|
Film Maker
Career:
1993-96: University College of Wales, Newport;
1st Class Honours Degree in Film. (The first
time I applied to film schools around Britain,
I was rejected from everywhere).
1996: Winner of the DM Davies Award at the Welsh
International Film Festival, including £25,000
towards next film, the largest prize in Europe
for a short film.
1999: Award-winning feature film, 'Human
Traffic'. I’ve also made
a number of other films and dramas for the BBC
and HTV.
Getting
started:
We took 'Human Traffic' to the Toronto Film
Festival
to find it a distributor, as everyone else had
turned us down. I felt completely out of my
depth, competing for distribution with hundreds
of other films and established film-makers,
but it was sold out. I assumed that this was
because no-one could get tickets for the good
films! The following morning, I had a phone
call telling me to get over to a nearby hotel
where Harvey Weinstein was watching the film
at that moment. He loved the picture, and within
the hour a deal was made to buy the film for
US distribution. Two weeks later, they offered
me a 2 year 'First Look' deal, and it’s for
this deal that I’m working on my next script.
Big
break:
'Human Traffic' was my big break, but I wouldn’t
be anywhere without connecting with my tutor
in college, and discovering he wanted to produce
my first feature. Also, the executive producer
finding financial backing from a source outside
the UK, Irish Screen providing completion money
for the film to complete post-production and
Metrodome offering UK distribution after everyone
else had turned us down.
Highlight:
When someone who’s seen 'Human Traffic' tells
me that they saw themselves and their friends
in the film - that connection makes it all worth
it for me.
Low:
Discovering the two-faced nature of the industry.
Tips
from the top:
There’s no one way to do it. If you’re confident
about an idea, don’t let other people put you
off just because they don’t understand or like
it. Keep going and you’ll find someone who will
help. But don’t do it unless you’re prepared
to put everything else to the side.
Worst
job:
I worked in Top Man, One and Only, and British
Home Stores - check out the department store
scene in 'Human Traffic'! I also worked in Cash
and Carry, Snappy Tomato Pizza and Wimpy’s.
Being a Mr Wimpy at kids’ parties was a nightmare.
Then I worked for the Cardiff Odeon as an usher
(wicked!).
|
