarded with exclusive content, fantastic offers and exciting competitions direct from the film-makers themselves. These include signed scripts, behind the scenes footage and exclusive artwork, as well as winning set visits, the chance to appear as an extra and tickets to screenings and premieres. Through creating this mutual relationship, film fans can get involved with the UK’s very best, exciting and innovative productions in a way never before possible and enjoy the drive and enthusiasm of a new generation of talented film-makers.

Ignite Film Fans are dedicated to supporting and showcasing the very best emerging talent and independent productions across the UK. By facilitating and mediating beneficial relationships between film makers, audiences, financiers and key industry figures it is possible to help them achieve their long term goals.

 

(c) Ross Bispham/BUFF Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Nadia Denton – April 2014)

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The Easter holidays. For many it will be one of the first dates in the diary to look out for at the start of the year when it comes to taking time out and getting away from the hustle. For most filmmakers (who are always on the hustle), it will also mean that the Cannes Film Festival is just weeks away. At last year’s event, there was only 1 British film in competition for the prestigious Palme d’Or and Un Certain Regard. Even then, it’s arguable whether a film directed by an American and produced by an Englishman with an English lead actor can count as British (‘Only Lovers Left Alive’). British movies have also had scant recognition at recent Berlin and Venice festivals.

So how does one get noticed at these festivals if you’re not Ken Loach or Mike Leigh. BUFF board member Nadia Denton has been working in the film industry for the past 10 years in marketing, exhibition and distribution. She released her first book ‘The Black British Filmmaker’s Guide to Success: Finance Market and Distribute Your Film’ in 2011. The guide, the first of its kind internationally is available as a FREE download at http://www.nadiadenton.com. She is currently writing her second title ‘The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success: Beyond Nollywood’ which will be released later this year. Nadia was at Cannes last year and is well placed to provide insight as to what to expect from these festivals (and many others) as a filmmaker. You can add ‘Nadia Denton’ as a friend on Facebook who at present is sampling the sights and sounds from the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Here’s her blog…

 

Whilst Cannes is undoubtedly the monster of all international film festivals, indie filmmaker should not lose sight of the smaller, more boutique festivals that will help them to achieve their aims at a more realistic level.

Those of you that have attended Cannes will know that the chances of meeting an exec that will green light your project at first sight, or even mingling with the top Directors and stars is remote. Chances are you will spend more time walking up and down the croisette than inside the various film companies and sales agents offices that line the strip. Big business is done in Cannes but only for the very lucky 10% and this is often predetermined before they get to the festival.

Where the business of striking deals at festivals are concerned, it would be well worth you considering other platforms such as the Dubai Film Festival, the American Film market, Berlinale, Sheffield Doc Fest, Tribeca, Durban Film Mart or even Rotterdam Film festival. These events offer an opportunity to present your projects to execs in an environment that more accessible and less frenetic.

Over the next 12 months, where distribution is concerned it’s all about VOD. Filmmakers will help themselves greatly by better understanding who the main players are, how the platforms work and can be used to their best advantage. Filmmakers will need to put themselves in front of content aggregators and inform themselves of the deals before jumping in foot first. In addition to spending time in VOD platforms themselves, filmmakers should compile a list and research who the main players are, which films are doing well and why. They need to consider their budgets in relations to VOD and the likely recoupment. It will additionally be necessary to plan in the time, costs and resources needed to market a VOD release.

Filmmakers need to be wise about their distribution plans at the early stages of their project, ideally at the script development stage. The days of making a film, having a great VIP red carpet and then waiting for the offers to flood in has long gone. Instead, some  realism needs to be applied, which in this case means developing a distribution strategy (and marketing plan) alongside the writing of the script. The ideal scenario would be to solicit the interest of a distributor and/or sales agent who can review the script and give some guidance about its place in the market so that it can be positioned appropriately.

Overall, independent filmmakers will increasingly be relying on hybrid methods of distribution where they sell some of their rights (i.e. DVD, TV, VOD) and retain others which they will be responsible for themselves.

There are other strategies that filmmakers may find particularly useful over the next 12 months;

1. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. Collaborate across sectors i.e. technology, science, fashion, music whatever floats your boat really. Extend beyond the film industry itself. Think about mixed media projects and exciting ways that you can tell your story through the prism of another discipline. Collaborate across nations. Think about parts of the world where you can shoot with the benefit of tax rebates, or countries which are more likely to be receptive to the films that you want to make. Pool resources and skills even more than you currently are doing. Consider working with a collective of filmmakers where you rotate and share skills on each other’s projects.

2. Learn as much as you can about EIS and SEIS and use it to your best advantage. Talk to your accountant and people in the city. Consider attending an angel investment event. Reconfigure your business so that it is not just about filmmaking, but the creation of products and selling of skills/expertise. Create a business structure that will be more attractive to EIS and SEIS type investment.

3. Shoot outside of London. Explore locations beyond the M25 area. Think about regionalism. There are still swathes of the English heartland that are crying out to be shot in a compelling way and which will bring new perspectives to the story that you are telling. Forget about London. Head outwards.

4. Return to e-mail marketing as a significant way to create public awareness for your campaigns. Social media is great, but don’t forget about your mailing lists. Develop and grow them. Occasionally step aside from the ‘noise’ of social media to a marketing method that is more personalised and in some instances more effective.

5. Reduce the budget of your current project by a quarter, Get tighter with your budgeting. Less is more.

 

© Nadia Denton/BUFF Enterprises. All rights reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Larushka Ivan-Zadeh – December 2013)

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BUFF Tidings! And what a great time of the year it is to be at the pictures. Christmas round the corner, Oscar-bait movies ten-a-penny, what’s not to like? Digital distribution perhaps? We’ll save that for next month’s blog. At the time of writing, yours truly will be in attendance at a pre-Christmas preview screening of ’12 Years A Slave’ – it’s one of the perks of running a film festival though one could say the same thing about this month’s guest writer of the BUFF blog. Those of you who follow the festival will either recognise the name Larushka Ivan-Zadeh or indeed her profile picture in the Metro – and that’s because not only is she the film editor for that newspaper, she’s also one of our esteemed board members meaning that she gets to see a vast cornucopia of films – mostly on your behalf. So why should she have this privilege you may ask? Why should you care what she thinks about a big-budget movie or otherwise? Well there’s only one way to find out? Read her BUFF blog right here…

 

Why does anyone care what film critics think? The answer increasingly seems to be: they don’t. For 2013 marks the year the professional (i.e. paid) critic became an endangered species. The cull that started in the US finally arrived in the UK. Increasing numbers of my colleagues in the mainstream press have been axed, retired or told they can only continue if they take massive pay-cuts. Obviously I think this is a bad thing. But is it? What are we losing here? And what is the role of a film critic anyway?

In the old, pre-Internet days seeing the point of a film critic was simpler. We were news-bringers and gate-keepers. A hatchet job critique can be an entertaining read, but, as a force for good, we helped – and still do help – to introduce audiences to new, often challenging work. But then, so do film festivals. BUFF is a shining example. It provides a valued platform to filmmakers whose work can struggle to be heard in the mainstream media. Festivals are a chance for audiences to see films unprejudiced by reviews, marketing slants or hype. BUFF-goers don’t use reviews to choose what to see – indeed they can’t, as some of the films in the programme have never been screened anywhere before. So what’s the role of a critic at festivals? To acquaint themselves on the cutting edge of film making, to spread the word of what they’ve seen outwards and to take the critical temperature of how the film is likely to be received outside the supportive and nurturing festival nest.

It is at festivals we see that critics, industry and audiences share a level playing field. Often a festival will have an ‘Audience’ award as well as an award voted for by a jury. Filmmakers will value both, but also the praise or constructive criticism of the professional reviewer. Why? Because what differentiates the professional reviewer, as well as, hopefully, a skill for insightful analysis, is that they give an informed context for their opinion. One based in an extensive knowledge of cinema and wider film history. Added to that is the fact we see a heck of a lot more movies than you do. I see about 6 new films a week, for example.

That said, criticism is subjective. And no critic is an ultimate authority. Film festivals, more than anywhere, are where critical objectivity can fly out the window. At Cannes, for example, passions run particularly high: films are routinely booed or given standing ovations and this is reflected in the reviews. Here, even broadsheet critics can over-excitedly shower films with stars that, if viewed outside the festival hothouse, they might have appraised more coolly.

So, why should you trust a critic to tell you if a film is any good, or not? Studios are starting not to. Posters may still have critics’ star ratings on them as a badge of pride – but tweets from ‘normal’ punters have begun to be used on publicity, even for ‘serious’ dramas like the Oscar-nominated ‘The Impossible’ which opened earlier this year. You can see why marketing companies would use quotes from the public when advertising big, so-called ‘critic-proof’ multiplex crowd-pleasers – the films that we critics insist are rubbish and give no stars to, but audiences still flock to in their millions. But, even so, who are these random Tweeters on the posters? What weight does their opinion hold? You could probably find a Twitter-user who loved the Diana movie if you looked hard enough.

