James Kibbey is set to make his feature film directorial debut with comedy The Last Sparks of Sundown as he makes the leap from short films for the first time.
James Kibbey
Kibbey has already grabbed people's attention and won awards for his short film House Cocktail and he is a director to watch out for over the longer film form in the next couple of years.
We caught up with the filmmaker to chat about The Last Sparks of Sundown, the unconventional way he went about making this film, and what lies ahead.
- The Last Sparks of Sundown is your new film, so can you tell me a bit about it?
My producer and I sat down on New Year's Day 2013 and decided that we wanted to make a feature film that year, without waiting for permission or going through the lengthy processes of funding or approvals. We decided if we didn't go ahead and do it then we may never do it, so we set a date and worked towards that.
- You are in the director's chair and have penned the screenplay for the film, so where did this project start for you? And where did the idea for the story come from?
We did make this film in a slightly reverse engineered manner. We worked with the two lead actors (The Pajama Men) in a short film called House Cocktail in 2012, which had done really well, won a bunch of awards, and got an endorsement from Harvey Weinstein, and we thought 'wouldn't it be great to put these guys in a feature film.' We then built up locations, cast and crew contacts and then built the idea around that.
I sat down to write it and it has got bits and pieces of people that I have met and people that I am related to; you do change bits and pieces. It has many different influences but the main drive was the fact that the central actors are really funny comedy performers and if we could put them in a feature film, that would be a great start. We then built it around them.
- I was going to ask you about your writing process and if you developed the characters first and then the story, or vice versa. But it sounds like you have never made a film or written in this way before?
This is it; it is a pretty unusual way to make a film. We knew that we could get access to this big house in Sussex, we wanted to put these two guys in a film, and we want them to play off each other so we started with them being brothers who were at odds with each other. I guess character did come first because we created two characters that are in a typical love/hate relationship. We took it from there.
Character came first and, as always with low budget, we were dictated by what we had available to us; we weren't writing scenes in helicopters and things like that (laughs). The Pajama men are American and we wanted them fly over to England to try to sell their grandfather's house. We built if from there. Character very much came first before the story I guess.
- How much did the story change from the initial idea that you had to the movie that we will see on screen?
A fair amount to be honest. I sat down in March 2013 and gave myself one month to do a first draft; I finished that around 27th March. Over the next two or three months, it was about re-writing, showing it to people and getting the lead actor's input in the last couple of weeks before the shoot. We also did some rehearsals with the Pajama Men and some of the other actors, which resulted in a few little re-writes and the odd gag here and there.
Also, I wanted to create an atmosphere on the shoot days themselves, where we would shoot some takes that were on script and then we would do a couple of takes that were free to see what people came up with. Inevitably, when you come to the hard decisions at the end of the edit, you do have to go back to the script, as that is all you have time for in the edit. You cannot add another thirty-seconds to every scene because you end up with an epic on your hands. In the final cut, we had to make some very tough decisions and, while we had some very funny bits, if they didn't serve the story and move the film forward they had to go.
- The Last Sparks of Sundown will mark your feature film directorial debut, so how have you found the experience of jumping into features?
We have learnt a hell of a lot, which one the main reason to do it. It has been fantastic. The shooting experience itself was brilliant and we were lucky in the fact that the sun shone on us; which on a micro-budget feature it has to or you are in a bit of trouble (laughs). The shooting was great. The writing was more of a challenge as it was a solitary process, but I did enjoy that more than I thought I was going into it. It was very satisfying to complete a first draft and then get to the stage of a shooting script.
The editing was the hardest part because you are doing it all on your own and there are just three people in a room for months on end, which was me, my producer and editor in a tiny spare room. You can go a bit crazy and there is where you feel the pinch - which is perhaps not what we were expecting.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience and the shooting was definitely the highlight as we had an amazing cast and crew. We all stayed in the same house that we shot in down in Sussex and we could finish filming at six o'clock in the evening, put the cameras down, and light up the barbeque; it was a very memorable two weeks of the summer.
- You have already directed a couple of short films, so how did that experience prepare you for making the move into features?
It is a very different game going from making two minute, five minute, or even ten-minute films to jumping to making a ninety-minute film; particularly with the writing side of it. I think the directing side of it is a very similar skill but you do have to have your eye on a much bigger picture with features. I guess, having already worked with the Pajama Men meant that we did have a shorthand with them, that prepared us really well and we trusted each other going into the shoot.
It is still storytelling - you have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end in both shorts and features - but it is a whole new ball game when you are talking about a ninety-minute project. Everything increases exponentially; you are shooting fifty hours of footage and it is a totally different operation.
