While listening to Josie Long’s Radio 4 Podcast ShortCuts in 2014, Nottingham filmmaker Simon Dymond (Happy New Year) heard a story that instantly grabbed his attention. Listening to poet Ross Sutherland recount his inadvertent involvement in a death cult while at university (which involved teenagers forcing themselves into tumble dryers for fun) he knew it was something he had to make into a film. “It really captivated me, so I did a little investigating and reached out to Ross,” said Dymond. “In a perfect alignment of the planets, it turned out that Ross was also a screenwriter and was keen to find a new audience for his story."
Two years on, the idea is becoming a reality. After working with Sutherland on the story, Wash Club has received the financial backing of iShorts, a funding support programme from Creative England open to filmmakers outside of London whose work has not previously received financial backing from within the film industry. “I was certain its unique hook and regional setting would be a perfect match for the scheme. Sure enough, our bet paid off.” Wash Club was shortlisted from over 300 applicants and Simon, Ross and Producer Lauren Parker were invited to pitch the project. Shortly after, they were awarded a £5,000 production grant as well as support, training and development through the iShorts scheme.
As well as the financial backing, the project has received support in the form of masterclasses with Pavel Jech (This Is Not An American Movie) on story, Dan Elliott (Jade) on Directing and Producing tips from Samm Haillay (The Uprising). “Whilst the money has certainly been a great boost to the production, all of the development and support that iShorts have offered has proven invaluable. It’s also a great place to meet other filmmakers and hear about the variety of talent and stories that are in development at the moment. The next step includes us being assigned an industry mentor which we’re all really excited about.”
For the next stage of funding, Wash Club has launched a crowdfunding campaign with the aim of raising another £5,000. “While the initial funding from Creative England is a great start, it’s going to be tough to produce the film that we want to make within that budget. We need to ensure the highest production values from day one right through to post-production and make the film that this story deserves. In return for people’s generosity, we're offering a variety of launderette-themed rewards, starting at just £5.”
Producer Lauren Parker (Lab Rats) said, “Wash Club is going to be a real regional project, even though the true story is actually based in Norwich we’ll be filming the entire project in Nottingham with a Midlands based cast and crew. We’ve already got a local team at the forefront with myself, Simon and our DoP Karl Poyzer (Butterfly), and we’ll be crewing locally as we go. We’ve all been invested in the project from the minute we heard the podcast and it’s been an amazing journey to go from that first hearing of the story, through to actually meeting Ross and then receiving backing from Creative England. We’ve actually just received a crowdfunding pledge from someone that was an original Wash Club member in 1999, so it’s inspiring to know those that were really involved feel we’re doing the story justice.”
Backers of the project can get themselves perks ranging from PDF Certification of Membership, ‘Special Thanks’ in the film’s credits, props from the film, personalised poems from writer Ross Sutherland and even the opportunity to appear in the film itself.
Wash Club's Crowdfunder campaign is live until Tuesday 10 May 2016.
Crowdfunder Page
Wash Club Facebook
Wash Club Twitter
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