Cast
The incredibly funny and charming Keir Charles from Man Up, Love Actually and The Green Wing stars as Ryan.
@KeirCharles on twitter.
The brilliant Elizabeth Healey from Doctor Strange, Mum's List and One of Us stars as Emma.
@ElizabethHealey on twitter.
Other cast in order of appearance
Simon
Tat Whalley
Sandy
Andy Robertson
Other Sand Sculptor
Steven Blake
Secretary
Gillian MacGregor
Girl passing
Rowena Perkins
Patte
Liz Richardson
Deli Employee
Theo Kalliades
Car Lady
Pippa Abrahams
Smoker
Tomasz Aleksander
Fin
Sean Croft
Hera
Natalie Daniels
Noah
Marlon Blue
Cake shop owner
Leon Ockenden
Tara
Marzena Rychlik
Henry
Nick Lashbrook
Georgie
Harper Jenour-Taylor
Sophie
Honor Jenour-Taylor
Party Guest
Antonio Pinheiro
Crew
This film is based on an original idea by Warren B. Malone, which was developed with Simon Josiffe & Russell C Taylor and then the cast and crew, in particular Stella Ramsden.
Most of the dialogue and scene details were improvised live during shooting by the actors.
Story by Warren B. Malone
Written by
Warren B. Malone
Elizabeth Healey & Keir Charles
Simon Josiffe
Stella Ramsden
Russell C Taylor
& the rest of the cast and crew
Stella RamsdenAssistant Director / Clapper / Script Superviser
Additional Assistant Directors
Trevor Walsh
Scott Ryan
DOP
Leigh Alner
Fabrizio La Palombara
Camera
Jonathan Curran
Louisa Rowley
Additional Camera
Peter Davies
Jack Edmonds
Alan Besedin
David Pimm
Chenqi Jiang
Elena López-Brea Sánchez
Camera Assistants
Neil Laws
Daniel Rowland
Additional Cinematography
Lorenzo Levrini
Ben Hecking
Simon Batchelar - Sound Recordist
Nathaniel Kastory - Boom Op
Additional Boom Ops
Nikhil Varna
James Wilkey
Additional Sound Recordists
Jon Newell
Valerio Cerini
Nick Adams - Sound Design
Jeremy Adamson - Sound Editor
Jake Jackson - Additional Score Mixing
Andy Hopkins - Music
Bridgette Williams - Editor
Adam Salt - Editing Assistant
James Taylor - Additional Editing
Jonathan Eric Tyrrell - Editing Consultant
Tancredi Monaco - Grading
Assistant Editors
Ryan Say
Jack Ayers
Alec Rossiter
Mayou Trikerioti - Production Designer / Costume Designer
Stephanie Denington - Art Director
Nick Robinson - Origami
Andy Robertson - Beach Sculpture
Lillie Lindh - Make-up / Hair
James Wills - Production Manager
Ausra Miksyte - Production Manager
Abbey Kay - Assistant Director / PM
Rebecca Pendarves - Production Co-ordinator
Production Assistant
Devika Puri
Theo Kalliades
Additional Production Assistants
Kayleigh Hutton
Sarah Fronckevic
Shahania Begum
Sonia Allan
Sophie Russell
Casting
Emily Tilelli
Greg Kyle
Produced in association with Archon Solicitors
Executive Producers
Chloe Thomas
Yvonne Malone
Patte Griffith
Demetrius Evriviades
Producers
Warren B. Malone
Jane Aprile
Elizabeth Healey
Stella Ramsden
Thank you
The Hubworking Centre
The National Theatre
The Southbank Centre
London Borough of Lambeth
London Borough of Westminster
Sadie Jenour
Sadie's Mum
Zara Heber Percy
Caroline Wells
Elinor Perry-Smith
Owen Marshall
Jules Rampton
Mark E. Martin
Anthony Aurelius
Charlotte Ratcliffe
Sandrine Berges
Ingrid Pokorski
Tamara Lohan
Lens Pimp
Feral Hire
The Green Room
Casting Networks International
Richmond Sound
Aon Insurance
Music
Music by Andy Hopkins
This Time
Written by Johan Stenström
Performed by Jim and Pat Garrett Show
Courtesy of Truckland Music
I Need Two Hearts
Written by Gordon McIntyre
Performed by Ballboy
Courtesy of Pony Proof Records
September's Not That Far Away
Written by Wratten / Hiscock / Williams / Dobson
Performed by The Field Mice
Published by Sarah Publishing
Originally released on Sarah Records ℗1991
Director's Statement
I'd given myself a deadline to finish the principal photography of my first feature length film before the birth of my first child (October 2011) as I wanted to be around as much as possible to help out while she was young so it would have been difficult after. My story idea was designed to work as an improvised piece, something we could largely shoot in sequence, only two main characters, locations we could get back to if necessary and with very few complex logistical constraints.
The story was inspired by some autobiographical elements. I developed the "first loves reunited" basic premise alone and then with writer friends (Simon Josiffe & Russell Taylor) over about 6 months or so, until I got the story into a 5 or 6 page outline with very rough descriptions of scenes. I was confident I could make a strong film based on that so we started to cast early in 2011. I found Elizabeth Healey (Emma) almost instantly so was very excited and was looking forward to developing the script and character with her and her co-star. Unfortunately I didn't find Keir Charles (Ryan) until a month or so before the shoot so pre-production was quite compressed. We fleshed out the characters pretty solidly. I guided the process based on my preconceptions and the actors' ideas. We rehearsed some of the key scenes and the actors spent some time in character with each other acting out some backstory. By the time we started shooting, the outline/script document had been expanded to around 12-14 pages and some more detail was added during the shoot. The outline included some ideas for dialogue but not much.
The leads are credited as co-writers because they improvised the details of each scene live on location while we shot. Almost all of the dialogue is lines the actors came up with on set. We would go over beforehand the emotional start and end points of scenes and what kind of information we wanted to reveal and then repeat and hone the process until I thought we'd got what we needed. Stella Evelyn also received a writing credit for her contributions on set, in pre-production and in rehearsals. We shot with multiple cameras for most dialogue scenes so we had coverage of each unique take.
The final part of the writing process was done after we'd got a rough cut ready and could see where we had set-ups which weren't paid off, plot holes, lack of clarity or pacing issues. We then did some reshoots (some of which happened years after the original shoot) to get us to the film you can see now.
There was a stressful moment towards the end of principal photography. The last weekend was scheduled two weeks before my daughter was due to be born. I was warned that my partner's family had a record of giving birth early but was optimistic we'd be ok, the same way we'd been really lucky with the weather. Early Saturday morning contractions started and the metaphorical birth of my film had to be postponed to allow for the real birth of my daughter, some of which I filmed obviously.
