'the last post' News, views, etc.The Last Post is a 15 minute short film written and directed by Adam Preston and starring Ryan Sampson, Mark Heap, Selom Awadzi, Harry Rafferty, Andy Gillies and Katie Alexander-Thom. The film's DOP is BAFTA Brit-to-Watch Sam Care and the producer is Samantha Waite, known for her work on Man on Wire. Oscar nominated Kant Pan edited the film. The film is represented for international sales by Shorts TV who will be broadcasting it on their channel. . Festivals where The Last Post has been selected for screening: Sunderland Shorts Toronto Film Week Paris On-Line Film Festival New York Film Week Canada Shorts (WINNER Special Commendation) THE SET NYC Film Screenings, New York LA Comedy Film and Screenplay Festival WILDsound 2015 Best of Short Film Festival, Toronto. Winner Best Overall Performances Crystal Palace International Film Festival, London Chicago Comedy Film Festival Naoussa International Film Festival, Greece Madrid International Film Festival, nominated: Best Short Film 2015, Jury Award and Best Producer Austin Comedy Short Film Festival, Texas, nominated: Best Writing (original screenplay) and Best Ensemble Cast Official selection Film Miami Fest, Florida, nominated Best Short Worldwide FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/thelastpostshortfilm |
The Last Post will be one of ten films on our comedy genre 2016 film sales sheet which incidentally we will be pushing hard in Clermont-Ferrand...
P.S. I loved the film! Dominic Freeland, Vice President, Channel Sales, EMEA, Shorts TV. Thank you for letting us take a look. Amazing cast and beautifully edited and directed. I absolutely love Mark Heap and Ryan Sampson. I do think the two lead characters are really interesting, I think the idea in this of our friends on facebook not really being our friends is very interesting, and such an on topic subject. Emma Barnard | Development Coordinator, Comedy| Broadcast | ITV plc Hi Adam, Just watched this - wow ! Beautifully made (shot, edited and dubbed) and a stellar cast. You've done a really good job. Asif Asif Zubairy | Commissioning Editor, Entertainment | Broadcast | ITV plc Hi Adam We very much enjoyed The Last Post - it’s a cracking idea and beautifully executed. Victoria Pile Monicker Pictures Writer/Director/Producer Green Wing Smack the Pony Adam, your film did very well at the ACSFF last night. It was one of my personal favorites Mikel Fair, Austin Comedy Short Film Festival I thought it was a wonderful film, Adam! Very funny, timely, and well produced too. Loved your actors. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your movies, and best of luck at the festivals, Marie D’Abreo I thoroughly enjoyed The Last Post, it made me laugh, it made me cringe and it made me laugh some more, all in 15 minutes. So thank you for inviting me! I also had the pleasure of joining Sophie as a makeup daily on the last day of the shoot and I can honestly say I've never stepped onto a shoot for the day and felt so welcome. There was a lovely atmosphere on set which was calm and happy. The whole cast and crew were really friendly, and I left at the end of the day feeling sad that it was such a short shoot. I really hope that The Last Post gets the recognition it deserves, and that you are able to direct your feature. I'd happily be a part of your crew again, and I can't wait to see what 'A Love Like That' will be like! Good Luck! Kind Regards, Emily Grove Hair and Makeup Artist You're welcome, if only all directors had your passion and tenacity, you deserve this and I am happy to support you Samantha Waite Producer Dear Adam I'm Buzz' friend from drama and it was lovely to meet and work with you on Saturday. It was a fascinating and educational day and so glad to have taken part in your project. It was so difficult not to laugh – the whole story is bloody hilarious. I was truly impressed by your very calm, polite and yet decisive approach to the day, despite the endless constraints of the filming - a very different experience from that at Morley!! I’m a hospital doctor by trade – and if the NHS could adopt just a miniscule fraction of the organisation that the production team so beautifully demonstrated, the hospitals may actually start to improve! Best of luck with the post-production work and can’t wait to see the final result. Best Mike Dr Michael Waller Hi Adam Thanks for the invite but unfortunately we will not be able to attend as have other commitments. but would love to see some pics of the screening etc if possible. But as said on KickStarter I feel privileged to have backed and been a part of this adventure it has been run very professionally and has been a slick operation from start to finish with great insightful updates from yourself. Believe you me not all Kickstarter campaigns are like this and seem to be just a way for people to raise money and have a jolly :-( tho I must say other than yours this was a good one to back too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28wAal9J_fc Anyhow as say been a great campaign by yourself and if you do want to do another kickstarter project then I would more than happily back you again. Regards Alan ;-) 'I had a 'featured extra' role in The Last Post and was so impressed with the way that Adam really took time to speak to every single supporting artist with respect and encouragement . We felt as vital to the overall project as the main cast which helped make filming an inclusive experience for all performers, inevitably giving great results!' Many thanks, Gillian This is great buddy!! Just watched it with Sophia, my 15 year old and we loved it! Great premise to get the guy to speak, then he seems to channel Mr. Bean when delivering such a clueless, yet heartfelt, eulogy! Wrapping it up with the two about to get a real Eastender beat down is great! Very high production value here – you made a great little film!! Congrats! I hope it does well in the festivals!
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The principal photography for The Last Post is now complete,
with only the ‘skydiving selfie’ and a few other selfie videos still to be
shot. The filming took place at a private house in South Ealing on the 21st
November and at Christ Church New Malden in South West London on the 22nd.
