This weekend, I was delighted to work once again with director Justin Spray and actor John Locke to complete the Made in Sussex 48-hour film challenge. We’re excited to hear that our film, The Deterrent, was one of the top entries winning the opportunity for a screening at the Eastbourne International Film Festival. Tickets are available here for the showing at Hailsham Cinema at 6pm on 7th May.
I wrote the script for our film, The Deterrent, which Justin expertly set up and shot on Saturday, including taking the opportunity to capture drone footage before the sun went down!
The Deterrent is a micro sci-fi, a suburban Dr. Strangelove that examines the consequences of unlimited destructive power, while appealing to those who have struggled with new gadgets that don’t quite work as well as they should.
John plays the uptight Lionel, who is doing his best to relax at home, when a mysterious appliance starts malfunctioning. Gill Attrill plays tech support agent Carol, who further enrages Lionel during a fraught phone call, with potentially apocalyptic consequences.
Our past experience working together made the process of completing a film in 48 hours more feasible. John previously starred in Justin’s film Tempest. I worked with Justin on The Arena, which starred Greta Scacchi, and The Mirror, while John took the lead in The Last Lighthouse Keeper.
For the challenge, The Deterrent had to be edited to a time frame of five minutes or less. We’re now looking at completing a future edit, for showings elsewhere, which could extend it.
For now, we’re looking forward to seeing our film on the big screen next Thursday. Many thanks for Film Sussex for this refreshing chance, rare in the film world of ‘development hell’, to make and present a film to an audience in such a short space of time!
