So The Dark Recess has had an excellent start to its festival run. Along the way there have been four awards so far and about 8 selections. Considering we shot this for no money, I couldn’t ask for a better festival run, and we’re still running with potential of a red carpet event in January 2020.

Meanwhile, there are now 2 more features in Post-Production to add to Vikings vs Scarecrow. In feb, the boys and girls of Proportion Productions shot Reign Of Chaos, a Resident Evil/Buffy type action adventure. Then in April, the boys and girls at Champdog films shot Cy:Wife a Sci-Fi horror that blends Her and Black Mirror. I’m looking forward to seeing both very much.

As of writing I’ve just finished writing Jurassic Island a Dinosaur film with nods to Journey To The Centre of the Earth. Currently also writing a short I’ve been hired to do, called The Bar (working title).  A twisty turny, Lock Stock-esque little thriller. Then I move onto a string of features. First a Pirate feature. Then an exciting feature mixing elements of Suspiria, Charmed and The Craft which will feature a couple of very exciting actresses with a large following. One of whom I remember vividly in the long distant days of 1am viewings of titillation on a then new Channel 5 in The Red Shoe Diaries, in the one episode people remember more than any others from that (oddly artistic, for a booby show) series as being the David Duchovny episode (which aired around the same time he was breaking out in The X Files.

Finally after that it’ll be a WW2 action film with odes to Inglorious Bastards and Basterds. From then on the rest of the year will undoubtedly bring more pitching, writing and hopefully features, as well as a return to producing alongside the amazing Leila Bartell as we develop firstly, the short film As The World Falls Down before moving onto our passion feature Feral and potentially developing several more features beyond.

So here, ladies and gents, please find the trailer for my upcoming zero budget short, The Dark Recess. I’m really proud of what we achieved with this for no money. The film is currently beginning it’s Festival run before a release mid-late 2019.

The Dark Recess Official Trailer.

Katie McKenna in ‘The Dark Recess.’

So Winter Hill is in the festival phase. It’s a time where you leave a film and wait patiently to hear back about selections. So far we’ve had a pleasing amount of selections for the film and on a personal level I’ve now won two awards, which is greatly satisfying. Again, I can only give credit to all involved in bringing my PDF delivered script to life so fantastically. Actress Lucy Lowe hits first, and brilliantly well in a key car scene which requires a lot of emotion. According to the director, my good buddy Alex Lawton, she did it right on cue. It’s the central heart of the film (every film has that key moment, like Rocky Balboa’s pre-match confessional to Adrian in Rocky), on which we need to grab the audience, and she nailed it, and as such the film is doing well in the fests, and I get a little more recognition than perhaps I deserve (but will gladly take).

Meanwhile I’ve been overseeing the shoot for a no budget short horror/thriller I wrote (The Dark Recess), that my brother is directing. An ode to all manner of films from Labyrinth, Stalker, Persona, Cries and Whispers, to Videodrome, American Psycho, Taxi Driver and The Machinist. Not having any money to spend on a film provides challenges, but at the same time a certain (maybe indulgent) freedom. I like to think I have a good eye for casting. I’ve cast quite a lot of roles in films over the years and there’s never been anyone in retrospect I was disappointed with. Genuinely. I’ve had a few first timers too, some newbies and they’ve done very well and in Katie McKenna (for The Dark Recess) I’ve found someone who makes me think of Liv Ullman. Given Bergman was one of several influences for Recess, that comparison seems apt. She’s got a gift for introspective acting that not many can pull off (particularly so young). I think this film could be her ‘do you remember this early short you did with a couple of mad bastards?’ when she hits it big.

Film is a funny business. I’ve been working non-stop it seems of late. Projects blend into each other. 2-3 on the go at once. Then you see a window in the distance where you might have space. An itching begins. I long for a break, for some peace, but then I begin dreaming of new projects. Then one day, in the space of an hour I get a new project offered, plus a potentially very exciting one in Poland (that would mark my biggest project so far). Then another day passes and another opening comes up from China (that would be massively big). Then another just today and the short version is, I’m pitching left, right and centre like a pitching demon. If just one of them sticks, I’ll be happy. For now though, I move onto Hell-Girl (undoubtedly to be retitled) and continue enjoying a mix of genre pictures. I had a lot of fun writing about Cyborg wives, demonic scarecrows and Witches so far, so Demonic cults, Hell-Girl vigilantes and Demons will be masses of fun. No rest for the wicked. Never stop pitching.

Tom

A new film is on the horizon! Winter Hill which has been produced and directed by Alex Lawton. We previously produced ‘Out’ together to great success and hopefully a similar fate awaits Winter Hill.

On this occasion I was simply able to hand off a script and let Alex run with it. Producing is a love/hate affair for me. Having co-produced our first film out of necessity, though we had full control, ultimately it takes a lot out of you emotionally (and financially).

Over the years I’ve handed off countless scripts with promise of a finished film to come back from it. Both for nothing or with the promise of money. It rarely comes off, and increasingly you will find this as an aspiring writer in the film world. It’s often with a heavy heart I hand a script over because I rarely feel like I’ll see a finished film come back. I sold one which is still to be released, so effectively is a dead credit so even getting paid doesn’t always do much for your CV.

It’s with that in mind that I now find myself with a mind back on producing and taking control. What was a pleasure with Winter Hill however was the knowledge that handing over my script would result in a finished film. Not only that, I can be rest assured that it will turn out as well as I envisioned when writing it. It’s rare in this business you can trust someone to take your work and realise it, so for the second time (and hopefully not the last), Alex has run with this and to his credit, run solo (whilst I find myself very busy not just with work, family and the rest, but casting a Thai Feature film).

Furthermore for the second time we find ourselves casting Sharon Lawrence as mum in our film. She’d worked previously too on a short with my brother and whilst we’re probably now going to owe her a mothers day card, there was the trust that she would come in ready and prepared and deliver an excellent performance. That proved to be the case again.

Expect a trailer in the coming months and a release next Spring.

Alex Lawton IMDB

Sharon Lawrence IMDB

It’s now been over 7 years writing for Flickering Myth, a blog that has now developed into one the top 3 in the UK. Averaging around a million visitors per month it’s my pleasure to write for them and it pays my coffee bills in doing so.

Check my writing for them here (and browse the rest too!):

https://www.flickeringmyth.com/category/tom-jolliffe/

Tom.

As a huge Withnail fan I am of course excited about the upcoming remastered release of the film. I recently wrote of my appreciate of this cult classic on Flickering Myth. Check it out (and check the film if you haven’t!).

http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2014/10/movie-review-withnail-1987.html

Tom.