Written & Directed by Ben Ashton
A clown struggling to make ends meet is faced with an opportunity he cannot afford to miss.
SEND IN THE CLOWNS won our coveted Audience Award earlier this year at The People’s Film Festival making it the “spoiler” to compete against the 9 nominees for our £1000 Film Fund. In a twist of fate, this short film beat our the competition and we’re currently in development with Ben on his latest short film project.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE FILMMAKER
Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School that boasts a wealth of fine screen actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Olivia Colman, Jeremy Irons, Josh O’Connor, Naomi Harris to name but a few – which was always inspiring to know those faces past through those doors. I’ve performed professionally mainly in theatre from Shakespeare to contemporary plays. I have also performed in TV/Film: Doctors, Silk, Kansas and the upcoming feature “Queen of the Redwood Mountains” from 14167 films.
When I was 19 I was a supporting artist as a Hufflepuff Prefect in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I had around four weeks of filming on that, which was an incredible experience to witness and be on set in a film with a such massive budget and to observe how it all worked. I would often wonder onto set to watch the director and the actors during takes to try and soak it all in and observe their way of working.
Alongside my acting career I have always been interested in directing and have directed many plays and musicals in the amateur sector. I love being a part of the whole of the creative process. As a director you are part of the decision making in how the set will be, the design elements of the production, the soundscape and everything that goes into putting on a production and that always excited and appealed to that part of my creative brain.
What was your inspiration behind Send In The Clowns?
I never had any aspirations to write a film. The way “Send in the Clowns” came about still mystifies me. Around six years ago, I dreamt the whole story from beginning to end. It was so clear in my mind. I woke up and I wrote it down straight away which was completed in about 15 minutes. Part of me would have liked it to have been a painstaking experience of taking hours, days, months to come up with a concept and create a story, to have that creative writing grounding but the story was so clear and I felt really passionate about the story and the layers within it, I wrote it all down and couldn’t stop thinking about it. It then took 6 years to work out how the heck I would get it from the page into an actual tangible thing, filmed and edited and completed.
Any hacks or tips for making a short film?
I don’t pretend to have any hacks or knowledge about the best ways to create a film. I am a complete novice and had the help from many friends and fantastic up-and-coming filmmakers, Simon Stolland from Aukes Media and James Hastings from Hastings Infinity. Any tips I can impart are:
- Treat everyone in the process with respect – we’re all in this together to help create the film.
-It’s important to have a strong idea of what you would like to achieve but I really like a collaborative process, where everyone chips in and you listen to everyone’s expertise to help create the best moments.
-Make the film that speaks to you. Don’t try to appeal to certain audiences or tick certain boxes – make the film you want to make and if you’re happy with it that’s all that matters. If other people then like it also, that’s a bonus. At least you would have created and not compromised on the film you made!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
As I said, I was and still am a complete novice filmmaker. I had the idea and story written down for 6 years before I could actually work out how to make it. I had great advice and help from Simon Stolland of Aukes Media, who I was waiting for to be available to get it made but Simon’s career is going from strength to strength and has such a busy schedule, it was difficult to get our schedules to collide. As I was scrolling through social media, a local filmmaker’s showreel popped up on my feed and I was impressed with the cinematography and stories I got in contact. This ended up being such a blessing and I cannot thank James Hastings from Hastings Infinity Films enough for his work on the film, his passion, his dedication, attention to detail, time and every help with “Send in the Clowns”. I strongly believe James will be a very successful filmmaker – he lives and breathes film and is always creating work. James also helped point me in the direction of FilmFreeway to look at film festivals and enter the film.
How have you found the film festival circuit?
I wasn’t expecting anything from the festivals. I was just really chuffed that I had gone from this idea that came to me in a dream to then have filmed and created “Send in the Clowns” and have something that I was really happy with and proud of. I entered the film into a few festivals just to see if anybody else would like it. I was completely shocked and surprised that “Send in the Clowns’ won the audience award at Kino’s The People’s Film Festival.
Since you won our £1000 Film Fund at TPFF, tell us about your upcoming project.
Since the idea of “Send in the Clowns” came to me I was really hoping and urging for another idea for another film to come. Nothing was coming. However, a few ideas and stories have now developed and the film that I am going to be creating with the help of the film fund is something that I am really excited about. It’s called “Embers” focusing on a young boy and that’s all I’m saying! It is a bit darker and more intense than “Send in the Clowns” but encapsulates similar themes and undertones.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I loved Sound of Metal and I’m really looking forward to seeing The Father with Sir Anthony Hopkins – he is an utter legend! I saw the original play of The Father in the West End, starring Kenneth Cranham, and I was totally blown away and heartbroken. It’s part of a trilogy of plays and I wonder if they will turn the others into films also.