Dave Hastings
Dave Hastings is a British writer/director/producer and the man behind short films: Halloween: Nightfall (2008), Wulf (2009), Friday the 13th: No Man's Land (2010), Halloween Night Terror (2012), Halloween One Good Scare (2013) and My Life Without You (2014). Currently Dave is in the stages of finalizing the release of his upcoming anthology drama Checking In, which is co-produced by Kaushy Patel and has the shared involvement of several different writer and directors. Checking In was honoured at the London Film Awards with the 'Best British Film' of 2014.
SN: Good afternoon, Dave. Welcome to Screen Nut and thank you for giving up some of your time to speak with me. Firstly, take me back to the very beginning; what ignited the initial spark for filmmaking? Was there anything of anyone in particular that influenced you, or was it a natural born fascination?
Dave: Hello Mike and thank you so much for wanting to hear me waffle! Will certainly do my best to answer everything you have with great pleasure!
My spark for wanting to make films, my inspiration so to speak first and foremost is my parents. They have let me watch films for as long as I can remember, all types of genre, old classic black and white films (Brief Encounter for instance), fantasy films, wonderful drama pieces, sci-fi, comedies (I love 80s comedy, especially films like Planes, Trains and Automobiles! They don't make them like that any more!).
As well as this, it was a family tradition almost at weekends to watch the regular late night Hammer Horror film that would always be on either BBC1 or 2 or a classic Godzilla film on Channel 4 (sometimes you'd get lucky and it would be a double bill!). And in the week, my Nan and Grandad would record further films like Friday the 13th part 6 or Halloween 4 on Sky Movies (we didn't have those channels), which I would watch in the back room when I went there.
So I was continually surrounded by films from an early age, and because I was watching them, I got to know who the actors were (Peter Cushing was and still is such an idol to me), and wanting to know how they made the special fx, as well as wanting to write my own sequel ideas. So it was a mish-mash of everything really, I just became invested in the whole arena, and never looked back.
SN: What was the first piece of filmmaking that you ever did, and how did it feel at the time to be turning your natural passion into practicality?
Dave: My first film was a short drama. I was known as the horror nut (a name I proudly still wear), so I wanted to show I could actually do something else first. I wasn't just into horror. It was a short film about a man who sees the fabled light at the end of the tunnel we apparently all see when crossing over. Quite morbid some would say, but it was done delicately and with nice shots (so the tutors said!).
It was definitely stressful, but unlike most stressful situations, I actually enjoyed it, as we were all being creative, wanting to make a good college film, and this stress was just making sure we did the best we could. It's like an invisible friend giving you pointers over your shoulder and whispering in your ear things like 'did you plan for another take?' or 'we're running out of time, maybe try filming it this way or using that prop". Weird, but thankfully it's never left me since. So it was fun, and has been more fun ever since! Can't imagine my life not making films.
SN: When you first started turning you thoughts and ideas into reality, did you ever have any long-term goals or aspirations as to where you wanted this path to lead you, or was it just a case of living purely in the moment and enjoying the process?
Dave: I've always wanted to make films, either writing them, producing them, directing, hell, even just being a production assistant. Anything I can do to help create them, and wherever they end up, I will always support them to that end too, whether they are a film of my own or someone else's. So I knew I always would carry it on as much as I could.
SN: Currently you are in post-production of the wonderful award winning drama Checking In, which is a fascinating look into the ordinary lives of several guests of a hotel, told over a twenty-four hour period. How was the initial idea for this born?
Dave: Thank you firstly for the kind review you gave the film, the whole cast and crew are overwhelmed by your kind words! We are so glad people around the world are enjoying it. The original idea sprang up a few years back. We'd all worked on short films, helping one another, and we all see film making as a set of continuing challenges, each time you try and up your game so to speak. So we all decided to come together, pull our resources and do a feature film (eek!).
