Jane Frisby is without a doubt one of the nicest people in the film industry. I met up with her to discuss a superb film she had just produced – ‘The Fighter’s Ballad‘. We had a brilliant chat and anyone who wants to work in film can learn something by listening to her advice.
Frost: What made you want to go into producing?
JF: ‘I was getting a lot of low-to-micro Budget Film scripts, wanting the same commercial
actors attached, either urban hoodie ‘gangsta’ films or Horror / Zombie type scripts,
usually not very original or amazing.
“I met Peter Cadwell putting ‘The Fighter’s Ballad’ on as a play. It received the ‘Best of 5 Theatre Plays’ in the Independent Award, and the Play’s Writing by Peter Cadwell and his acting got fantastic reviews, so the writing had already been much appreciated by Critics and the Public. Peter had already done the play to great success at the ‘Actor’s Church’ with great Actor Jack Shepherd playing the Priest, but to a limited Audience, it needed to go bigger, it had been done as a ‘theatre piece already, and I put my producers hat on. It just happened like that. It wasn’t a conscious decision.”
What was the hardest thing about making the film?
“Getting the money… I started with wealthy friends that I knew, public funding, private investors and it just wasn’t happening. Then luckily our Director Tony Ukpo’s father, had investor contacts in Nigeria. That is where the money came from. We were very lucky.”
Did you cast it?
“Peter Cadwell was cast as he had written it, and is also a WONDERFUL actor, but I cast Clive [Russell] and all of the rest.”
What drew you to the script?
“It had so much to say. It was very relevant of life these days. The youth – what have they got now? Education isn’t up to scratch, lack of work, mental health, people on the streets, violence, drugs. Where do they channel that energy? The fact that this guy ends up in a church and has this confrontation with the Priest. It’s controversial and asks questions of the Audience and it challenges Religion and the Church – there were so many issues I felt were very thought-provoking”.
What was the initial first step?
First Step: there were actors who really loved the script, but were unavailable, Clive’s Agent called me and said he wanted to meet as he was interested, we all met him a few days later and he came on board the project, Which was amazing news, this is how the project started.
How are you going to get it out there?
“The easy part was shooting it actually! Then obviously the post-production, the colour grade, the sound, the music. Getting it out there has been very difficult. We went through the usual channels of trying to get into festivals, we did a BAFTA screening, which was fantastic – a good friend of mine managed to get BAFTA for half price. We invested in that and invited a lot of people. We also did a screening at Soho house and invited people to come.
“The public response has been amazing. We put it up online and in the past few weeks we have had 600 people come to the website from all over the world. I am now looking at doing charity screenings – there are a lot of deserving charities out there – and religious screenings, going down that route. I want to do more screenings, as when the public sees it, it creates a lot of buzz. We are doing that as well as going down the normal route of sales agents.”
Do you have any advice for people who want to make their own films?
“Do it. Just do it. If you have a project and you feel like it should be made and you are passionate about it, then somehow you will get it done. Somehow, you will find a location you will get for nothing or cheap. Just get a group of people surrounding you who are as passionate as you are about it.”
How hard was it to juggle doing the film and working as a casting director?
“It has been very tough actually. There have been times when I have been pulling my hair out trying to get people to screenings. I didn’t realise how hard it would be. Trying to work and do my job while casting a corporate or a commercial at the same time, whilst also looking after my daughter who is 15 – It has been a massive amount of balls being juggled – but sometimes you work well under pressure.”
Would you ever want to direct?
“Never. I love casting and I would love to do even more producing. I like working with actors that I rate and having control of the project from script stage to final edit”.
What made you choose the actors?
“When I read the script I had a vision of someone like Liam Neeson. I also thought of the priest as being a big man. I had a vision of this man being a mountain of a man, and he would be quite weathered because of his past. I have always remembered Clive from the RSC. He is a very subtle actor and also 6′ 4” and big.
“I think with him being Scottish as well, there is that sort of Celtic lilt to his voice. Talking to a fellow Scot. [CB: I’m a Scottish actor] Well, I’m not Scottish but I love Scottish actors, Irish actors – I have an apartment in Dublin – and the Welsh. The Scottish are great actors. There is something about Celts. The way the speak is just lyrical.”
What changes have you noticed in the film industry?
“The biggest change is the digital cameras. They have been absolutely massive and you can buy them for £1,000. We shot on the Canon 5D. It’s a stills camera, but the quality is good for film. That has opened up a lot of people being able to make films. I think that is a good thing because it enables a lot of people with not a lot of money to make good quality films. The independent filmmaking scene should be really buzzing now. The one thing I worry about is people trying to make indie films with little money, but trying to make them commercial as well.”
What advice do you have for actors?
“Learn as much as you can. Read screenplays, do workshops, go to masterclasses, go to the theatre, go to the cinema, There are loads of social networking events you can go to. Watch other people’s short films, especially if you really like the director. You never know where they are going to end up. That happened with me on a film that I did and I loved it.
“A short film I cast got into the North London Film Festival and I got in touch with the director/writer of this lovely short I saw there. Two years later, he got in touch and asked me to cast his short. It is social networking, keeping in touch with what’s going on.
“The first person to give me a commercial casting was Mel Smith. My dad had been around Soho handing out plastic frisbees with ‘Jane Frisby Casting’ on them. I got a phone call one evening and this guy said it was Mel Smith. He said., ‘I am doing a commercial and I want you to cast it. I loved the Frisbee’. So I started working with Mel. It’s things like that.
“It’s hard. There is a lot of work there for very little pay, but I think that is across the board – acting, casting, everything. I am casting this short with a wonderful Director Jack Price who I have worked with many times in the past in Bristol. There is lots of talent there. I did that just for my train fare. It’s not all about making money. If you are passionate and you want to work, you just have to keep doing it.”
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The Fighter’s Ballad OFFICIAL TRAILER from Tony Stark on Vimeo.