Your upcoming movie By the By - in a few words, what's it
about?
A
deadbeat takes his daughter on a road trip despite not having visitation rights.
Will his sex and drug addiction get the better of him or will his
daughter's love show him the way to sobriety? With By the By being about a man suffering
from sex and drug addiction, to what extent can you personally relate to
the topic of addiction as such, and what kind of research did you do on
the subject? I am actually currently an
addict - my addictions are gambling and sex. I have tried a few times to
stop over the 18 months or so but have relapsed each time. I am attempting
to stop again right now. As far as drug addiction goes, I have no
experience but I have watched many interviews with ex addicts, watched
people shoot up and for a period of time I actually worked on a football
(soccer) project with ex-addicts. What can you tell us about the
intended look and feel of your movie? I am naturally
drawn to arthouse, surreal, experimental and naturalistic styles of
filming. I love the cinematography by James Laxton in Moonlight and Robbie
Ryan in American Honey. I look to draw on the cinematography styles of
other films I like such as Blue is the Warmest Colour, Blue
Valentine, The
Tree of Life, Honey Boy, Boogie
Nights, Milk. You're intending
to direct the entire film via Skype - to put it bluntly, why, and how will
that work? Basically, it comes down to finances. It would cost me a lot
of money to go out to the US with five carers. I feel like I managed to
successfully film a movie last year via Skype. Granted the scenes were all
in one room without a cinematographer, boom op etc but I feel like I can
scale up and continue to direct in this style.
What can you tell us about By the By's
tentative cast, and why exactly these people? Currently
attached are 3 amazing female actors: Alexandra Faye Sadeghian is a
wonderful person - extremely talented and really nice and kind, I'd love
to do every film with Ali! Shanna Toft has been extremely supportive as I
have attempted to break into the US film industry. Another person who is
extremely kind and always willing to help me. Nika Ballina - another
lovely person and is very easy to work with she is always willing to go
there. You're
currently running a fundraiser for By the By - so what can you tell
us about your campaign? I am aiming to raise $1,000 and
I'm just trying to get as many donations as possible. It doesn't matter
how big or small but if $100 is donated the person will get an executive
producer credit.
https://igg.me/at/V0e2TXnfIL0/x#/ Once the budget's in place,
what's the schedule - and any idea when and where your movie might be
released yet? I have been
making tentative plans with one of my producers. I'd like a short shoot,
preferably two weeks, and it may be a case of filming over seven weekends
or on holidays like the filmmakers who made Open Water did. Any future projects beyond By the By? Many! I regularly write screenplays and
I have been creating a portfolio so hopefully if I get noticed one day I
can show the various projects I have written and would like to create. What
got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal
training on the subject?
I have been writing screenplays
since school. I studied A-Level Film Studies, and a few years later I went
to the University of Northampton and studied a joint BA honours in Film
and Television Studies and Media Production and Moving Image. After I went
to the University of Birmingham and completed a Masters degree in Creative
Writing. Filmmaking came from writing short scripts and filming with
friends and people from my university so in that sense I am self-taught. Do talk about your filmwork
prior to By the By! Up to this point I
have made several shorts and have a couple of micro budget feature films in
post-production. How would you describe
yourself as a director? I
like to have fun when directing as I enjoy the craft of filmmaking, I'm
not one of these deadly serious, avant-garde directors, I just love
telling stories. The arthouse, the surreal, the experimental and the
naturalistic styles I will always love and will always fall back on. I
like to push the envelope in filmmaking so I'm not afraid to shoot and
include things like unsimulated sex, blood and guts by using real animal
body parts etc. I love to deal with dark and taboo subjects. Filmmakers who inspire you? Darren Aronofsky, Nicolas
Winding Refn, Robert Eggers, David
Lynch, Spike Lee, Gasper Noe, Barry Jenkins, Lars von Trier, Sean Baker,
Richard Linklater. Your
favourite movies? The Shawshank Redemption, Drive,
The Shape of Water,
Forest Gump, The Notebook, The
Babadook, The Witch, Blue Valentine, Blue is the Warmest
Colour, Singin' in the Rain,
Animal Kingdom, Eighth Grade, Lady Macbeth, Ratatouille. ... and of course, films you really
deplore?
|
Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
The links below will take you just there!!!
|
|
|
I respect every one who can make a film
but I don't like films that rely upon jump scares. However, Cats was just
fucking awful. Your/your movie's website, social media,
IndieGoGo, whatever else?
Derry Felton - IMDb
@derry_felton
- Instagram photos and videos
Derry Felton - Facebook
By and By
- Indiegogo Thanks for
the interview!
|