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Issue 4 - March 2015
WELCOME to my March newsletter. It has been a busy period since my last newsletter with the release of a short film, screenings in Cannes, Manchester and London, a visit to the 65th Berlinale and the formation of a film production company.
Showreel
A Small Dot On The Western Front
This Hurcheon Films presentation of an A D Cooper film is a World War One period drama based on a true story. In 2014 it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and in Manchester for the TiE network. The TiE network is a global entrepreneur group with a specialist group of members dedicated to film and film producer Walli Ullah of EMU Films as President. It was most recently screened in February 2015 at the De Lane Lea screening rooms in the heart of Soho.
For more information please see:
www.dotonthewesternfrontfilm.com
St Catherine
St Catherine Productions, a new film production company, has been formed as a vehicle for creating great roles for women, and script work is already underway for the next short film.
We have commissioned three treatments, two short film scripts, are obtaining the rights for two fascinating books and engaging with exceptional scriptwriters, producers and directors.
A recent trip to the 2015 Berlinale proved a fertile networking ground to achieve these ends. If you would like to know about the Berlinale, have a look at their websitefor the highlights of the 65th Berlinale.
DRAMA WORKSHOPS
The Spring term has begun and Saturday afternoon workshops are underway with the wonderful Michael Birch. These acting workshops are every Saturday from 2pm - 6pm at: Diorama Arts Studios, 201 Drummond Street, London NW1 3FE
Tel: 020 7383 0727
Nearest tubes are: Warren Street or Euston
Square.
Classes are drop-in and cost £10 each. Half term is Saturday 7th March so no class that day.
Anne Beresford - producer
I am an independent film and television producer with over twenty years' experience. I've worked on feature films and shorts for TV, documentary series and also, increasingly, in the area of stage-to-screen adaptations of stage works to be shown in cinema or on television.
At the moment, I am getting ready for the cinema release of MAXINE PEAKE as HAMLET which will be in nearly 300
cinemas across the UK on Monday March 23rd. It's the film version of the Royal Exchange Theatre's acclaimed stage production with BAFTA-nominated actress Maxine Peake in the title role.
It was great to film in Manchester which we did during the last two performances of the play on stage. The Royal Exchange is a theatre in the round so a tricky space to work in, but director Margaret Williams came up with an amazing camera plan - you can see it here and also get a sense of how she used the cameras from watching the trailer
Our approach was to film in front of a live audience with 8 cameras, vision mix in real time - as you would a football match for instance - and then go into the edit suite afterwards to finesse what we have done and to make sure that the sound, colour, edits are all the best they can be. We feel this gives you all the energy and excitement of a live performance with all the added love and care of feature film post-production.
Once the film is completed, it needs to get into the cinemas. We're working with Picturehouse Entertainment on HAMLET who are great partners. We're already sold out in 16 cinemas, so hoping that trend will continue! Picturehouse also distributed our last big opera film Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach in 2013 as part of the Centenary Celebrations for composer Benjamin Britten's birth.
We've just had our press/cast and crew screening of HAMLET which went very well with lots of niceresponses on twitter.
I was glad Jane could be there too! Now we’ll be working to get the word out via social media, as well as pieces in the national press and hopefully with television too.
Every working day is different for me, and very often as a producer you are juggling projects at different stages on the road to production. So I might be working on the very first notion of an idea and trying to shape it with a writer/director, signing off artwork for a film we're just finishing, discussing plans for a DVD release or thinking about what international festivals we should approach with a completed film or TV series.
Good ideas are important for successful projects, of course. But for me, the critical factor (and often the most enjoyable element) of any production is the relationships with other people. Commissioners, funders, directors, producers, technical crew and cast, all of these are collaborators. And it's the magic fusion between all of these people that, in my experience, makes for the best films.
www.twitter.com/AnneBeresfordUK
www.mjwproductions.com
www.hamletthefilm.co.uk
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Tel: +44 (0) 207 404 8794