Our ambitions for this project
With this project, we aspire to work with an all-female cast and crew on a film which addresses challenges of being a queer woman in the world today, and more universal themes of female friendship. We want to make a film that will lift women up, and explore who we look to as our inspirations. As queer people, worldwide stigma means that our ‘coming of age’ narratives tend to happen a little later in our lives, and that is what this film represents.
When Anna first approached Max & Mel at Little Grand Road with 'Rivets', they heard a narrative which illustrates a familiar issue that many people face but presented in a positive manner which addresses how women could attempt to tackle them together, in a way that promotes collective growth and change.
This short production will not only be a riveting piece, pun intended, but also a project which aims to bring female practitioners and creatives in the industry together.
Logline
In a hotel room, a woman has a crisis of confidence while preparing to come out as gay to her father, and relies on support from a childhood figure.
Story Summary
Lena and Rosie enter a Viennese hotel room, giggling about their antics on their journey over from London. Their merriment is cut short when Lena receives a text from her father, wishing her a safe journey. It reminds her abruptly of the reason that she is here; she has returned home to Austria to tell her dad that she is gay. Despite Rosie’s attempts to lift the mood, the sudden awakening leaves Lena visibly deflated. Rosie, uninvited, takes on the task of trying to cheer her up, making a series of well-intentioned but unhelpful jokes and comments. These only serve to aggravate Lena further, until eventually, she snaps, yelling at Rosie to leave. Lena finally starts to talk candidly trough her feelings, revealing how scared and under-confident she is. The tension is lifted, but the mood is low. Rosie’s attempts to cheer Lena up have been unsuccessful until she has an idea. Rosie opens Lena’s phone and shows her a picture of all her friends at London pride, a reminder that she has another family. We leave on the realisation of who Rosie is, and why she was here.
The Core Production Team
Director & Writer - Anna Fordham
"On a basic level, we are in modern-day Austria, shortly after same-sex marriage was legalised. This does make some aspects of the film inherently political, raising topics such as what it means to be European or British, what it means to be gay in a world that often doesn’t recognise your legitimacy, and what it means to be a woman. For me though, Rivets has far more in common with a coming of age film than a political drama, and the emotional world that we should sit in while watching it is one of intimacy and compassion. Shortly before writing Rivets, I watched Blue is the Warmest Color, and found that the close hand-held way of focusing on Adele’s face in this film took me to that place of empathy.
Where Rivets will differ from this film, however, is by avoiding a seductive tone and a roving camera framed around depersonalised body parts. One thing that Blue is the Warmest Color suffers from in my opinion is the well documented “Male gaze” trope, as is outlined in Laura Mulvey’s 1975 essay “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema.” Rivets is about the lived experience of Lena, and I want the audience to understand and share in that experience rather than simply observe it. This will be a film where women watch themselves, not where they watch themselves being watched.
I actually found it very difficult to find examples of films about LGBTQ+ people that didn’t in some way centre around sex, and I am looking forward to exploring how this film will differ as well as how it is similar to the canon."
Director of Photography - James Morgan
Producer, Little Grand Road LTD - Max Lee
Producer, Little Grand Road LTD - Mel Morley
Cast
Nenda Neurer as 'Lena'
Lena is an Austrian businesswoman. She moved to London at a young age and has become used to a busier style of life, which causes an internal crisis on returning home. She is intelligent, ambitious, and determined.
Tafline Steen as 'Rosie'
Rosie, a brunette American woman in her early 20s. She is funny, empathetic, and strong.
Art Design
Production Schedule
Our production schedule will cross from the time we launch the crowd funding campaign at the beginning of March, until the end of May when we aim to submit the film to festivals and start fulfilling our rewards. Film production timelines are difficult to predict and this is a cautious estimate of our schedule over the coming weeks.
The Budget
Our budget is primarily going to equipment costs and crew as these are very often the most expensive aspects of any film production alongside location. As we move through the production we will continually attempt to find areas where we can cut costs and make our production leaner and most cost-effective.
Risks & Challenges
Any film adventure always carries a certain level of risk and can present many challenges. These include mismanagement of schedules, production or money. Additionally there are always spanners which can get through into the works which are almost impossible to account for prior to them occurring. Fortunately, Max and Mel at Little Grand Road have over 15 separate productions between them including short films, features, music videos and brand films. They have come in under budget every single time and have never needed additional filming days -- where contingency is necessary to plan in, it has not once been used on any of their productions. They make sure that there is always enough time, money and resources available for use should the unexpected happen.
Other Ways You Can Help
There are plenty of other ways to help us out on this project if you don't feel like contributing. You can share the link to our campaign on social media or follow our core production team:
Max Lee & Mel Morley (Little Grand Road) - Twitter, Instagram or Website
Anna Fordham - Twitter & Instagram
James Morgan - Instagram & Website
Distribution
We will be submitting the finished short film to festivals all around the world as well as holding screenings around London.