"I’m not skilled technically, to be honest. With me it is all instinct. I have an idea of what I want to see and I just work towards that. I got a lot of support from my DoP, who was very good and we will be working together again. I was lucky in that everyone trusted me with what I wanted, which is what I needed. I think if you surround yourself with good people and great actors and we were lucky enough to have a good story and a good script and I think that counts for a lot. You can probably get away with a few mistakes if you have got those qualities."

Paul Andrew Williams
- Director, London To Brighton

Writer/Director Paul Andrew Williams says the aim of LONDON TO BRIGHTON was to create a piece of work that bled reality, that created a world generally ignored in today's society, a world full of characters that we pass by every day. We wanted to tell a story in such a way that it didn't ram a message down an audience's throat, it simply showed them what can and does go on. Although this is essentially a character piece the story itself is a thriller.
Will the girls get caught by Derek?
If so, will he turn them in to Stuart and what will he do with everybody in order satisfy his need for revenge?
Aside from this important element to the film, it is a gritty look at the subject of paedophilia and the consequences for people who allow themselves to be a part of such a terrible world.
He feels that with all the elements of this film, from characters, costume, locations, dialogue and story he has realistically captured a day in the life of some pretty unfortunate and interesting characters. From the beginning of the film we are not sure who to trust, who will survive and who will at least have a chance to go forward.

Congratulations on your film which is doing extremely well and it hasnt even opened yet!Thanks, James, Yes, I know, its bizarre, isnt it. Its more than what we expected, put it that way.I believe you started out on the other side of the camera, as an actor. What made you want to change to directing the action?I wasnt getting any real creative joy out of what I was doing. I was making money but not getting what I wanted out of it and I wanted to be much more creative. If you are an actor today, unless you are top notch and doing all the best work, it is very difficult to have as much creative freedom as you want. As a director, I think you can; and also I loved the idea of working with actors in a collaboration. Thats what made me start.How did you develop your filmmaking before London to Brighton?London to Brightons my first feature film, but really, I just started making short films. I had no experience of doing it, but together with a friend we just made a short film and then another, until we had made about five. Then after the second one they started to get good and got me to the attention of agents and people like that. Then I started to make music videos and really just kept on trying to crack the industry. I was getting very close at times, having films in option and in development and with funding and then not with funding It was reaching the point where I thought well I would just like to do it myself, because I know how to do it and thats with no money.You were on and off the merry-go-round all the time, as it were?Sure. There were always high points, but after being told for the 25th time it is not going to happen now, you do get a bit annoyed.What is the story of London to Brighton?In my mind it is the story of these two characters, a young prostitute and an even younger runaway and the situation that they place themselves in and the journey they go on after that and how their relationship musters them through the situation they are in.They are in great personal danger and on the run though, at the same time.They are on the run, yes James, but I dont want to give too much away.

It is very much a character piece - the characters themselves are very important to the drama, never mind the situations they get into is that the way you conceived it as a character drama?It was always that way. It was never a genre film, or a gangster film, it was always a film about the characters in it and especially these two girls, but obviously all the characters were around and in their lives. It was always a character piece and what comes out of it now only works because the characters are true to what they are doing and where they are.You had some cast in mind already when you wrote it who were they and how did that come about?The two main characters, Derek and Kelly, were actors Johnny Harris and Lorraine Stanley who I had worked with before on a short film, playing the same characters. A different story completely, but they played the same characters and I always wanted to work with them again. They were brilliant, delightful to work with. I tried writing something else with them in mind, which I have finished now, but I came up with the idea very quickly for London to Brighton. That allowed them to expand their roles really. I think they deserved more than they were getting. I like working with good actors so much and this gave us the chance to do that again.Georgia Groome was quite a find for the role of the younger girl on the run - How did you manage to find her?We found her in a Carlton Junior Workshop in Nottingham, where two of the producers were from. We went there and she had never really acted before and she was actually fantastic, you know. She looked great, she read the script, but she wasnt quite so great at that, so that put me off her for a little bit, but when we got back to watching the tapes about a month later and I thought about her again and decided, no, shes actually pretty good, so we cast her.I'm impressed. She comes across very effectively on screen in the runaway role, I have to say.She does, James, I think so too. Shes very good. Shes got all the agents after her now! How long did it take you to write the script?Well actually, I wrote most of it in a weekend.Did you need to develop it much?The only thing we changed was, we switched some scenes around to make it more non-linear with repeats of flashbacks, but the dialogue was more or less linear, as I wrote it.