- You have brought together a terrific cast, so can you talk about bringing them together?
We had the two leads and once we had them on board - they are very well respected in comedy circles - and we were lucky to have an old school friend who is an agent and was able to get the script in front of some really great actors. We were lucky that they read the script and six out of the seven parts were our first choice; we would have got all seven if one hadn't had to pull out due to illness. We were really lucky... I think that the first challenge is getting the script in front of them and then you just have to hope that they buy into what you are trying to do, which they did.
- I have just been chatting to Emily Bevan about the movie and she said that it was a very collaborative process between yourself and the actors?
Absolutely. Particularly with comedy, which is the genre that I work in the most, it is great to cast people with funny bones. If you put them in front of the camera, give them the script to work with, they trust you and you trust them, then you can have a bit of fun on the day and see where it goes. It may not always make the edit, but it does create a nice atmosphere on set; which means that you tend to get a better performance all around from them.
- What made now the right time to make that leap into feature film for the first time?
I was on holiday with my producer and both our wives on New Year 2013 - it was also the week that myself and my wife found out that we were expecting a baby. In my head, that really did set a big clock ticking. I have always wanted to make a feature film and I thought if I didn't make one soon then it might never happen or it might not happen for another ten years. That gave me a very loud ticking clock in my head and I got the ball rolling very quickly. As I said, it was a little bit unconventional but it gave us the momentum to get us going.
- We are always hearing about how tricky it is to get movies made in this country at the moment. How difficult was it getting this movie off the ground?
It has different challenges from the conventional way. It is very hard to find funding for your movies - we knew that and asked ourselves 'can we go about this in a different way?' We wrote a very simple to shoot idea, with minimal cast, minimal locations and, if necessary, physically shoot it ourselves and edit ourselves. It grew in the six months of pre-production and we ended up with a crew of thirty and had big fancy cameras and everything.
Our starting idea was should we need to be hands on and a crew of four or five, then that is how we were prepared to make it. We were lucky enough that the production company that we had a relationship with put some money in and myself and my producer put some money in - but we did still spend pennies compared to most films. We got a lot of money up on screen because we had some very talented people and some very good favours regarding equipment, which meant that we got a lot of bang for our buck on screen.
- What you like to see done in this country to help support new and first time directors as they try to build a career?
Difficult. I guess the good thing is that there are a lot of new models around - such as Kickstarter and your crowd funding generally - and the accessibility to great camera and equipment is a lot better than it was ten years ago; it is now possible to shoot very good micro-budget features. It has removed that excuse in a way and people can make some really good features for five or ten grand.
In terms of what I would like to see done, the more money that can be put into funding the better but I understand that is a very complex picture. I think people just need to be creative about where they can source their money from and be pro-active as well. If you are pro-active and you are prepared to put a lot of energy into yourself, the people will jump on board. I think it is just more about seeking a lot of different sources of funding, which can be a time consuming process as well. That seems to be the reality at the moment and who knows what it is going to be like in another five years.
- How have you been finding the response to film so far?
We have done a few festivals over the last year and we were lucky enough to pick up a couple of awards in Chicago. Then at the London Independent Film Festival we won Best Micro-budget Feature, which was great because that is what we are. It was nice to be recognised at home as well as at a comedy festival abroad.
Comedy is a very subjective thing and so some people with like it, some people will like bits of it, and some people won't like it at all. That is the nature of art and comedy. We are looking forward to our cinema release and getting it in front of more people. Many people who have seen it have some kind of a link to us and so to see it play in front of people who we have never met before will be great.
- Finally, what's next for you? Now that you have made the leap into features is this where you want to stay?
Yeah, it has scratched that itch of wanting to make a feature and it has left me with the impression that I want to make more. Having just got to this stage and now the distribution stage of it, you are still putting a lot of yourself into it as well as make a living and raise a family, so you do have to take stock again. I have plenty of ideas to start the ball rolling on another one.
At the moment, I am back in the shorter form, doing a lot of comedy work and really enjoying that. Once this has all gone out there, it's in the big wide world, and we can move on we will turn to writing so we can get out and shoot another. It is such a pleasurable experience when you have the crew all at the location and you press record on the first day of filming; it is the best place to be and it is about getting to that place again.
The Last Sparks of Sundown is on at the Prince Charles Cinema from 27th - 30th July with Q&As from the director and cast. The film will be available on Amazon and iTunes from August. Visit http://www.thelastsparksofsundown.com/tickets/