Screen South & UKFC Digital Shorts - Class of 2007

Wednesday night was the Cast and Crew Screening for the 2006/2007 Screen South Digital Shorts. It wasn’t much of a slog for me to get there, as it was held at the Cineworld on Brighton Marina. I used to be a regular patron of this cinema in my popcorn-munching youth, and it was fantastic to see a whole screen occupied, for one night only, with a programme of shorts including one what I wrote.

Alas there was no ‘Lent’ legend and poster alongside those for ‘Spiderman 3’ and ‘Mr. Bean’s Holiday’, but I did get a schedule with my name on it as writer (woo-hoo!) as well as Lent’s synopsis and enigmatic promo pic (a plate of pancakes). Queuing to go in, I bumped into people I’d met at the first interview session last Summer, and found out they’d been selected too. Which was nice.

Thirteen shorts made up the 90-minute programme. Our film was the second one shown, and so my expectation and nerves didn’t have to last long. Seeing the work on the big screen added so much (I know that should’ve been obvious, but it still came as a wonderful revelation). After that, the time whizzed by, so good were all the shorts shown. I was proud that our film was one of such a high-quality crop. Some good ten-minute dramas, two beautiful short documentaries, and some great one-minute comedies in there. I’m far too close to the production to have an unbiased opinion of ‘Lent’; I hope people like it. It got many favourable comments afterwards, so here’s hopin’.

The party that followed the screening was more of a celebration than a networking opportunity, but I tried my best. [I was – and still am - looking for a producer that might want to work on a comedy short this year. My e-mail is in my profile, if you’re interested]. Everyone is now bracing themselves for the long tail of marketing and distribution – there’s at least another two years of work (!) involved in getting the work out there.

And it’s been nearly a year since I embarked on this journey. As there’s been some interest, I’m going to post in the next few days about my experiences on the scheme. Watch this space…

Coming soon (fingers crossed) to a festival near you: UK Film Council and Screen South present ‘Lent’ by Stuart Perry; directed by James Twyford, produced by Ricci-Lee Berry. “Every Shrove Tuesday, Diane makes pancakes for her husband. And every year, she tries to give up something bad for her. This year she’s using a new recipe. And she’s going to have to give up something big for Lent.”