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Your new movie Buying
Time - in a few words, what's it about?
In a future plagued by deadly diseases, a desperate father
must confront the moral implications of an advanced chip
technology that grants extra years of life at the cost of
someone else’s. It is the year 2028 and antibiotics are no longer
effective. Lifeline has invented a health chip that now provides
protection and it is available for free through the NHS. You can get
an upgrade which provides better protection and is available at a
cost. But in 2028 computing power is restricted and for someone to get
an upgrade someone has to die for the power to be transferred. People
are dying randomly and with the launch of a 2nd upgrade these deaths
have increased. The new chip will earn Lifeline billions along with
their ministerial backer who also has political ambitions.
Daniel Avery has lost his wife and child in sudden and
suspicious circumstances and as a result of recent nightmares and
flashbacks - he decides to investigate. He slowly uncovers the truth
with the help of a rebel group.
Now how did that project fall together in the first place? Andy:
I had recently done some camera work on Kris’ short film
New Years Eve. We
worked really well together and I approached him about an idea I had for a
feature film and asked he was interested in directing and producing it
with me. He was and so I got to work and started to write it.
Kris: When Andy pitched me the story my first impressions were that it was
wildly ambitious and that it was out of my comfort zone. I could see
how passionate Andy was about this idea and I admired his confidence.
I underestimated how quick the whole process was. It wasn't long until
we started shooting the first simple scenes. Andy,
what were your sources of inspiration when writing Buying
Time?
Andy: Basically I saw the movie as more of a story of loss and
how sometimes our lives can change direction with just one
event. Daniel experiences that direction change many
times. The film probably sits somewhere between science
fiction and potential fact - hopefully inspiring people to
not accept what we see on the surface but to do their own
research.
What can you tell us about your movie's
approach to science fiction, and is this a genre at all dear to you?
Kris: This is my first directorial sci-fi feature so dramas are usually my
thing. I appreciate the genre though and appreciate films like In
Time, The Purge and
Netflix's
Black Mirror series because of the
horrors of what the future brings, especially with technology. Kris,
what can you tell us about your directorial approach to the story at hand?
Kris: Myself and Andy worked a lot on character development and making this an
emotional journey to our audience. The ending was abrupt in the original
script so we fleshed it out for a more satisfying conclusion. I never
wanted the characters to be one-dimensional, nor to have any awkwardness
with any interactions unless intended. I also shot a majority of the film, so on set I was balancing directing and photography which can cut a lot of
my time and focus on both sides. What
where the challenges of bringing Buying
Time to the screen from a producer's point of view? Andy:
Making the film was always going to be a challenge. We had
no budget, but between us have 25 plus years experience of
indie filmmaking. We both brought different skills to the
table. Kris had made several narrative feature films
before and was therefore experience in the process. I am
very much a doer who likes to get things done, and I had a
big investment in the film in terms of it being my first
narrative feature and also playing the lead as Daniel. We
had both found that we worked well together and we had an
honesty that we were not afraid to bring to the table. Not
only were we involved in the process as producers but also
many other roles. This meant a lot of our time, but it
also meant we had control of other areas of the filmmaking
process which allowed us to keep the momentum going
forward. Fortunately we met an ally early on, another
filmmaker Darren Joy who brought a lot to the table and
this enabled us to concentrate on the organisational needs
of the film. When it came to filming Darren was a very
important cog in the wheel.
Kris:
Money's always an issue when it comes to filmmaking. Not
only did we put our own personal funds into this, we also
created two crowdfunding campaigns and although we never
reached our goals we were still fortunate enough to get
donations from generous people from the US as well as the
UK.
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Andy,
you also play the lead in Buying
Time - so what can you tell us about your character, what did you
draw upon to bring him to life, and did you write him with yourself in
mind from the get-go? Andy: I don’t think I consciously wrote the film with me in mind
from the start. I did think about myself playing one of
the characters in the film. However I did say to Kris
later on that I may play Daniel and he thought that would
work and I had complete confidence in Kris to direct the
film, so I decided I would go ahead and play the lead
role. I was always a bit conscious of it coming across as
a bit self-indulgent (which was never the intention) but
Kris assured me that was not the case. In terms of the
character, I am a father myself and have like most people
of my age quite a lot of experience in terms of the
challenges of life. I’ve not turned to drink but have in
the past had my own challenges with mental health. It was
a case of using my own experiences to help understand how
someone like Daniel would feel. Do talk about the rest of your
cast, and why exactly these people? Andy: I live in Devon, but have worked with many actors and
filmmakers in Norfolk during the previous 10 years that I
lived and worked there. Myself and Kris had worked with
many local actors, and we were confident of being able to
fill several of the roles with these local contacts. For
some of the characters we did have to cast our net a bit
further and call upon actors not know to us. Through some
casting shout outs we managed to pull together a talented
cast of people who brought these characters to life. Kris: A big shoutout to Ryan Enever, Estelle Long, Nick Elliott,
Paula Boyle, Duane Tucker, James Crawley, Jules Maxine, Mark Wells and Adi
Thompson for their amazing performances! They were patient, supportive and
incredibly hard working. They gave up a lot of their time and put up with
a lot of grief as there were poor weather conditions when we filmed this.
