Production Diary
Introduction
I came up with the concept for 'Bankrupt' in 1997, so it hasn't taken any time at all for the results then. The story originally focused solely on two criminals, so it's clearly developed a lot over the years.
So here it is! Everything you need to know about the production of the movie and everything you don't. All the nitty gritty details on how each day of shooting went, who lost what, who killed who and how we lost everything on our mission to finish the film (we went bankrupt after a week). I'll try to keep it brief (I'm a terrible liar). So what are you waiting for? Read on and prepare to journey into the warped mind of the director. Cheers!
Andrew Watson (writer/director)
SATURDAY 26TH JANUARY 2002
Location:
My garageTime: 3:00pm
Involved Cast and Crew: Jack Shanks, Andrew Watson and James Kimber
Overview:
Amazingly, we wrapped in under an hour. Funky! We shot 3 different pieces of footage. An overhead shot of Jack regaining consciousness, an interrogation shot of Jack sitting on a chair and a wide shot of me interviewing Jack. Unfortunately (boo,hiss) no outtakes and somehow I managed to lose the keys to the pool house (which luckily James then found).
Click here to see photos from the shoot
THURSDAY 28TH MARCH 2002
Locations:
My House, My RoadTime: 7:00pm
Involved Cast and Crew: Andrew Watson and James Kimber
Overview:
Two months on and a hectic time to be had by all. 2 and a half hours and possibly only 2 and a half minutes of useful footage. Special thanks go to Mr. Alastair Watson, who was our stunt driver for the evening. Us movie stars aren't allowed to get our hands dirty (Ed- or to drive at age 16). We got the stylish opening shot in one take (who's the daddy?) but were less lucky with my phone sequence (5 takes only to discover that the camera's monitor was clearly visible on the glass cabinet behind me). The shoot also provoked my decision to give up Pepsi for life. And Mr. Sinatra, I apologise.
THURSDAY 4TH APRIL 2002
Location:
James's living roomTime: 3:00pm
Involved Cast and Crew: Joshua Fedder, Andrew Watson and James Kimber
Overview:
Could this have possibly been the longest re-shoot ever? We had already shot the scene once in October of 2001 but had to re-shoot it due to script (and camera…and quality) changes. But somehow, it took 5 hours to shoot (probably because a certain Mr.Watson hadn't learnt his lines). Even so, we got some pretty funny outtakes, shot a nifty piss-take of 'Big Brother' and filmed an 'On Set with Josh' doc for the dvd.
Click here to see a photo from the shoot
FRIDAY 7TH JUNE 2002
Location:
My RoadTime: 3:00pm
Involved Cast and Crew: William Hayes, Andrew Watson and James Kimber
Overview:
Another two months on and the script has finally been completed. I had actually only written this scene one week prior (29/05/02) and was feeling quietly confident. We began the shoot virtually immediately after England kicked the crap out of Argentina in the group stage of the World Cup. In order to get here, Will had to brave the inevitable riots and police. It was when he arrived that I realized that Will hadn't actually read the script yet. Shit! Things then went from bad to worse as the rain began and so did the neighbours. Walking up a private road at 3:00 in the afternoon, looking moody, dressed in black and carrying a camera is clearly not a great idea. Even so, we
eventually got the scene in the can. However, the planned filming of another, earlier scene had to be postponed because we were all in hysterics over the responses of an unreliable reference tool called the 'Book of Answers'.
SATURDAY 9TH NOVEMBER 2002
Location:
My HouseTime: 4.00pm
Involved Cast and Crew: Patrick King and Andrew Watson
Overview:
Without a doubt, the easiest shoot yet. A ridiculous 5 months since our last footage was put in the can, I learnt something invaluable. Scenes sans dialogue can work wonders. The two scenes which we shot involved little more than Patrick searching for information on the computer and walking around a room with a glass of sherry in his hand. But the visual mechanics (and music I filmed it to) which I used suited the scene really well. Meanwhile, Patrick's understated acting gave us the film's most emotional moment yet. Other than the obligatory scenes, we also filmed a pool game/interview between me and Patrick and a quite insane introduction to the film's making-of documentary.
Click here to see a photo from the shoot
SATURDAY 4TH JANUARY 2003
Location: My House, My Kitchen, The Pool House
Time: 2:00pm
Involved Cast and Crew: William Hayes, Patrick King and Andrew Watson
Overview:
The first new footage of the year is in the can and a (mostly) successful shoot to boot. We shot not one, not two but three scenes. Yes. Three. Plus an 'Office' style alternate scene for the dvd (featuring Patrick and I playing Detectives Whitmore, Noxon and Smith- who?) which was extremely funny. And for anyone who is still convinced that I can't be funny, check out the ad-libs in Scene 15 and the number of times Will cracked up during the shoot. For some reason, Will found it hysterically funny every time I smiled. Even I didn't think I could be that funny. We had more decent outtakes than all the other scenes combined.
Click here to see photos from the shoot
SATURDAY 8TH FEBRUARY 2003
Location:
Christian offices, DorkingTime: 2:00pm
Involved Cast and Crew: Dave Thoms, Patrick King, Andrew Watson
Overview:
Filming on
bankrupt is now well under way. Featuring the first appearance by Dave Thoms as Detective Noxon, we shot two full scenes, one half scene and another scene which relied heavily on improvisation and will now probably never see the light of day. The shoot took just under 4 hours which shows that our reputation as time wasters has been seriously diluted and we now have a new found reputation for being able to turn practically anywhere into a police station. This is also probably going to be the only film in movie history to feature a police station scene which had to be filmed in the same building as a five year old's birthday party. Surely a novelty?