Preparation for the two day shoot had been going on, with increasing intensity, for the previous four months although many of the crew only came on board in the last couple of weeks. This is because experienced professionals will not do short films unless they are certain they do not have top-paying jobs on features, commercials or in television. This meant that as well as preparing the story boards, doing the script breakdown, shot lists in shooting order, casting and recruiting and liasing with the heads of department I also had to scout locations as our location manager was on a feature. With both locations I struck gold – even if I do say so myself. By chance one of the actors who auditioned for the part of Sam volunteered the information that he lived in a bit of a ‘bachelor pad’ when I mentioned we were still seeking the location for Phil and sam’s house. I travelled to the house with one of my Kickstarter Executive Producers and we found a wonderfully spacious chaotic suburban den full of actors and cats. The place just oozed character and atmosphere.
Preparation for the two day shoot had been going on, with increasing intensity, for the previous four months although many of the crew only came on board in the last couple of weeks. This is because experienced professionals will not do short films unless they are certain they do not have top-paying jobs on features, commercials or in television. This meant that as well as preparing the story boards, doing the script breakdown, shot lists in shooting order, casting and recruiting and liasing with the heads of department I also had to scout locations as our location manager was on a feature. With both locations I struck gold – even if I do say so myself. By chance one of the actors who auditioned for the part of Sam volunteered the information that he lived in a bit of a ‘bachelor pad’ when I mentioned we were still seeking the location for Phil and sam’s house. I travelled to the house with one of my Kickstarter Executive Producers and we found a wonderfully spacious chaotic suburban den full of actors and cats. The place just oozed character and atmosphere.
To find my church I typed ‘London Churches’ into Google maps and targeted churches that looked far enough from the centre of town that that there was a likelihood they would have a car park (essential on a production of this scale). I then wrote to the vicars, introducing myself and telling them about the project and explaining what I needed. I got a positive response from two – one in Blackheath and one in New Malden. Although the Blackheath church was very beautiful, as soon as I met the Reverend Stephen Kuhrt at Christ Church New Malden it was clear that God was (literally) smiling on me. Not only was the church itself spacious and characterful but the pews had been removed and replaced with chairs allowing total freedom to move the camera. It had the exact right ‘urban church’ feel but above all the Reverend Stephen was extremely welcoming and very actively supportive of the film – by which I mean that he passionately believes that the message in the film (living too much in cyberspace will thwart your emotional development) is an important one. He spoke about how he has had to preside over funerals of suicides who, in his estimation, were partly victims of social media. He completely understood that my films approach to the subject is comical and not in any way a religious film but he said he would have a special service in which the theme would be social media and he would show the film to his congregation. This is a vicar who, on the hoarding outside his church, had a poster advertising a screening of Frozen! The most media savvy Vicar in Christendom (needless to say his church is full every Sunday!)
Despite finding these locations myself it was a great luxury to be able to then hand them over to the location manager who then conducted the negotiations about fees and access. This included persuading one of the actors in the South Ealing house to let us film in his bedroom which he was reluctant to do (we finally got the go ahead two days before the shoot).
A huge part of my work on the film had been securing the Mourners in the church and this has been going on for months. We could not pay them (it would have eaten about a third of the budget) so I had to make the project appealing and write to people individually. All my efforts paid off and on the day we had the perfect number (and they were all wonderful). I had also individually cast several ‘featured mourners’ and had either met them in person or conducted ‘Skype auditions’.
The shoot itself constituted the most intense two days of my life so far. For me personally everything was riding on this. A lot can go wrong on a film set but the things that kept me awake the night before were the terror that we would not get all the footage we need due to time constraints and the fear that my insistence on having a rain machine would sink us. At the tech recce the rain company (Elements) were wonderful but the location manager was very concerned that, as we didn’t have permission to close the street, we could be shut down by the police. My two fears coalesced into a terror that the rain would be my nemesis because having rain also slows you up terribly and there was a good chance that the entire morning would be spent just getting the two brothers out of their van and up to the front door in the rain. At about 3 am I had my darkest hour when the words of the First AD (sent in an e mail at about 11pm) came back to haunt me: ‘What we are attempting to do tomorrow is impossible’.
I stayed the night before in the pub that we were using as the location base. This was because the bachelor pad was too chaotic and there was no space for hair and makeup (let alone crew lunch). At 7am the wonderful Sophie Brown arrived and set up her hair and make-up station and I had a moment of astonishment and excitement when I saw her shaving the head of the actor Harry Rafferty – that was when I realised that this was the real thing. People don’t shave their heads lightly!
Casting the leads in this film has been a bit of a roller coaster. Securing Ryan Sampson early on gave the film a huge boost and meant that other actors were keen to get involved. To my amazement we got Doon Mackican to play the vicar but she pulled out quite near the shoot date because she got a big TV series that straddled the day of our Church shoot. This made me jittery about Ryan – would he too get offered a big part and vanish in a puff of smoke? Only when I met him for rehearsals were my nerves calmed as I realised how committed he was to the project.
A huge part of my work on the film had been securing the Mourners in the church and this has been going on for months. We could not pay them (it would have eaten about a third of the budget) so I had to make the project appealing and write to people individually. All my efforts paid off and on the day we had the perfect number (and they were all wonderful). I had also individually cast several ‘featured mourners’ and had either met them in person or conducted ‘Skype auditions’.
