Chris Green is a screenwriter, living in Manchester. In 2000 he was runner up in the Red Productions/Channel 4 sponsored Northern Soul New Writing competition with his half hour script Blaggers which featured Johnny Harris who later went on to star in CH4’s This is England 86. Chris has written for CH4, BBC3 and SKY1 and is the creator of ‘Modcop’ a fashion based comic strip that features regularly in men’s magazine GQ.
Desperate Measures is Chris’s first feature film as both Writer & Producer. It is directed by Steve Looker and stars Salford-born Stephen Lord and tough guy actor Ricci Harnett, as well and Max Beasley Snr.
Ricci Harnett and Stephen Lord in Desperate Measures.
Congratulations on having made your first feature film, excited?
It comes in waves, some days I’m sick of the sight of the film, and other days I get proper giddy about seeing it on the shelves in my local supermarket. But yeah, when the DVD’s were delivered to the office last week, I did get a bit excited.
What is the film about and what was your inspiration behind the film?
It’s a kidnap story, inspired by a newspaper item I saw about a mother who handcuffed her heroin addicted daughter to a radiator in her bedroom while she went cold turkey in a last ditch attempt to get the girl off drugs.
You made three short films before Desperate Measures. Do you think it’s important to learn your craft on such projects before embarking on a feature film? What were the benefits of making these short films?
I do think its important, especially for the producing side of things as pulling together cast and crew for a short is difficult and it gives you some idea of what that task will be when you’re looking to make a feature that requites ten times as many people, more locations, accommodation etc.. That said though, I dived into Desperate Measures without really understanding the magnitude of the task that I was undertaking, which is probably a good thing really as my bottle would have gone and I would have backed out.
The film was made in association with Lion Eyes TV and in the past you have written for BBC3, SKY1 and CH4. Do you approach the writing process any differently when writing for film rather than television?
I feel I am able to express myself far more when writing for film and I think this is why I’m only concentrating on features at the moment. TV is far more prescriptive and the formats are a lot more rigid. I tend to visualise the scenes in a cinematic way, and so I enjoy the process of writing those scenes more than I would for say Coronation Street. You are able to let your imagination run away with you when writing for film, budget permitting of course!
Desperate Measures features some great actors. What do you admire about their acting and how did you approach them to be in your film?
I knew Stephen Lord through a mutual friend as I’m a Salford boy and so is he and we wanted the lead character to be from Salford so it seemed a nice fit. When we approached him I didn’t realise exactly how good Stephen was until I saw him on that first day of filming. He’s a great TV actor, but for me I believe his greatest successes will come in film. He is brilliant as Ross in our film. I met Ricci Harnett at a screening of a short film in Soho and as I was already a fan having seen him in Rise of the Footsoldier I approached him and said I would like to write a part for him and he said he would read it. I didn’t think he would come on board, and I remember myself and Steve Looker being really excited when he rang me and said he wanted to play the part of Jack. Max Beesley Snr was recommended to me by a producer friend of mine and although there was a bit of early confusion as Max thought the script I sent was for his son Max Jnr the Mad Dogs actor, we got there eventually and he is great as George, just great.
Salford-born Stephen Lord.
The film was shot on the RED Camera. What were the advantages and disadvantages of shooting on such a format?
I’m not an expert on cameras’ but I knew that shooting on Red would be a lot cheaper than shooting on 35mm! I took advice from our director Steve Looker on this as he was very confident that we could get a lovely looking film shooting on this format. So we advertised on Shooting People and the very talented David Read came on board as our Director of Photography.
What was the total budget for the film and how did you ensure that you stuck to it, do you have any top money saving tips?
The budget started at £25,000 but I quickly realised that this wasn’t going to be enough; in fact it was a bit naïve of me to think that we could make the film for this amount. It eventually ended up at just over £40,000 which is still ridiculously low. We saved money basically by asking a lot of our crew to work for nothing which they did in return for the chance to work on their first feature. This was fantastic bonus to the film and everyone who worked on it was amazing.
Desperate Measure is your first feature film but certainly not your last. What else do you have in the pipeline?
It’s probably my first & last film as a producer, as although I managed to do it, I don’t think its one of my strengths, or perhaps that should be I don’t think I enjoy it as much as writing. I’m hoping to direct my next script ‘Justified’ which is a dark vigilante story about a man who targets and castrates paedophiles. I like to think its Harry Brown meets Leon in scope. I’m currently looking for a producer who can bring in funds to enable me to do this and I’ve already got a great young actor on board to play the lead. I also have another couple of features in development purely as a screenwriter, one is a road movie on Mod scooters and the other is a comedy caper about two guys who impersonate police officers.
The film is being distributed by Scanbox Entertainment. Have you ever thought about distributing your films online, or would you consider doing so at some point in the future?
I think it will happen more in the future, and although I might not be producing films I will be open to having my work online, most definitely.
Where do you hope to see yourself in ten years?
Blue skies? I’d like to still be working in the industry, hopefully as a writer & director on big budget features.
How would you describe the film “scene” where you live, and what advice do you have for anyone interested in pursuing a film career in the North West?
Obviously with the BBC boys & girls moving up to Salford, I think the scene is developing and will be quite exciting. Already, the scene is quite vibrant and everybody seems to know anybody else, which is an advantage as there is a rich source of film making talent and some great actors in the Manchester area. As far as pursuing a career in the North West goes, I don’t think there has been a better time to do it and the kids in our schools should be encouraged to aim for a career in TV or film if it’s something they aspire to do.
Desperate Measures is released today on DVD and available to purchase online at Amazon, HMV, Play.com and at ASDA.
