'Beached' is a comedy short that marks my writing and directorial debut. We are currently in the early stages of production and filming is scheduled to begin in mid to late June 2014.
The film opens with a small film crew on Brighton seafront, who are preparing for the first take of the day on semi-popular UK travel TV show, about historical sites and landmarks. Despite some initial teething problems, all goes well to begin with - until a particular location starts to trigger some unhappy memories of a lost love in the mind of the presenter, Michael, and he soon loses his cool. Despite the valiant efforts of the Director to keep everything on track, things quickly descend into anarchy as Michael decides (with encouragement from someone with a hidden agenda) to abandon the shoot and instead try to win back his lost love, and the film crew decides to document this instead. But Michael is not a nice guy, and there is a reckoning coming...
Characters - currently casting.
MICHAEL is the suave, clean-cut presenter of the Travel TV show. He is vain, arrogant and self-centred, with a distorted sense of reality. This is a challenging role, as some scenes require you to be able to talk to the camera in a convincing and authentic TV presenter style, and the nature of the filming will require long, complicated scenes being shot in their entirety with no cuts. Although Michael is a serious role, good comedy timing is essential, as is good, proven professional experience.
GAVIN is the sound operator for the film crew. He is laid-back, sarcastic, quiet and cool, and is the antithesis of Jim, the loud and crass camera operator, with whom he has a love/hate relationship. Gavin is the dark horse of the piece - to begin with, he seems quite anonymous, but as things progress, his part in the proceedings becomes more and more significant until the climax when his motivations become clear. You'll need a light touch, quiet charisma and great comedy timing for this role.
CHARLIE is the Director of the show, but is new to the crew and is trying far too hard to be everyone's friend and failing - miserably. He is young, geeky, awkward, socially inept, doesn't like confrontation and just wants to get the job done as quickly as possible, and is horrified when he starts losing control. For this role you will again need to have great comedy timing, and be able to realistically play a socially awkward and uncomfortable character with subtlety and charm.
SARAH is the girl from Michael's past that really rather wishes she hadn't been. Initially bowled-over by his Z-lister good looks and charm, it soon became apparent that there is only one person in Michael's life - Michael. After the ultimate act of betrayal, Sarah would really rather forget that Michael has ever existed, a state of affairs that is about to be interrupted....Sarah is shocked, hurt and angry by the events that are about to transpire, and you will need to be able to convincingly portray these emotions in a heightened comedic way, while still being rooted in realism.
If you are interested in receiving further information on any of these roles or would like to apply, further details are available via StarNow by clicking here. Alternatively, you can drop me a line via the contact page.
PLEASE NOTE - For all roles, great comedic instincts are essential, as well as a very naturalistic and believable conversational style, albeit heightened as the film progresses. This is going to be a challenging film to make as often the narrative and the style will require long, complicated scenes being shot in their entirety, with no cuts, therefore good screen-acting experience is absolutely essential - please do not apply unless you are a professionally trained Actor, with a showreel and professional credits. As as Actor myself, I am loathe to ask for my peers to lend their talent, time and industry for little return, but this is a collaborative project and therefore is expenses only.