Thanks to social media the phrase ‘everyone’s a critic’ has never been truer. Anyone can set up a reviews site online and shout their opinions – as long as they don’t expect to be paid for it. Which is great for non-elitism. And, on the upside, social media has proved a revolutionary facilitator in allowing independent filmmakers to create a word-of-mouth buzz for their films without the need for a prohibitively expensive marketing campaign. But, to me, the professional critic still has a role. To me, a critic is a guide. A guide you may not always agree with, but who entertains you, occasionally enlightens you and one whose opinion you respect. A guide who is comprehensive, who has the time to see everything from tiny festival movie to massive blockbuster and, ideally, give them equal consideration. To do that properly is a full time job – and should be valued with a living wage. And in our non-stop, ever-expanding media Babel, a guide is more essential than ever. But then I would say that, wouldn’t I?

© Larushka Ivan-Zadeh/BUFF Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.

Follow @Larushka_iz on Twitter.

For all the latest BUFF breaking news follow @buffenterprises on Twitter.

The BUFF Blog (by Adriel Leff – November 2013)

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And so it all begins again. We welcome you to the home of urban film coverage in the UK and another 12 months of insight from those in the know – telling it how it really is. So in time-honoured BUFF tradition, we introduce this month’s guest blogger and whilst he’s not yet a familiar face in the grand scheme of things, he will have been a familiar face to the 1400-odd people who came through the doors over the 4 festival days. Not many people can say that they attended every event and saw every film which was screened at this year’s British Urban Film Festival – but this man did (and why not?) So here to give his considered take on the festival that was #BUFF2013 is the writer and director of the award-winning boxumentary @BloodyLip and honorary member of the famed BUFF alumni, it’s Mr Adriel Leff…

 

I first met BUFF founder Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe in November of 2012 when he attended an industry screening of my debut film.  I’m ashamed to admit that at that time I had precisely zero experience of attending (let alone participating in) film festivals – which sadly is the case with a large proportion of the British public.

To my delight, Emmanuel asked to include my film in the 2013 British Urban Film Festival.  After talking at length with him I found the concept, and the man behind it, to be both fascinating and seemingly a perfect fit for my film, so naturally I enthusiastically agreed to be a part of the festival – and what a festival it turned out to be…

Before the film screenings began there was a day of free events at the Channel 4 building.  This included well-received live readings of the winners of BUFF’s inaugural scriptwriting competition (of which I was fortunate enough to be on the judging panel), an informative discussion on film distribution in today’s ever-changing digital world, and most notably an extremely lively and relevant debate about the portrayal of the black community in film and television.  

This was a topic that clearly the majority of those present cared very deeply about and the palpable energy in the room as the subject was explored in an open, eloquent and intelligent manner was testament to the fact that this was an extremely necessary and worthy debate and one that felt like it very much needed to happen.  Needless to say I’m sure all the participants are very thankful to BUFF that it did, because I can’t think of another arena where such an event would have been possible.  When time ran out and the debate came to an end there was an audible groan of disappointment from the attendees who I’m sure could have quite willingly carried on with the fascinating discussion all day.

The screenings themselves couldn’t have kicked off in better style than with “Calloused Hands”, which turned out to be my own personal favourite film of the festival.  Screened in the plush surrounds of the Odeon Leicester Square, I found it to be the most enjoyable cinematic experience I can remember having in a long while.  The film itself was funny, exciting, and moving – but most importantly the audience was clearly engaged and responsive.  

Usually someone sitting in a neighbouring seat talking throughout a film is a real annoyance, but when it’s an audience member struggling not to vocalise their response to the emotional journey they’re being taken on it is hard not to view it as anything other than a compliment to the film and the environment in which it is being shown – and when you’re aware that your own work will soon be included in the very same festival this has to be taken as an extremely encouraging sign.

The Q&A session following “Calloused Hands” was equally entertaining, with the director and stars all proving very generous with their time and anecdotes, and an afterparty at a nearby club proved to be a fitting end to a very successful and promising opening night.

The highlight for me of the following day’s screenings was “Latvia”, a cautionary tale about the British criminal underworld – a theme that of course we’ve all seen time and again, but the wholly original twist here was that, instead of the usual high-octane, glamorising approach to the genre, the film highlighted the mundaneness and zero-purpose of living a life comprising of nothing more than ending other people’s existences while waiting for someone to end your own.  I found it very refreshing to see the restrained performances and obvious moral standpoint that we are simply not used to witnessing in the majority of our homegrown films.

Next up was the shorts block.  My expectations were high as I was fortunate enough to have had my film featured in festivals in New York and LA this year and I’d seen some very impressive short films at both, but one characteristic I couldn’t fail to notice at the American festivals was a lack of consistency – there was a feeling of “if you don’t like this short film don’t worry, there’ll be another one along in a few minutes”.

However I can honestly say that out of nearly a dozen shorts featured at BUFF, there wasn’t one that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy, which I see as a huge endorsement of not only the talented filmmakers who submitted their outstanding entries but also of the board’s insightful judgement when it comes to film selection.

Of course I had my favourites, but it was the overall quality on show that really surprised and delighted me.  It is also worth noting that, whereas the American shorts blocks had featured films from all over the world, each of the BUFF shorts was British-made – testament to the often maligned fact that we really do have a huge amount of domestic talent in our country that desperately needs to be nurtured.

Again, I have to mention the audience who were without doubt the best crowd I have ever seen at any cinematic event – laughing so loud at the comedic moments that at times I’m sure secondary jokes were missed, while maintaining an attentive silence when a dramatic piece required it, and of course freely showing their appreciation with generous applause after every gratifying short.

I could single out several shorts for special praise (as Emmanuel insisted I did on the night!) but to do so would be a disservice to each I neglected to mention, as I would recommend any and all of them to everyone.  I understand that a small sample will be broadcast by Channel 4 at some point, but I sincerely hope that those not lucky enough to be selected will be available for public viewing in some other manner.

As Day Four of the festival arrived I had a bittersweet mix of excitement (as my film was due to close the festival) but also a touch of sadness that the event was coming to an end.  It really had been a memorable and enjoyable experience and I had met so many lovely and interesting new people – both participants and attendees, within the industry and beyond.

The final day began with “The Fade”, an informative and fun documentary focusing on four hairdressers – from Britain, America, Ghana, and Jamaica.  It was a simple concept executed perfectly, highlighting the differences and similarities of both the men’s work and their fascinating personal lives. 

The Q&A with the film’s director and cinematographer that followed featured an unusually large amount of audience interaction, reflecting the degree to which that the film had both gripped and intrigued its viewers who clamoured to find out more about the subjects and their documenters.

The film also looked fantastic and, after the screening, I felt the need to ask the cinematographer a question myself – whether he had done much work in post-production to bring out the vivid colours, especially evident in the film’s African and Caribbean locations.  In fact, he told me, if anything he’d had to tone the colours down, such was the natural vibrancy of the florid environment.

Following “The Fade” was “Traveller”, a world premiere featuring both David Essex and his son, drawing a very large audience comprised in the main of an unusual mix of Essex fans and members of the traveller community, with both disparate factions receiving the film very well.

Finally it was time for the UK premiere of my own film, “Bloody Lip”, a comedy mockumentary revolving around a struggling boxer in the build-up to the biggest fight of his life.  It was a fantastic experience to see my work presented in such a professional and yet inclusive environment, with the relaxed audience being so receptive and responsive, laughing heartily throughout and reacting with genuine warmth to the film’s unexpectedly uplifting conclusion. 

Ending the proceedings was a Q&A session with myself and some of the actors which proved to be a great opportunity to give a few insights into the production and creative process behind the film, as well as to hear feedback from the audience who were very quick to put forward their universally positive comments and insightful questions.

Such was the feeling of good humour and playfulness in the room that the Q&A even featured an impromptu boxing lesson from one of the stars of the film (a real-life boxing trainer), much to everyone’s enjoyment.  Without wishing to sound like a gushing voiceover on a TV advert for Disneyland, it truly was a magical evening.

One serious point that I felt obliged to make during the Q&A was that without BUFF none of the audience would have been able to sit there and enjoy my film, just as I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of being able to show it in such fantastic surroundings.  The festival is all about celebrating films and filmmakers and it is only natural for an audience to focus on what they are seeing on screen – but it is equally, if not more important to remember that none of us would be experiencing these wonderful films if it wasn’t for the festival and its generous organisers’ hard work behind the scenes.

To me, this is an equally poignant thought not only due to how much we owe to people such as Emmanuel and those behind BUFF for selflessly dedicating so much time and effort to such a worthy endeavour, but also because of the sad fact that if they didn’t do what they do, nobody else would.  Outside of festivals like BUFF there simply isn’t a platform or arena supporting public screenings of the sort of films that really should be available to everyone but simply are not – and that’s a fairly sobering thought.

The latest Hollywood blockbuster plays in every cinema, on every internet streaming site, you can buy it at your supermarket and, soon enough, watch it on broadcast television.  But most of the films that BUFF shows – well, miss them and you may never get another chance to catch them again.  And if perhaps you are indeed lucky enough to, it certainly won’t be in as friendly and stimulating company, or such exceptional and historic circumstances; by definition, a premiere can of course only occur just one time.

