The Summer Update 2023

[Above: some of the proud A Different Place team at BFI Flare in March.
Photo credit: BFI/Millie Turner]

   Believe it or not, we are now half way through 2023 - which means it's time for me to do my annual Summer Update, looking back at how things have gone for the first six months of the year.

   2023 started incredibly strongly for my previous short films, A Different Place (which I directed) and Good Grief (which I co-produced). Good Grief had its world premiere at none other than Slamdance, officially the biggest festival any of my films has ever screened at, which felt like a real Cinderella moment. Then, as the film entered the second year of its festival run, and we were able to target smaller festivals, the screenings came in thick and fast, and Good Grief was shown to audiences across the world. One highlight along the way was a screening at Beeston Film Festival, always one of my favourite festivals to attend (and now BIFA-qualifying!), where Good Grief's director Rob Sharp did a shout out for my 2014 film Night Owls during the Q&A, citing it as one of the major influences on his filmmaking journey. Cue me welling up in the audience like a proud parent!

   A Different Place, still in the first year of its festival run, screened at two more large and respected festivals - BFI Flare in London in March, and KASHISH Mumbai International Film Festival (the only mainstream LGBTQIA+ festival in India) at the start of this month. 

  A lot of the crew were in attendance for BFI Flare, which was such a special day; London's South Bank is one of my favourite places in the country, but I haven't been since before the pandemic, nor had I ever been luck enough to watch a film at the BFI before, let alone one of my own. It looked stunning on a huge, sold-out screen, and the audience was buzzing with energy. But the best thing was the way that A Different Place's lead actor, Michelle Darkin Price, was flanked by admirers after the screening - even when we left the cinema and went to eat some burritos outside! I wanted to keep that day in my heart forever, and so I did something I never do: I shot footage on my phone and made a social media reel about it!

   We were able to celebrate both A Different Place and Good Grief again this month, as both films had multiple nominations at the 2023 Midlands Movies Awards. During a wonderful night, where we had possibly the giddiest and loudest table, Good Grief took home Best Editing (well done Borja Torres Sánchez!), and then Michelle won Best Actress In A Leading Role for A Different Place - the first award she's ever had, after years of great performances - and the photographers took a photo which sums up everything I love about directing in a single image:

[Photo credit: Poyner & Me Photography. You can also see Michelle and Borja's winner speeches in full on the Midlands Movies YouTube channel]

   As my regular creative collaborator, Tommy Draper, said shortly after the BFI Flare screening, moments like this don't come along very often, so you need to be present for them. I couldn't have put it better myself. Both A Different Place and Good Grief have more screenings coming up next month (keep an eye on the Triskelle Pictures' social pages for details), and we're still waiting to hear from many more festivals - but if everything stopped tomorrow, I don't think I could be more proud of how well both of these films have done, and how they've touched people along the way.

   Even Lepidopterist had one more big-screen outing recently, as it was shown at a London Film Night called 'Exploding Cinema', the same day as the Midlands Movies Awards, so that was an unexpected and lovely thing to happen.

[With DOP/Showrunner Neil Oseman on my last day of the Ren shoot. Photo by Emma Barrott]

   But of course, most of the first half of this year was taken up by my work towards the fantasy web series Ren: The Girl With The Mark, for which I directed the fourth episode of series 2. The whole thing was like an intensely exciting whirlwind, doing auditions and then fight rehearsals in March (straight after BFI Flare - Tommy and I had to dash across London!), followed by a table read and set visit in April, and then the shoot itself in May. 

  I knew how challenging the project was going to be, and so I threw myself into as much prep as possible to help things run smoothly from my end. The filming days were jam-packed, and with a load of 'firsts' for me, such as my first time directing an ensemble cast, first time directing inside a custom-build set, first time directing fight scenes, the list goes on... so there were no easy days, but there were a lot of really fun moments too, particularly when we relocated to the stunning Sandon Hall for my last day of filming, and the fancy road trip put everyone in high spirits.

   Difficult and exhausting as it was, I've been missing the shoot ever since, and I am longing for the next narrative challenge already. If you want to find out more about Ren, I have written a couple of blog posts about my experiences on the project (here, here, and a much older one here), but the best thing to see is the shiny new teaser trailer which dropped this week. I've embedded it below. You can also support the project on Patreon; the team has just set a target of 250 backers, which will enable them to make a new series of Ren every two years, so please give that page some love if you're able to.

