It’s hard to believe that it’s less than a year since I sat down to write the script for Approval Needed. When I submitted it to the IMDb Script to Screen awards in May 2017, I had no idea that it would lead to not only making the film but also starting my own production company – Precious Hack Productions – to make that possible.
Thanks to some incredibly generous Kickstarter Supporters and additional funding through the project being commissioned by Talkies Community Cinema, in association with Short Sighted Cinema, it was possible to work to a very high spec and create a film that is very much what I imagined it could be.
The shoot was scheduled around Arinder Sadhra’s schedule as she is currently on tour with the National Theatre’s Warhorse production. That afforded us just three days to film in January. Strangely I had thought this shoot would be easier to organise than the one for my first film Rachel, which involved filming in tiny funeral chapel and taking cast, crew and a VW campervan on a road trip to Holkham in North Norfolk.
Oh how wrong I was!
From negotiating with Enfield council about the closure of a disabled parking bay in order to film scene about how one shouldn’t park illegally in a disabled parking bay, through filming in a tiny studio apartment with the crew trying to stay out of sight behind the shower-room door, to finding a supermarket willing to allow us to film at all – it was a wonderful and complex journey that taught me so much, and sometimes had me being treated as if we were about to make Fast and Furious 10, rather than the sweet, 11 minute comedy drama that is Approval Needed.
Of all the challenges this shoot presented, the biggest was that 50% of the film and 90% of the dialogue needed to be shot in the supermarket location, and with only five hours to do it after the shop closed on Sunday. That we did it successfully is testament to Arinder’s bravery as an actress, the extraordinary skill of the crew – in particular cinematographer Gabi Norland,and the kindness of our hosts at Yasar Halim, who allowed us carry on beyond the agreed hours.
But of course the story doesn’t end with the shoot. From there the footage went to Trace Taylor for the edit, to Nicki Wells for the music, to Lexi Elven for the addition of VFX and thence to The Farm Group where they worked magic through sound colour and further editing.
And now the film is ready to go out into the world and will be having a preview screening alongside Rachel at the HERE Festival in Palmer’s Green North London on 28th April 2018.
Many thanks to all you special people who helped this film from script to screen.
Karen x