I began this blog by saying that before I made a film myself I had no experience of film festivals.  If I had only known what I was missing then I would’ve done something about that poor state of affairs – so I now feel that it is my duty to let other people know what they are missing, and I hope you will do the same. 

A huge section of the public, and especially young people, who could be getting a great amount of enjoyment and inspiration from seeing these personal stories, these pieces of art, these exciting adventures, are not doing so, simply because they aren’t aware that film festivals exist, or have a sadly misconstrued opinion of what they involve.  And no one is going to make an effort to inform them otherwise, besides film festival organisers and those, such as yourselves, who have already discovered this unfortunately often neglected world.

So if you attended BUFF this year then tell someone about it – not just on Facebook or Twitter, but face to face.  Tell them how much you enjoyed it.  Tell as many people as you can.  And tell them they should come along themselves next year, because if they don’t they’ll be missing out on being included in something unique and momentous and very special.  We, the audience, should be the ones promoting these festivals and their films – not the festival organisers or filmmakers. 

And if you saw one film this year then next year go see two.  Or three.  Or do what I did and just watch them all – after all, you never know when you might have another opportunity to see them again in the future.  Chances are, quite possibly never.

 

(c) Adriel Leff/BUFF Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Ron Belgrave – May 2013)

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Those of you who read last month’s edition of the BUFF Blog will recall that the film in question was entitled ‘Woolwich Boys’ (2012) – the closing movie of last year’s British Urban Film Festival and which recently screened as part of this year’s BUFF Spring Season. For the record, and as is custom with all films that are ever made, disclaimers can occasionally be used to make political or similar points. This is neither. And in light of recent events, BUFF feels compelled to state that although ‘Woolwich Boys’ was based on a true story, all characters that were depicted in it are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The blog in question (in addition to all the BUFF Blogs which have ever been published since April 2009) is still available to read online.
This month’s blog comes from another angle – dealing with the issues of perception, race and the media.
The recent BAFTA Television awards (broadcast on BBC One) seemed to reaffirm long-held prejudices (in this country anyway) with no black actors or actresses up for nomination in any of the appropriate categories but yet feature in some of the UK’s most watched and critically acclaimed television programmes.
Calling a spade a spade doesn’t apply to the BAFTA awards it seems. For instance – and completely off tangent – if you were the producer of the ITV documentary which exposed Jimmy Savile as a rampant paedophile and which, to this day, is still making the news with revelation after revelation, and you didn’t get the BAFTA award for best current affairs, how would you feel? For the record the award went to a BBC documentary about the Catholic Church and paedophilia…
On a lighter note, this month’s blog (guest-written by Ron Belgrave from Sankofa Televisual) welcomes UK audiences to a new brand of light entertainment – follow @buffenterprises and @Sankofa_TV and @AfricaChannelUK on Twitter…
Mirror, Mirror – Caribbean Programmes on British Television
There are a number of vertical glass surfaces in any home and many of these can reflect your image. Most of them are ordinary windows which, in the right light and with the right angle, can give a reasonably good reflection. Best of all are, of course, the mirrors which provide a clear (and hopefully pleasing) image. However, the glass surface that most disappoints in terms of reflection is the television screen – particularly if you are Black in Britain.
This is true for the 400 or so stations on the Virgin Media cable platform and for the 650+ stations on the Sky satellite platform. But where it matters the most is on the 50+ stations currently occupying the prime Freeview digital terrestrial platform that broadcasts, for free, into the vast majority of the 25 million households in Britain. Due to its huge reach across the population and that it is home to the nation’s flagship TV channels (including the global ranging and “public funded” BBC) Freeview wields immense power in shaping the country’s values and thoughts and how communities are (or aren’t) validated.
The issue of the absence of Black faces on TV in Britain has been a longstanding concern going back to the 1970s and remains an unresolved issue. The fear of victimisation and reprisal has hampered many in the industry from speaking openly about what was happening to them and it took actor Patrick Robinson a decade to reveal that he was punished and denied acting roles for ten years after voicing his concerns about the BBC. Recently David Harewood, Morgan Freeman, Lenny Henry, Reggie Yates and Paterson Joseph have all also put their heads above the parapet and talked about the systemic and institutional blockades in the film and television industry in Britain (particularly on the main Freeview channels – BBC, ITV, C4, C5 and Sky). Hopefully united voices will mean that they won’t suffer retribution through denial of work and other punishment.
However, what are the roles/stories/programmes that these actors (speaking on behalf of the wider community) are seeking to see on British screens? Probably those that reflect the wide spectrum of the lives of Black people in Britain. That would be wonderful. But would that be enough?
Data from the 2011 UK census indicates that there are four interconnecting and overlapping elements of the Black community in Britain – Caribbean, African, Black British and mixed-race.
It is probably the Black British element that the actors above have (rightly) most strongly argued for but, despite recent and rare delights such as E4’s Youngers, BBC’s Some Girls and ITV’s Ice Cream Girls, the amount of available content is woefully and disgracefully low. But one has to look way back to the 1970s, 80s and 90s to the times of ‘Empire Road’, ‘The Fosters’, ‘No Problem’, ‘Desmond’s’ and ‘The Real McCoy’ to find any regular Black faces on what would now be Freeview in Britain.
Although not on Freeview, the African community has done well to establish successful and sustained TV channels on the Sky satellite network. These channels reflect not only the lives of the British African communities but also strongly reflect the cultures that they still draw on from Africa itself. The existence of these channels also helped to support the development of the first ever British African sitcom series Meet The Adebanjos.
The main element of the Black community that is therefore missing from the television screens of Britain is the Caribbean community. Despite Caribbeans living in the UK, in numbers, for over half a century there are no Caribbean channels on any of the platforms and almost no Caribbean content or programmes on any of the other 1,000 channels.
There have been attempts to establish channels in the past (such as ACTV and IDTV) but these have not been successful. Others are exploring going online with channels (like BVTV) or web-series (like Brothers With No Game and All About The McKenzies). But despite that, and after 50 years, British Caribbeans still have no regular (non-music) presence on any TV platform in the UK.

However, the first step in seeking to get Caribbean content regularly on British airwaves began in May 2013 with the broadcast of the first series to reach the UK from the Caribbean in many years and the first ever from Barbados.

Distributed by Sankofa Televisual, “Keeping Up With The Joneses” (KUWTJ) is a mockumentary-sitcom about a fictional family in Barbados. KUWTJ features the Jones family who reluctantly become the subjects of a reality show entitled “Life & Times in the Caribbean”.  It requires that a camera crew follow the family around and films their every move. Irving (the father) signs the contract to do the show against Angela’s (his wife) wishes. Now, Irving, Angela, Tracy (their 17-year-old daughter) and Nathan (their 10-year-old son) have to coexist while looking good for the cameras, resulting in embarrassing encounters and hilariously awkward TV moments!

When KUWTJ was shown locally by the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in 2011 and 2012, it was viewed by record audiences given that it was Barbados’s first sitcom.
With a new episode broadcast every weekday in the UK from 13th to 31st May on Sky 209 and Virgin 828 at 2:30pm and 11pm each day, if KUWTJ attracts enough viewers then other Caribbean content may follow in the future. The video trailer can be accessed here.

The drive to get Caribbean programmes (dramas, films and other general entertainment) is supported by the results of the 2012 British Caribbean Television Survey where 98% of respondents said that they wanted to watch programmes from the Caribbean on TV in Britain.

80% of the respondents also regarded having Caribbean programmes in Britain as important for young people’s development in the British Caribbean community. This is due to concerns that the younger generations growing up in Britain seemed to know less and less about the Caribbean and about their heritage and relations “back home” and whether there is an association with the extent of serious youth violence in Britain which very significantly affects the Black community in general (especially in London) but notably those of Caribbean heritage. The ages of 11 to 15 are crucially important to young people as this is the key period when they are looking to form their own identity and when they need to be able to draw on appropriate cultural reference points. When these reference points do not exist or are not sufficiently visible or mirrored in the media around them, then there is a mismatch which can have negative consequences.

In time, if there is sufficient support from viewers, the British Caribbean community may see its Caribbean heritage reflected in the mirror of British television screens (satellite/cable) more regularly but maybe not on Freeview (for the foreseeable future).

Ron Belgrave is the Director of Sankofa Televisual

 

© Ron Belgrave/BUFF Enterprises. All rights reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Anthony Abuah – April 2013)

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From left to right: Stanley Chinoso (Actor), Anthony Abuah (Director), Marlene Abuah(Producer), Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe (BUFF Enterprises) and Lateef Lovejoy (Actor/Comedian) at the BUFF 2012 closing night screening of Woolwich Boys
photo © Nathan Bartholomew

 

Those of you joining us for the first time we thank you. We’d also like to welcome in a new audience to the 34th edition of the BUFF Blog. This month’s contribution is guest-written by Anthony Abuah, a previous winner of a Commonwealth Film award and the latest in a succession of British based playwrights who’ve made the transition from stage to screen with his debut feature ‘Woolwich Boys’ – the closing film of last year’s British Urban Film Festival. Regarded by many as a post-Nollywood movie, it is one of the few films (made in the UK) to have attracted critical acclaim away from its core base of West African audiences in what’s still regarded as the world’s 3rd biggest film industry. The post-Nollywood era is indicative of the growing sea change in the way that films commonly branded as Nollywood have been perceived by global audiences and appreciated in equal measure over the last 18 months.