And, we really wanted to do something special and carry an idea that would have quite a lot of scope. Which is quite a task to set yourself when you have no investment or little to no budget! But we agreed on the idea of a hotel, we'd all stayed in one, and you see people from all walks of life in them. So the question was, all these other people, what are they here for, what are their stories? It was fascinating to imagine and we decided to base the now anthology film over a 24hr period, that way each of us would have the opportunity to tell a story we all brought to the table. Stories that would weave very gently together but not rely on each other, that they could be self contained at the same time.
SN: Absolutely my pleasure and congratulations goes to each and everyone involved. As you mentioned, Checking In is an anthology film that involves 6 directors, 7 writers and 5 different stories. That's a lot of different minds for one project. One of the things that impressed me the most was the varying levels of emotions that each story took me on. Each part affected me differently (emotionally) than the previous. Was this roller-coaster effect a conscious decision by the team, and what were the biggest challenges of creating an anthology film that flowed as a single feature?
Dave: Thank you again, any film is a massive commitment, and this was pretty much our first big film. We planned the storylines out in advance, and then we all allocated a story to each writer/director, who then went away to write up a storyline that had some kind of personal connection to them within the brief they were given off me and co-producer Kaush Patel. This way the stories would be real. Once we had all the stories, I then went away and begin to join the dots, the small moments between the end of one segment and the beginning of another, which mostly dealt with Radka the maid (Nic Preston) and Alec the manager (Roger David Francis). We then assigned dates (the stories were all shot out of sequence), and we'd arranged to use the Best Western Baron's Court Hotel as our location (who we are incredibly grateful too!). While me and Kaushy actively produced each segment, each story also had a small crew (mostly the same folks), but they helped share the load so to speak. This allowed each writer/director to concentrate on the stories and the actors, and to make sure everything was told and shown as best it could be. We had some amazing actors who we are completely in debt to as they stood out so much, all conveying so many different emotions, conflicts and warmth, whatever the situation we found them all in. This film would have been nothing without their amazing talents as well as those also from the crew we had, who were also stunning and so professional!
SN: Picking up on the location for the moment; tell us about the experience of filming at the beautiful (and active) Baron's Court Hotel.
Dave: It's a wonderful place. And we were so humbled, we'd been to so many other hotels and we were just dismissed. But Yvonne Hyde, the manager took a chance on us and we are forever grateful to her and the staff who were very accommodating. The hotel itself is pretty much one of the characters in the film too so the location helps the other characters find themselves almost, kind of helps them maje a decision. Its a cross roads of sorts if you want to look at it metaphorically.
And, considering in total we were there for in total a good month and a half through various dates and its a functioning business, well, they were just so amazing and patient with us.
SN: You mentioned the amazing talent of the actors that you had. Each actor brought something unique to the film and there were some wonderful standout performances from the likes of Conner McKenzy, Reynah Oppal, Michelle Cox, Ernest Vernon and Phil Stanley. Tell us about the casting process and how you discovered these great talents.
Dave: Our actors are all superstars! Some will say I'm just biased, but my goodness they all truly are! Each one of them brought exceptional variety and warmth to the characters & sets & helped make the film reach out to a wide range of audiences worldwide.
Some actors we'd worked with before & were already close friends with while some we met through other filmmakers & their projects (I love networking), while some roles we held auditions for which was crazy and so much fun!
The end scene itself (no spoilers Ed!), was a direct result of an audition with Sheila Evans & Patricia Halstead who came in to read for one role, but we loved them so much with what they acted out (they had us in stitches!), that we just created the end scene for them instead. That was the beauty of this film, it was so spontaneous in parts and made it all the more fun to make.
SN: Yes, they were a fantastic way to wrap it up. Now, you next film is a dramatic shift in genre from that of Checking In and sees you living up to you 'horror nut' reputation. What can you tell us about The House of Screaming Death? Am I right in that it is going to be another anthology film?
