Being Sold
Director: Phil Hawkins
Where to begin with this crazy concept? A full-length feature film shot using multiple camera units over just one weekend….No, seriously. Most of the shoot took place in a quiet, unassuming Cheshire street. It involved a dozen or so British comedians a smattering of ‘proper’ actors, a well known newsreader and some extras, including the music composer, displaying a rare versatility.
“You can do the music in 5 days can’t you?” said the director, “ erm… I guess I’ll have to”. 60 minutes of original jazz band music, written, arranged, produced and delivered in less than a week. Not bad.
“REVOLUTIONARY, INNOVATIVE AND VERY CLEVER… A SMART AND WITTY COMEDY DRAMA” | FMV MAGAZINE
The award winning BEING SOLD was my third feature film. The comedy satire followed the story of John Foster (Christopher Dane), a family man who’s made redundant and one drunken night decides to put himself up for sale on an online action website. The film is set in real-time during the last hour of the bid as the media jostles of exclusive position on his front lawn to provide the platform as the world watches John’s life sold to the highest bidder, live.
The film stars a host of well known comedians and television faces such as Lee Boardman, Eva Pope, Lesley Joseph, John Thomson, Justin Moorhouse and even Roy Walker from Catchphrase!
The film was shot in just two days. I bold and underline that because a whole feature film shot in two shooting days is pretty much unprecedented and we’re really proud we pulled it off. It was shot and blocked like live theatre giving the actors room to improvise and also experience the real-time nature of the script/story.
It also became the first feature films to be released exclusively on digital platform Distrify. It’s now on sale/for rental on iTunes (UK).
