Wallace Gets The News (2019)
Director: Kristian Fitsall
Writer: Kristian Fitsall
Stars: Jordan Lewis, Mark Rathbone, Laura Turner
The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival will be returning for its 11th year from 23rd May to 27th May. In preparation for the event I got an opportunity to ask co-writer and actor Kristian Fitsall a few questions about the film
Wallace Gets The News which has been selected to play at the festival.
Q. What can we expect from the short film Wallace Gets the News which has been selected to play at The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival?
Discomfort, hopefully. That was the aim was throughout production, you might be laughing at the characters but they’re constantly real, with real flaws and making the real stupid mistakes that we all constantly make throughout our lives.
Q. What were your inspirations for the story when writing the film?
It came out of my own annoyance at the general public- I’d find myself unnecessarily angry about people being too loud or whatever when I was out somewhere and the realisation that I was just being self-important or ignorant to what other people have going on. Nathan and I initially wrote the film as a sketch, but eventually turned into something more substantial as we developed the characters. This let the comedy come out of the situation and the awkwardness, rather than trying to shoehorn jokes in.
Q. What were your influences for the look and style?
Honestly, I have to give most of the credit for this one to Cody, our Director of Photography. I’ve worked with him on pretty much everything and he’s brilliant. David Lynch definitely inspired some of the aesthetic, I wanted it reminiscent of the dinner scene in Eraserhead (1977).
Q. Did you experience any issues or challenges whilst making the film?
Our biggest issues were budget and time constraints. I was able to get the location for pretty much free, but that did mean we had to shoot the whole film in only a few hours. Fortunately, I was blessed with an incredible cast and crew who made the shooting day a blast. When it comes to low budget film making, you prepare for these kinds of challenges from the beginning, that’s why I wrote it all one location and only three characters.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
The moment the costumes were on and the lights set for the first shot was very exciting. Working with Mark was a highlight- Wallace is such an over the top character which Mark naturally has the comedic chops for, but he was also able to bring real depth to the more emotional moments.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
Not really, Mark made a minor change about some specific fishing knowledge. But apart from that it was essentially word for word, we did a lot of read throughs during the writing phase. Specific wording can be so important in comedy, I spent over year tuning the script so was pretty confident in the material by the time it came to shoot.
Q. Do you have any new projects which you are working on?
My most recent projects have been music videos, I’ve had the privilege of working with some great artists like Katie Wood and Lavz. There’s so many incredible up and coming artists right now, as filmmakers we’re lucky to have the chance to collaborate. I’ve just finished writing a horror short which I think will be my next project, but it’s just finding funding and everything now.
Q. If someone is looking to direct their own film, what advice would you give them?
Just try It sounds obvious but that’s the best way to learn. Borrow a camera. Beg your friends to join as cast and crew. We had two crew members on Wallace who hadn’t been in that role before, they learnt quick and worked hard though. And write for your budget, you can still do adventurous stuff, you just need to be smart about it.
You can find out more about writer-director Kristian Fitsall on the website kristianfitsall.co.uk and the following social media pages Twitter, Instagram
The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival runs from Thursday 23rd May to Monday 27th May. You can find out more about the event and purchase tickets on the website https://www.southendfilmfestival.com
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!
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