The shoot itself constituted the most intense two days of my life so far. For me personally everything was riding on this. A lot can go wrong on a film set but the things that kept me awake the night before were the terror that we would not get all the footage we need due to time constraints and the fear that my insistence on having a rain machine would sink us. At the tech recce the rain company (Elements) were wonderful but the location manager was very concerned that, as we didn’t have permission to close the street, we could be shut down by the police. My two fears coalesced into a terror that the rain would be my nemesis because having rain also slows you up terribly and there was a good chance that the entire morning would be spent just getting the two brothers out of their van and up to the front door in the rain. At about 3 am I had my darkest hour when the words of the First AD (sent in an e mail at about 11pm) came back to haunt me: ‘What we are attempting to do tomorrow is impossible’.
I stayed the night before in the pub that we were using as the location base. This was because the bachelor pad was too chaotic and there was no space for hair and makeup (let alone crew lunch). At 7am the wonderful Sophie Brown arrived and set up her hair and make-up station and I had a moment of astonishment and excitement when I saw her shaving the head of the actor Harry Rafferty – that was when I realised that this was the real thing. People don’t shave their heads lightly!
Casting the leads in this film has been a bit of a roller coaster. Securing Ryan Sampson early on gave the film a huge boost and meant that other actors were keen to get involved. To my amazement we got Doon Mackican to play the vicar but she pulled out quite near the shoot date because she got a big TV series that straddled the day of our Church shoot. This made me jittery about Ryan – would he too get offered a big part and vanish in a puff of smoke? Only when I met him for rehearsals were my nerves calmed as I realised how committed he was to the project.
I decided to give up on the idea of a female vicar and go for one of my favourite comedy actors: Mark Heap – and he said yes! In the UK Mark is a well known face from programmes like Spaced, Friday Night Dinner, and Miranda. He’s one of those actors with funny bones, which was what the opening of the church scene needs – I want the audience to understand immediately that its OK to laugh at this funeral!
Harry Rafferty and Andy Gillies were given fantastic tattoos by Sophie Brown – a true pro who had prepared the tattoos and practised applying them in advance. The result was that they looked extremely intimidating (Harry with his spider webb on his forehead, Andy with ‘White Trash’ in heavy Gothic type on his neck).
Over a bacon sarnie I talked through what we had to achieve with Sam Care, the DOP, and Tim Dayman, the first AD. Sam was fresh from a cinematographer’s festival in Poland which had filled him with inspiration. Securing Sam for the shoot was probably our biggest single coup on this film. He’s not only experienced and a true artist but also passionate about what he does and, perhaps best of all, we absolutely understood each other and what we were trying to achieve. We never had a single dispute throughout the two day shoot and he was always quick to come up with a solution when we hit a snag. A great joy for me was seeing how quickly a professional experienced crew can work – for example laying tracks at a rate of a bout five feet a minute!
Harry Rafferty and Andy Gillies were given fantastic tattoos by Sophie Brown – a true pro who had prepared the tattoos and practised applying them in advance. The result was that they looked extremely intimidating (Harry with his spider webb on his forehead, Andy with ‘White Trash’ in heavy Gothic type on his neck).
Over a bacon sarnie I talked through what we had to achieve with Sam Care, the DOP, and Tim Dayman, the first AD. Sam was fresh from a cinematographer’s festival in Poland which had filled him with inspiration. Securing Sam for the shoot was probably our biggest single coup on this film. He’s not only experienced and a true artist but also passionate about what he does and, perhaps best of all, we absolutely understood each other and what we were trying to achieve. We never had a single dispute throughout the two day shoot and he was always quick to come up with a solution when we hit a snag. A great joy for me was seeing how quickly a professional experienced crew can work – for example laying tracks at a rate of a bout five feet a minute!
But despite this we spent the entire morning getting the brothers out of the van and into the house. This was not so much the fault of the rain but simply the fact that doing this required shooting the sequence from several angles to ensure it cut together. I made a decision early on not to look at the time and simply let the first AD worry about that. What I can say with absolute certainly is that I am glad I insisted on rain – it lends a gloomy poetry to the arrival of the two bereaved nutcases.
We didn’t move inside to film Phil and Sam (played by Ryan Sampson and Selom Awadzi) until after lunch. The delays meant we had to make our first sacrifice from the script. Out went the series of vignettes establishing Sam and Phil as a pair of halfwits – instead we had to make do with a series of close shots of Phil playing Logger Bill on his phone. What was wonderful was the combination of the great location, the brilliant work of Heather Mort the production designer and Sam’s lighting of the scene so that the two boys appear to be lit only by the television and their phones. When you then add on the wonderfully assured performances it is quite a package.
The next sacrifice we had to make was in shooting the little scene in the bedroom. I had hoped to do this in two shots – one showing Sam on his bed and the other catching Phil’s entrance. By the time we had the lights set up and were ready we had less than half an hour left. You simply cannot ask professional sparks to do unpaid overtime on a film – and you can understand why. If they let it happen it would always happen! So the word is – when time’s up the lights go out. Consequently we had to reblock the scene as a simple two shot that will have to be shown in its entirety – no cutaways.
After a slightly better nights sleep in a Travelodge in Kingston-on-Thames I got to Christ Church New Malden about 7am and it was already a buzz with activity, with mourners and other actors already arriving and Heather hard at work arranging the flowers, giant teddy, coffin etc. I was less nervous about this day because it was a simpler day of filming – simply put the morning would be spent shooting the mourners and the afternoon spent shooting the shenanigans going on in the direction of the altar. However our first sequence was the last sequence of the film – where Phil and Sam get beaten up outside the church. We got a few mourners to hang about in the background and were all set to get our first shot when I noticed, on the monitor, that my father was walking along the street beyond. Slight delay while we waited for him to clear shot and then we were away.
