Getting Fast Romance up to speed
James McCreadie on co-writing a film about love, life and speed-dating
‘A romantic comedy set in Glasgow’? I was concealing my doubts very well when Scottish actor and director Carter Ferguson pitched the project for my wife, Debbie May, and myself to write. It was the sort of thing that hadn’t been done in a long time. The last hit Scottish romcom was the wonderful Gregory’s Girl, written and directed by Bill Forsyth and released in 1981. Since then, our country has produced some terrific films, real stay-with-you flicks, but, as a recent newspaper article about our project mentioned, most have ‘left the outside world with the lasting impression that all we Scots do for recreation is chib (knife) each other’.
Carter, a massive fan of Forsyth’s films, was clearly out to change that. As the founding member of Ickleflix Ltd, the company that would produce the project, he had three short films to his name and knew his stuff. His energy and enthusiasm captivated us as he explained how he came up with the concept. Two years previously, seven different characters and the theme of speed dating had developed during a workshop he had organised. Afterwards, Carter moulded the idea of the seven meeting at one of these events and the possible aftermath. He handed us a partial storyline telling us to ‘go nuts’. Despite his boundless enthusiasm for the project, I had a niggle. A feature is a very different animal from a short – was this guy for real or just another dreamer wanting to tell his drinking buddies he had a feature film in development?
Then Carter told us he was offering the seven leads (it’s an ensemble piece) to the seven actors from the workshop. He thought, in addition to them all being capable, it was right to stay loyal and give them first refusal. In a business where taking advantage of others is second nature to most, Carter uttering the ‘L-word’ made us look at him in a very different light. Debbie and I were in, backing the underdog, determined to help make this happen.
We completed the biographies in November 2008 and sent them off to Carter, who passed them to the actors. Everything was okayed and we cracked on with the script.
No sooner had we begun than we received a frantic call from the Scottish soap River City, where I’d been working for the previous five years. They had problems with a one-hour episode and had to start from scratch. They asked if we could turn in a ‘no story to shooting script’ in three weeks. We took the job – gotta eat – but it meant that our own writing was three weeks behind.
Episode complete, we returned to the script now provisionally entitled Speed Dating. Debbie and I worked in our usual way – separate rooms, to avoid one of us ending up in the dock charged with murder due to creative differences. We write scenes, swap them, make notes, fight, rewrite, fight again, rewrite again, but the end result is a script we are happy to hand over – which, in this case, we did in February 2009. Initial reactions were positive and, after a few more drafts, Carter contacted Amanda Verlaque, asking her to come on board as the producer. She did so on the strength of the script. This was a boost for me as Amanda, one of my producers on River City, is known for telling it like it is – another rarity in our business. If she liked the script, we had done our job right.
During all this, Amanda, Carter and fellow Ickleflix directors had been looking at ways to raise finance. Pursuing funding from bodies such as Scottish Screen was proving time-consuming, with no obvious prospects of success. We had anticipated this, so going it alone, initially at least, had always been part of the plan. An investment night was held and raised £16,000, which allowed us to get started. Within a few months, during which funds continued to be raised and rewrites were done, principal photography of Ickleflix’s first feature, now entitled Fast Romance, began on July 4, 2009.
It wasn’t the easiest of starts. Nearly everything in our film was donated in good faith by the people and businesses of Glasgow: most of the locations, articulated lorries, seaplanes, police bikes (complete with uniformed riders), basques, indoor ski slopes, even an acting cat. However, four days prior to principal photography, Carter and some of the team went to recce the Day One location, which required a token payment. All was agreed but at the 11th hour, the owner called wanting more money because apparently we ‘appeared too professional to be low budget’. A compliment indeed, but that was the last thing on the director’s mind as he frantically searched for, and found, another location.
Due to limited funds, we couldn’t afford to shoot in a block so filming took place every weekend from July to September, with occasional evenings. This also allowed our cast and skeletal crew, who were happy to be paid minimum wage with deferrals once a distributor is found, to continue their day jobs. Our seven leads, including three of the original workshop actors, threw themselves at the project. Seasoned actors Derek Munn and William Rouane stood alongside screen newcomers Lynne McKelvey, Jo Freer, Michael Howell, Lawrence Crawford and Lesley Hart. Add to that some cameos from Scottish acting royalty such as Vince Friell (Trainspotting, Restless Natives), Rab Buchanan (Gregory’s Girl, That Sinking Feeling), Barbara Rafferty (The Last King of Scotland, Rab C. Nesbitt) and Dave Anderson (Gregory’s Girl, Local Hero) and the mood on the set was a positive one.
Finance was always an issue and raising cash continued behind the scenes. Calls to hundreds of larger businesses, principally with regard to product placement, took ages and was mostly futile. With no big acting names on board, most companies didn’t take us seriously. However, the generosity shown by the Glaswegian people far outweighed our frustrations. Our Facebook page was crammed with messages of support, newspapers and local TV were picking up on us and, although they couldn’t comment on the film, people were pouring praise on the fact that we were getting out there and doing it. The Internet Movie Database application success was also a huge lift.
The highlight of the shoot, for both Debbie and me, was the speed-dating event, where our seven characters meet. It was a tough weekend, which, at its busiest point, had 80 extras on set. Over the two days I, along with other willing volunteers, made sure no one wanted for anything. I’ve never made so much tea and coffee in my life. Thankfully by 10pm on Sunday night, everyone was still smiling, and when the director asked for volunteers to film the exteriors the next evening there was no shortage of takers. This was the day the team truly experienced the spirit of low budget film-making.
By the time filming wrapped in September 2009, Fast Romance had become a big part of so many lives and nearly all expressed they would miss it. For some, however, work continued. Carter, though at the point of exhaustion, and Amanda knew they couldn’t rest just because the movie (pick-ups aside) was in the can. In addition to overseeing the edit and other post-production issues, they continued to pursue each and every investment lead in a bid to secure the last £9,000 of the £50,000 we needed to complete.
Despite the serious lack of personnel and cash, two milestones were achieved at the beginning of December. The first was a teaser trailer, with music specifically written by Glasgow Company Moonglass, being posted on YouTube. The second was the completion of an assembly edit which Debbie and I were invited to view.
What we saw delighted us. There it was. No, it wasn’t a final edit, but when we saw the attention to detail – thanks in particular to our art director, Craig Reid – it was hard to believe that what was on screen wasn’t a result of big bucks but of the sheer determination of a dedicated bunch of people to make a movie as best they could. The underdogs had pulled through.
So what now for Fast Romance? Well, as this is being written, the first pass edit has been completed, the music is being written – with no shortage of bands clamouring to have their songs on the soundtrack – and the poster has just been released. Carter and Amanda attended the European Film Market in Berlin armed with a new trailer, one sheets, stills from the production and, most importantly, the grit and determination that made sure they didn’t go unnoticed. The feedback was fantastic, with agents asking to see the completed film when it’s ready.
It’s been a terrific experience, somewhat crazy at times, exhausting at others, but for Debbie and me it has been, and continues to be, a joy. Work is thin on the ground for all writers at the moment, including us. Debbie is working as a carer and I’m back to being a brickie’s labourer waiting to hear from three trial scripts I’ve penned over the past three months. As we leave for work in the freezing cold, we get a warm feeling inside, thinking of what Fast Romance might achieve – and I thank my lucky stars I never told the director of my doubts the day he pitched the romcom set in Glasgow.
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