MOUNTVIEW SHORT FILMS RETROSPECTIVE #4 – 2011

Between the years of 2008 and 2011, I did some screenwriting work for the Mountview Film Academy; a filmic extension of the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Based in London, they would produce a number of student acting projects including many low budget short films. Writers would be shuttled in and given a remit to create short films using specified actors, locations and length of film. Thus, I wrote a number of scripts which were adapted on very low budgets. Here are the three I wrote for the year 2011.

2011 was an interesting year. Britain faced countrywide riots in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. The reasons for the violent outbreaks were mixed and included social unrest due to government cuts, police brutality, hot weather and youth discontent. British courts meted out severe justice and law and order was restored, however, the protests in Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain gave 2011 what became known as the ‘Arab Spring’. Here the people of the Middle East didn’t just riot and loot but actually took power back from dictatorial leaders.

In other news Vladimir Putin held onto power in Russia while in Britain, again, the News of the World lost its power and position as the major Sunday newspaper. This was due to the phone hacking scandal and heads rolled and injunctions followed. More legal ramifications occurred for a number of MP’s sent to jail for fiddling their expenses. While, in more frivolous news Charlie Sheen has a complete meltdown; Hugh Grant became a father at 51; Adele’s star went stratospheric as she sold millions of recording units; but sadly the pop and soul singer, Amy Winehouse passed away aged only twenty-seven. Meanwhile. . .

BEST LAID PANS (2011)

This short comedy is about a guy who gets trapped in a restaurant toilet when striving to propose to his girlfriend.

This has some great work by the cast, director and crew and my script has a lot of comedic promise. I think it suffers from being over-written for the eight minute running time. With a slightly increased budget and, say a few more minutes, it would have been even funnier. Nonetheless, it’s still quite an entertaining little farce.

SHARKS (2011)

This short comedy-drama concerns two friends who bump into each other having not seen each other for years.

I think this is one of my favourite scripts and it is executed to perfection. The story of a too-shy and over-confident couple of buddies trying to “pull” a work colleague is full of twists and dark humour. The acting by the Mountview students is really good and the pacing of the story handled expertly. All involved bring to life my script very well.