In conversation with: Writer and director Mike Tweddle and his latest indie cinema thriller

Darlington-born Mike Tweddle, writer, director and owner of Broken Scar Productions, speaks to Bdaily about his up-and-coming feature-length, independent film, Sparrowhawk.

I’ve been involved in writing since being a teenage punk rocker, writing music and political fanzines. I’m now 52, and although I live in North Yorkshire, I’m from Darlington.

In 2005, I was contacted by a crazy Swiss barrister to write a screenplay for his equally crazy movie, ‘The Last Blast’… From that point, I started to write short and full-length screenplays for other people - and myself - and eventually decided that I would like to direct.

I work as a quarry inspector whilst directing, which - whilst paying the bills - allows me to concentrate on building the film production business.

After a few short film projects, I directed my first full-length feature, ‘Damaged Goods’, in 2013. It was an anti-dog fighting film… It went on to be shown in the UK, US, Australia and Europe! My desire has always been to write and bring stories to life - my first novel was published in 2010.

That brings me onto Sparrowhawk… It’s a feature-length crime thriller set in one location: a dilapidated, deserted workshop. An interrogation is taking place of a seemingly homeless man, following a shooting at a local casino that has left four people dead.

As the interrogation evolves, it becomes clear that neither the covert police team nor their subject are necessarily telling the truth… Sparrowhawk’s title was inspired by a beautiful poem by Ted Hughes, particularly from the first line: “Slips from your eye corner overtaking your first thought”. In my work as a quarry inspector, I have seen lots of birds of prey and, in particular, sparrowhawks.

They’re tiny, but they kill prey that is much larger. Sparrowhawk is a metaphor for this film.

In terms of its funding, Sparrowhawk’s budget was raised via crowdfunding, my own money as well as investment by a very kind benefactor from Newcastle.

The budget was just £12k… Probably the equivalent of a day’s catering on a major film!

The creative process for Sparrowhawk went something like this: I came up with an idea after deciding it would be easier to make a feature film with less actors and fewer locations - an interrogation scenario seemed interesting.

I met with my writing partner, Mark Stephenson, and after kicking the story into shape, we started to write the screenplay. Within a couple of months, we had the bones of the screenplay… Next, we trawled through actor websites and contacted people we know to audition for the six part-story.

The actors were fantastic… Kenneth Scott Wallace, an Australian actor, turned into a superb lead role and Tony Howard played a sociopath a little too believably!

Alongside this, I accumulated a small but highly efficient crew: two cameramen; one sound man; one assistant director; a few runners… I found the location in Darlington. After that, it was just a case of finalising the script, setting a schedule and going for it.

It took two weeks to shoot - on a Canon C300 at 4k which resulted in some truly beautiful footage - and the editing has been carried out over the past 12 months.

The launch of the film will get the ball rolling, and then I can start entering it into film festivals and ultimately find a sales agent and a distributor.

In terms of the future, we’ve got lots on! In early 2019, a short film (starring a well-known TV star) designed specifically to be entered into film festivals is in the works. Over the next two years, I am making a documentary about someone I consider the most inspirational person I’ve ever met: Stephen Murray, a former BMX world champion rider.

He had a crash in 2007 that resulted in him being a quadriplegic. However, he’s the most positive person and has brought his two sons up to become BMX riders themselves. It’s an amazing story that needs to be told and I intend to do that.

I’m also sitting down with Mark Stephenson again to begin writing a new full-length screenplay, going into production in 2020.

To find out more, head to SparrowhawkFilm.co.uk.

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