Meet the call centre worker who is now directing a comedy series
A DIRECTOR from East Kilbride is the creative genius behind the comedy series Star Force which features actors such as James McAvoy, Game of Thrones’ Kit Harrington and Outlander co- stars Caitriona Balfe and Steven Cree.
Ross Mains, 25, works full- time at a call centre and found himself looking for filming projects during lockdown back in March. Fastforward seven months and he has been working with some of the biggest acting talents from around the world.
Ross, his brother Kevin, and friend Brendan O’Rourke co- wrote a short comedy sketch and invited actors, who were also out of work due to the Covid- 19 pandemic as filming came to a halt across the world, to take part in the project.
Outlander star Steven Cree was the first to take part and showed the video to his friend James McAvoy – and the Hollywood star immediately wanted to be involved.
The latest instalment of Star Force took more than four months to produce as the cast got back to their regular filming commitments as coronavirus restrictions eased across the world.
Ross Mains, a graduate of City of Glasgow College’s media and communication course, said:
“There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes. It takes time to learn lines, review shots, film retakes and they even do their own costumes and make- up.
“So, the fact that they’re doing for free is really overwhelming.”
One of the biggest challenges that the project has faced is filming remotely during the pandemic.
Ross explained: “I’ll film myself doing the shots and send directing prompts over to them. They’ll then record their scenes and send it back to me for feedback.
“At first, I was very anxious about asking them to do reshoots as they are huge stars, but I have to be professional as I’m here to do a job and I can’t be a fanboy too much.
“You look up to them but because they’re so famous you’d expect them not to listen – but they’re all lovely and want the best from the project too.”
Collectively, the Star Force series has had more than 2.5 million views on social media with tens of thousands of positive comments - and was even mentioned on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show in the US.
On the success of the videos, Ross said: “The feedback has been really positive. I’m used to doing a lot of comedy videos and because humour is so subjective it can often lead to mixed feedback.
“Star force is the first thing that I’ve worked on and have not seen any negative comments and it’s really positive. It’s really good to know that everyone’s hard work is appreciated and that it’s just not us that find it funny.”
Ross added: “I’m not the best director in the world but I might be the luckiest.”
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