How do you go about getting together cast and crew for a film? Well, you bombard a load of websites for potential cast members and then wade through the hundreds of CVs that come pouring back in. We couldn’t afford to offer payment for our actors but knew that we would as a minimum have to cover cover any food and travel expenses (if you are hoping to entice people to do something for you for free, that's the least you can do) Fortunately that didn’t deter people from auditioning. Good job too as we ended up with a cracking core cast from the whole thing - Jay Croot, Hayley Williams, Nicholas Obileye and Andrew Cleaver. We also managed to put together a selection of great supporting actors too - not least Marq English, Damian Morter and Mark Beardsmore. Throw in most of our friends and family to fill out the cameos (as well as an appearance from each of us behind the scenes*) and you’ve got yourself a full cast!
Top tip - make sure you get people who really can act for your main cast. It'll make a big difference. Supporting / background roles can be nicely filled out by your mates and family (as they very much were on this) but make sure you've got people that can carry it in the meaty roles.
Networking at a local film festival (courtesy of Mr English) also provided us with our splendid one woman production department, Hannah Wiggins-Thirkill and a bit more internet networkery furnished us with our equally marvellous one woman make up department, Faye Hammond. Armed with Rich’s brother Rob, brother-in-law Andy, my brother Andy, and longtime friend Liz, we had our core production crew**
The Place
London locations were basically begged and borrowed from anyone and everyone, including but not limited to the local pub and kebab shop next to my flat in Acton, a church hall in Teddington (which I would in later years purely by coincidence end up living near to), a design company in London and my mum and dad’s garden. The last location was utilised to portray a fancy awards ceremony party using the marquee that we’d put up the previous week for my 30th birthday party. (Always recycle and reuse - cost effective sets can be found anywhere!)
Rehearsals took place at a set of rooms in Greenwich and were combined with costume trials for our main characters too. When you’re on a no budget shoot, you have to combine as many things as possible. Much hilarity ensued during the trying on of Andrew’s Robin outfit (for one of the flashback scenes in the film) due to some… let's say, disturbingly revealing tightness.
We were going a bit more ambitious for the main shoot, though. Yes, much like a 1970s big screen adaptation of a beloved British sitcom, we were aiming for a foreign location to give it a bit of glamour and a fresh look (plus weirdly, being based in expensive old London town, it would be cheaper to fly out, house and feed the cast and crew for 9 days than just pay their travel and food expenses***). Rich’s brother-in-law had been scouting abroad for a potential holiday home and had found somewhere where it would be cheap to film - the ancient medieval capital city of Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo. The local tourist office were keen (even volunteering to have the police close roads for us!) and, with flights and hostel accommodation booked (all expense spared on a no-budget shoot), we were on our way to a Bulgarian adventure.
The best laid plans and all that…
To Be Continued
* Fun and egotistical fact - the very last shot of the film is of my angry face. Hey, when you make the film, you get to be in it too. Them’s the rules.
** We were also ably assisted by many others throughout the course of the film - there were too many to mention here but they all got a credit on the film! Credit where credit is due…
*** Prices accurate as of Easter 2006.
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