Sex, No Lies, and an awful lot of videotape!

It's always nice to get an unsolicited offer of work. A couple of weeks ago when I was on the train up to see my mother in Yorkshire, my agent forwarded me an email that had been sent to me from a budding producer and director in the final year of their film course at the University of Creative arts in Farnham. Having seen my work, they wondered if I might be interested in appearing in their graduation film. Unpaid of course, but their letter was interesting enough to awaken my curiosity, and there being nothing much else to do on a train journey to Doncaster, I asked my agent to forward me the script.

Almost the first thing we would see of my character, Ian Morgan, ( no mean coincidence that I played "Ian Chapman" in four series of "Peep Show") was him having sex with "an attractive 24-year-old Hispanic young man" in a seedy hotel bedroom.

No one has ever asked me to have sex before.  Not professionally anyway. My one previous disrobing was in a production of "Privates on Parade"  at the Northcott Theatre Exeter in 1980. There are people in Devon who are still recovering. That showing of my flesh was for comic purposes. This one was probably to be less so. Working on the maxim that one should always accept a challenge, I emailed my agent to say that I might be interested if their shooting dates could work around my current filming schedule. I also added the proviso that I would not be removing my boxer shorts, and would hope this would be taken into account as to how they would shoot it.

So it came to pass that I found myself on a wet Wednesday morning in a Travel Lodge in Aldershot in bed with a charming young actor with whom I was about to simulate sex. The great thing was that working with an eager, but less than experienced film crew, I found there was very little place for nerves.  I  had allowed them three takes to get it right, but mercifully only two were needed.

Evidently it looks fabulous. I haven't seen it as yet as I only want to see my wobbly bits in the context of the whole story, but I'm told by the editor and by the director that it looks great and that it is "very funny". I'm not sure that I intended it to be, but probably it's for the best.

The rest of the film, or rather my contribution to it, was shot over three days last weekend in a rather grand house in Farnham.  Jack, the student producer, was first class and although we were denied the luxury of a trailer in the car park, the cast were well looked after and we had a great time. I think my temper came near to fraying on only one occasion, when I had to point out that ultimately when the cameras turn, the actors had to be left to get on with telling the story, rather than worrying about how many carrots and peas there were on the table.  

The last time I did a student film was in 1990. A witch burning fable shot in a wood near Bishop Stortford over 10 days. Again I did the film for no money on an expenses only basis, but got a great piece of work on video that I was very proud of at the time, and the added bonus eighteen months later of a cheque for over £1500  dropping through my door when the film was sold to BBC2. You don't necessarily have to give away all the rights just because you're doing something for nothing.

At a seminar I was taking part in today at Surviving Actors, with the delightful Anita Dobson, we were asked how you might break into television  when most of your credits were in another area.  Musical theatre perhaps. The young questioner had been told, even by her agents, that her field was musical theatre and they couldn't consider putting her up for anything on television or film. When we asked if she had anything in either of those media to show people, she said no. There should be no element of surprise then that finding  such work was proving difficult.

Perhaps this is the case where the student film can be an absolute bonus to a young actor. While self taping can be all the rage for auditions these days - well it seems to be in the States, but hasn't quite caught on here, and one can still get dragged into the centre of town to put five lines on tape - self filmed showreels rarely look good, or do the job.

Having some well lit, and well filmed student drama on your showreel can make all the difference. These days your agent may well have to show some of your work to a casting director before they will even consider you for an interview. It's difficult to get things for your showreel without having done the work and all too easy to find yourself stuck in this Catch-22 situation.

So keep an eye out on the casting services for the next student film that you see. The future Scorsese's, Spielberg's, and Boyle's  may well be at the National School of film and television, Bournemouth film school, or indeed at the University of Creative arts in Farnham. They need a break, just as much as young actors. Bringing them together can produce exciting results for both.

And it can give you the chance to drop your pants!