Inevitably there were sacrifices on this day as well. I had hoped for a smorgasbord of congregation reaction shots but had to make do with our featured extra shots and a general wide shot of the whole congregation. But with the family reactions, Sam’s reactions and the wonderful Mark Heap’s reactions I think we have a good chance of cutting the sequence together. Another casualty was the wreath shots – I had hoped to show the wreath in the shape of a thumbs up rotating and becoming a thumbs down. Even if we’d had time for this there was a technical problem with achieving this – and the wreath itself was not as clear or as large as I had hoped. Hopefully Sam’s fall onto the vicar and subsequent entanglement in his vestments will serve to supply the comedy for this segment.
At about 3pm I pretty much panicked. Rather than moving to filming cover everything seen in the alter direction we were only just completing filming the featured mourners. I suggested to Sam that we drop the idea of having tracking shots in to Ryan’s eulogy and the vicar’s prayer. He calmly explained that we still had time to do what we needed and, by a whisper, we did. We had done an agreement with the crew that we would lunch ‘on the hoof’ which means, in effect, a 15 minute lunch and a shorter day – so wrap time was 5pm.
A this stage it would be foolish to be over optimistic about the film. The quality of the images is extremely high, there’s a wonderful buzz about the project amongst the cast and crew, and the performances are excellent – but until I get into the cutting room with Kant Pan and start putting it together I would be a fool to start claiming the film was anything but still a dream – albeit one that now exists in the form of a large amount of unordered digital information stored on hard drives!
We didn’t move inside to film Phil and Sam (played by Ryan Sampson and Selom Awadzi) until after lunch. The delays meant we had to make our first sacrifice from the script. Out went the series of vignettes establishing Sam and Phil as a pair of halfwits – instead we had to make do with a series of close shots of Phil playing Logger Bill on his phone. What was wonderful was the combination of the great location, the brilliant work of Heather Mort the production designer and Sam’s lighting of the scene so that the two boys appear to be lit only by the television and their phones. When you then add on the wonderfully assured performances it is quite a package.
The next sacrifice we had to make was in shooting the little scene in the bedroom. I had hoped to do this in two shots – one showing Sam on his bed and the other catching Phil’s entrance. By the time we had the lights set up and were ready we had less than half an hour left. You simply cannot ask professional sparks to do unpaid overtime on a film – and you can understand why. If they let it happen it would always happen! So the word is – when time’s up the lights go out. Consequently we had to reblock the scene as a simple two shot that will have to be shown in its entirety – no cutaways.
After a slightly better nights sleep in a Travelodge in Kingston-on-Thames I got to Christ Church New Malden about 7am and it was already a buzz with activity, with mourners and other actors already arriving and Heather hard at work arranging the flowers, giant teddy, coffin etc. I was less nervous about this day because it was a simpler day of filming – simply put the morning would be spent shooting the mourners and the afternoon spent shooting the shenanigans going on in the direction of the altar. However our first sequence was the last sequence of the film – where Phil and Sam get beaten up outside the church. We got a few mourners to hang about in the background and were all set to get our first shot when I noticed, on the monitor, that my father was walking along the street beyond. Slight delay while we waited for him to clear shot and then we were away.
Inevitably there were sacrifices on this day as well. I had hoped for a smorgasbord of congregation reaction shots but had to make do with our featured extra shots and a general wide shot of the whole congregation. But with the family reactions, Sam’s reactions and the wonderful Mark Heap’s reactions I think we have a good chance of cutting the sequence together. Another casualty was the wreath shots – I had hoped to show the wreath in the shape of a thumbs up rotating and becoming a thumbs down. Even if we’d had time for this there was a technical problem with achieving this – and the wreath itself was not as clear or as large as I had hoped. Hopefully Sam’s fall onto the vicar and subsequent entanglement in his vestments will serve to supply the comedy for this segment.
At about 3pm I pretty much panicked. Rather than moving to filming cover everything seen in the alter direction we were only just completing filming the featured mourners. I suggested to Sam that we drop the idea of having tracking shots in to Ryan’s eulogy and the vicar’s prayer. He calmly explained that we still had time to do what we needed and, by a whisper, we did. We had done an agreement with the crew that we would lunch ‘on the hoof’ which means, in effect, a 15 minute lunch and a shorter day – so wrap time was 5pm.
A this stage it would be foolish to be over optimistic about the film. The quality of the images is extremely high, there’s a wonderful buzz about the project amongst the cast and crew, and the performances are excellent – but until I get into the cutting room with Kant Pan and start putting it together I would be a fool to start claiming the film was anything but still a dream – albeit one that now exists in the form of a large amount of unordered digital information stored on hard drives!
PRE- PRODUCTION HOTTING UP
A big part of what I have been doing as part of my preparation for the shoot on the 22nd November is recruiting mourners for the church. I need somewhere between 30 and 50 people of varying ages (depending on the church size) and the budget simply does not run to paying them. Mourners will not be out of pocket and will be fed and given tea and coffee, will have an unforgettable experience and be part of something really special. The church will be in London. I have recruited 22 so far and am in correspondence with several more. If you are interested in appearing as a mourner in The Last Post please e mail me directly at [email protected] and I will send you more details about what is needed as well as the script.
