Our NEW SHOOTS live event programme continues online and in January, we sat down with Bafta nominated writer/director Francis Lee (‘God’s Own Country’, ‘Ammonite’) and award winning sound designer Johnnie Burn (‘The Favourite’, ‘Under the Skin’, ‘Ammonite’) to discuss breaking into the industry from a working class background, directing actors, visual storytelling, sound design and sound immersion and the relationship between the Director and Sound Designer. Interviewed by SP’s Cath Le Couteur, self-taught writer and director Francis Lee revealed his…

As this rollercoaster of a year is coming to an end we wanted to look back on some of the amazing work and shooters’ achievements that came out of 2020.

There’s a classic quote that is often attributed to George Lucas that ‘Sound is 50% of the film experience’. We’re inclined to agree. There is no easier tool to help with world-building than sound. Humans can only view one image at a time, but we’re capable of processing multiple sounds at once.  Off-screen elements are often used within film & television to help fill out the on-screen story. Here’s a look at five films that have used off-screen sound to…

Our quarterly free live event, NEW SHOOTS is your chance to hear from bold independent filmmakers and their teams, to network with fellow creatives, and to develop your own future stories. In July we took NEW SHOOTS online for a special Q&A with the cult writer and director Ben Wheatley (Free Fire, High Rise, Kill List). Ben chatted to SP’s very own Cath Le Couteur about micro budgets, studio blockbusters and everything in between, before answering audience questions.  A very…

Our quarterly live free event, NEW SHOOTS is your chance to hear from bold British independent filmmakers and their teams, to discover the best of brilliant new British cinema, to be inspired, to be ready to catch the films on opening weekend, and to network with fellow creatives to develop your own future stories. Due to the government lockdown we switched our April NEW SHOOTS event to a Live Stream Q&A with the creative team behind the Toronto International Film…

2019 has been an amazing year for the SP community. As Xmas beckons, we wanted to share some highlights, member news, cool shorts you can watch and scripts you can peruse. HIGHLIGHTS 2019 Our quarterly live event, NEW SHOOTS, is your chance to discover the best of independent British filmmakers and their films, to ask your questions directly to a variety of creative teams, and to support those filmmakers by attending their opening weekends. This year, we heard from an…

Shooting People has had a cracking first half of the year and we wanted to raise a glass to our amazing community and all their achievements.  So far this year we’ve held three sold out NEW SHOOTS events. In January we welcomed writer, director and SP member Shola Amoo to speak about his incredible career and his Sundance-premiering feature film ‘The Last Tree.’ In April, BAFTA winning director Toby Macdonald and writer Freddy Syborn revealed how they made the leap…

Whether you’re a writer, director, producer or an actor, you’re certainly sitting on a passion project you’d love to create or portray. Something very personal, something that keeps on returning in your wildest dreams waiting to be realised.  Building this concept or story up, constantly changing, improving and waiting for the right time to share with the world is an art in itself. The more passionate we are about something, the easier it is to be disappointed, having built up…

Much has been said about first impressions. High quality self tapes and headshots are crucial in landing a casting or audition. So what makes a good headshot? John Godwin, the owner of London Headshots and internationally published advertising and advertorial photographer pins it down to appealing to the casting director on a personal level, i.e. simply looking friendly. The right lighting, individual character, presenting the range are all components of the photograph’s evocative character.  John brings out the confidence, the…