“This is just a moment in your life, it isn’t forever.”
A group of young film makers are raising money to make their own movie, Happenstance, which they hope will show young people who might be going through difficult times “you will get though it”.
Despite kit and film being donated by Warner Bros Studio in Leavesden and Kodak, they need to raise £25,000 to create their vision.
The group of four is made up of co-director/producer Grace Reinhold-Gittins from Luton and Hitchin, director Ellie Rawlings from Waltham Abbey, screenwriter Jon Champion from Hemel Hempstead, and director of photography Charles Heales from Suffolk and Cambridge.
They are alumni of the Warner Bros. Creative Talent scheme in Leavesden, which helps the young and skilled who want to get into the film industry but can’t or don’t know how.
“We haven’t started making it,” Grace, 22, tells me. “We’ve done a promo shoot for our Kickstarter campaign so people can see how we want it shot. It is done in 35 millimetre stock, shot in actual film not digital.
“We’re completely crewed up, the script is completed and we’re just finishing off casting but we need £25,000 minimum to make it and we’re on £754. We have quite a way to go!”
The story follows a group of seven youngsters who have just graduated from university and all of the personal troubles they go through. One is struggling to deal with their sexuality, another has depression and anxiety, and the others are struggling with life pressures that come from lecturers, friends and family.
Grace explains: “We thought it’s mad that in all the film you see there are stereotypically beautiful people and you see skinny people, but if you look at your generic group of friends that’s not real. Everyone is different sizes, of different ethnicities and backgrounds. That’s what we wanted to get into our film, to make it feel like a real group of friends.
“The whole point is to say to young people I know you’re going through this, I know it’s horrible right now but you will get through it and there are so many resources out there. I don’t think that is communicated enough, especially with mental health and LGBT issues.”
To donate visit kickstarter.com/projects/1532528290/happenstance
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