Follow @buffenterprises @MrAnthonyAbuah @WoolwichBoys @TFTMProductions on twitter…

 

Unless you’re female, making a film is one of the hardest things you could ever do.

Over 10 days, in October 2011, we shot my debut feature film ‘Woolwich Boys’, with unknown actors and a willing crew. We aimed to make a Naija version of (Martin) Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’simply because we felt Nigerians are just as interesting as Italian-Americans. We wanted to shoot in a neo-realist, documentary style in pidgin and Yoruba with English subtitles. Essentially, I wanted to make a film that I’d pay money to see.

Until then, I had written and directed a couple of shorts and plays that did pretty well but was yet to see any kind of mainstream success. I knew the industry was more likely to take me seriously if I made a feature – so we did.

I knew I’d be unable to take any time off my full time teaching job to film, so I looked to the school calendar and figured the best window would be to shoot during the October mid term break. This was June 2011. I began to revise a script I’d written from 2009 called ‘Flash 419’ and renamed it Woolwich Boys. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a quick synopsis:

Woolwich Boys focuses on the life of a young man who’s recently moved into the Woolwich area of South East London. He works hard but is unable to maintain himself as a student and is enticed, by his criminal friends, into a life of ‘419’ fraud crime.

It’s important to note that the story is based on real people and set in London nearly a decade ago. 419 is the Nigerian penal code for fraud and the phrase ‘419’ has been made synonymous with Nigerian criminals who defraud everyday people via the internet either through stealing their bank details or requesting large funds being sent to them in return for a much bigger reward. I’m sure most of us have come across these scams. I wrote about this subject because I had seen friends live this life and knew how it worked.

I enlisted my fiancé (now wife) as a co-producer and we began assembling the cast and crew. On cinematography duty was Louis Corallo. He and I made our first film together a few years before and had worked with each other consistently. We went about designing the style of each of the three acts and sourcing a good crew. I then wrote a fourteen page budget proposal to send to potential investors (i.e. friends with cash) but the truth is, I knew nobody. Fortunately for me, my father-in-law saw it and pledged to give us an amount and that was the bulk of our shooting budget. I like the challenge of independent filmmaking and believe a filmmaker’s talent should be judged by what he/she is able to do with little rather than with a lot. It’s incredibly liberating to know your limitations.

The closer we got to the shoot however, the more we realised that we wouldn’t have enough money for post-production. We proceeded anyway and managed to shoot 85% of the script and we were going through 8-10 pages a day. Immediately after we shot, I was back at work with my film, still yet to do edit, but I also needed to line up potential investors. I blitzed social networking, contacted societies, universities and distributors about possibly screening our film for them. You see, we were aware we didn’t have the funds to market it, so we focused on word of mouth from early on.

We had to get people seeing it and talking about it. We heard a lot of NOs but as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. We were invited to our first film festival in Stoke in February 2012, a mere 3 months after filming. Please, don’t ever do that to yourself. The film was far from ready and was technically hideous. Despite this, we had a packed house and a good Q&A. Even my old history teacher from school came up. The story was pretty much there, but the technical aspects of the film such as the opening credits and the subtitles weren’t. Despite this, the reviewer still gave us a 6/10 which taught me a massive lesson; Your film is like a newborn baby. Don’t be in a rush to show it to everyone, as it might not be ready to be seen. It’s okay to show it to small numbers but not at a film festival.

I’m a big fan of Melvin van Peebles and Oscar Micheaux who are guys who loved creative control and believed so much in the films they made. They inspired me to at least try and self-distribute our film in the UK through Tales From The Motherland Productions.

We started hearing back from some of the universities we applied to and began screening the film around the country, much like how an up and coming music artist would. In some cases, we just hired out screening rooms and charged people to come and see the film.

Mr BUFF (Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe) got in touch and selected it as the closing film of BUFF 2012. The week we screened at BUFF, we were nominated for 2 Screen Nation Awards. Our screening was packed and nothing short of a success. We’ve since screened at the BUFF Spring season this past April and our film was listed in the London Metro’s top 5 films to see in London that same week.

At the time of writing, my wife and I came back from Nigeria a few days ago where Woolwich Boys was nominated for an African Movie Academy Award (AMAA). We didn’t win, but we got a free all expenses paid trip and made some amazing contacts. I already knew there was an emerging market out there in Africa – but seeing it was incredible.

I met filmmakers from Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Ghana, Nigerians who weren’t making Nollywood, distributors, festival programmers and other entertainers. I can firmly assure any of you wishing to break into the film industry that Africa is where it’s at. There is a wealth of stories back home which need to be told.

So 18 months on, I’m still not rich, but I’ve made a feature film – something that a lot of people talk about doing but make excuses. I’m glad I got to do it on my terms and I’m proud of the film we made, despite the financial limitations.

Filmmakers about to shoot an independent feature, try and allocate some funds towards screenings and festival submissions. You need to get your film in front of the right people and especially the right audience. That may be easy to identify in some cases, but in others you may have to endure lots of dismal screenings and rejections. This is harder to take if you’ve spent all your money.

Having no stars doesn’t make your film unable to sell (in fact I prefer the authenticity), you just need to do a lot more work to try and sell it. Ultimately if your film is any good, someone will say so and recommend it. You just need to have faith. I credit my faith in God as the only reason we’ve even gotten this far as there’ve been some dark times these last 18 months.

I’m glad I stayed the course and appreciate the opportunity to share a little bit of my story with you. Naturally, I also have to credit my cast and crew, my family and my beautiful missus for believing in me through all this.

Follow me on twitter @MrAnthonyAbuah @WoolwichBoys @TFTMProductions

 

© Anthony Abuah/BUFF Enterprises. All rights reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Jay Brown – March 2013)

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Pictures courtesy of Sparrow Photography (October 2012).

 

Happy Easter in advance. This month’s edition of the BUFF Blog is guest-written by actor Jay Brown who can be seen over the next 8 weeks on E4’s new drama ‘Youngers’. The series premiered on Wednesday March 20 with viewing figures of 350,000 viewers. It was also the 5th most tweeted about programme on TV that day beating ITV’s ‘Coronation Street’ with over 35,000 live tweets during transmission.  Follow @JayBrownActor and @buffenterprises on Twitter…

 

It’s a Thursday morning and the sun has vanished again in London…no surprises there!

An email pings into my inbox: it’s from Emmanuel a.k.a Mr BUFF, asking how I am and, how the promotion for my latest film, The Fall of the Essex Boys, and the new E4 TV seriesYoungers is coming along. In true Emmanuel fashion he says with one breath, “why not write this month’s blog about what you’ve been up to lately and how it all began?”

So here goes, my first blog and the story of my journey.

Since a young age I was always singing, dancing and acting, in plays, concerts and cabarets. My dad recalls his earliest memory of me at three years old going missing in a Spanish resort, only to be found on stage with the band strumming a little guitar that was designed as a wall decoration.

Film and music were a big part of growing up. I remember my mum always having music on in the house, from The Pet Shop Boys to Eurythmics, Bob Marley to Michael Jackson. The latter was the biggest influence in my life. I would watch endless VHS tapes of Michael, even to the point that my party trick would be the whole dance to Thriller. Looking back, the films I grew up on were ‘The Children’s Golden Age of Cinema’, ‘The Goonies’, ‘Back to the Future’, ‘Flight of the Navigator’, ‘The Princess Bride’, ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘The Karate Kid’and ‘E.T’. My brother and I would always dress up as the characters, and re-enact the films in our living room.

I started off in a dance group and was in many shows around London including the first Christmas parade on Oxford Street. I then started dancing in music videos and at one point, I was also in a boy group, but my heart was always in acting. Dancing for me was something I loved to do, especially in the Garage club scene where I became known as “Dancing Boy”. When I acted though, I found myself taking on a different state of expression. Dance is ever so much an expression of oneself, but in acting you’re living the life of someone else, and telling their story. My first professional acting credit came pretty late, I was 21.

My younger brother (Duran) was living in the States, and his agent at the time called our house to confirm a casting he had for a short film. As he was out of the country he couldn’t attend, but without hesitation I jumped at the chance, and filled his place. Little did I know that this casting would change everything.

