Film: For Sale

Director: Barney Pell Scholes, Thomas Harnett O’Meara

Writer: Barney Pell Scholes, Thomas Harnett O’Meara

Starring: Alexander Devrient, Ebony Buckle, Adam El Hagar

Synopsis: Lucy and David are a young couple looking to get a foot on the slippery rungs of the London housing ladder. Lucy is six-months pregnant, making the whole situation even more stressful. Visiting a potential flat one evening, they are disturbed by the unsettling behaviour of the Estate Agent. He seems determined not to let them leave. Soon they realise why. Someone…or something…else is already living there.

For Sale will be playing at Dead and Sudburied on Sunday, 19th October at 1:55 pm.

Q. Your film For Sale has been selected for Dead and Sudburied, can you tell us a bit about what we can expect from the film?

A. It’s hopefully quite a relatable short film. A young couple go to view a potential flat together, where they meet a creepy Estate Agent. What starts off as a routine viewing soon takes a strange and disturbing turn, perfect for a few well-timed jump scares.

Q. You co-wrote the script together. What were your inspirations for the script, and what was the process for you writing together?

A. The film was based on the hellish experience of trying to navigate the London property market. We were sharing our experiences of grim flats and horrible estate agents over a few pints and suddenly realised it might make a good basis for a horror film! Especially in London, you feel exploited and like you have no leverage when you go to view places to rent or buy.

This was our second project as a filmmaking partnership, but we’ve known each other forever – our parents were friends with each other back in Liverpool (where we’re from) before we were even born. We’ve got a great writing and directing dynamic because we’ve known each other so long and have such a strong understanding of each other. Also, having such a long-term friendship as the basis for our filmmaking partnership means it’s very difficult for us to fall out over anything…

Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?

A. We used the scenes inside the house at night in Ari Aster’s Hereditary as a reference, particularly the night-time scenes which are beautifully lit. We also love the way Alien builds the tension and dread as Bret searches for the Xenomorph in the landing gear bay. Laura Hasn’t Slept – the short that became Smile – was another one we watched as a jump-scare reference. We wanted to try out a handheld camera with wide angle lenses for closeups as this is in direct contrast to our previous short film.

Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?

A. Not really, as we tend to storyboard our films extensively in advance of shooting so that we’ve got a strong foundation to work from. Partly that’s because of Tom’s background in animation, where storyboarding is required, and partly because we want to make sure the film has a good flow and fits together well before we start shooting it. This means we can be more efficient with the most precious resource on any film shoot – time. We did make some changes after a couple of table reads though; we like to tweak the dialog a little to best fit specific actors.

Q. In addition to writing together you also co-directed the film? What is the process for you co-directing and do you each bring something different to filming?

A. Like with the writing, it works because we have such a strong friendship and relationship outside of filmmaking. We do focus on different things as co-directors, though – Tom tends to focus more on the technical and visual elements of the film, shot compositions, camera moves etc. Whereas Barney focuses more on working with the actors and their characters, emotions, and motivations.

Q. What were some of your favourite memories of making the Film?

A. Working with a really talented cast and crew, chatting to them all about their different experiences in the film industry. It was a really fun, relaxed, and enjoyable atmosphere on set – which isn’t always the case with short filmmaking!

Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?

A. Not really, nothing major – we had a great cast and crew and we’d put a lot of planning work in during pre-production, so we were able to get through everything pretty efficiently. The first day was a bit of a slow start, but that’s often the way at the beginning of a shoot. We were a bit worried about whether the jump-scares would work, because it’s quite hard to tell on set, but we worked hard on those shots in
post-production and we’re happy with the end result.

Q. What makes For Sale stand out as something different in the horror genre?

A. Hopefully the relatable setup – lots of people will be very familiar with the stress and anxiety of trying to find somewhere nice and affordable to live, and feeling like you’re being exploited by sleazy estate agents. We’ve tried to twist that feeling into a horror nightmare.

Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?

A. Never trust an estate agent.

Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?

A. Yes – we’ve got a feature project in development with a UK production company, but in terms of genre it’s about as far away from horror as possible. We do have an idea for another horror feature script that we’re about to start writing.

Q. If someone was looking to get into filmmaking film what advice would you give them?

A. Keep trying. It’s a cliché, but perseverance really is the most important thing. Just keep trying, keep knocking on every door you can, keep using every resource available to you to keep making things. After all, what’s the alternative? Give up and get a real job? No thanks.

For Sale will be playing at Dead and Sudburied on Sunday 19th October at 1:55pm.

Find out more about the festival and purchase tickets for For Sale here

Philip Rogers

Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!