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PRE PRODUCTION
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Sometime in 1999 (this is how long these things can take)
At The Farnham Film Company, I receive an unsolicited manuscript from one Jonathan Geffner, a ventriloquist living in New York. It’s a screenplay for a remake of The Maltese Falcon, entitled The Hong-Kong Canary. I love the film-noir atmosphere and the idea of using ventriloquial dummies as living, autonomous characters. A lot of the script is very funny, but I feel that too much of it is based around ventriloquist/puppet routines.
Over the next months Jonathan generates many rewrites. Often he doesn’t agree with my comments, but we compromise. In the end we have a filmable script that we both like, and several more story lines for a continuing television series. We pitch the project to number of TV stations and get nowhere.
Sometimes they get it, and sometimes they don’t. The ones that do understand have no place for it on their channel. However, most real people love the project, so we don’t give up hope.
Sometime in 2003
An opportunity seems to come along to finance Trillo as a feature film, and we have a perfect location available – except that it’s not in New York, but a manor house in the West of England.
I suggest merging the Maltese Falcon with Gosford Park. Jonathan obligingly comes up with an excellent script (which is available to anyone interested who thinks they can help in getting the film financed).
The funding falls away.
Summer 2004
A funding round for digital short films appears. I suggest making a short-film version of Boxford Park (the full-length script) which we can then use as a pilot. We submit the resulting Oxford Park, and it’s turned down. With a bit of pushing from Jonathan, I realise that we could probably do it anyway.
So we resolve to attempt to produce the film as a no-budget short.
Location, location, location.
We have a script. We have to film it somewhere. During a conversation in a pub (some of the most productive occasions) a friend says we can use her house. It’s not enormous, but it’s big enough. It will do. I investigate a number of really big manor houses later, just in case, but they all want a location fee equal to the maximum amount we’re hoping to spend on the film.
I visit the house with Ingrid, our DoP. I’ve worked with Ingrid quite a lot. She’s done a lot of drama, and she’s happy to do this shoot without pay, just for fun. We find a date when the house and Ingrid are both available. The shoot dates are set. I tell Jonathan to book his ticket from New York.
Casting around.
We need actors. Jonathan is obviously tied in, together with Suede, and Aunt Sarah (the dummies). That leaves four others to find.
I put up notices on Talent Circle, and Shooting People. I look through the files of people who have contacted the Farnham Film Company relatively recently.
Of the recent contacts, Fiz Marcus, and Catherine Bellamy look promising, so I call them and suggest they might work for nothing for a couple of days. Not only do they agree, but when they come to read for the parts, they’re excellent. So that’s two problems solved.
The men are filtered by age, appearance, and their ability to come to a casting sessions at the Spotlight Rooms in London. Although I have some other possibilities in reserve, I’m very happy to cast Julian and Rufus.
I email everyone else who responded, to tell them that we’ve been able to find our cast, and I promise to keep their details. I make the effort because everyone hates being ignored, and there’s a lot of it about in this business. Also, I really will keep their details. I’ve often gone back to older files when casting something new.
Crewing It
The Cruet Company, a stupendously wonderful crew and equipment company known to Ingrid, agrees to let us have a 2 for 1 deal on a DSR570 (or similar – in fact we end up with an Ikegami DV7) DVCAM kit. These are true 16:9 broadcast cameras, that happen to have a DVCAM recorder section. I’m a big fan, having used them on several broadcast productions filmed around the world – and, being DVCAM, it means that we can post-produce on the desktop.
Joe Harrison, with whom I’ve worked often, agrees to be our Sound Recordist. So we’re basically there with the key crew. Gradually we find the other people we need, and we seem ready to go.
But we’re not quite ready. There are still props to find and arrangements to make. It’s encouraging to find so many people eager to help on a film – but it turns out that it’s quite hard to get help in the boring, tedious, and detailed setting up period, which is when it’s most needed. Set everything up properly, and the filming goes smoothly. It takes more effort to find props people than to find the props.
David Mead and Andy Holt appear like the cavalry over the horizon, and find everything we still need in a single day.
The shoot was set for January 15th and 16th, 2005, with a rehearsal day on 14th.
read about the Shoot
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