   For me, what's really interesting about working on Ren is that, because it's a television series, the work is over for the directors after the initial cut of the film (hence the term 'director's cut') and any necessary pickups. They aren't involved in later stages like the final cut, colour grade, score, sound mix, or VFX. That's very different to the involvement I've had on the shorts I've directed, but it's also one of the reasons I really wanted to work on this project, as it's vital to have that experience for the future jobs I want to get. It does feel a little strange, but my Directors UK Inspire mentor, Justin Molotnikov, has been talking me through the process, describing it as 'decompressing quicker', and his insights have been invaluable.

   For my other creative projects, things have gone a little quiet again - partly because I had to shelf everything in order to dedicate the time I needed to Ren during its pre-production. I didn't receive funding for my 'dream short' from the BFI / Film4 Future Takes scheme (that was always going to be a long shot, and so competitive, so I wasn't expecting to get it); and in spite of ending 2022 on a high in terms of interest for my long-gestating feature film, Night Owls & Early Birds, all my leads for that project have now gone cold too. StudioCanal passed on the script at the start of the year, but not before sending me the best rejection email I've ever received (honestly, I nearly framed it!), filled with praise for the writing and giving me a much-needed confidence boost that the film does have merit and is worth pursuing. It's not just something for me to love alone.

  I'm not going to let the trail go cold forever. Now that Night Owls & Early Birds finally has legs again, I don't want it to lose them. I want to build it little shoes and keep it running forever. There's also been some healthy developments towards Contamination, the animated film (my first animated film!) that I'm co-producing with Jo Lewis at Hipster films, and I've enjoyed meeting with people about that project, including some Zoom calls with companies in Iceland!

[Early concept art for Contamination by director/lead animator Martyn Pick. The film should hopefully go intro pre-production soon]

   But my main focus for now needs to be my business. Whichever way you look at the film industry, it's in dire straights right now; the narrative industry is closing its doors further, with continued writers strikes and streaming services decimating their budgets (the recent news about Netflix's Breakout Scheme was genuinely shocking - I'm one of many filmmakers who applied for that); in terms of branded content, with everyone's bills rising exponentially at the start of 2023, people have had to spend less on everything, including their marketing budgets, which means booking less video projects. Every freelancer I've spoken to is feeling the impact, whereas last year there was a post-pandemic boom for our industry, when all the delayed projects finally went into production.

  I dedicated a week last Autumn to finishing the latest draft of Night Owls & Early Birds, and I spent most of May working solely on Ren; both of these projects were incredibly fulfilling on a creative level, but they were also unpaid passion projects which - for the time being - haven't had a fruitful impact on my career. And I am not in a situation where I can just pursue these types of endeavors without financial repercussions. I don't regret the time I spent on either project, not even for a moment, but I also need to face facts, keep my head down and out of the stars for a bit, and bring in more work which does pay the bills in the short term.

   Because times are financially difficult for everyone right now, I am even more grateful to my regular clients for continuing to commission Triskelle Pictures and enabling us to work on such brilliant, creative projects together. Our clients are all such a joy to collaborate with, and long may it continue! I'm also delighted to say that Triskelle has a new client (technically two in one), who we've admired from afar for a long time: Déda and Derby Festé! The day after I got back from the Ren shoot, myself and Luke J. Collins (who was also the DOP on A Different Place) went along and filmed their first 'Altered Streets' event, a sunny, family-friendly book-themed day, and we're excited to film the next two Altered Streets events as well, starting with The BIG Déda Dance Party this coming Saturday. You can see the first video we made for them below:

   That's an update on everything I've been up to so far this year (apart from re-joining the gym in January - there's still a lot of progress to make there! - and turning 34 in April). Looking ahead, although I do need to bring in a bit more work, I still want to find a balance and enjoy the summer while it's here. I need to try and get my weekends back, as my house still needs more work, and I haven't spent enough time with my family lately - although I did have the opportunity to read some more of The Lord of the Rings to my 10 year old nephew the other day, which felt like a genuinely precious moment.

   It's tricky when I'm a workaholic who actually enjoys being at her desk 7 days a week, but I need to make a positive effort to create a balanced schedule again, and stick to it, rather than waiting for my body to give me warning signs (and it sure has done that again this year, particularly in March and April). That's my next task, as well as overseeing the 'director's cut' of my episode of Ren. I'm excited for both things, as well as the upcoming client work and short film screenings, and I look forward to updating you all on my progress in future blog posts.

Sophie