What was the
collaboration between the two of you like, both during pre-production and
on set ... and maybe also during post-production? Andy: From my point of view the whole process of working with
Kris was great. We had an honestly that worked really
well. Neither of us have big egos. We are not afraid to
say if we think something is not right and equally not
afraid to say we got it wrong. I think the fact that we
managed to complete the whole film from concept to edit in
7 months is testament of that. Kris: Andy is one of the best and most hard-working people I've
ever worked with in the film industry. He's took a lot of my criticism and
nit-picking throughout the whole process, but in the end I believe the
result was worth it. The trust was already there between us so it was very
comforting working around each other's ideas. He steals the film with his
strong presence on screen as an actor and never had to worry about his
performance. Buying
Time isn't the first time you've worked with one another - so what
can you tell us about your previous collaborations, and how did the two of
you first meet even? Andy: Kris asked me to help on his short film
New Years Eve,
which I shot for him and also edited. I had been an extra
in a couple of Kris’ films when I first started acting.
But our film friendship really only just started just over
a year ago on
New Years Eve. Kris:
Andy was a background artist on a couple of my previous features ten years
ago. As the years went by he developed a filmmaking career and I admired
his work. We made a short film together in 2023 titled
New Years Eve, which is available on
YouTube. Andy shot and
edited the film and I produced and directed it. Really liked how
straightforward the experience was on that, so working with Andy for the
long run was going to be a good choice for me. Back to Buying
Time - what can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the
on-set atmosphere?
Andy: In terms of the shoo, most filming was done by just the three of us,
Kris, myself and Darren Joy. When it came to larger scenes we did
manage to get some extra help. This was very useful indeed, and we
actually found some of the cast helping out when necessary. We started
filming some of the scenes that were simpler in terms of cast numbers
and filmed the more complex scenes towards the end. We filmed around
21 days in all (not full days apart from about 4) and we filmed in
three blocks. I had to come up from Devon and so would stop in Norfolk
for around 10 days and organise filming days during that time.
Coordinating cast, crew and locations was a very complex process but
fortunately luck was with us a little bit and the same can be said for
the weather. (When the weather was not on our side we were flexible in
our approach.) The on-set atmosphere was excellent and everyone from
the cast (including those involved in the larger scenes) was amazing.
People were patient and understood our commitment to get this film
done. Buying Time is a clear example of how true collaboration can
work and how important every single person is who is involved in
making an independent film happen. The $64-question of course, where can
Buying Time be seen?
At the moment Buying Time has been entered for some film
festivals and at the time of writing has already picked up
several film festival awards. We are in the process of
arranging a private viewing for cast, crew and supporters
due to take place of Friday 12th July. After that we are
hoping to get the film on several video-on-demand
platforms including Amazon Prime and Tubi. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Buying
Time? The film has been receiving some great reviews so far from
the festivals. There are many facets to the film, and being
just 83 minutes it keeps you engaged in the story. We hope
to get more feedback from people as it starts to be seen
by a wider audience. Any future projects you'd like to share?
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Andy: We are currently in the process of writing
a sequel to the film called Killing Time:
"Daniel and Tess must navigate a
treacherous web of betrayal and manipulation
orchestrated by their vengeful adversaries, as they
fight to uncover the truth behind a conspiracy that
threatens to tear their world apart."
We are hoping that this may well draw some attention
in terms of funding and therefore support a more
cinematic experience. I am also continuing to work on
some new documentaries, one of which called The
Brave and the Bold which is following a group
of UK weather chasers.
Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
https://www.aturnfilms.com/buyingtimefeaturefilm
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/648613324130526/
Search Buying Time feature film Thanks for the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
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eThaiCD.com
