Life As An Indie Film-Maker

So I thought after unleashing our horror feature film CREDO in the UK then life would get a bit less hectic. Hmmm. I was wrong.

Suddenly, things that were set in motion months and even years ago are all starting to happen right now, all at the same time, then I’m also initiating new projects…

Back to Credo. It’s selling ok and having it’s own little life. In fact, I was really excited to find it stocked in my local HMV! It’s had a good run of publicity -  on GMTV, This Morning, The Mirror, Mail on Sunday etc and had lots of net coverage. As we’re also selling from our own website – www.altofilms.com – we’ve having to fulfil orders on a daily basis (that’s me stuffing the envelopes!) so numerous trips to my local post office.

Meanwhile, I’m about to launch a factual special interest DVD series (details to be announced soon) and in fact, a duplicating company is replicating 1000’s of DVD units as I write this. So lots of technical conversations about artwork and DVD authoring spec’s plus lots of business discussions with the fulfilment company (we’re having another company fulfil the orders on this DVD series as there’s only so much envelope-stuffing a girl can do!)

Meanwhile, our film workshops seem to be gaining momentum and proving to be much more successful than we first thought – with people messaging me daily asking for details about the next workshops and what we’re planning on running next… (The next workshop is on June 20/21 – two days of practical workshops on directing).

Meanwhile, we’re also setting up our next feature film to shoot later this year.

Meanwhile, so then I thought, I know, I have a few seconds spare each day, so why don’t I try and set up 10 short films, each 10 minutes long to be shot over 10 days. And you know what – other people are starting to switch onto this idea and actually it might just work….

Meanwhile, there’s my blog to write and I haven’t even mentioned my ongoing mission to contact the ghost in my kitchen!

Is it just me or is every UK indie film-maker this busy?

Our Brighton Film Workshop!

Credo Movie Now On Sale!

Our horror film CREDO is now on sale on DVD in the UK in shops and on-line!

The last couple of weeks have been really exciting as there’s been  quite a bit of publicity in the press and on TV: a clip from CREDO was shown on GMTV and This Morning and we had press coverage in the Mail on Sunday, the Mirror, the Telegraph, the Metro and quite a few regional newspapers plus coverage on MSN, Yahoo, Virgin Media and also I think Credo is also going to be in a couple of film magazines. (Let me know if I’ve missed any!)

This is amazing considering CREDO is a small indie film with not much in the way of a marketing budget and with no advertising!

What is really exciting is that it’s finding an audience – people are writing their own online reviews and comments on CREDO and suddenly it’s got it’s own life, which makes me feel immensely proud!

Meanwhile, as we’re also selling the DVD from our own website, we’ve also become a little DVD fulfilment factory – processing online orders, printing address labels, stuffing envelopes, weighing parcels on our kitchen scales combined with numerous trips to the local post office.

I always seem to be served by the same lady at the post office counter and every time, she  tries to flog me the full range of Post Office phone cards, travel insurance, foreign currency exchange etc etc and each time I smile and politely say “No thank you” but inside I am screaming “You’ve asked me three times today already thanks!”

We’re also about to launch another DVD series in a couple of weeks (a factual series with nothing to do with horror!) – so things are about to get a whole lot busier…

CREDO on GMTV when Boyzone took over!

Today a clip from our horror film CREDO was shown on GMTV!

It’s great publicity for us ahead of its DVD release on May 25th – (pre-order it now from www.credothemovie.com!)

It might not sound like massive news but to me it’s really exciting.

As a small UK indie feature film with a very limited marketing budget, CREDO is competing with the Hollywood big boys and so any mention on TV is a huge deal as it really helps raise awareness of the film’s existence!

The boys from Boyzone took over GMTV this morning and each of the band members had to present part of the show. Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham were reviewing Movies – they mentioned three movies; Night At The Museum 2, Angels & Demons and of course, CREDO.

They showed a clip featuring Stephen Gately with Colin Salmon and it looked and sounded great.

Mikey talked about the film’s storyline and then Keith complimented Stephen on his performance.

It was all over in about 90 seconds – but that’s a very valuable 90 seconds to us!  Thanks GMTV and thank you Boyzone!

Credo with Stephen Gately

Pushing the button for Credo PR

The button is soon to be pushed for promoting Credo’s UK release on DVD on 25th May.

