Can a film really take fifteen years
to make?
Well not intentionally (feels like
it though), but REVERSING THE POLARITY was an idea that I had been
wanted to produce for the last couple of years. With the popularity of
old TV shows bigger than ever, I wanted to write a screenplay that examined
why certain TV series gain the term 'Cult' and the fans that won't have
a bad word said about their favourite programme.
But a fictional show was needed to
give the illusion of a series that proberly could have done with a larger
budget and slightly better scripts and so TIMEQUAKE was born from
this brief.
Taking footage from a much earlier
movie shot in 1991/92 as well as material from Helical Scan Productions
back catalogue, I attempted to recall as many of the original cast members
as possible so to create the mythical show that is TIMEQUAKE. |
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| Sarah Lee-Allen plays a TV anorak |
Rupert and Mark pose for publicity |
Ritchie Taylor, George Murphy and
Marq English |
Convention scenes were filmed at
various cons in London through the first half of 2004 as well as utilising
clips from The Sutton Film Festival. On one occasion, Mark Bennett, George
Murphy and myself were ready to shoot a cut-away shot of the two Draven's
signing autographs behind a table. Robert Patric (T:2, X-Files) popped
off for a coffee and we quickly nicked his table for a quick bit of guerilla
filmmaking (and it was quick, believe me!)
George Murphy's convention footage
was the real deal when he attended one in Perth, Austrailia some years
back and he had all this fantastic analogue material we could use which
helped immensely.
I thought it important to have some
fan injection for the movie and hired some people (including the lovely
Sarah Lee-Allen) to become anoraks for the day...('anorak' means 'geek'
for our U.S. friends!)
Once filming was complete in May
2004, I began to assemble and produce a workable off-line edit with the
wealth of material at my disposle. Ritchie Taylor provided the audio mix
and the CGI title sequence.
A special mention has to go to Rupert
Booth and all at Helical Scan Productions for being invaluble with the
footage they gave us to bring the whole film to life...and on a trivia
note, the Abigail Fleming character is indeed played by the same person
who was about Six years old in one scene and Nineteen in the next...I love
it when a plan comes together. |