The short film was Tube Poker, a screenplay about playing poker on the London Underground but with people instead of cards. People of different age range represented different card values. I read the script in the waiting room and it really appealed to me with its edgy dialogue and a fantasy story, which could actually be real. My sight reading at the time wasn’t good and I stumbled over the script in the audition. Simon Levene (the director) could see I was having trouble and asked me to cast aside the script and that we were going to do some improvisation instead. Simon asked me a question and I, in character answered; he asked a second; then for the next eight minutes I went on a tirade as the character until the cameraman sheepishly put his hand up and said he ran out of tape ‘minutes ago’. I took this as a good point to exit; I shook hands and thanked them for their time. That evening I received the call that I had been cast in the film; not only that, but that they had changed the ethnicity and I was now the lead character. To say I was over the moon would be an understatement. Tube Poker went on to win many film festival awards and received global acclaim.

In 2007 I met Rikki Beadle-Blair, the multi-talented man who started Noel Clarke’s career and many others. I saw a play he directed and knew from the moment I met this high energy, blonde dreadlocked man, I had to work with him. I started going to the Actors Centre, and did classes with Rikki to learn more and to work under his guidance. One day I received a call from Rikki to meet him at BAFTA for lunch. I was gobsmacked. Not only was I going to BAFTA, but mainly Rikki was asking me to come and talk about a play that he was planning to write. We had a long chat and at the end he offered me to join the production of Screwface. I knew this was going to be special as Rikki casts his actors first and then writes the characters tailored around them.

Anyone who has been part of character development from the beginning will know how special this is. While we were rehearsing for Screwface, Rikki cast me in his second play which was part of the trilogy of plays to be performed in the one week run. This was my first professional theatre experience and I did, not one, but two plays in the same week. Acting on stage is totally different from acting in front of camera. You have to listen so much more, not only to your fellow actors, which is a given, but to the audience. For instance, when the audience laugh in a play I’ve seen many actors just carry on with their lines which get drowned out. Letting the audience settle for you to carry on is a must as every word is important to the story you’re telling. It all comes down to timing as you can be directed where to pause but it is very much down to the actor to learn and listen. Every night is different so be prepared for the unexpected. I personally feel every actor should be honed with the skills to act for stage and screen. They are two different disciplines and should both be respected and worked on together in equal measure.

I’ve since collaborated many times with Rikki over the years, and regard him as a close friend and an inspiring role model.

Fast forward to The Hunters, the big budget feature film, which I was cast as an American, my first role as a non-Brit. I played one of the hunters alongside Steven Waddington (Last of the Mohicans), Tony Becker and Terence Knox (Tour of Duty) and Dianna Agron (Glee) who played the love interest.

To be working, watching and learning alongside such a high calibre of actors was an amazing experience. Practically the whole film was shot in a disused fort in beautiful Metz, north-east France. It was directed and produced by two young French guys who had never made a feature film before – they pulled it off big time. When the film was released in the States (2011), it was one of the fastest selling films during the Christmas period.

The same year The Hunters was filmed, I went to Los Angeles, the Mecca of the film industry. I was in town for the screening of FIT at the Directors Guild of America. Anyone who knows of the DGA on Sunset Boulevard will know what an incredible and historic venue this is. To have a little independent UK Film screened at such a prestigious building was a triumph for all UK film and, to be a part of that was just breathtaking. Standing on the stage at the end with the rest of the cast and Rikki, who directed the film, and seeing the standing ovation of a sell out crowd – I will treasure that forever. FIT follows six characters studying dance and drama at college and how they cope with growing up and finding where they fit socially. The film tackles bullying on all fronts, especially homophobic bullying in schools. The UK government now use the film as an anti-bullying educational tool in every school in England, Wales and Scotland.

My time in LA really opened my eyes to the industry as a whole. LA works totally different, for one, there are so many more job opportunities than the UK. Of course this is because they have a much bigger industry with more production studios, but financially they have more of an infrastructure than we do. The main thing I took away was how upfront American industry people are. This is something I loved, as I believe honesty is the only way to move forward.

In LA the US creatives I came into contact with reinforced my exact thoughts; creatives should get paid to create, simple. You wouldn’t ask a plumber to come and fix your pipes and not pay him, ‘Hey, I’ll tell my friends about you’. Actors should be treated with the same respect. You want an actor to work on your production, pay him/her for their skill that they’re bringing. Los Angeles is definitely somewhere I see myself working and believe there is work for me; it’s now all about timing…

Back to good old Blighty!

Lately I’ve wrapped on three productions. The Fall of the Essex Boys, now on DVD, and the other two soon to be shown, Youngers (at the time of writing) and Big Bad World.

But this March it’s all about Youngers, Big Talk and E4’s brand new dramedy TV series which I play Bangs. Bangs is the older protective brother of Jodie, who is involved with the MC of the show. The series follows best friends Jay and Yemi’s journey, becoming the next big thing in the music industry. On the way they meet Davina, and become a threesome known as “The Youngers”. It has been billed as ‘The Inbetweeners’ meets ‘Skins’, by the press. The script (written by Levi Addai) is witty, gritty and truly brilliant. The series isn’t sold on sex, drugs and young people up to mischief, but on friendship, chasing dreams, and growing into adulthood. The series has no swearing, which is brow raising, yet still stays real to its youth surroundings. Nothing this exciting has come out of Peckham since ‘Desmond’s’.

What’s next? Well I’m back in the audition pool with everyone else, but I’m also producing. A friend and I have a production company together and we’re creating our own scripts and searching for scripts. I feel that going into different fields in the business is a natural progression, but my first love and passion will always be acting.

I’ll leave you with two key things I tell every actor when asked if I have any advice:

‘Know your worth’ and ‘Make the dream a reality’

Stay up to date with Jay by going to his website: http://www.jaybrown.tv

Follow him on Twitter: @JayBrownActor

 

© Jay Brown/BUFF Enterprises. All rights reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Stephen Lloyd Jackson – February 2013)

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(c) Buff Enterprises Ltd 2011. Picture courtesy of Alex Winn
(c) Buff Enterprises Ltd 2011. Picture courtesy of Alex Winn

Actor Lonyo Engele alongside Actress Isaura Barbe-Brown & Writer/Director Stephen Lloyd Jackson

 

Happy February one and all. This month’s edition of the BUFF Blog is guest-written by award-winning writer/director Stephen Lloyd Jackson whose film ‘David is Dying’ premiered on the opening night of the 2011 British Urban Film Festival. The film continues to win awards in the UK and across the globe, most recently on February 17 when Lonyo Engele triumphed in the best male performance in film category at the 2013 Screen Nation film and television awards. Follow @davidisdying @iamsljackson and @buffenterprises on Twitter…

Stephen Lloyd Jackson

Auteur

February 2013 BUFF BLOG

The making of ‘David Is Dying’

It’s a rainy Friday night and I’m in West London. To be more precise, I’m in Aroma, a Chinese buffet joint in Shepherds Bush Green. I’m with Mr BUFF himself, Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe.

I haven’t seen Emmanuel for nearly a year and then some and it was good to see him wearing his signature smile. We got the food in and it was great that we didn’t start talking shop until we were well on the way with our second helpings.

After discussing BUFF’s next tour of duty at the Genesis cinema in East London this coming Spring (which includes the encore screening of multi award winning ‘David Is Dying’ [‘DID’]), we went on to talk more in depth about the state of the UK film industry and other film matters. That’s when Emmanuel kindly asked if I would write the February BUFF Blog. I said it would be a pleasure.

In 2010 I founded SAR Productions as a vehicle to produce a trilogy of intense dramatic movies. The trilogy will mainly focus on relationship themes such as sex, race, love, infidelity and power. Examining human stories, which resonate and transcend through to all cultures and races.The trilogy will particularly focus on characters from the Afro/Caribbean diaspora living and working in London.

Several years prior, I completed my debut feature film entitled ‘Rulers and Dealers’. It was a very ambitious project, shot on 35mm film stock. After a year or so, ‘Rulers’ got picked up and went straight to DVD. The distributors went bust and I have since deleted it from the market with a view to re-edit and release it sometime in the near future.

For the next few years, post ‘Rulers’, I knuckled down and wrote about six movie scripts. I then decided to try and get one of them made. This was to be quite a big budget, psychological, action thriller.

However, after a lot of meetings and negotiations with international producers and financiers which seemed to be going around in circles, plus the onslaught of the mighty global recession in 2008/9, I decided to ditch the project.

At the time, I felt that I had wasted four years chasing ghosts. I soon realised that it was all part and parcel of the filmmaking process. From time to time one will drop the ball and make mistakes, or things will go pear shaped through no fault of your own.

I contemplated my next move. I thought there must be another way around the gatekeepers and financiers. So Iwent back to the drawing board and decided to produce films where I wouldn’t have to ask anybody for finance or rely on any “big name” actor to carry my movies.

I would deliver totally independent movies, using passionate crewmembers, the most talented cast I can find and the latest technology. I would write scripts that are powerful, daring, insightful, and connect with audiences throughout the world on different levels.

Around that time, I was in discussions with a producer called Andy Mundy-Castle. We were having talks about shooting a feature documentary about couples and their relationships. After many meetings and discussions we decided not to go ahead with the project. But I liked his [AMC] passion and methodical approach to things. So I told him about another project I had been working on. It was a dark intense story about a guy who frequently sleeps with different women and goes on to contract HIV. The lead character would be possessive and controlling over his fiancée. It was also based on a script/treatment I worked on a few years prior entitled ‘The Pregnant Predator’.

