SweetArts

Bob called me while I was drinking a juice in the Caffe Nero in Hammersmith. I walked out and tried to spot him. He told me to walk towards the tube station. I walked and looked. He was in his car he said. I scanned the area. Lots of cars around Hammersmith. I saw a man with sunglasses in an MG convertible with open roof. Funky car I thought. I scanned further while talking to Bob. I didn’t see him. I had a closer look at the MG. Really nice car. I looked at the man inside it. He was on the phone. A closer look revealed that his lip sync with the man I was talking to was near perfect. Wait a minute …

“Do you happen to sit in a funky MG?” I asked Bob.
“Yes!” he said with a friendly British voice.
“I am on my way to you now!” I said.

A split second I thought – am I actually going to step into a car with a man I don’t really know? Bob seemed reliable, and a car like this with an open roof, I could always climb out. I jumped in. We drove off, the wind trying to blow the worries out of my head.

And that’s when I met Bob.

Here is your regular short film production update. And really, I can’t quite believe all this is happening either.

Camera, Sound and light

I have found most of my crew through meeting Bob. Bob will take care of the light, sound and camera department. He has worked on several feature films, has both directed and DOP’ed. He is in his 50’s, very friendly and easy to talk to and aware of my experience level. Basically he is overly qualified to work on a short film like this but – he loved the script.

It is incredible useful to have someone like Bob on board, not the least because he is going to be my mentor on the directing front as well. Should I fall on my face – he will be there to get me back on my feet.

And last but not least, Bob did not know much about me at all, but we got to talk about actors, and he turned out to be a huge Bill fan. Done deal that. I hired him instantly.

Producer

The super experienced feature film producer, her name is Malika, who I thought I had lost to a feature film, is also still on board. She is the person who is in control of the planning, and she makes sure that things get both done, and done in the right order. It is invaluable to have someone like her helping me. Why she does this you wonder? She really liked the script.

Casting

The great thing about working with experienced people like that is that they have contacts. Which means that my short film now has an experienced casting director attached. Experienced as in that he has worked in the casting department for The Bourne Supremacy. Yes that’s with Matt Damon!
And he does it for a fee that will make you laugh. Why? He liked the script. I will have a meeting with him very soon, and after that he will go and find suitable actors. And how great would it be if he came back with an established name. I am not counting on anything here, but you never know.

Title

Honestly, “And that’s the way the cookie crumbles” is not that funky a title for a film. Especially not when it’s partly about a Jammie Dodger, which, after some research, turns out to be a biscuit and not a cookie. The Brits are quite specific there. So instead of just changing cookie to biscuit, I had a serious thought about the title.

In the end it was my best friend who came up with the genius idea of “SweetArts”.

And there are so many ways this title fits the bill
it’s a great word play on Sweet Hearts (it’s a love story after all)
there is a sweet heart in a Jammie Dodger
A quite sweet painting of a Jammie Dodger plays a major part (Sweet Arts)
The female lead character is an art teacher

Well I could go on. Apart from that it is short and catchy and cool.

I was not a second in doubt – this is now the official title for this short film.

Outstanding challenges

Locations: bookshop, art school, art studio, supermarket

Crew: runner, location manager, catering

Props: paintings, a mini Eros and many more things

We might write the dog out of the script, because it is just too tedious and time intensive to go find a dog, and to shoot scenes with a dog.
And the supermarket scene will be rewritten so we don’t need to actually shoot inside a supermarket.
It’s important to be pragmatic sometimes and those changes won’t affect the story, so I am fine with it.

When I take a step back and look at all what is happening at the moment I nearly can’t believe it. I did not think that my script would attract these kind of experienced people. And to be honest I am waiting for the moment where someone taps me on the shoulder telling me to wake up and stop dreaming.

Until that happens I guess I better believe it is happening.

12 thoughts to “SweetArts”

  1. Sounds amazing Ingrid, must be a great script :D Looking forward to read more about it…

    How about the score/soundtrack is that for post-production? Or how does that work?

  2. @Dan – the score/soundtrack is post production yes.

    I have a fairly good idea of what I want there. There won’t be music throughout the whole film though.

    Have you ever done a score for a film?

  3. Haven’t written music for movies, Ingrid… Its melancholy rock I normally write.

    What type of music, is it you are looking for?

  4. It all sounds so amazing, Thanks for Bob and all the other nice people who are going to suport you, what a great title!! Can`t wait to see the result ;o-))

  5. Wow, things are really moving along, aren’t they. And I might be wrong here, but I get the impression that everybody quite likes the script, which is pretty fabulous.
    By the way, always assuming it’s not the obvious thing, what exactly does a runner do?

  6. Wow. It’s so great to read all this. Congratulations on writing what has to be a very likeable script indeed :-)

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