I am very fortunate to have the use of an office near St James' Park on Fridays where I have been conducting auditions and other production meetings. On Friday the 10th November I saw about 20 actors who were auditioning for the parts of Sam (the comic sidekick to our hero Phil) and the two intimidating brothers Jim and Terry. At one point a pair of blokes entered the office looking extremely angry and upset. I thought that I had left the door open downstairs and a couple of nutters had got into the building. In fact it was two wonderful actors: Andy Gillies and Harry Rafferty, and they had got themselves 'in' character as the two bereaved brothers. They did the scene seated side by side and it was the easiest piece of casting I have ever done - because they were so utterly convincing that I would be stark raving mad not to cast them in the roles. Although the part of Sam has not yet been cast we are now down to two shortlisted candidates who we will be trying out with our lead Ryan Sampson on the 27th October. A piece of great news is that Doon Mackichan, who is known for Smack The Pony and is currently appearing as the office boss in Plebs has agreed to play the vicar in The Last Post - a real coup and a wonderful way to emphasise the comedy of the scene. I have also now had my first meeting with the cinematographer Sam Care which was an utter joy. This is because he is passionate about what he does, an absolute expert in his field but also open to ideas. Our conversation threw up many creative solutions to the various problems the production faces and we both left inspired and excited.
I have now confirmed that a young production designer called Heather Mort will be designing the film and I am completely confident that she is the right choice. Headaches like finding a coffin are, for her, meat and drink, and she uses not only her taste, judgement and creativity in coming up with the look of a film - she knows that charm and, where necessary, cake can also be useful and getting what you need. Wardrobe has also been recruited in the form of Josie Parkinson whose enthusiasm for the project was infectious even for me, who is very passionate about it indeed! But what really nailed it for me was her suggestion for the T-shirt that Sam would wear - it would show a buffering timer and the words 'Fart Loading 85%'. Even if we can't clear copyright for this shirt it was so apt and funny and perfect for the character that I knew I'd found my wardrobe person instantly. |
Up and Running
17th September.
My ideal candidate for playing the lead role of Phil in The Last Post is one of the stars of a hit ITV2 comedy that I am a big fan of. He is very good at playing stupid and has an innate vulnerability that is perfect for the story (he has to be intimidated by the two brothers into agreeing to speak at the funeral). What really appeals to me about this actor is that I find myself laughing when I imagine him in the role. Sophie recently got onto his agent and by the end of that day I got word back - he loves the script and wants to do it. But he wants to meet me first so we are meeting in London this Friday. (This meeting has now taken place and went extremely well).
Another piece of storming good news is that one of the Directors of Photography recommended by Samantha Waite - in fact my first choice to shoot the film, has also come straight back with a similar message - loves the script and wants to shoot it. If he does indeed shoot the film we now have a real artist on board - someone who is going to make this look stunning. It is my belief that comedies shoud be shot no differently from dramas - with the exception that in comedy you must always make sure that the eyes are visible.
In addition an Oscar nominate editor has also read the script and come back with the words 'love it - I'd love to edit it'.
The reason I am not mentioning these people by name at this point is that they are not yet contracted to work on the film and I do not want to do anything to jeopardize their involvement.
In addition I have now approached production designers and editors and have placed advertisements for hair and makeup and wardrobe on the Shooting People website. Agents have been approached of two 'name' stars for the parts of Jim, the 1st brother, and the vicar and I have also placed advertisements for all the other parts on the site castingcallpro and have had several hundred replies. The site is brilliantly designed so I can scroll through the faces easily and create my 'Dingley Family'.
At this stage the film does feel a little unreal - perhaps because I have not yet met any of the people who are going to be involved and everything has been done on-line. The joke is of course that the film is all about the importance of living your life in the real world...
My ideal candidate for playing the lead role of Phil in The Last Post is one of the stars of a hit ITV2 comedy that I am a big fan of. He is very good at playing stupid and has an innate vulnerability that is perfect for the story (he has to be intimidated by the two brothers into agreeing to speak at the funeral). What really appeals to me about this actor is that I find myself laughing when I imagine him in the role. Sophie recently got onto his agent and by the end of that day I got word back - he loves the script and wants to do it. But he wants to meet me first so we are meeting in London this Friday. (This meeting has now taken place and went extremely well).
Another piece of storming good news is that one of the Directors of Photography recommended by Samantha Waite - in fact my first choice to shoot the film, has also come straight back with a similar message - loves the script and wants to shoot it. If he does indeed shoot the film we now have a real artist on board - someone who is going to make this look stunning. It is my belief that comedies shoud be shot no differently from dramas - with the exception that in comedy you must always make sure that the eyes are visible.
In addition an Oscar nominate editor has also read the script and come back with the words 'love it - I'd love to edit it'.
The reason I am not mentioning these people by name at this point is that they are not yet contracted to work on the film and I do not want to do anything to jeopardize their involvement.
In addition I have now approached production designers and editors and have placed advertisements for hair and makeup and wardrobe on the Shooting People website. Agents have been approached of two 'name' stars for the parts of Jim, the 1st brother, and the vicar and I have also placed advertisements for all the other parts on the site castingcallpro and have had several hundred replies. The site is brilliantly designed so I can scroll through the faces easily and create my 'Dingley Family'.
At this stage the film does feel a little unreal - perhaps because I have not yet met any of the people who are going to be involved and everything has been done on-line. The joke is of course that the film is all about the importance of living your life in the real world...