Lots of media PR is planned over the next few weeks to raise awareness of the film including some featuring Stephen Gately. All this so that people hopefully rush out and buy the DVD (or probably more likely the case nowadays, to saunter off and order online).

But none of it really involves me. Credo now has its own life, it’s own destiny. Credo’s fate now lies in the hands of the media, internet and press coverage. And hopefully, it will soon have it’s own fans!

It’s almost three years since we first came up with the idea to make Credo as a low-budget indie UK feature and it’s been a long and sometimes difficult process but it’s been a fantastic journey.

I thought at the time the hardest part of making the film was the shoot, but actually that was only just the beginning! As I’m not just the director, I’m also one of the producers, the hardest part was securing international and UK distribution. It’s been a steep learning curve and I’ve learnt many lessons.

Actually I’m really pleased and proud of the result, that amongst other territories we’ve sold, we’ve had a Lionsgate release in the US (under the name The Devil’s Curse) and also that the film is being released by Guerilla Films in the UK on May 25th.

I think if you’re a producer as well as the director of your first low-budget feature film, you’ll only know what that really means when you are half-way through doing your own spotting script as part of a very long list of deliverables as you have no money to pay anyone else to do it.

It will be late at night and you’ll be up against a tight deadline. You’ll be going through the film frame by frame and slowly going a little bit doolally, writing down every shot, every line of dialogue, every visual effect, every lighting cue, every sound & music cue and that’s when you really know what indie film-making is all about.

But then again. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

(Be interested if any other director /producer had there own spotting script moment on their own film??)

Anyhow. Hopefully you’ll soon see the results of the button being pushed for Credo. Let me know if / when / where you see Credo publicised!

Pre-order Credo now!

Credo UK Premiere Last Night!

So last night was the UK premiere of CREDO and a world premiere of this extended edition never-seen-before cut including the special 11 minute prologue starring Stephen Gately – all ready for its UK DVD release on May 25th.

The screening was part of the London Independent Film Festival and it was a sell out, so the Roxy cinema was packed full of cast, crew, friends, family and hopefully horror movie fans!

Even though I’m really proud of CREDO and especially proud of what myself, Alex, the cast and crew and everyone else who worked on the film, of what we all achieved, this is only the second time I’ve watched the film in front of an audience.

I found it really nerve-wracking and ended up spending most of my time watching the audience watching the film. I was acutely aware of every single moment when the audience relaxed, when they were hiding behind their hands and every moment they jumped. All I kept thinking was that ok, in the next scene, will they jump at xxx? So not a laid-back experience but still, I enjoyed being a voyeur watching the audience!

Luckily we had an amazing response to the film and according to the audience, everyone seemed to have really liked the film and better still, CREDO delivered on the scares. (In fact my friend Emma said the film had scared her so much she was too afraid to go down to the loos in the basement after the film had ended. Not sure what she did instead…)

Then I did a Q&A after the screening and I was expecting some really tough Jeremy Paxman style interrogations but actually I really enjoyed the Q&A. I answered questions on everything from what the budget was, what was the hardest scene to shoot, what would I do differently if I had the chance to shoot the film again and what was I going to do next (hit the bar for a glass of wine thanks!)

So a really good night and many thanks to everyone who came along to support the film.

Credo DVD Pre-Order Now!

Credo Extended Edition With Stephen Gately

So our horror movie CREDO is being released in the UK by Guerilla Films on DVD on May 25th. Running time is 93 mins. Cert 15.

This will be the extended edition including the very special 11 minute prologue featuring Stephen Gately in his fantastic feature film acting debut.

But by special arrangement with our distributor, what is really exciting is that you can buy it direct from us, the film-makers at www.altofilms.com and you’ll be the first to see it!

Credo DVD

To celebrate its release, if you do buy CREDO from us (and you can pre-order it from the site right now!), then you will also get a set of 4 specially printed CREDO postcards for FREE. These postcards are available nowhere else in the whole world so it’s a bit of a coup.

Credo Postcard Set

On top of that, you can also buy the official CREDO poster – again available nowhere else. And Credo t-shirts are also coming soon.

Credo Poster available now to buy!

And we have also have links to buy our list of our all-time favourite horror movies.

The UK version of the DVD includes a 24 minute behind the scenes CREDO documentary called the “Five Essentials of Horror” which gives you the real insight into what making a low-budget horror is really like.