Its full of pace and energy, what sort of look were you going after for your film?It was always important to try and capture the reality of what was going on and how we would see it if we were there, or we were nearby, or if we were spectating. We wouldnt see it as crisp and clean, as you might get with a really nice 35 mill appearance. It would be rough and out of focus at times and quick, catched glimpses of things. Thats what I wanted for the energy of the scene, for whatever scene we were shooting. And you chose to shoot on film?I would always shoot on film. We chose to shoot it on 16 mill.That was mainly hand-held then, was it?It was all hand-held; apart from one scene. Im not going to give the story away, but its the scene in the rich house.Various budget have been reported, but what was the budget you raised for the film?We actually shot it and cut it and put the music on for 80,000 and then the Film Council eventually came on to finish the legals and get the film to print. So we made it for eighty grand and then got it to a position where we could show it in cinema with help from the Film Council, pretty much completion money.We were in a situation where we could have done it on deferred fees for suppliers, but the Film Council brings a lot of support along with it. In order to get it to the screen it cost 260,000 but we made it for 80,000. That was our money. Once we had shown it to distributors and so on, we were showing them what we had shot for eighty grand.How did you go about raising it?The exec producer Terry Balcombe had put some money into the short films I had made here and there and had been a big supporter for me. I saw him one day and said Look if you can give me sixty grand as it was at that time - then I can make the film. The people who are investing get half the company. And he said OK. And that was it.Hes a bit of a film angel for you then.He is a film angel, indeed.

You needed dark, brooding, underworldy locations and grubby tenement flats, but also, luxury apartments and London and Brighton. Where and how did you find all your locations? We had a location manager who did a great job for us. A lot of the locations are houses of people working on the film, or investors' houses. The producer and the location manager did a great job closing deals wherever we were shooting when we had no times. There were times when we would literally turn up on the day without ever seeing where we were filming and have to make do.Sometimes you can get the best results that way...Of course, yes. It makes you think on your feet.What about the train sequences? They all look easy, but shooting on trains is never usually simple. You must have some train shooting stories...We had 45 minutes of filming time to shoot all the day stuff on the train, with two hours on the train, but the travel time, which we wanted to shoot was 45 minutes. Then the stuff at night, when they are travelling; we shot that when the train was static, with covers over to fake it as night-time.The music in the film is very good, very high energy stuff what is the story behind the music?Laura Rossi is our composer. I have known her since we were very young. We were at school together and she had composed things for some of my short films and I showed her this one and asked if she could do something with this and she said yes, it could be good. It was always important to have a cinematic score, which is what she did and she was fantastic.

Any special techniques that worked well for you in the film?Im not skilled technically, to be honest, James. With me it is all instinct. I have an idea of what I want to see and I just work towards that. I got a lot of support from my DoP, who was very good and we will be working together again. I was lucky in that everyone trusted me with what I wanted, which is what I needed. I think if you surround yourself with good people and great actors and we were lucky enough to have a good story and a good script and I think that counts for a lot. You can probably get away with a few mistakes if you have got those qualities. What advice would you give to a filmmaker about to graduate to their debut feature shoot?Try and keep as much control as you can, because you never know when you might do another film and you wont necessarily have control. Keep around you people whose advice you trust and make sure you treat everybody equally and finally make sure everybody has a good laugh, because the better everyone enjoys what they are doing the more they will work for you on the process. Then the final result could be really good.You must have some pretty good budget-saving ideas... Can you share some of those?Dont pay anybody. You can always ask favours and people are very open to helping you. You can do anything with anything, it all depends on how much you struggle doing it. I think you can make a film for whatever you have got. It is just, how you are going to do it.Is the secret in the approach to people, do you think, and how you come to them for those favours?Exactly James. You must always be honest and tell them the truth that you have got no money, which is what you have got, but as long as you have also got a good script and a good manner, you can get help from a lot of people. And thats what we did. So I would say, dont just piss around for three years or something. Just do what I did and go and make it. Pick a date, which is what we did; and on that date, do it with what you have got. Just go for it.

You chose Vertigo to distribute your film what made them top your distribution list?Various reasons. I always knew they were great at marketing films and they were very, very, proactive about getting the film, they were very passionate about it and that was what clinched it for them, all the passion they could put behind it.The film is a very breathless ride, a relentless pace driving forward, but how well do you see it travelling, say, outside of the UK?Well, it already has European territories that have sold and other territories around the world and there are various people in America who are interested in it, so well see if they like the story.So it sounds as if its getting legs anyway...Well, we just made it because we wanted to make it. That was the only impetus for us. The fact that you now have people all round the world who want to see this film, that is really good for us.Well, you gained the jury prizes at Dinard and at Raindance and the New Director award at Edinburgh. Was all of that a big surprise or did you feel at some point that you really had something a bit special.Obviously, winning an award was a surprise, because we didnt think we would win anything. But as soon as we started hearing buzz about it, we thought, Oh, well we might have something people like but I think it would be very presumptuous of us if we ever thought we might win something. But all the buzz about the film and such positive reviews, it all just feels completely crazy.You are being very modest. Now [Late Nov] you are nominated for no less than 3 BIFFAs including the Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director thats very nice, isnt it?Oh, Yea. Obviously it is very nice. We only made this film for eighty grand and we are up against big films from Miramax and Fox and HBO for us is quite an achievement, because in budget we are way, way down there man! Even in terms of the independent market, we are still way, way down on the independent market.The tux must be getting quite a few outings...!!!Yea. Well, actually Ive just been given a suit and it had its first airing on Saturday in Stockholm and it is going to get aired again on Wednesday at the British Independent Feature Film Awards. The very best of luck with that. Fingers crossed for you.Thanks, James. I Appreciate that.

BIFFA AWARD FOR LONDON TO BRIGHTONLondon to Brighton gained Best Achievement in Production Award at the British Independent Feature Film Awards on 29th November 2006Well done guys, from all of us at Shooting People!