20th August 2014
Once I knew that Facebook Funeral (now retitled The Last Post) was fully funded I wanted to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. I set up a meeting with Sophie North, the casting agent, and booked in a telephone call with Producer Samantha Waite, which took place on Monday 11th August. The first thing I wanted to do was confirm Sam's commitment to making this short - she is now working on three features and has several projects coming up (including one requiring her to travel to South Africa), and I was concerned that her initial enthusiasm may have waned in the light of how busy she is. She confirmed that she was committed to making the film with me and although it is clear that she will be working on other projects in tandem there is no doubting the significant advantages of having such an experienced producer at the helm. We agreed that we should aim to have the film completed by January 2015 in time to submit it to 2015 film festivals. Sam said that, due to several very large feature films (for example the next Star Wars film) currently shooting in the UK the 'shelves are empty' at all the equipment hire companies and it would be foolhardy to schedule a shoot right away. An ideal month to shoot might be October. The first thing to do was to get the two male leads cast. Ideally we want one well-known face in one of these leads and to achieve this we have to be flexible about precise shooting dates - allowing the actor to dictate the two day shooting schedule according to his own availability. Once we had those dates confirmed the entire film could be built around that.
Sam also pointed out a concern she had about the title of the film 'Facebook Funeral'. This name would probably require approval from Facebook and as the film paints Facebook in something of a negative light this might be hard to come by. She described how, on her short Wish 143, they considered risking using music that they did not have the rights to because many short films get away with this - because they remain very obscure, viewed only at a few film festivals and never catching the attention of the copyright owners. She said that luckily she was persuaded not to risk it because the film was then nominated for an Oscar and subsequently achieved world-wide television sales. The lesson was 'plan for success'. Although it might be possible to gain permission from Facebook, I found her second argument against the current title more persuasive - that 'Facebook Funeral' might come across as a bit of a lame title, suggesting that the subject matter is limited to Facebook - which it is not (it is about social media and the internet and its effect on emotional development). The upshot is that for now I am reverting to my original title 'The Last Post' although this will not be settled finally until we are designing the titles. One thing I did not necessarily agree with Sam on is her concern about the 'thumbs up' wreath that Sam lays on the coffin of Kerry. The Facebook 'thumbs up' icon is clearly a specific piece of copyrighted graphics, reproduced in a specific colour, but Facebook obviously do not own the copyright on the human hand when it is represented in the thumbs up gesture. If the thumbs up gesture is rendered in blue flowers it can hardly be said to be something that Facebook owns. Consequently I think it highly unlikely that they could object to this, especially if 'Facebook' is removed from elsewhere in the film.
My meeting with Sophie North went extremely well and I realised how very lucky I was to have her involved. Samantha Waite had pointed out to me that well-known actors do not do films because producers ask them to - they do them for directors they want to work with. As I have no reputation to speak of getting a name actor is going to be hard. But having a respected casting agent helps a lot. Actors like to build relationships with casting directors as they are the 'source of all work'. Sophie agreed to approach the agent of my number one choice and she did so immediately - and she presented a very persuasive case. He is an actor who has already auditioned for my feature A Love Like That and therefore he is familiar with my work. He now has the script for the short and I am awaiting his response - the next actor on my list will be approached if we get a no.
Meanwhile I have completed a rough story-board for the film. This will act as a starting point in my discussions with the heads of departments and will inevitably change a great deal - particularly in response to rehearsals when I will see how the actors bring the scenes to life and where the rhythm of the scenes suggest different camera angles and cuts. I have also written out instructions for all of the heads of department where I outline the themes of the film and how I see the various different disciplines enhancing those themes creatively. Again this is to kick of discussions but it is very important that everybody is making 'the same film'. I will be recruiting the heads of department using Samantha Waite's suggestions but will also advertise on shootingpeople.co.uk. For the other actors I will be askig for Sophie North's help but will also use casting call pro and possibly To Be Seen as well (two casting web sites).
Once I knew that Facebook Funeral (now retitled The Last Post) was fully funded I wanted to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. I set up a meeting with Sophie North, the casting agent, and booked in a telephone call with Producer Samantha Waite, which took place on Monday 11th August. The first thing I wanted to do was confirm Sam's commitment to making this short - she is now working on three features and has several projects coming up (including one requiring her to travel to South Africa), and I was concerned that her initial enthusiasm may have waned in the light of how busy she is. She confirmed that she was committed to making the film with me and although it is clear that she will be working on other projects in tandem there is no doubting the significant advantages of having such an experienced producer at the helm. We agreed that we should aim to have the film completed by January 2015 in time to submit it to 2015 film festivals. Sam said that, due to several very large feature films (for example the next Star Wars film) currently shooting in the UK the 'shelves are empty' at all the equipment hire companies and it would be foolhardy to schedule a shoot right away. An ideal month to shoot might be October. The first thing to do was to get the two male leads cast. Ideally we want one well-known face in one of these leads and to achieve this we have to be flexible about precise shooting dates - allowing the actor to dictate the two day shooting schedule according to his own availability. Once we had those dates confirmed the entire film could be built around that.
Sam also pointed out a concern she had about the title of the film 'Facebook Funeral'. This name would probably require approval from Facebook and as the film paints Facebook in something of a negative light this might be hard to come by. She described how, on her short Wish 143, they considered risking using music that they did not have the rights to because many short films get away with this - because they remain very obscure, viewed only at a few film festivals and never catching the attention of the copyright owners. She said that luckily she was persuaded not to risk it because the film was then nominated for an Oscar and subsequently achieved world-wide television sales. The lesson was 'plan for success'. Although it might be possible to gain permission from Facebook, I found her second argument against the current title more persuasive - that 'Facebook Funeral' might come across as a bit of a lame title, suggesting that the subject matter is limited to Facebook - which it is not (it is about social media and the internet and its effect on emotional development). The upshot is that for now I am reverting to my original title 'The Last Post' although this will not be settled finally until we are designing the titles. One thing I did not necessarily agree with Sam on is her concern about the 'thumbs up' wreath that Sam lays on the coffin of Kerry. The Facebook 'thumbs up' icon is clearly a specific piece of copyrighted graphics, reproduced in a specific colour, but Facebook obviously do not own the copyright on the human hand when it is represented in the thumbs up gesture. If the thumbs up gesture is rendered in blue flowers it can hardly be said to be something that Facebook owns. Consequently I think it highly unlikely that they could object to this, especially if 'Facebook' is removed from elsewhere in the film.
