THE DREAMERS
Scott and Sid on friendship, filmmaking and casting yourself…
Why do you think you work so well together as friends and business partners?
SId SadowSkYj: The thing about me and Scott is that we’re like two guys in a pitch black room and one of us has got the torch and the other one has got the map. Without one another, we’d be screwed. I was very lucky that I met someone who has a different mindset to me, but also my strengths were his weaknesses, and vice versa.
Scott EllIott: How me and Sid work is that, if he finds a pound, he’d ring me up to say he has 50p for me. Everything’s 50/50.
Why was it so important to you both to make a film?
SS: From a young age, Scott and I were just obsessed with films. To make one just seemed like the impossible dream. We thought let’s just go for it, and if we fail, we fail, but we’re going to fail at something that we really want to do.
When did you decide to make it about your own experiences as entrepreneurs?
SS: We sold our business and we ended up travelling the world and started meeting new people, and people are just naturally inquisitive, asking what we’ve been up to, etc. Me and Scott never thought that what we did was that remarkable, but when you see people’s faces, they just couldn’t… They were mesmerised and inspired by our journey.
How did you learn to make a film with no experience?
SS: In terms of our approach, we’d look at YouTube videos and we’d watch movies. We had realised that we had so much experience from seeing so many films.
SE: We were influenced by loads of films. When you first see Scott and Sid in the film I remember thinking, “How do I get across these two different characters very quickly?” and I looked to Thelma And Louise. And Forrest Gump too. I liked the top scene where he’s on the bench and I tried to do something similar where Scott and Sid are in a taxi. Once you’re in the process, you’re pulling bits from all sorts of places.
How did you split the filmmaking process between you?
SE: I was responsible for the creative side – the writing, casting and the directing. Sid’s responsibility was more laying the tracks ahead, the producing and getting everybody together. But in the writing process, I would say “What about this?” and he would say if he didn’t like it, and make an alternative suggestion. So he had the easy part by just telling me, and I would have to do all the hard bloody work in typing it up!
What was it like to cast yourselves?
SE: I never saw them as me or Sid. To this day, I don’t. They’re two characters. When I was writing the film, the character Scott was very childlike – when he saw a table he wouldn’t sit at the table, he’d either jump on top of it or crawl underneath it. So I was kind of looking for that in the auditions. For Sid, it was more the rigidness, and the stature and just this feeling.
SS: Tom [Blyth, who plays Sid] and Richard [Mason, who plays Scott] worked with us for about 7-8 months before the film got greenlit, and then about 4-5 weeks before we started filming we actually got them in for rehearsals and I think that was really important, because they got to live with me and Scott and it really solidified their friendship off-screen.
The film starts with a very powerful and emotional scene, which kind of wrongfoots the audience…
SE: Yeah, I wanted it to feel like a freight train, and the audience had to get on-board quick. The dialogue is very fast-paced, which matures as the film develops. The filming style also reflects the way the characters grow. At the start, I wanted it to feel kind of clumsy at times, and then to tighten up. So if you rewatch it, you’ll get that we’re learning the filmmaking process as the film is being made.
What advice would you give to other aspiring filmmakers?
SS: Whatever story you decide to do, it has to be something that you’re totally passionate about. One that you’re willing to run through a wall for. I think that our story was one that we felt needed to be told. And, although we make it sound simple, it really is just a case of a lot of hard work. It’s blood, sweat and tears. You need to be willing to take the hits and face the rejection because you believe in it so strongly.
Scott And Sid iS AvAilAble now on dvd, blu-rAy And digitAl downloAd. ScottAndSid.com
‘I NEVER SAW THEM AS ME OR SID. TO THIS DAY, I DON’T. THEY’RE TWO CHARACTERS’ SCOTT ELLIOTT