Transitions Panel: Shorts to Features

The short film is often seen as a calling card; a means by which a film-maker gets noticed, a stepping stone towards making features. But is this really the case? And if so, what are the stages of that journey, and what are the perils and pitfalls.

Rather than focusing solely on feature production, this panel will explore the specific process of moving from Shorts to Features: everything from initial development, to the various funding streams and possibilities available, to the practical mechanics of putting a crew together. Above all, it will underline the various ways in which feature film making can differ from short filmmaking, and how much of a learning curve there is still to complete.

The panel will be hosted by Alison Surtees of BECTU and will feature Jason Wingard, whose critically-acclaimed first feature, IN ANOTHER LIFE has just been nominated for a BIFA Discovery Award, Writer / Director Mark Gill, who has moved from Oscar and BAFTA nominated shorts to his first feature, the Morrissey biopic, ENGLAND IS MINE, and short filmmakers Hannah Pike and Hannah Mann, who are just about to make the leap into feature filmmaking.

MARK GILL

Mark is an Oscar and Bafta nominated writer and director from Manchester, UK. Mark’s debut feature ‘England is Mine’ is based on the early life of Morrissey, icon and lead singer of seminal UK band The Smiths. His breakthrough came in 2012 with the The Voorman Problem, a whimsical dark comedy starring Martin Freeman and Tom Hollander. The film was nominated for an Oscar in 2014 and a BAFTA in 2013. Mark currently developing a new film in partnership with Riverstone Pictures and his long term producer Baldwin Li.

JASON WINGARD

In Another Life is Jason’s first feature film. It won best U.K. Feature at Raindance 2017 and has been nominated for a BIFA Discovery award. Production began in 2016 and filming took place in three stages in Manchester and Calais. Jason has completed shooting on his second feature film ‘Eaten By Lions’ – with post production due to be completed in Novemmber 2017. Jason Wingard is a multi-award-winning director based in Manchester. Accolades have included, Grand Prize Virgin Media Shorts 2011, Best Documentary First Light Movies 2012 Best Sitcom Pilot for COFILMIC 2014 and UNESCO Bradford City of film film maker of the year 2015. His BFI funded short film Going To Mecca played at Palm Springs, Rio and Berlin and was made into a feature in May this year. He has produced two shorts for Creative England on the ishorts scheme.

HANNAH STEVENSON

Hannah Stevenson is a producer with over 20 years varied experience producing Film, Television, commercials and corporate film. Hannah successfully ran her own television production company for 6 years producing a number of documentary series for ITV. Her primetime documentary The Betty Driver Story was nominated for Best Factual Entertainment Programme at the RTS North Awards. Since 2012 Hannah has been a freelance independent producer overseeing large-scale projects for clients as diverse as the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Nissan, Pepsi, Deloitte, AstraZeneca and Honda. Hannah joined forces with Jason and David in 2012 when she was asked to produce the short film Going to Mecca, the precursor to Eaten by Lions. Jason also invited Hannah to co-produce In Another Life, which further cemented the team’s working relationship. Hannah helped to shape the existing content after the first two shoots and worked with Jason to shape the narrative and then finish off the film with a final shoot in Calais. Eaten by Lions is Hannah’s first feature as a solo producer and will be Hannah’s second feature film credit once In Another Life is launched in 2017.

HANNAH PIKE

Hit & Run is Hannah’s debut short film. It has screened at Vail Film Festival, London Independent Film Festival, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Shortest Nights, High Peak Independent Film Festival, and will wrap up 2017 at the Kinofilm Festival. The film has received two awards to date; Best Short at LIFF, and Best Director at HPIFF. Hit & Run is inspired by Hannah’s uncle, an alcoholic, who moved in with her family in his darkest hours. She wrote the script years later in an attempt to show him how proud she was of him for kicking the addiction, and as an apology for behaving like an unforgiving teenage gobshite when he lived with them. Hannah has a BA in Drama from Hull University, an MA in scriptwriting from Salford University, is a BBC writersroom Future Talent Award winner and was a participant on Paul Abbott’s Shameless shadow writing scheme. The feature length script for HIT & RUN was shortlisted for the industry renowned Channel 4 Coming Up scheme and their Screenwriting Course. Despite the incredibly positive reception, Hannah realised as a first time Writer Director she should create a ‘taster’ for the feature and set about making the short from the first twenty minutes. Hit & Run was made for £7500; the cast and crew all waiving their fees to help bring this story to the screen. Hannah’s next project is the feature. Hannah and her family have just returned to live in her home town of Stockport, having spent ten years living and working in London.

Part of Kinofilm Festival. See the full Burgess programme here. See the full Kinofilm programme here.