My meeting with Sophie North went extremely well and I realised how very lucky I was to have her involved. Samantha Waite had pointed out to me that well-known actors do not do films because producers ask them to - they do them for directors they want to work with. As I have no reputation to speak of getting a name actor is going to be hard. But having a respected casting agent helps a lot. Actors like to build relationships with casting directors as they are the 'source of all work'. Sophie agreed to approach the agent of my number one choice and she did so immediately - and she presented a very persuasive case. He is an actor who has already auditioned for my feature A Love Like That and therefore he is familiar with my work. He now has the script for the short and I am awaiting his response - the next actor on my list will be approached if we get a no.
Meanwhile I have completed a rough story-board for the film. This will act as a starting point in my discussions with the heads of departments and will inevitably change a great deal - particularly in response to rehearsals when I will see how the actors bring the scenes to life and where the rhythm of the scenes suggest different camera angles and cuts. I have also written out instructions for all of the heads of department where I outline the themes of the film and how I see the various different disciplines enhancing those themes creatively. Again this is to kick of discussions but it is very important that everybody is making 'the same film'. I will be recruiting the heads of department using Samantha Waite's suggestions but will also advertise on shootingpeople.co.uk. For the other actors I will be askig for Sophie North's help but will also use casting call pro and possibly To Be Seen as well (two casting web sites).
"I think the script could make a terrific short film. It has the potential to be excruciatingly funny but also has something to say about how we all live on line these days." Suzanne Warren, Producer (Edge of Darkness, The Hole, The Last King of Scotland).
FACEBOOK FUNERAL IS A SHORT COMEDY FILM THAT IS CURRENTLY IN SCRIPT FORM
It is being produced by Samantha Waite, who was Production Coordinator on the Oscar winning feature documentary Man on Wire and the Oscar nominated short film Wish 143 and is now an extremely busy feature film Producer. She will bring an assured professionalism to the entire process of making Facebook Funeral. She has an extensive knowledge and contact list of professionals working in the British Film Industry and has already prepared a detailed no-frills budget.
For full details please go to the Kickstarter page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1473843212/facebook-funeral
WHAT IS FACEBOOK FUNERAL ABOUT?
Facebook Funeral hilariously skewers some of the emerging issues surrounding social media by dramatizing a nightmarish scenario in a comic style. A shallow young woman dies while 'creating content' for her social media platforms. Through a monstrous misunderstanding a halfwit is invited to give the address at her funeral despite not knowing her at all. Cornered into agreeing he is reduced to combing through her social media history. He comes up with the worst and most inappropriate eulogy in history and faces an uncertain future with his idiotic friend.
It's a story that has potential not only to make people laugh but also to examine their lives and ask questions like - am I letting my life dictate what I put on social media or is it starting to be the other way around? Am I actively good in the real world or do I give myself a false sense of being good by 'liking' and 'sharing' content about good causes? Would I want my life to be assessed by my social media content alone?
WHAT IS THE STORY?
The Facebook Funeral story is structured like a short cinematic joke with the first act providing the establishment of the characters and the situation and the second act payoff being the grotesquely inappropriate eulogy at the 'Facebook Funeral'.
Act I
A ditzy young woman is falling at immense speed while filming a 'video selfie".
We meet Phil and Sam, a pair of urban twits who spend their lives surfing, gaming and oggling unattainable women. They are harmless enough – but you wouldn’t want them undertaking anything requiring empathy, articulacy, good judgement or a sensible haircut.
Two grief-stricken brothers – large, criminal types – visit them. They've come to see Phil.
Their beloved sister Kerry has died in a skydiving accident. She was a silly sausage who imposed an unceasing stream of self-centred guff about herself on the Internet but they adored her and they are way too cut up to speak at her funeral, as are her heartbroken friends and the rest of her family.
As luck would have it they know an IT wizard who has unlocked the secrets of Kerry’s Facebook. What he learned was that Phil was her best friend. Phil is a little surprised by this (he met her once) but the mood turns ugly when another possibility occurs to the two hulking men – was Phil in fact Kerry’s pervert stalker? Suddenly the threat of violence is in the air and Phil has to think on his feet. He is soon claiming that he was Kerry's 'soul mate' and agreeing to speak at her funeral.
The two brothers depart leaving Phil unhappy – particularly because Sam, his cowardly flatmate, is partly responsible for this unpleasantness. He has been using Phil’s Facebook account to ogle Kerry’s pictures. Reasonably intelligent people would now arrange to escape to France – but these are idiots remember – and they think they can handle a little bit of eulogizing.
Act II
The funeral. The family are all there – those alarming brothers of course, and all Kerry’s friends. The vicar finishes a prayer and invites our man Phil to come forward and offer up his summary of Kerry’s short life.
