My Original Short Films

Natural Causes (2020)

Created as part of my MA at RWCMD with my lovely classmate Madeline Pell (shout out to Maddie for being awesome!), we knew we wanted to make something digital and fun!

As part of the MA's independent project work, we were tasked with creating work from scratch with zero budget. Knowing it would just be the two of us making the film, we brainstormed ways to keep the production as simple and flexible as possible. We eventually landed on a mockumentary - a format that allowed us to work with longer takes, improvise as actors and keep the number of cuts and coverage needed in the edit to a minimum.

The result is a short about a bride and her bridesmaid on their way to a wedding when an emergency sends them somewhere rather unexpected... a gym.

We shot the film over three mornings, with some rehearsal beforehand to make the most of our limited time. I'm incredibly grateful to the gym manager for letting us take over the space for free that week, and to the local filmmaking student who came on board as our camera operator.

Making this was such a joy, and it's still one of the projects I'm proudest of. It was a brilliant reminder that a small budget doesn't have to mean a small idea - sometimes the limitations are what help you find the most creative solution.

Lesson learned: having a writing partner means you have someone else to share the problems with.

En Route (2021)

My first indie short film. I was keen to see if I could turn a short film idea into reality and this was one of my first experiments.

A pandemic project, I came up with the concept of what happens when we are isolated and when we are forced to live on top of one another. Natural Causes finds Keira who had been living with her elderly grandmother in a rural village.

I brought in director Ben Sadd who became my co-producer and from there we got a bunch of other creative friends who were all at a loose end during the pandemic but wanted to utilise the time to be creative. When lockdown eased we shot this short film on ZERO budget over 2 days.

Amazingly, the short went on to win loads of awards and nominations. It's a film I'm immensely proud of and grateful to the team that made this little idea happen.

Lesson learnt - be brave and go for it, you might surprise yourself.

Don't let budget (or lack of) be the blocker

The Bench (2024)

Heavily inspired by the area I living in (Keswick Lake District) it was on a morning walk that this idea came to me.

It took only a couple of drafts to get this screenplay locked down ready for filming, and through a friend was introduced to Zoe - another indie filmmaker who was interested in making something original for their own portfolio. I found a local actor (now good pal) Peter to play opposite me in this short film and he's just wonderful in this!

As with my other shorts - this was done with ZERO budget and shot over two cold mornings - we did experience a couple of issues during the edit with the sound. Not ideal, but with the expertise and wizardry from a sound engineer we were able to clean this up and make a short I am really pleased with.

I submitted my little screenplay to the Slick Films competition and was shortlisted as a finalist which was an incredible achievement.

Lesson learnt - lead with your heart and magic can be found in the simplest of ideas.