AMC read it and showed a lot of interest in the project. So I brought him on board. I completed the screenplay and entitled it ‘Romeo Is Dying’. I later changed the title name to ‘David Is Dying’. AMC and I will produce the picture, and I would direct it.

Long story short, we put in place all the relevant pieces of the building blocks to get the pre-production process started. I hired a cinematographer, Olympia Mytilinaiou, from Athens. I met her about five years prior while cutting a movie there. She had a lot of experience of shooting intense human stories and her work was very good too. Whilst there, she showed me around some interesting parts of the city and we spoke a lot about working together on my next picture.

As well as other crew members, I recruited Sheila Nortley. Sheila had already produced a few shorts and is a multi-talented filmmaker, one to look out for. She was one of the last crew members to come on board. We needed a production manager and I was determined to bring on another female. Part of the ‘SAR’ philosophy, which is integral to its ethos, is to try and incorporate an international flavour of crew members, with females both in front of and behind the camera.

Incidentally, 90% of the ‘head of departments’ on ‘DID’ were female.

A few weeks before principal photography, we were still trying to get the main players for ‘DID’. We had seen over 150 actors. There were times when we thought we had the lead sewn down, but for one reason or another, it didn’t work out.

At an audition we held in Brixton, South West London, we had about 30 actors there for a reading. I saw a couple of actors that I liked, but nobody that really did it for me. I was very precise in my thinking of what ‘David’ (lead character) should look like and what attitude he should convey. And add to that, what should ‘Carla’ (second lead character) be like?

Nevertheless, we were auditioning all morning and after lunch, began seeing more actors. Then the second actor to come through the door was this very confident, clean-cut guy, with a street edge but Lonyo Engele also had a professional look to him.

AMC later told me that Lonyo was a major UK garage star. I didn’t know that at the time cause I wasn’t a big UK garage fan. But when I made enquiries about his music career, everybody knew of him. What planet was I on? ‘Summer of Love’ was a massive hit in the UK. I went on to watch all his music videos on You Tube and other media stuff he was involved in. Put all that to one side, what I did know was that this guy awoke my spirit. He sure can act. He’s what I was waiting for. And apparently, Lonyo only came down to the audition to drop off an actress friend of his. In the audition, I thought Lonyo breathed life into the ‘David’ character and everything was going along just fine. He had a natural understanding of the character’s beat and arc.

The sun was beginning to shine and my day was getting brighter. Then from out of the blue, Lonyo’s mobile phone begins to ring. A couple of the production crew looked at me nervously, (Houston, do we have a problem? What now? REALLY!?). They were probably anticipating me putting a halt to proceedings. But I gave them a quick look and a quick shake of my head to indicate to them to carry on filming. I’m an old dog at these auditions and nothing surprises me. I wanted to see where we were heading with this. And in fine style, while in improv with his fellow female actor, Lonyo answered the phone in character, in the character of ‘David’. This was an organised effort on Lonyo’s part for him to stand out in the audition. And it worked.

I had no hesitation signing up Lonyo. I knew 100% that he was our man for the job. But like everything in this film game, nothing’s for sure. You can’t take anything for granted. I knew the scale and intensity of the ‘David’ character, so I had to make sure he [Lonyo] wanted it as much as I wanted him and that he had the mind set for the gig. Lonyo was invited to an informal meeting at the SAR office in Tooting, South London where he, AMC and myself chatted about the character, the film and general light hearted man stuff, you know football and music, etcetera, etcetera.

The meet went well. I then hooked up with Lonyo a short time after that in west London for a coffee and chat about the character. Although I was still sure that he was the man for the job, I knew it would be important for him to seal it for me. Why? Because it was a tough and special role, one that commanded and demanded nothing short of 100% commitment and focus.

So I told him, if he takes this gig and gives it a hundred and fifty percent, there’s no other role out there that he won’t be able to do. With that said, Lonyo looked me straight in the eyes and said that I can rely on him. I’ll give my all, one hundred and fifty percent.

As a director, that’s all you need, to hear and “feel” from your actors, especially your lead players. You just need to know that they can trust you and that they know you’ve got their back and once that bond is sealed between artist and director, you are half way there on the journey to creating something quite magical.

A year later Lonyo won the grand jury prize for ‘best male actor’ at the 15th American Black Film Festival in South Beach, Miami. And only this month, Lonyo scooped the ‘Best male performance in film’ award at the 2012/13 Screen Nation Film & TV Awards.

The other main cast members were still to be cast. I already had my son, Stephen Samuel Jackson Jnr on board six months prior. He was already enrolled into acting classes before I even thought about  using him for the movie. I cleared it with him and his mother and got him an acting coach to particularly work on the character of ‘Young David’. He done a splendid job and I could not have worked with a more focused and calm child actor.

After auditioning nearly sixty or seventy female actors for the part of David’s fiancée ‘Carla’, we finally struck gold. On a summer’s Thursday afternoon, AMC and myself were conducting auditions in Tooting. Lonyo was also there too to read with the actresses. We just had three or maybe four female actors to see. A couple of them were ‘call backs’.

Nevertheless, after the second or third actress, in walks this petite young actress. Isaura Barbe´-Brown read with Lonyo. She actually really slapped him in the face, part of a scene that I asked them to do. Apparently, they both instigated the slap whilst I was momentarily out the room.

After reviewing the audition rushes a few days later, I was impressed by her performance and the ‘on screen’ chemistry between them. I saw something dynamic, something special about them both fronting the movie. So AMC and myself met up with Isaura at the Soho Hotel for drinks and chitchat. She was humble and professional. I knew that she was our gal for the job. So a few days later we signed her to the picture.

I then realised that we needed someone to play ‘Roxanne’, David’s mother. Originally, that was the main role that Isaura was meant to read for. So we summoned another meeting with her in Soho. She didn’t have a clue what I wanted to see her about and seemed rather apprehensive. So I reassured her that everything’s okay, but I would like to know if she wanted to play David’s mother as well. Isaura was happy to accept both roles and I was confident that she had the acting range and ability to do it. So I signed her on for that role too. A year later, Isaura went on to win best female actress at the Los Angeles International New Wave Film Festival for her two roles in ‘David Is Dying’.

One of the final main cast members to come on board was Brigitte Millar. We actually saw her months prior in one of the first auditions. She was to play the ice cold psychiatrist ‘Amelia Holland’. Brigitte was such a pro to work with. She had about four straight days of shooting her scenes. A year later, Brigitte won best female support actor at the Los Angeles International New Wave Film Festival. I also won best screenplay at the same festival and the film also picked up best film score too.

After shooting ‘David Is Dying’ I had a small break. I hadn’t seen any of the rushes as yet and wasn’t looking forward to doing so until I got the film out of my head. I needed fresh eyes to move on with it. I recruited Italian editor and photographer Francisco Caradonna to cut the picture. For the next six months we worked tirelessly on it. The original running time was just over two hours. Too long! Way too long. So we cut 35 minutes. I then got the movie graded and the sound fixed. Film complete, job done.

The next step was to get the movie into international film festivals. The 15th American Black Film Festival (ABFF 2011) is where ‘DID’ had its official international premier screening. This festival was on the top of my hit list. I heard a lot of good things about it. ‘DID’ got accepted and Lonyo and myself flew out to South Beach, Miami to represent the movie. The Americans loved the movie, especially Lonyo and his character ‘David’. The festival lived up to all expectations and more. As well as some cool movies, the parties were doing it too, along with the food, the beach and the beautiful weather.

So, on awards night, ‘DID’ won two awards. The Grand Jury Prize for best male actor (for Lonyo) and Grand Jury Prize for best director (for myself). This was a first in the 15-year history of the American Black Film festival to present two major film awards to a UK feature film.

After the success we had at the ABFF, ‘DID’ went on to screen at a further 18 international film festivals and scooped a further six film awards and I was presented with a ‘Focus On Filmmakers Honour’ at the 6th Cleveland International Film Festival.

In September 2011, Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe invited ‘DID’ to open the British Urban Film Festival. This was ‘DID’s UK premiere screening. By this time, ‘DID’ had such a buzz behind it that it had to be screened over two days at the BUFF film festival in central London.

The night was crazy. A large turn – out. The film was well received and was the first independent feature of its’ kind to hit the UK in years; “No ‘N’WORD, NO GUNS &NO GANGSTERS!” In my humble opinion, this was a relief for cinephiles who want to watch movies with leading roles for Afro Caribbean British actors.

The BUFF screening was important too. It opened a lot of doors for ‘DID’ in the UK and beyond. Lonyo went on to sign for a top actor’s agency, ‘The Identity Agency Group’ (IAG) off the back of that screening.

On the 4th of July 2012, ‘DID’ was released on DVD on Amazon. I chose to release it independently so SAR Productions could have total control over its longevity in the marketplace and enable a maximum return to plough back into making more movies of this nature.

