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Following the successful experience of making his first feature The Boy with a Thorn in his Side in 2005, Mark Jeavons has shot his follow-up feature Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit? on 16mm. Mark talks to Film Shed about raising a budget, getting name actors on-board and explains why shooting on film needn't be a daunting experience.
Film Shed: What I've seen of Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit? so far looks great! Tell us a bit more about the film.
Mark Jeavons: ...Blaggit? is a surreal comedy about a wedding videographer who's having a mid life crisis - divorced, alcoholic, short temper etc. The first half an hour of the film is all about Pete causing havoc at a wedding and then at about the 30 minutes mark Pete gets abducted by aliens and the film takes a darker turn. No one believes Pete about his alien abduction - his mates think he's going mad and things spiral out of control from there on. Pete meets his doppleganger at a casino (Pete's a gambling addict too) and his doppelganger offers him a solution to all his problems - the main themes are redemption, second chances, self-discovery. It's kind of a mix of genres - half way between Four Weddings & A Funeral & Donnie Darko. We shot for four weeks last August and we have three weeks of filming left to complete the film. All being well the film will be ready for festivals and international distribution by the end of the year.
Rob Leetham stars as Pete Blaggit FS: What was your budget and how did you raise it?
MJ: The budget was initially £30k and this was raised half by myself and half by our Executive Producer and lead actress Gabrielle Amies. I met Gabrielle at a casting session in London and afterwards we were having trouble with raising the budget and that's when Gabrielle came onboard. It was a real serendipity moment to be honest. I wanted to cast Gabrielle as Tracey (Pete's ex wife) as she was by far the best actress we'd seen for the part, and we we're just incredibly lucky (and grateful) that she wanted to come onboard as Exec Producer. None of this would have been possible without her. The £30k budget isn't the final budget as we still have another three weeks of filming to go and post-production as well.
FS: Did your experience with The Boy with a Thorn in His Side make it easier for you to find funding?
MJ: Not at all. I wish that was the case but raising finance for feature films (especially no-budget features) is a nightmare, regardless of whether you've made a feature before or not. Only if you're an established filmmaker or have the right contacts can make securing finance easier, but for me it was just as problematic as ever.
FS: It looks as though there are a lot of great costumes and elaborate make-up in the film. Was this expensive to achieve? How did you keep costs down?
MJ: Fortunately we had a great costume designer, Geri Spencer, who understood the budgetary constraints. She secured all of the wedding dresses through eBay and a lot of the other costumes she picked up for next to nothing. She was really creative with the costumes and wasn't put off by the limited constraints of the budgets. Because there were so many complicated make-up special effects in the film, I recruited four SFX make-up artists to work on specific make-up effects. Again, they were restricted by the budget but they were really creative as well. Charlie Bluett (who works on Doctor Who in the SFX department) did an amazing job with his effects and takes the film to another level really.
FS: After shooting your first feature on DV, how did it feel to be shooting on 16mm?
MJ: Shooting on film is a much more disciplined and a slower process than shooting on DV, which is fairly straightforward - pop in a tape and you just shoot non stop. With the cost of each roll of film, you're restricted in your shooting ratio and everyone from the actors to the focus puller have to hit their marks with each take so the stakes are higher really. It's a great feeling though to actually shoot on film. I can honestly call myself a filmmaker now!
Ex-Coronation Street actor Adam Rickitt features in the main supporting role FS: How did you go about approaching well known actors such as Adam Rickitt? How did they respond to you?
MJ: I contacted a lot of well known actors through their agents. There's the whole process of contacting the agent and sending the script through and then waiting for the response which can drag on and on, and sometimes the agent will read the script, sometimes the actors themselves. Adam was different though. I contacted him directly through his website and in a matter of days he'd read the script and wanted to be a part of the project, which was great news.
FS: What did you learn from making Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit? that you hadn’t learned from your previous experience of filmmaking?
MJ: Good question! I learnt a hell of a lot about filmmaking that I hadn't learnt before, mostly how important the pre-production phase is and how you have to plan ahead and make sure you get exactly what you want for every shot. That comes down to having a DOP you can work with and who won't dictate or compromise your vision. I guess the biggest lesson I learnt is that you can't do everything yourself, it just isn't possible. I was producing the film myself and, looking back, I took on too much work. You need a proper team of producers and production managers who'll do all the running around for you. You have to be organized and treat making a film like a military operation. You can't overlook any little detail otherwise everything could go wrong.
FS: What was the funniest thing that happened during production?
MJ: There were a lot of funny scenes with our lead actor, Rob Leetham, that had the crew in stitches on several occasions. That's what makes the whole process worthwhile - seeing your creation brought to life by quality actors.
FS: Have you found a distributor for the film? How difficult have you found getting films distributed, past and present?
MJ: We're in the process of talking to sales agents/distributors and that's an ongoing thing. We have to have a completed film before we can even think of securing a distribution deal. Distribution is a real grey area for a lot of filmmakers, and it can be difficult to get your project to the right sales agent/distributor who is looking for a project similar to yours. It's a tough market out there, but I believe that if you have a good film then it will find it's audience eventually. It just takes time. Certainly our chances of securing distribution are a lot greater than what they were for The Boy With a Thorn in His Side which was shot on DV and had a no-name cast.
FS: What’s next for you? Do you have another project in the pipeline?
MJ: I'm concentrating on getting ...Blaggit? in the can and sold and that's where my immediate focus lies. But my next project is called The Illuminati which is actually a trilogy of films that centres around secret societies, conspiracy theories etc. It's a big project, so I plan on shooting a teaser trailer before the end of the year and taking that to LA next year, as the project wouldn't work if shot in the UK.
FS: What advice would you give to filmmakers who want to shoot on 16mm?
MJ: I'd say get a good crew: a good DOP who won't dictate every shot and who you can trust; a good 1st AD who'll move the shoot along every day; and a good team of producers to take care of all the logistical work. And just focus on the story you're trying to tell. Shooting on film is a tough thing to do but it shouldn't be daunting to anyone. Just learn from your mistakes and take what you learn onto the next project.
For more information on Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit? check out Mark's website at www.sepiafilms.co.uk.
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Really looking forward to seeing the finished film when it's released!