FOUR:PLAY

An intrepid gay director/writer duo are seeking a new way to make their independent film 

Four:Play is a new film about gay couples being developed by real-life gay couple director Bruno Collins and writer Craig Daniel Adams. We caught up with Craig to speak about the film, gay men on screen, if their own relationship finds its way into the script and their novel method of funding the project…

 

What inspired you to begin this project? Have you written much before?
Four:Play began as a concept for a short film my partner Bruno Collins and I had. Feeling many recent ‘gay’ films are extremely morose and angst driven, we wanted to break away from that, deciding to focus on it more as a Romantic Comedy between our main two couples, writing a film that discussed and analysed several aspects of modern gay life; equal marriage, monogamy, parental relationships, and did so with its tongue firmly placed in its cheek. It’s a Dramady, if you will. Our hope is that it leaves you questioning your own views whilst making you laugh at the same time. It’s more of a celebration, rather than a lecture and we feel it has appeal way beyond a solely gay audience. Thematically it is universal.

The film is about gay couples; does much of your relationship with Bruno the director stream into the piece? Does this ever get awkward?

This is a question I think we will both need to get used to being asked. Being a real life gay couple, making a film about two gay couples, I think the automatic assumption is that the characters are in fact us. People do say write what you know and it is true, in the earliest drafts, certain character traits were quite specific to Bruno and I. However since the script has developed further, they have really moved away from being us, which is a good thing. No couple wants to feel as though their relationship is being analyzed from within. We know which bits and characters apply to us but that is for others to work out. A lot of what our characters experience and explore in the film are universal to all couples and not just us two alone. Though at times Bruno has said did I need to directly quote from conversations we have had but that’s for me to know. If anything working on this film together has strengthened our relationship.

How did you find the actors to work with? Was it important that they were all gay?
Being an out gay actor myself I always find it strange that so much praise is heaped on straight actors giving ‘brave’ performances in gay roles. They played a part; they didn’t go to war; they didn’t cure cancer; they pretended to love a man. Love is universal it doesn’t matter whether you love a man or a woman. Acting is acting.

We are very lucky to have managed to gather such a talented group of actors, who just so happen to be out gay actors. We never initially set out with this intention; it is just a really happy coincidence. It’s important to both Bruno and I that people can be proud of who they are and that youngsters can have positive role models to look up to. Actors who closet themselves and blame their sexuality for a damaged career, I find to be particularly dangerous.

When I wrote the script I pictured actors in all the roles, as it helped me to write. It has been unbelievable and we have managed to secure all the actors that I wrote the parts for to film our ‘Four:Play Vignettes.’ What is even more special for both Bruno and I, is that they came on board on the strength of the concept and writing in the short scripts. They have yet to read the full feature. Joining myself in the cast are: established screen actors David Paisley and David Ames and we’re introducing stunning new talent Arron Blake and Darren Lee Murphy.

Is this film, in part, an answer to gay men’s depictions in the media at the moment? What is your opinion of gay men currently as seen on television? Are they accurate, positive portrayals?
The way gay men are perceived in the media currently really varies. In soap operas and reality television, we are often given quite two dimensional, stereotypical characters and whilst this can be entertaining, we want to show something a little more than that. Not saying there is anything wrong with people being stereotypes, if that is what they are, there are definitely characters in life, like those we are shown on television. Our characters are just a little different. They are well rounded and multi-layered; being gay is part of who they are but not their defining characteristic. Something I am strongly passionate about personally.

And finally, tell us about indiegogo and the campaign to fund the project. How can people help?
Crowd-funding is a relatively new way of raising money to produce independent work. As a new writer and directing team. Bruno and I need a platform with which to showcase our work. We have come up with a concept of filming a triptych of short films – the ‘Four: Play Vignettes’ which, combined, introduce all the main themes and characters from the feature ‘Four:Play’. We will then use these to secure producers and backers to fund the filming of the feature.

So these are what we are asking people to help us crowd-fund for. We are using a company called ‘Indiegogo’ and you can donate at the link below:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/four-play-movie-the-vignettes

We are not asking people to simply give us money; there are a series of perks available for donation. We have set our target at £2000 but this is the bare minimum we can film with. Our aim is to really overshoot this target and we need all the help we can get. The best way for these campaigns to work is by having continual activity in the funding. Whilst massive donations are greatly appreciated – believe me we do want them – having a constant amount of smaller donation helps raise awareness to our campaign. It ends on the 17th of May and then we will be filming the shorts the weekend of the 18th and 19th of May.

You can also follow us on Twitter @FourPlayMovie

And like our official facebook page: Facebook.com/FourPlayMovie

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