Sitting in a dark room on a sunny evening not everyone’s idea of a good time but I was at the Langley Park Centre for the Performing Arts to see a short film about a short film. Vanessa Bailey, Bromley-based actress, has co-written and crowd-funded the trailer for Three Days, a rom-com about trying not to fall in love. And carrot cake.
Three Days was an idea of hers borne out of frustration of a lack of female parts for ‘older’ women ‘that haven’t been taken by Maggy Smith’. She got together with Richard and what had been a loose idea became an actual screenplay. Luckily enough she has worked with some great talent that she drew together to film and produce the script.
Richard Perryman, Vanessa’s (OK, he’s ridiculously good-looking, let’s just get that out of the way now) co-writer and co-star, has no idea why or when he agreed to come on board with the project, but it’s clear from comments made by all the team members that he and Vanessa have a natural chemistry.
Three Days is a story of trying not to fall in love. Sophie (Vanessa) wouldn’t normally chase young men, and is a very intelligent woman embarrassed by her feelings for James (Richard) who is quite obviously younger than her. Likewise, though a bit of a lad, James is surprised by his feelings for an older woman. The circumstances that bring them together are the catalysts for the story, which is still under wraps.
Due to be filmed this summer in Bromley and the surrounding areas, Vanessa is crowd-funding the film through Indie Gogo– the website helps fund independent creative projects that might not get funding through conventional platforms- and is offering everything from named credits to supporting actor roles in return for investment.
The music for the trailers that I have seen so far is fabulous. Wonderlush provided the track Animal Kingdom for the ‘Making Of’ film. Ilya provided the track This Moment Is Love as the soundtrack for our main teaser trailer and they are amazing: reminiscent of bond film, Ella mixed with Joni Mitchell. Smoky, distinctive and I loved it.
FILMBOX, who hosted the evening, is a ‘not-for-profit’ self-funded venture co-run by staff, parent and 6th form volunteers from Langley Park School for Boys, together with ex-students and local residents in the London Borough of Bromley, S E London. The Centre is a fabulous space and it was wonderful to be able to see what their vision of bringing a diverse and eclectic mix of film to the area looks like, and is run by the terribly glamorous Vivienne Clark, whose vision has helped bring to our pocket of London what some say is ‘the future of Independent and Local cinema’.
You can tweet Filmbox and Three Days, and find all the details of the growing Three Days supporters on their Facebook Page. Lavender House– where some of the film is shot- is also on Twitter.
*disclosure: I was given tickets to attend the evening, which was free.
Go on! You know you want to tell me what you think!