A departure from the norm for us here at Short Films, Big Questions… In this episode, filmmaker Sam Baron helps us workshop two of our short film ideas. He guides us through his process of breaking down an idea, interrogating character motivation, and examining what we can personally bring as filmmakers to the story. The approach Sam takes can be applied to all short films, as well as fiction generally. As such, we feel the episode will be valuable to anyone in the midst of writing a narrative project. A bit of background about Sam: He is a writer, director and actor. In 2014, he won the coveted Academy's Nicholl Fellowship for his script, The Science of Love, kicking off an impressive career as a screenwriter. He’s written for TV shows including the BBC’s “Chloe” and Netflix’s “Lockwood & Co”, as well as developing his own originals with Sky Comedy, Netflix and the BBC. Sam has written and directed many short films that have played at festivals worldwide. He has recently completed a trilogy of short films starring Amit Shah and is now busy developing one of these, "The Orgy," as a TV series with Sony Pictures. Sam also teaches on the NFTS short filmmaking course. You can find links to Sam's trilogy of short films in full below, including his most recent, "Tall Dark and Handsome." We’d recommend listening to part 1 of our conversation, ‘Making your Short Film Personal with Sam Baron’, to get more insight into his work and process. Links to Sam’s work: Tall, Dark and Handsome: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2024/02/01/tall-dark-and-handsome/ Big Ears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RWeJTVXWqM The Orgy: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2021/06/07/the-orgy/ Sam’s speech accepting the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYr3u_SA2Rg Website: https://www.sambaron.com/ Social Media: Sam: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baronifish/?hl=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/baronifish?lang=en Short Films, Big Questions: https://www.instagram.com/shortfilmsbigquestions/?hl=en Ieuan: https://www.instagram.com/ieuancoombs/?hl=en Will: https://www.instagram.com/will.liney/?hl=en

Sam Baron is a writer, director and actor. In 2014, Sam won the coveted Academy's Nicholl Fellowship for his script, The Science of Love, kicking off an impressive career as a screenwriter. He’s written for TV shows including the BBC’s “Chloe” and Netflix’s “Lockwood & Co”, as well as developing his own originals with Sky Comedy, Netflix and the BBC. However, our main focal point in our conversation is about Sam's amazing short films. Specifically, a trilogy of shorts he's written and directed starring Amit Shah. He is currently busy developing one of these, "The Orgy" as a TV series with Sony Pictures. We talk about Sam's process with actors, his approach to visuals, the value of making his short films personal, zero budget features and much more. You can find links to Sam's trilogy of short films in full below, including his most recent, which just premiered on Short of the Week, "Tall Dark and Handsome." We encourage you to watch these to get the most out of our conversation, as we spend a lot of time discussing Sam's specific process within these projects. This is part 1 of our conversation with Sam. In part 2, we are fortunate enough to have Sam helping us workshop our short film ideas. Stay tuned for this episode! Links to Sam’s work: Tall, Dark and Handsome: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2024/02/01/tall-dark-and-handsome/ Big Ears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RWeJTVXWqM The Orgy: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2021/06/07/the-orgy/ Sam’s speech accepting the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYr3u_SA2Rg Website: https://www.sambaron.com/ Sam’s favourite short film (accessed via a subscription to Mubi): https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/wasp Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baronifish?igsh=MXN2amRjcGFkaGdlcw== Follow us on instagram @shortfilmsbigquestions to get more content about all things short films, and the amazing guests we have on!

For this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking to Alexander Jeremy. AJ is a filmmaker, actor and member of the comedy improv group, "Shoot from the Hip." He’s recently wrapped post production on a film called The Spaceman, starring none other than Woody Norman (C’mon C’mon, Poldark), Colin Farrell (Banshees of Inesherrin, The Lobster), and Amanda Abbington (Sherlock, Mr Selfridge). Our conversation has two main themes to it: first, how he made The Spaceman and specifically, how he amassed such a star studded cast for the project. Secondly, his comedy improv group, Shoot from the Hip, and how they’ve built an audience for themselves. As of writing this, they have 186,000 followers on instagram and 1.2 million followers on TikTok. We have a great conversation about how we, as filmmakers, can apply the lessons AJ’s learnt, and as a consequence, gain more power as creatives. AJ is incredibly candid about the life of a filmmaker- we massively appreciated this and feel like there’s so much to learn from what he has to say. You can find out more about him via the links below: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@atjeremy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atjeremy/?hl=en Shoot from the Hip’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shootimpro/?hl=en AJ’s favourite short films: https://www.nowness.asia/picks/red-feng-yu-chao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs1xPBIfOS4

In this episode we speak with Academy Award winning film director, Chris Overton. Chris received the 'Best Live Action Short Film' Oscar for ‘The Silent Child,’ along with his wife, Rachel Shenton, who wrote the project. Chris shares how he started life in the industry as an actor, performing in films directed by Joel Schumacher and Roman Polanski, and the current projects he's working on. We discuss the road to the Oscars with 'The Silent Child,' as well as what happens after you win an Oscar! We also get into why he set up his production company Slick Films and how he distributes and makes money back on his shorts. This was truly inspiring and we are so grateful to Chris for taking the time to speak with us. Here are some links to his work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GbxFIVQv8c (The Silent Child - Oscar Winner) https://slickfilms.co.uk/leader/ (Leader - his short film shot on a phone) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3C5zbjjWTE (Chris' favourite short film).

In this episode we speak to renowned casting director Andrea Clarke. Prior to setting up her own company Andrea co- cast many acclaimed feature films, including Dog Soldiers, Keeping Mum and The Thief Lord, which starred a young George MacKay and Aaron Taylor Johnson. As an associate casting director, she collaborated on the casting of blockbusters such as Hellboy, Blade II and Hidalgo. Since founding her own company in 2006, Andrea has worked on award winning feature films, commercials and short films. She also casts a variety of other projects including video games, corporate films, and new media content. We talk about why you should consider using a casting director on your short film, thinking outside the box when casting, the benefits of in person vs. self tape auditions, and much more! You can find Andrea's website here: https://www.aclarkcasting.com/ Andrea's favourite short film: https://www.paulcampion.com/portfolio/the-naughty-list