Student Ellie Utting is co-writing and directing a film. 'Psyched' guest starring Royale Family star Ricky Tomlinson. Here she takes us through the details of getting 'Psyched' off the ground.
'Psyched' is a short dark comedy about a psychic who can genuinely talk to the dead – but the dead don’t want to talk back! After getting very good feedback on my first draft of the script last year, I decided to pitch it as a third-year film project. I had to stand and explain the story to about eighty people to get it green-lit by our department, which was terrifying, but I was determined to bring 'Psyched' to life! It actually ended up getting the second-highest student vote out of the 22 films pitched, which is a fantastic (and unfortunately quite usual) response for a comedy!
This means that we will have access to professional film kit including the Sony® PMW-F3 with an Atmos® Samurai External Recorder, industry standard picture finishing suites fully equipped with Autodesk® Smoke, and professional sound recording studios, as well as a small amount of funding from the University. We also made a pitch for equipment at the end of last year that won us use of a Steadicam for three shooting days!
I’m working with a very talented production team of final year students, Masters students, and industry professionals who have kindly agreed take the time to help. Ricky Tomlinson has also agreed to play the part of the Chair of the Ghosts Union, which we are over the moon about, and just goes to show that it’s always worth asking!
We’ve been using crowdfunding to raise money to hire the locations and specialist equipment that we will need, so have a look at our page if you’d like to watch our pitch video and find out more. We will still be able to accept donations via our website after the IndieGoGo campaign ends. We will be shooting the film in early February, and the film will be ready to be sent to film festivals and donors who have bought preview copies by May.
Ellie Utting
Pictured: Ricky Tomlinson, the film team
