I think I got a bit sick of waiting for my job and finances to settle, so I’ve now set up the following for Action On The Side…
Fortnightly Script Development Workshops (which I’ll be running at the Curzon Soho bar area for the time being)
Cinema SoundEX (running September & October)
Announced the AOTS feature and posted a Call For Scripts
AOTS Short Screenplay Award (FilmFreeway)
Updated Internship page
I’m pretty excited about all this. Check the links out out and tell your friends!
We are proud to announce that HIDING has finished its Film Festival run and is now publicly available to watch.
The film is listed on IMDB, Letterboxd, and The Movie Database
Pearls, previously known as Me Too, is complete and is now entering into film festivals.
We have the film set up on FilmFreeway as the main submission platform. FilmFreeway is definitely the industry leader for festival submissions (having won the war against Withoutabox (RIP)). We are also using ShortFilmDepot and FestHome – and just today I’ve seen FilmMoon as a submission option. Choosing festival submission platforms depends on which festivals you’re submitting to; we also submit directly to the festival on their site if that is what is available.
Our primary goal is to get the film widely viewed by audiences.
Our secondary and tertiary goals are to win awards and laurels and to attend festivals that will provide networking and opportunities for our careers (Aude’s as Writer and Director, and mine as Producer).
Our Festival Strategy has four tiers currently. It is vital to have a strategy for your short film. You have to plan your strategy and marketing as early as preproduction. Some things to note with your festival strategy:
To give you an idea…
Pearls is a 13-minute coming-of-age drama. It is recent and relevant because it is a #MeToo story about the sexualisation of young women and girls. It tells the story in a new way, by looking at how teen girls over-sexualise themselves as a response to being over-sexualised by others – including their families and other girls.
We believe the audience will feel anger for and empathy towards the characters. Our key audiences are women (20s,30s,40s), with feminist ideologies; teachers and people who work with teen girls (to raise awareness); parents of girls. It is a women’s story for women.
The film has excellent performances from its leads. It has been written and directed by a non-binary French-African writer/director and a female Producer.
Our festival strategy includes short film festivals; women and female-centric festivals; festivals in locations we want to attend and that have support for selected filmmakers. Ideally the film will gain recognition for its performances, writing, and direction.
We want the audience to log and review the film (which is why I made sure it’s on Letterboxd). In the long-term, we will be releasing the film online. Personally I would love for the film to screen on a channellike Omeleto.
We want them to see hyper-sexualisation in a new light and feel more comfortable discussing it with teens and young women. We also want to lead conversations on support for young women and girls, and use our social media to do that.
Think about your distribution and marketing strategy for your films. How can you start planning for this during preproduction?
Tickets are now on sale for this year’s Ealing Film Festival
The Festival is running 24-27 November, with screenings at The Ealing Project (the newest cinema in Ealing)
We also have a call out for volunteers – sign up now if you want to help out, at bit.ly/eff22volunteer
Me Too, the short film I am Producing with Aude Konan, is shooting Sat 23 & Sun 24 July in East London.
We are on the hunt for crew for our shoot. We are looking for…
1st AD
1st AC
Sound Recordist
HMUA
Production Assistant
Editor
Sound Editor
Colourist
Me Too
A schoolgirl deals with complex emotions after an older man sexually harasses her and her friends. This coming-of-age short film addresses the sexualisation of young women and girls. Written, Directed, Executive Produced by Aude Konan and Produced by Patricia Hetherington. The completed film will be submitted to film festivals and ultimately released online.
This is a low budget film; the rate of pay is ~NMW (incl VAT) for the 2-day shoot.Â
To apply
Email metoo.audekonan@gmail.com by 03 July 2022, indicating which role you are interested in and providing links to website, Mandy, Shooting People or similar.Â
This is an equal opportunities project. We especially welcome applications from lesser represented groups, such as LGBTQ+ and BIPOC.
Please share this post with interested parties.
Me Too, the short film that I am Producing this year with Aude Konan, is now in heavy preproduction.
That means we know when and where we’re shooting, so we can book people and things — meaning we’re greenlit!
Our location is in East London and the shoot dates are the weekend of 23/24 July. We have our micro-budget. The next 5 weeks will be spent prepping the shoot and post.
Both Aude and I work full-time, and my new role at Vice* is taking a lot of time and energy, but we are going to get this film made this year!
Keep an eye out for cast and crew calls, and follow the Me Too social media pages for announcements
*I’m now the Post Production Coordinator for Branded content (UK). I probably forgot to say on is page.
I AD’d and PM’d a short film shoot at the end of January
I was PM (London) for a Finnish mayonnaise commercial. We shot in a beautiful location near Old Street, and I really enjoyed working with the Food Stylist (the plates looked amazing!)
I’m working with two others on a feature film pitch for a large funding round. That will be submitted soon.
The first AOTS short script competition is reaching its end, and I will be announcing the winning script and runners up over the next few days (once this feature pitch is done)
I’m watching shorts that have been submitted to the Ealing Film Festival 2022.
The short I’m producing (Me Too) was going to shoot in April, but now we’re making some changes to the script, sourcing two locations, then will set the shoot date, recast and crew up.
Also I have created a specific Busy Kiwi Productions email address to differentiate between my business and personal projects.
There are a few plates I am juggling — and I have a number of projects in various stages of development
Are you in the Wordle craze?
I love word games, puzzles, crosswords: all things of those ilk.
I have a friend who is also into these games, and we send each other our daily results.
Here are some links to bookmark if you, too, are into such games.
If you like Geography, there are Globle and Worldle.
For your five-letter word challenges, there is the viral Wordle; doubled to Dordle; quadrupled to Quordle; and using bins to process out the incorrect word: Absurdle
Use Codeword Solver to help you with the five-letter words.
If you like History, there is Wikitrivia: put moments in history into order.
I also daily do the games on Puzzler (free account needed) and the Quick, Weekend, and Speedy Guardian Crosswords
I suppose if we’re talking games, I also like my card games, especially Patience (Solitaire). Baker’s Game, Spider Solitaire, Hearts, and Mahjong (especially the fish shape), all on 247 Games.
What games do you play?
Action On The Side is now running a short screenplay competition
I’ve set up the competition to help screenwriters to get their films made.
There are two categories: PRODUCED scripts and UNPRODUCED scripts.
The UNPRODUCED scripts are maximum 10 pages and the submitter must include a pitch video. This is based on what we do in the Action On The Side project. It gives the writer practice in pitching their story to Producers, and it helps them to define their story.
The PRODUCED scripts are for writers who have already made their short film or who are in the process of making it. It’s a way for filmmakers to get some production funds or recoup some of the funds spent making their film. If the film is made, they need to submit a link to the film; if it is being made, they need to submit a treatment, look book, or production stills.
The prize money isn’t a huge amount – for now. But it is something that we can give to filmmakers to support them in their filmmaking skills development: which is my goal for Action On The Side.
The best scripts will also get feedback, laurels, a digital certificate, and a discount code to use the feedback services from our sponsors, MyScreenReaders.com
Submission Deadlines
The announcement will be at the AOTS screening, March 2022.
Please share this script competition to any interested parties if you think it looks worthwhile competition for them.
The Ealing Film Festival is NEXT WEEKEND
Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th December 2021
Ealing Green Church
(W5 5QT)
Tickets available at this link
Information on the programme at this link
Even if you can’t attend the event in person, the shorts will be available online for the audience vote.
See you there!
Busy Times 