The Film – ‘Toast’

Toast is the next short film from Haphazard Media, written and to be directed once again by Ryan McHenry.

A fun, quirky story, ‘Toast’ is about Robert, an unfortunate singleton, who attempts to win a holiday for two to Hawaii to try and woo the woman of his dreams.  Instead he wins 100 slices of Toast to be delivered every day for a year. 

About Haphazard Media

So, we’ve had a really exciting 12 months. This time last year, we made a film called Zombie Musical, also written and directed by Ryan McHenry.  The film was nominated for 3 BAFTA New Talent Awards (best director, best producer, best original music) and came away with the gong for Best Producer on the night.

Really, the Zombie Musical journey is still right at the beginning. We’re developing the feature with Black Camel Pictures in Glasgow, and thanks to them we’ve been busy learning new ways to do things on the set of Outpost: Black Sun.

It’s been great and we couldn’t have asked for a better year, but before we can really get stuck into the feature version of Zombie Musical, Ryan has to graduate.

And that’s where you come in. We’re about to start shooting Ryan’s graduation film, “Toast.” The script is great and we will be shooting over 3 days in Glasgow and Dumfries.

We’re looking for funding from various sources, but we hope to crowd fund just over £1200 to cover the essentials – namely food, transport and accommodation.

We’re not looking for money to pay ourselves, and we’re not looking to eat at the Hilton every night.  We’re just looking for some help to cover the basics.   Everything we raise will go directly into the film.

So you’re literally just making a film so Ryan can graduate?

No. Ryan does need a graduation film, but, we’re making this film because we believe the script is strong, we believe we have the skill to execute it well and we have high hopes for it on the festival circuit. Since we made Zombie Musical, our knowledge and understanding of filmmaking has only increased. We want to put our new skills into practice.

...hold on, hold on, can’t the university pay?

Sadly, it doesn’t work like that, and even if it did, we probably wouldn’t be able to get enough cash for this particular project. We will be able to use the ECA equipment free of charge however, and this will likely be the last time we have this opportunity.

But seriously, why should I give you my money?

With no money the film won’t happen – even ignoring every cost except those absolutely fundamental to the basic principles of filmmaking, we DO need this money.  Making this film happen enables us all to improve our skills, to further our careers and most importantly of all, to be part of something we all absolutely love.

OK, OK , but I’ve done this before. Why should I give you my money, again?

Because it works. Everyone at Haphazard has had a genuinely fantastic year in film. We’ve had fantastic opportunities and this is because we’ve proven that we have the initiative to get things going ourselves in a really competitive job market.  We’re not just making arty films, we’re creating a commercially viable business. So basically, you’ll be saving the economy.