Choice Brits - Script Factory

16 Years of Alcohol battles against the rugby - and wins!
 

Richard Jobson's 16 Years of Alcohol screened head to head with the rugby World Cup Final last saturday morning - and found its own fans.
Love Actually hit Producer Duncan Kenworthy tore himself away from the nailbiting extra time finish to introduce the screening - here's what he had to say:

"Well, I’ll choose to take this as a vote for the rugby rather than a vote against either myself or the film! Sorry for the delay and I hope that you all got word yesterday that it was going to be put back. But who knew that the game was going to go to extra time!?
But here we are, and I’m going to say first off just how thrilled I am not only to be supporting this film but also the programme Choice Brits, which I think is a wonderful way of levelling the playing field against the big studios’ purchasing power in putting their films before the BAFTA voters as well as the public. So what we’re not saying is ‘vote British’, what we’re saying is: here as some great British films which may not have the budget to release on large number of screens or even to put ads in the trades, or having special screeners - but they’re very worthy of your attention before you make your vote.
It’s not just the twelve films that are being screened in the series: if you go onto The Script Factory website you will find a list of all the British films that are eligible for the awards, a list that is about seventy strong, so for those of you who are BAFTA members, do take a look at that. I think it’s a really interesting way of focusing our attention on some really quality work and I’m delighted to be supporting this.
I’m proud to be associated with this film although I’ll say straight off that I haven’t seen it, and I’m going to be watching with you. This is all about drawing people’s attention to the work rather than promoting it particularly, and as I say it’s great to have this programme that somehow brings the industry closer together. I love the fact that Danny Boyle was introducing Kevin Macdonald’s drama-documentary Touching the Void and Anthony Minghella was introducing The Heart of Me. I think it’s great that people are doing this for others in the industry.
There are only a few things I can say about a film I haven’t seen, obviously! Here is the first directing job of the kind of person that Variety calls ‘multi-hyphenous’: he does more than one job - he’s a producer, he’s a writer, he’s a composer, a model, a film critic and now a director. Is there anything he can’t do?! Maybe he’ll buy a cinema and become an exhibitor!
I first heard of 16 Years of Alcohol about two years ago when I was executive-producing Heartlands, the Damien O’Donnell film, and that was being produced by Richard Jobson, and so when we were up some windswept Yorkshire moor he actually told me about 16 Years of Alcohol and I said it sounded fantastic. He gave me the screenplay, which I loved. I thought it was very wonderfully poetic; tricky to do in terms of tone, but I was very moved by it. When he said that one of the supporters of the film, one of the people who helped it get made, and in fact the person who suggested that Richard should direct, was Wong Kar Wai, who is famous for another film about love, then I understood the references. I understood why Wong Kar Wai would find it so beguiling because - at least in the script, I’m going to find out whether it’s the same in the film as well - the tone is incredibly poetic and takes one directly into the heart, beyond the reality of the narrative and directly into the heart of what Richard is trying to say about the reality of love, violence and maybe even alcohol.
Unfortunately DNA had used up its first-time director quotient at the time and the deal with Fox Searchlight was in the middle of negotiation so we couldn’t finance it and I was very tortured about that. But I’m really delighted that Richard got the money together – not a lot of money - but by all accounts, it looks much bigger than its budget. I’m delighted that he made it but also that he got so much support for it, getting lots of awards. What I’m going to be looking for is use of music: he famously began his career as a front-man for The Skids, and I know that music is crucial to him.
The visuals, I think he’s someone who you can tell from his fashion sense, in fact one of the things he was very excited about in Yorkshire when we were on the moor that there was a discount fashion warehouse in the neighbourhood that he was going to take me to. I was annoyed he never did, but he’s someone who’s famously stylish so I’m going to be looking at the camerawork and design as well.
The tone is interesting and is often the tricky thing for a first-time director but by all accounts he’s done it brilliantly. I hope that from now on he’s going to be constructing movies rather than deconstructing them - I first met him when he was a journalist for Sky, being interviewed by him and entertained by him and educated by his deep love of film.
 
So thank you again for coming, I’m sorry there are so many absences. Apparently we were very heavily subscribed but I’m afraid that the rugby has done us in, but enjoy it.