Make and break – filmmakers tell their stories

You may not know the name, Eurocreme, but maybe you should. It's the name of the biggest gay porn film studios in Europe and is possibly the start of a new funding mechanism in the never-endingly creative and fascinating story of how dedicated filmmakers WILL get their films made!!

Max Barbar, of Clevermax Productions Ltd. takes up the story. ‘If you’re looking for radical and alternative ways that us directors are getting our films off the ground this is the best yet. My last two short fiction films have been co-produced in association with Eurocreme, the porn studios! I had been working on a documentary with them and then I suggested to the studio that we do a film tie-in, essentially to raise the profile of the models and the studio brands, but at the back of my mind I wanted to make a quality short that would have legs and travel well outside of the adult entertainment world. Given that we already had all the equipment, locations, crew and a sexy cast in place for the R18 version, all I needed to do was be imaginative and write a commercially slanted script around what we had.’ Not content with that success Max is now, ‘currently in post-production with a film using the same kind of financing model.’

Not everyone is in a position to make contacts count and everyone has to start somewhere and there are still more conventional success stories. Making Vigilante made Yorkshire filmmaker, Darren Bolton, an award-winner and has set him on the road to successful filmmaking. ‘The experience of making Vigilante was invaluable to me as a filmmaker, and I'd like to thank Screen Yorkshire not just for funding the project, but also for the development, support and encouragement they gave me throughout the process. Thanks to them, I have had the privilege of seeing my work screened at festivals across the world and have picked up two awards for the film in the process. The challenges involved in making a short film are only truly realised when you have a production on the horizon, and I have learnt so much about successful filmmaking thanks to the opportunities afforded me by Screen Yorkshire.’ Darren’s next short, Scent is currently in post-production and was commissioned under the Digital Short scheme.

Kellie Ann Benz is a Canadian-based award-winning writer/director, whose most recent film Awkward has screened at over 25 international film festivals and for which she was awarded the Writer’s Guild of Canada in April 2009. Her first film was The Second Coming, a comedy about a woman’s one night stand with Jesus. Kellie has also co-written the feature film Finn on the Fly an action comedy for children. Even with this background and range of achievements finding funding is never simple.

‘Out of the three short films I’ve made, only one received funding. For the other two, I never applied. My subject matter usually reaches outside the parameter for the projects they want to support, so I usually don’t try. Awkward was paid for out of my own pocket. Short film making is an expensive hobby…but once you learn what can be done – what terrific things can be done on tiny budgets, I think it sets you up for what can be done on a real budget. I know this for certain, imagination doesn’t cost a thing.’

So, the message is… erm…there might not be a porn studio near you but keep digging and keep trying and the funding might come from places you'd never imagined!!