Once upon a time in Aberystwyth, a set of film students would have done anything to get a movie made. This was NOT that movie.
Instead, they settled for the world of “possible.” A film that could be shot in one location, with three actors, for a crowdfunded budget which would mainly go to making “perks” (and perhaps entering a few film festivals.)
When that failed, one of them made this film instead. Strangely enough, some people who watched it laughed at something other than the production valleys. Er, values. Yes, it was entertaining on its own merits.
How do you make a movie that people enjoy when the neighbour (he is British, so he’s not a neighbor) is cutting his hedge at full volume? How do you make a film at all in a terraced house without a parking space?
If you want to see why our audience liked it, then watch the film. But, if you also want to know how it was made, to see the skeleton of a screenplay that the actors had to work with, then this book might be for you.
Ask your local bookseller about availability.
An ebook of the Dara Says screenplay and production diary is now available at the Google book store.
The following URL should work. Let me know if it doesn’t.
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Vasco_Phillip_de_Sousa_Dara_Says?id=xW0jEAAAQBAJ
This is the screenplay we used to produce the movie, it is what the actors worked from. (Or as close as I can find to it.) It also includes the production diary that records our adventures in filmmaking.
Dara Says was shot on a microbudget in Wales. For years I was looking for a story that I could shoot with no money, trying to write a story that had the fewest characters and locations possible but that could still be interesting.
Did I succeed? Well, we did succeed in creating a movie that some people enjoyed watching and made a few sales. Now life has moved us toward other projects.
Did people really like my script like they say they did or did they just want to be part of something? Read the script and find out.
Dara Says screenplay and production diary.
We hope to have it in more stores soon.