Tagged: creative process
Filming ‘Rent boy’: Behind The Scenes
Director: Melissa Fergusson
DOP: Tim Butler-Jones
1st AD/Sound Tech: Rob Ipsen
Art Department: Lina Cruz
Makeup & Hair Stylist: Angela Crumpe
Rent boy: Lee ah yen Faatoia
Stripper: Christine Becker
Probation officer: Baz Te Hira
Homeless man: Gabriel Henry
John: Michael Hallows
Special thanks: Paper Bag Princess, Christine Becker, Four Eyes Media, Rebecca Parr, Cafe Al-Madina, Topic Rentals, Splice & LYC.
Storytelling Never Stops
Just finished #projectsalt.
Some people ask “How long did it take to write the play?” or “Does it take a long time to produce a show?” or maybe “Do you make any money, from theatre?”
Nothing is guaranteed. Writing a play takes as long as it takes, really. Normally 6-12 months in my experience. I walk around with the story (in my head) for a while, before I pen anything.
Is money important in theatre?
To be honest, I don’t think so. Just keep waiting tables, teaching violin, working at the bookshop and (never stop) believing in the cause.
Inspiration comes from the street: people’s behaviours, graffiti, shop windows, the smell of cinnamon, small children, truth and sex.
I have my next play on my person, strapped invisibly to my body.
Will tweet about it soon.
Rehearsal Room – salt
Working on ‘salt’ (as writer/director), is continually a ‘treasure trove’ of possibilities, with Coen and Jess.
Creating new work is my absolute passion – breathing life into these characters (Henry & Lilly) and listening inwardly and outwardly, for both quiet and noisy ‘human’ discoveries.
Mental health (cyclothymia) brings suppressed feelings, then honesty. Or not?
Is anyone ever honest with themselves, when ‘love’ is involved?
Filming trailer for ‘salt’ tomorrow will be a blast. Think love in abstract form, interactive landscapes and truth.
#projectsalt is just over three weeks, from being a reality!
“Truth in theatre is always on the move.” – Peter Brook
Playwriting
“You are one of those girls, that arrives from nowhere and departs the same way. You seem present but removed?” Will, ‘pURe’
Love that line. I am drafting my next work, which is again different, to my last 5 plays. I enjoy the intimacy of the stage with my characters, however I like to mix it up with film. Thinking about their interests, and back stories, and their secrets. We all have them. Looking forward to a play reading, in a month or two, nothing like seeing the work take shape.
Language is like oxygen – but so is silence. Sitting in an empty room, brings a wild imagination, and thoughts that wonder on for miles.
I am not one of those people, who write everyday. I write when I want to. This brings depth and colour to my work, when writing from the heart.
What is your experience with writing plays?
melissafergusson 