As his monstrously inappropriate and feeble eulogy unfolds the congregation gradually wake up to the horror of what is happening: a man who did not know Kerry at all, and who somehow believes that the internet is the real world, is damning poor Kerry for all eternity with the faintest praise ever to leave the lips of a eulogist. As each obscenely underwhelming observation is made we see the reactions of Kelly’s friends and family. With Sam’s unspeakable novelty wreath delivering the final insult, the two brothers prepare to get busy with their ham-sized fists. Our two heroes have sealed their fate. Grinning, they snap a quick selfie to commemorate the moment.
Some more of what people are saying about 'Facebook Funeral':
"Loved the script, as I knew I would, I can see it attracting interesting cast. I would like to personally be involved" Samantha Waite, Production Coordinator, Man on a Wire, Extras,Absolutely Fabulous, Production Manager, Austenland, Big Fat GypsyGangster, Producer, Kids in Love, Blackbird, Black Moon, Producer of the Oscar nominated short Wish 143
"Really Love 'Facebook Funeral', keep thinking of it when I go on Facebook"Carol Cooper, Screenwriter
"The script is really good...I would expect to be able to get some
help on the cgi compositing and tracking. I might also be able to help
with casting" Mathew Plummer, Senior Producer, Double Negative
FACEBOOK FUNERAL IS A SHORT COMEDY FILM THAT IS CURRENTLY IN SCRIPT FORM
It is being produced by Samantha Waite, who was Production Coordinator on the Oscar winning feature documentary Man on Wire and the Oscar nominated short film Wish 143 and is now an extremely busy feature film Producer. She will bring an assured professionalism to the entire process of making Facebook Funeral. She has an extensive knowledge and contact list of professionals working in the British Film Industry and has already prepared a detailed no-frills budget.
For full details please go to the Kickstarter page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1473843212/facebook-funeral
WHAT IS FACEBOOK FUNERAL ABOUT?
Facebook Funeral hilariously skewers some of the emerging issues surrounding social media by dramatizing a nightmarish scenario in a comic style. A shallow young woman dies while 'creating content' for her social media platforms. Through a monstrous misunderstanding a halfwit is invited to give the address at her funeral despite not knowing her at all. Cornered into agreeing he is reduced to combing through her social media history. He comes up with the worst and most inappropriate eulogy in history and faces an uncertain future with his idiotic friend.
It's a story that has potential not only to make people laugh but also to examine their lives and ask questions like - am I letting my life dictate what I put on social media or is it starting to be the other way around? Am I actively good in the real world or do I give myself a false sense of being good by 'liking' and 'sharing' content about good causes? Would I want my life to be assessed by my social media content alone?
WHAT IS THE STORY?
The Facebook Funeral story is structured like a short cinematic joke with the first act providing the establishment of the characters and the situation and the second act payoff being the grotesquely inappropriate eulogy at the 'Facebook Funeral'.
Act I
A ditzy young woman is falling at immense speed while filming a 'video selfie".
We meet Phil and Sam, a pair of urban twits who spend their lives surfing, gaming and oggling unattainable women. They are harmless enough – but you wouldn’t want them undertaking anything requiring empathy, articulacy, good judgement or a sensible haircut.
Two grief-stricken brothers – large, criminal types – visit them. They've come to see Phil.
Their beloved sister Kerry has died in a skydiving accident. She was a silly sausage who imposed an unceasing stream of self-centred guff about herself on the Internet but they adored her and they are way too cut up to speak at her funeral, as are her heartbroken friends and the rest of her family.
As luck would have it they know an IT wizard who has unlocked the secrets of Kerry’s Facebook. What he learned was that Phil was her best friend. Phil is a little surprised by this (he met her once) but the mood turns ugly when another possibility occurs to the two hulking men – was Phil in fact Kerry’s pervert stalker? Suddenly the threat of violence is in the air and Phil has to think on his feet. He is soon claiming that he was Kerry's 'soul mate' and agreeing to speak at her funeral.
The two brothers depart leaving Phil unhappy – particularly because Sam, his cowardly flatmate, is partly responsible for this unpleasantness. He has been using Phil’s Facebook account to ogle Kerry’s pictures. Reasonably intelligent people would now arrange to escape to France – but these are idiots remember – and they think they can handle a little bit of eulogizing.
Act II
The funeral. The family are all there – those alarming brothers of course, and all Kerry’s friends. The vicar finishes a prayer and invites our man Phil to come forward and offer up his summary of Kerry’s short life.
As his monstrously inappropriate and feeble eulogy unfolds the congregation gradually wake up to the horror of what is happening: a man who did not know Kerry at all, and who somehow believes that the internet is the real world, is damning poor Kerry for all eternity with the faintest praise ever to leave the lips of a eulogist. As each obscenely underwhelming observation is made we see the reactions of Kelly’s friends and family. With Sam’s unspeakable novelty wreath delivering the final insult, the two brothers prepare to get busy with their ham-sized fists. Our two heroes have sealed their fate. Grinning, they snap a quick selfie to commemorate the moment.
Some more of what people are saying about 'Facebook Funeral':
"Loved the script, as I knew I would, I can see it attracting interesting cast. I would like to personally be involved" Samantha Waite, Production Coordinator, Man on a Wire, Extras,Absolutely Fabulous, Production Manager, Austenland, Big Fat GypsyGangster, Producer, Kids in Love, Blackbird, Black Moon, Producer of the Oscar nominated short Wish 143
"Really Love 'Facebook Funeral', keep thinking of it when I go on Facebook"Carol Cooper, Screenwriter
"The script is really good...I would expect to be able to get some
help on the cgi compositing and tracking. I might also be able to help
with casting" Mathew Plummer, Senior Producer, Double Negative