Dave: Yeah we enjoyed working on Checking In so much & despite all the stress and scheduling and all the other obstacles we came across, we're mad enough to want to do it all over again. And it's like I said before, with each new project you challenge yourself further & build on what you've learnt and experienced with something new. So, because we all love horror, especially the hammer/amicus content from the 1950-70s, we thought yeah lets do that next. And we really have upped the 'stakes' this time (was that a cheeky spoiler!?).
There's ALOT of exciting stuff in the script that pays homage to the style, tone, look and atmosphere of those earlier films while bringing it into modern day without it losing all those ingredients that make those films so enjoyable to watch still now
The premise is one night, in an old manor house, a mysterious figure called THE ARCHITECT tells four chilling tales of the supernatural to his guests, each with their own bloody sting in their tail. And as each short story comes to a spinge-tingling and horrific conclusion, we realise that The Architect also has one last scare up his sleeve to reveal.
We've just launched the official website for the film and while more content is being added as we go along, lots more information is on there at the minute for readers to see and support (onabeamoflight.wix.com/screamingdeath).
We are also going to be pushing a massive indigogo funding scheme in April-May time with loads of creepy reward schemes for contributors who pledge to help us raise a substantial budget we are going to need.
Again, we're raising the stakes (cheeky spoiler again!), for ourselves so all the help we can get will go into making the BEST POSSIBLE film we can, and hopefully with Checking In just winning the Best British Film award in London, then people will know we take our filmmaking work incredibly serious and with so much passion. And we've had interest from some quite famous actors already from the TV and Film world, so we're very excited about it! & It's definitely going to give you sleepless nights!
SN: It sounds fantastic. I look forward being V.I.P promoter of that one too (he says with diary gripped in hand ha ha!). So when you say 'we enjoyed working on Checking In so much', am I to take that as you will be working with the same team again?
Dave: We'd welcome you certainly! Yeah while we're all working together again, our plan was always to just keep branching out each time, getting more people involved, giving more people a chance to do and make stuff too with us. So if for instance there was a ' Checking In 2' (and its a big if at the moment although people keep asking!), me and Kaush would produce but let other writes potentially have a go at doing a story with new characters and such. It keeps it fresh & exciting!
SN: I must congratulate you on winning 'Best British Film' at the London Film Awards; it was certainly well deserved. What was going through your mind at the time?
Dave: Thank you so much! It was completely out the blue. The night before I knew the film had been selected but because it was so late I was waiting till the next morning to announce that. Then at 5am the following morning, I had an email which stated we'd actually won best british film! I was half a sleep still & wondered if i was dreaming but then it just dawned on me, a wonderful shock! So I got up and quickly put together a press release, so that the cast & crew would wake up to a nice surprise waiting for them. The rest of the day was amazing, everyone was tweeting, facebook feeds were full announcing the news! It was a fantastic early Christmas present! And a moment we'll all never forget!
SN: Finally, what are your hopes for the future?
Dave: To get 'Checking In' distributed in some way (its tough out there!), so we're looking into various avenues for that while making sure Screaming Death is a bold, bigger and a great scary ride!
I've also been busy writing other films, there's a feature I've written (a love story no less!), we did a 3 min short last year (we were bored one summer evening so took the cameras out and filmed something quite shocking in tone!), which has just been accepted into a London film festival (we're just waiting for them to announce it all), while my ultimate dream jobs one day would be to write a 'Halloween' sequel, but with Michael Myers/The Shape as a real dark entity, mysterious, evil and a real nasty trickster, exactly how Carpenter envisioned him in the original film. I have a really interesting idea I'd love to pitch one day to the right people... fingers crossed I guess.
SN: Well you certainly are covering a wide range of genres. Dave Hastings, it's been great speaking with you and I thank you for taking the time out. Congratulations on Checking In, I'm sure it will be a great success. I wish you all the best with that and Screaming Death, and good luck with all your future projects. Thank you.
Dave: Thank you so much Mike for taking precious time out of your busy schedule to want to interview us too. I'm so very glad you enjoyed Checking In, its the best feeling in the world to know people are enjoying it & having such positive experiences/reactions to the characters and stories within!