I’ve written four short films since I started writing for the screen again and two of them have been produced. The first to be made was Packaged which was developed via BBC Writer’s Room as part of the It’s my Shout scheme. It was directed by Lemarl Freckleton and aired on BBC Two Wales and the iPlayer.
The second one Little Brown Bird was produced by Daniel J Harris, for Focus Shift Films and Eat Sleep Media. This time I was in the director’s chair and I brought Packaged cinematographer Mark Nutkins (The Split, Bridgerton) along for the ride. I’m very glad I did as his experience was invaluable.
What started as a lockdown script called Shortest Day had been honed into Little Brown Bird and we went into shooting on Version 19. Though by the end of filming, we’d moved up to Version 21, more on that later. Three years after the first draft of an idea from 2019, with the support of the Isle of Man Arts Council, our exceptional cast and crew descended upon Moorhouse farm.
Our cast was led by John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Robin of Sherwood) and Eliza Butterworth (The Last Kingdom, A Town called Malice) who were both an absolute joy to work with. Hearing my words coming from their mouths was surreal at first and their performances were so captivating there were times when I felt like clapping from behind my handheld monitor.
As a writer who stumbled into directing in their late 40s, I feel like I learned as much about writing as I did directing during our intensive three-day shoot. Filming on the Isle of Man meant no in person recee, we had photos of the location and had done a video call with the farmer, the wonderful Paul Costain, and our brilliant art director Richard Fryer had also scoped out the place, but it’s not the same as having been there in person. So we had a few hurdles to climb before we shot a single frame.
Here’s how things went.
Saturday 1st April -
A long drive from Cardiff to Heysham.
Ferry to the Isle of Man.
Checking into our accommodation.
Crew meal in Peel.
Sleepless night!
Biggest lesson: We are all in this together.
Sunday 2nd April -
First time visiting our location.
Recce and initial blocking with Mark, the DoP.
Going over set dressing with Richard.
Recce for exterior shots.
Rewriting on set to allow for the location.
Met with Eliza on set.
Shooting exterior shots.
Another poor night’s sleep.
Biggest lesson: Location specifics always mean script changes.
Monday 3rd April -
Meeting John.
Meeting the rest of the local crew and our lighting team.
Day one of filming.
Blocking, staging, and rehearsals.
Filming our first drama scenes.
Things went very well.
Poor sleep again.
Biggest lesson: Staging and rehearsals will lead to more rewrites. Less is more, keep stripping things back, especially dialogue.
Tuesday 4th April -
Meeting the rest of our cast and Rick, our stunt coordinator.
Blocking, staging, and rehearsals.
The hardest day, the most complex scenes to film, and the most decisions and adaptions needed.
Emotionally and mentally draining but worth it as it all came together.
Another poor night’s sleep.
Biggest lesson: Don’t write such specific beats in action scenes.
Don’t rely on specific visual images for timing, this isn’t comics!
Wednesday 5th April -
Final shoot day.
Less pages, so much more relaxed.
Meal in Douglas, thanks to John Rhys-Davies
Emotional speeches and farewells.
Slept like a baby!
Biggest lesson: When you surround yourself with talented, dedicated people anything is possible.
Thursday 6th April -
Amazing morning exploring the local surroundings in a trailer behind a quad bike
Ferry to Liverpool.
Long drive back to Cardiff.
Biggest lesson: Live for the moment.
Just over a week later, I’m so proud of what we achieved over just a few short days. Going into the edit soon and I’ll update about that when I can. You can find out more on IMDB.
