How long was the shoot and on what locations?
We shot for 19 days on location in the East End. Art galleries, Bangladeshi travel agents, curry-houses, the Bagel shop, Brick Lane deserted at 3 a.m.

Was the digital format a financial necessity?
Yes.

Might that have also forced you to bypass distributors and go straight to the exhibitors?
It's difficult when you have a quirky little film with no recognised stars as such that may only work as a fairly small arthouse release. Who's gonna put up the advertising money for the Tube posters, Time Out ads?...they're so expensive. People say get to tape and a distributor'll pay for a blow-up but I think that's quite naive unless you've got a Festival hit or something that can play the multiplexes. So I decided to release it myself. Got the ABC Piccadilly for a week and then approached BARCO, one of the leading Digital Projection companies to sponsor the release with one of their state-of-the-art projectors. They've been fantastically supportive and I'm going to try to put them in touch with independent producers here to present digital distribution as a viable alternative to a 35mm blow-up.

How did they receive you as a first timer?
The bookers at ABC (and now Odeon) have been great. The ABC Piccadilly is right next to the Japan Centre, so I pitched Japanese in London as one core audience with Hanayo as a draw and they said fine. Being the first independent film digitally released in the West End has been another hook for getting press coverage.

What sort of deal did you strike with the ABC Piccadilly?
The same standard terms as all the other films they book. Obviously with us as distributor, avoiding distributor fees.

Does it surprise you to have a week long, West End release for a debut film shot for only £20,000?
It's been quite straightforward to put together actually but incredibly difficult on no money. You have to be so resourceful and cut so many corners. Certification alone cost £900! But now we've done it and it feels like I can move on to the next project. I've given 'Second Generation' every chance to find an audience, theatrically and hopefully later on video as well.

What are you planning now?
I've a couple of feature scripts in development. One's a collection of six interconnected stories set on a Summer Night in the East End - I hope we can shoot it next Summer.

Shane O'Sullivan
Second Generation Films
Tel. 020 7613 2639
Email. kanashane@tesco.net
www.second-generation.co.uk