‘David Is Dying’ is also available to purchase on DVD from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com and is also available to download or stream from the all-new Amazon Instant Video player.

Download ‘David Is Dying’: http://www.amazon.com/David-Is-Dying/dp/B00B6XXJ3K/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1359500152&sr=1-4&keywords=david+is+dying+-

Purchase ‘David Is Dying’ DVD:http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A21TLW0

WATCH TRAILER:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGWyfau_yIw&feature=channel

We also intend to launch a movie distribution channel in a few months time where ‘DID’ and other independent movies, short and feature length will be available to purchase.

Last, but not least. SAR Productions are in the second phase of editing their second feature film from the ‘Sex And Race’ trilogy, entitled: ‘SABLE FABLE’. The film is a beautiful story exploring the complexities of love, sex, race and hypocrisy through different couples whose lives intertwine through a series of unfortunate events. Due to be completed this summer.

 

© Stephen Lloyd Jackson/BUFF Enterprises. All rights reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Femi Oyeniran – January 2013)

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actor/writer/director Femi Oyeniran
actor/writer/director Femi Oyeniran

 

Happy new year (just about!) This month’s edition of the BUFF Blog is guest-written by actor/writer/director Femi Oyeniran whose first film as a director (‘Fresh Off Da Boat’) was screened at the 2009 British Urban Film Festival. Follow @femioyeniran and @buffenterprises on Twitter…

 

The Difference between making a Short and making a Feature Film

I’ve had the question put to me a few times- what is the difference between making a feature film and a short film? I have identified a few key differences but this is not an exhaustive or exclusive list. There are many factors at play but for me, the key factors are: the purpose of the screenplay, raising finance and the role of talent. I will also give more insight into how my first feature “It’s A Lot” came about.

The Purpose of the Screenplay

“Fresh off the Boat” (hereafter FOTB) is a short film based roughly on my experiences of moving from Nigeria to England as a ten year old. And that’s where the differences begin. When I was writing my first feature film “It’s A Lot” (hereafter IAL), I wanted to create something that was commercially viable, so the basis of the story was more external to me. Me, my co-writer Nicholas Walker and the rest of the team had studied successful eighties classics that we liked and we wanted to create a film that mirrored eighties feel-good movies. Screen writing as a medium is influenced by one’s experiences, either through research or visceral, but it doesn’t have to be directly based on those experiences. Subsequently as opposed to FOTB, IAL was to serve the need of the market for a feel-good comedy film that was aspirational as opposed to the violent, kitchen-sink approach that has been taken to teen movies in the UK. The final screenplay of IAL was a homage to my time at college and the youthful exuberance, which buzzed around the place. Initially, I even wanted to shoot at my old college.  So IAL was to serve the need of the market and FOTB was to serve my need to gain experience.

Raising Finance

Another area of difference is funding. FOTB was funded through a £1000 grant from three East London boroughs. I found out about this fund through a friend who was temping at Newham Council at the time. I applied on the last possible day and I received the funding. Whereas IAL was funded after 18 months of trawling round central London trying to procure the best deal. It was hard work. Many travel cards, coffee tabs and hard work went into raising the funding. I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone by saying doors were closed in my face as they weren’t but once the doors were opened people wasted my time. A lot. Raising the funding for a feature is not easy. I commend anyone that has achieved this feat. If you’re ever in a bar and you meet someone that has successfully raised money to make a feature film, buy him or her a drink, as it’s not an easy path. One piece of advice, I’d like to give to anyone trying to do this is have confidence and believe in your project, have the audacity to pick up the phone or write an e-mail to a stranger. Stick to it but be prepared to allow other people to shape your project as long as the key themes, soul and ideas are not compromised.

The Role of Talent

Another massive area of change is casting. When you do a short, you use actors that you know. Usually, hardly anybody’s getting paid; people are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. However, with feature films, you cast to get talent that will put “bums on seats”. At times, one is under intense pressure to get certain actors involved. You can even have a situation, where funding is dependent on getting certain actors involved in the project. Feature film talent, particularly in key roles, is very much about commercial value. You pay actors more and you have higher expectations. Additionally, the production team on a short film is incomparable to a feature film. Feature film sets are much more professional and things work to a tighter schedule and work with greater synchronicity. Inevitably, things go wrong but everyone involved is skilled and adept enough to react to things more efficiently.

Key Lessons

The difference between feature films and short films is mainly that the former is usually done to achieve creativity with half an eye on commerciality and the latter is done for a myriad of reasons, including: getting experience, recognition, practice etc. These factors affect the process of getting into production. If you have a Canon camera and you have friends that can act, you can probably make a short film. However, making a feature film comes with more due diligence and more scrutiny. Feature film financiers don’t give out grants they make investments. Therefore, one is under the same pressure that comes with any form of investment.  It is a lot harder to make a feature film but it is not impossible. Look out for mine in Spring 2013 – “It’s A Lot”.

IT’s A LOT as a case study.

Back in 2008, my co-writer Nicholas “Nicky SlimTing” Walker approached me to help him make a feature film, which he had written. He also gave me a treatment for a film “It’s A Lot”. I was immediately drawn to this project because it had strong 80s references and had at it’s core a reference to the ACLT. As an outsider, I had seen many of the ACLT’s campaign work and I always wanted to get involved, this was my opportunity to do exactly just that. I can’t give away the plot of the movie but the ACLT acts as a key reference point in driving the film. A few years after meeting Nicky SlimTing, I contacted him to say, I really want to write the treatment into a screenplay. After a short while, I did exactly just this (when I’m into something), I write really quickly!We pitched the film to distributors, producers and sales agents for about 18 months. In that time, we had and lost about 4/5 deals but eventually through perseverance, fasting and prayer we got to make our film in October/November 2012.

I became a director because making films intrigued me. On the set of “Anuvahood”, I would ask Paul Van Carter (the producer) questions about everything from scheduling to costs of equipment. I also knew that I had to become a director in order to continue to work as an actor. I had seen what “Kidulthood” did for Noel Clarke’s career and what “Anuvahood” did for Adam Deacon’s career. These are people that I’ve been around and been privileged to work with but off the back of the success of their directorial debuts they both won BAFTAs. I knew that in order for me to get to another level as an actor in the UK, I needed to write and direct otherwise I’ll be waiting – everyone else but me would be in charge of my destiny. Besides that I love writing and directing – I truly enjoy it. Watching Spike Lee films and seeing the messages he was able to put in his films inspires me. You can create your own worlds, with your own messages and motifs. It’s a more powerful medium than acting politically and socially – don’t get me wrong, I love acting but you have more power as a screenwriter and director. As an actor, you’re simply a hired gun. You don’t control how you’re being shot.

“It’s A Lot” is inspired by our time at college. College was fun – you were growing up, you wanted to be around girls, you wanted new clothes to impress girls, you wanted a car. At college, you are not old or young – you’re in that weird place between adulthood and childhood.  The lead character Shaun embodies this, he is very insecure but as the film goes on, he grows more and more into his own skin and makes decisions by himself rather than being steered by friends. The film also draws inspiration from 80s films “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off”, “Risky Business” and other films that we grew up watching. We wanted to create something cool and about likeable teens. Americans did that well in the 80s but we haven’t really done it much in the mainstream in the UK let alone as Black British People. We wanted to make a film that wasn’t about drugs, knives and guns but was still entertaining and engrossing. All of these things I believe make the film commercially viable because it means it appeals to a broad range of audience – it appeals to my core teen audience, people that grew up in the 80s and so on. To be ‘commercial’ is to appeal to the broadest possible audience, I think, and this film I feel will.

We were fortunate to have a free casting for the film. We were able to cast anyone that we felt was good and that’s what we did. We have a very strong cast that ranges from actors, to comedians and musicians. The film stars Red Madrell (Kidulthood), Roxanne Pallet (Emmerdale), Jack Doolan (Cemetary Junction), Jazzie Zonzolo(Anuvahood), Richie Campbell (The Firm/Anuvahood), Tim Westwood, DJ Ace, Sarah-Jane Crawford, Eddie Kadi, Kojo, Miss London, Slim the Comedian, Jammer, J2K, Sincere and so many more. We discovered three amazing actors at auditions Charlie Palmer-Merkel, Roxy Sternberg and Miles MacDonald. I am really excited about unleashing them on the market. The cast is strong, a mixture of new and old, and as it’s a comedy it was important that we got actual comedians so we’re blessed to have so many in the film.

 

© Femi Oyeniran/BUFF Enterprises. All rights reserved.

The BUFF Blog (by Jesse Lawrence – November 2012)

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With the exception of Kate Herron, Ugo Onwutalu & Nadia Denton, 6 board members have guest-written the BUFF Blog in the 3 or so years since its’ inception in April 2009 which, at the time, lauded the film ‘Adulthood’ as a watershed for urban independent cinema. A lot has happened since then…

@buffenterprises sent out its very first tweet in April 2009, 3 ½ years on @SpikeLee no less is retweeting BUFF NEWS ALERTS. Also back in 2009, @NoelClarke was still churning out films, Arsenal still hadn’t won a trophy and Chelsea had an interim manager in charge though he’s the only one (Gus Hiddink if you must know) who walked away from Roman Abramovich as opposed to being fired. And being fired (or at least being reminded of it) crops up on more than one occasion in the blog you’re about to read – only in the BUFF Blog will you see Roman Abramovich and Noel Clarke co-exist in a parallel universe – welcome to the world of BUFF!!