But there’s also a very special bonus feature. It’s a never seen before interview I did with Stephen Gately where he talks about his supernatural experiences, his belief in demons and his lifelong ambition to die in a horror movie…

So just think, if you do buy CREDO or anything from our site, it’ll most probably be the director herself that looks at your order, puts the DVD / postcards / poster into the envelope or poster tube, sticks on the label and pops along to the local post office to send them off. How is that for personal service from a film-maker!

Call Yourself A Director!

Following on from the success of our Film Directing workshop last Saturday (I call it a success as we had some amazing comments!), I’ve just set up another two more one-day workshops in Brighton.

Sat 9th May – another Film Directing workshop

Sun 10th May – Film Lighting & Camera Techniques workshop

Here are some photos from the first directing workshop.

Film Directing workshop

Film Directing workshop 2

I’m particularly fond of the orange blinds which is part of the reason why we’ve changed venue and are now holding the next workshops in a professional film studio in Central Brighton.

You can just see me in the first photo. That’s my head sticking out of the top of the red-head lamp.You can see Alex in the second photo. That’s his head cut in half by a boom pole.

In the morning, we did some practical directing and acting exercises and then in the afternoon, we shot scenes from three Hollywood films – Pulp Fiction, Pretty Woman and Silence of the Lambs – chosen as they’ve got some great scenes for two actors.

What really surprised me was how good the scenes were as directed by the student directors, which is amazing considering some had never shot anything before in their lives. Each scene had real style. Some focused more on the performance of the actors, others focused on getting innovative angles and shots.

But every single scene was different and each one had a unique vision.

It just proves what I’ve always thought, that anyone can direct, it’s just having the confidence to say “I’m a director”.

Credo UK Release 25th May

So the countdown begins…

CREDO is being released on DVD in the UK on May 25th and you can pre-order it now from the usual suspects like Amazon, Play, Love Film etc. Our UK distributor is Guerilla Films.

Right now, we’re putting together a special DVD with some limited edition merchandising which will be available from the www.credothemovie.com website and again, you can pre-order.

In fact, don’t pre-order it from Amazon – pre-order it direct from us!

More details to follow soon…

Credo

Credo: Horror Film “Contains Strong Violence”

Yesterday I discovered that the British Board of Film Certification (BBFC) has classified Credo a horror film and given it a 15 rating.

BBFC 15 Rating

For me, that’s really exciting news.

I’ve never had a film classified before and it’s a process that every film has to go through before it’s released no matter how big the movie. So our film has been classified by the same people who do massive budget Hollywood blockbusters.

I love that the fact that the panel of BBFC strangers have sat down together in a darkened BBFC cinema and watched Credo from beginning to end including all the DVD Special Features. Then afterwards, they’ve discussed its genre, its content and how graphic the violence is. All without anyone from Credo being there.

Most important, the 15 rating is for us the perfect rating. It means that everyone over 15 is more likely to think, this comes with a “contains strong violence” warning and so this might be a scary horror film, I’ll buy this!

And everyone under the age of 15 will also think, this might be a scary horror film, I’ll buy this (although obviously they’re not supposed to be allowed)!

If it had been rated 12 or 12A, then there’s a danger that people would think it’s too soft and not a horror film.

If it had been rated 18 – then I think the lack of slasher gore might disappoint some people.

So it’s official. Credo is a 15. It’s a horror. And it Contains Strong Violence.

And that’s it, forever more, those tags will stick. All because that’s what some strangers in a viewing theatre thought one wet and windy March morning.

Suits me.

Tickets for Credo UK premiere now available!

Credo is part of the official selection for this year’s London Independent Film Festival and Credo’s very first UK screening is on April 20th at 8.30pm.

Tickets are now available on the London Independent Film Festival website for the Credo premiere screening at 8.30pm on 20th April at the bargain price of £3 each.

Following the screening, there’ s a Q&A with me (lucky you!). Then I’ll be in the bar for the rest of the night chatting and drinking away!

So if you do want to come, go to: www.londonindependent.org

Click on Buy Tickets on the left hand side.

Then scroll down to where it says Credo screening at the bottom of the page and “Add to Cart”.

But there are only 100 tickets available (so no pressure), so if you do want to come, you better buy them soon.

Hope to see you there!