And in doing so, please extend that welcome to BUFF’s newest member of the British Urban Film Festival board and this month’s guest writer of the 30th BUFF Blog (post the Leveson Inquiry), Jesse Lawrence…

Having recently directed my feature debut – romantic comedy ‘The Knot’ – Emmanuel kindly asked me to be guest writer for November’s edition of the BUFF monthly blog. I foolishly agreed, forgetting how much like school homework this would be. Remember the homework that you put off until the very last minute and so nothing but a final 24-hour-Dostoyevsky surge of madness can save you from missing that deadline? Well this time I was saved from that particular type of pain by the fact that I did keep a loose diary on ‘The Knot’, chronicling my experiences from day dot when I was lobbying to be the director, right through production, culminating with its’ eventual theatrical release.

This two and a half year journey has felt long but is actually nothing compared to the years many filmmakers sacrifice to get their debut off the ground – check Lawrence Coke’s entertaining yet sobering account (BUFF Blog – August 2012).

Anyhow, I think the best way of approaching this blog is to revisit one of my diary entries and fatten it up for public consumption. It should be one that gives a little flavour of the business as well as highlighting some of the typical anxieties experienced by a first time director. Okay here goes…

6th August 2010

So here I am sitting in a swanky restaurant in a swanky central London hotel. It’s breakfast time and I nurse a bitter pot of green tea and wait for a well-known trans-Atlantic actress. She’s late. Thirty minutes late. She’s thirty minutes late even though we’re meeting her at her hotel. You know, where she’s staying and stuff. All she has to do is skip down those marble steps and voila! here we are. Or, if she’s not in the mood for skipping, she could saunter into the art deco elevator and have elevator man press the Ground floor button for her. What can she be doing? Getting ready I suppose. Powdering her nose.

Until a couple of days ago I’d barely heard of her – but this means nothing. If you’re looking for someone plugged into up-to-the-minute popular culture, it’s not me. But yes even I can comprehend the magnitude of this meeting. She’s big; basically a star and it would be a real result if we bagged her.

Securing stars or ‘named actors’ was an important part of ‘The Knot’ recruitment process; important because they lifted the profile of the brand which, in turn, had knock-on benefits like unlocking a missing piece of investor finance or attracting other stars to the project or making it easier for the wardrobe department to secure designer dresses for example. But mostly, stars were important because they shouted out to the world our mainstream intentions – that this film was a full fat, bona fide commercial one.

To be clear, stars do not audition. They are offered (the part). If they accept, all that is left is to negotiate the details of their fee and schedule and this is when the producers put their serious face on. But this is really about the agents – and the agents are in pig heaven. This is their opportunity to demonstrate their clout and the best ones will play poker; feign disinterest, make a counter offer, invite you to bid with a competing project and any other play that secures the most advantageous contract for their client. Then the papers are signed and that is that. Mostly. Sometime, before an agreement is reached, the star will want to meet. They’ll want to meet the team behind the project. They’ll want to meet the director.

The risk here is that this meeting can turn into a kind of audition – not for the star of course but for you the director. What is your vision for the film? But I saw it this way don’t you think this way would be better? How are you going to shoot this? How are you going to light me? How do I know that your first film is not going to be some amateurish bullshit where my skin looks bad and my career takes a nosedive?

All valid questions of course and ones I’d prepared for.

A director, especially a ‘hired gun’, which essentially what I was, is not really going to get fired for one bad meeting, for one scoffed opportunity. “Don’t worry man, the chemistry wasn’t right. It wasn’t meant to be. It’s probably for the best anyway.”

But filmmaking, directing in particular, is often about perception. Are we in a safe pair of hands? Is he competent? Yeah he made a couple of good shorts but this is different. When the shit hits the fan will he crumble? Does the man helming this actually know what the fuck he is doing?!!

So yes, one bad meeting is not going to get you fired – but it will taint you. It will open doubts in the minds of decision makers, doubts that you don’t really want them to be entertaining. One more bad meeting, a wobbly first shooting day and that’s it. You are out, relieved of your position. Fired. I’ve seen this happen. If you’re directing a script that you don’t own then it’s the law of the jungle. It’s political. It’s about diplomacy, relationships, alliances. Things might be just fine, ‘hunky-dory’ as they say, before the sudden arrival of a new character upsets the equilibrium. They have influence. They want their mate in the director’s chair. They scheme and await their chance. In the bush, yellow eyes watch your every move, each set with a different agenda. Meanwhile you are out in the open, butt naked up there on the hilltop, a target for every jackal and joker to take pot shots at.

So these are my fears as I sit here sipping this now cold beverage. Actually they are not just my fears – they are Noel’s too.

The most singularly powerful player in the production, Noel Clarke, is in my corner. I think he likes me. He saw something in my shorts, he saw talent and potential, the glimmer of something special and he wants this to be my coming out party. He wants this to be my big break.

But before we get too sentimental, make no mistake, Noel has calculated all the angles, all the plays and all the repercussions. He has the most riding on this venture and if he decides, for whatever reason, that I am jeopardising this venture, I will be dropped in a heartbeat.

Noel was taking this meeting very seriously. Earlier, when we’d met up, there was probably something about my Hawaiian shirt and unflustered disposition that alerted him to the fact that I was failing to appreciate the full gravity of the task at hand. So he decided to force my appreciation and he did so in quite a clever way.

After joking about my weight, “are you sure you can squeeze through there?,” when he stood up at Bar Italia to let me pass, he became grave.

“No nervous giggling,” he warned. I was to “take the lead” and impose my “vision” on the meeting. This was actually music to my ears and I was more than happy for Noel to take a back seat. Noel was still driving his point home though.

“I mean I can take the lead bruv, I can talk but I’m not the director…”

“Yeah, yeah of course,” I conferred. “Don’t worry, I get it. It’s about reassuring her, letting her know that she’s in safe hands and that, you know, we’re serious.”

Noel nodded vigorously.

“Exactly.”

Then Noel did his clever thing. He recounted a meeting he’d had recently with a major Hollywood studio. Things had been going well.

“They were like, great, like the script, like the project, let’s just have a quick meeting with the director. And you know what he did bruv?”

“What?”

“He fucked it.”

I laughed out loud as I am prone to. Noel wasn’t laughing.

“It would be funny if it wasn’t tragic.”

By now we were strolling up Greek Street towards a member’s club and strolling is the correct description as our lead producer, Enrico Tessarin, was literally pushing a stroller with one hand and Blackberrying with the other. I’ve been conditioned not to bring kids to meetings but here was Enrico rolling with his tiny bambina like it wasn’t anything. If this was how they roll in Italy then they’d definitely won a fan in me. But as Enrico later put it, “I’m hiring you (the star) and you’re gonna tell me I can’t bring my child to a meeting? You can fuck off.”

We paused outside a nondescript door. I was keen to know how the director had fucked the big studio meeting.

“Shit what did he do?”

We got buzzed through and Noel continued.

“He was stammering, he was nervous. He was interrupting himself to take a glass of water. He was like…”

Noel proceeded to act out the director in question stuttering and mumbling before taking a long pause to down an imaginary glass of water with shaky hand. It was a funny impression but it had the desired effect. I suddenly started to feel nervous. You could say that I began to appreciate the full gravity of the task at hand.

“No pressure,” Ros winked at me.

Ros is Noel’s reassuringly down to earth personal assistant. She’s also one of the producers on The Knot.

We settled down on sofas.

“Get your shit together,” Noel advised before disappearing upstairs with Enrico to hold a conference call with a key investor.

Fast-forward 90 minutes and here we all are, waiting in this swanky hotel. My shit is together and our star is thirty minutes late. Her chair sits unoccupied between Noel and myself. Around the marble table Enrico sits to my right and feeds bambina while Ros sits besides Noel checking something out with the obligatory iPad.

Noel swills freshly squeezed orange juice from a wine glass and breaks Enrico’s balls regarding a financial transaction that has failed to materialise. The banter is playful and Enrico takes it in his stride, weighing the options the tax credit may or may not have on delayed investment. There are details but behind the technicality is a general sense of frustration at the ‘nailing jelly to a plate’ exercise that is securing private equity.

Enrico and his partner Junior Quartey have done a fine job raising money, performing out of their skin to get us this far.

But six weeks away from production and we find ourselves about to propose to a major Hollywood actress without actually having the budget to afford her. This is not a good look. We risk looking like a bunch of jokers – Noel most of all.

But Noel is looking past Enrico now – and doing his best attempt at a smile. I turn and follow his gaze. Yep, here she comes striding towards us. Here comes our star*

* Note from the editor: the alluded to star does not relate to the final cast of ‘The Knot’.

 

(c) Jesse Lawrence/BUFF Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.

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