Filmic Types will look at a different amateur film-maker making films online. This time around, we speak to Dan Doolan, one of the co-creators of web series Liquid Lunch.
Oli: Right so Dan! I’ll start as I mean to go on by asking… what made you want to make and write films?
Dan: Wow, that’s a massive question, and there are alot of really tacky answers about my love of filmmaking and spreading joy to audiences. Which are all valid, but I suppose I’ll have to be honest and say it’s because I really never wanted to grow up doing a job I hated, it’s really as simple as that. I really enjoy expressing myself through that medium, so I’ve always gravitated toward it.
Oli: It is a loaded question! What part of the creative spectrum is pulling you in more do you think?
Dan: Definitely the writing. For me, filmmaking is just yet another format for storytelling, and a surprising amount of filmmakers forget that. If the story isn’t there, there you might as well not make it. So over the years I have found myself gravitating towards scriptwriting, as I see it as the most important and most interesting step. And that’s certainly the area I’m focusing on the most these days. Also, if I write something for someone else to produce I don’t have to worry about money or schedules or actors. I’ve never been much of a producer, far too disorganised for that sort of thing.
Oli: Well that brings me neatly to talking about Liquid Lunch, the web series you co-wrote with Chris Billingham and with Danny Stack. How did that come about?
Dan: Well, happy to oblige with the neatness levels of your interview. Liquid Lunch is actually an interesting story, because really it’s Danny Stacks project that I sort of, fell into. And even more unusually, I didn’t know Danny that well before hand. A couple of years before Liquid Lunch was even conceived, Chris Billingham and myself had taken an hour long live show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with some friends, but being unable to pay actors to be in the show we found ourselves performing it. A year or so later, Danny came to our university (Bournemouth University) to do a guest lecture, and I found it so interesting I asked Danny if he would free to go for a Coffee sometime, and when we did finally have that Coffee I talked about Edinburgh with him. It was a perfectly pleasant chat (Danny is an absolute fountain of knowledge for anyone wanting to get into this business) but I never imagined it would lead to anything else, almost a full year later Danny had the idea for Liquid Lunch, and when he thought about casting, something about me mentioning performing at the Fringe Festival stuck in his mind, and he reached out through twitter to bring me in as an actor, and it sort of snowballed from there. It’s really a perfect story to demonstrate the importance of networking in this industry.
Oli: Wow that is quite some story there! What was it like working with Danny, who has a wealth of experience in the industry?
Dan: I’m afraid this will be a predictable answer, but it was an incredible and invaluable experience for someone just starting their career. Danny’s experience alone makes him a fascinating person to work with, especially when we started to become more involved in the writing process, as a director Danny himself will admit he is relatively inexperienced, despite being brilliant at it (bastard), but writing comes so easily to him and getting an insight into his process was fascinating and definitely informed they way I have approached my work since.
Oli: That was a very predictable answer, but I think if it was a Heat-style bitching over him this interview might take a dark turn!
Dan: I couldn’t slam the man if I tried. Unless it was something like, “curse him for being so damn good at his job!” Which doesn’t have the bite I imagine heat readers have come to expect.
Oli: Such an English insult… “you cad, how dare you be so utterly lovely! More tea?”
Dan: I honestly can’t help it, the guy did the unthinkable and let the two inexperienced people brought onto the project as actors come in a start playing with his scripts, he deserves a medal for putting up with that.
Oli: Definitely, he does come across as a top guy for burgeoning talent. But before this turns into a Danny Stack lovefest (we love you Danny!) let’s move back to Liquid Lunch! For those who may not have seen it… SELL IT TO US!
Dan: It sells itself, it’s a six episode comedy webseries, each episode being only two minutes long, about two, rather hapless, friends who meet for lunch everyday at the same pub to help take their minds of the jobs they hate, but are utterly stuck in. Ultimately it’s really about two people stuck in that rut we’ve all experienced at some point, that feeling that we have lost control of our own fates as a result of simple circumstance. It’s an oddly depressing situation to experience but it’s surprisingly hilarious to watch happen to others. It’s all very British and schadenfreude.
Oli: The dialogue is the thing that really zings in Liquid Lunch. How much of that was Danny and how much of it was you and Chris?
Dan: Well we knew early on that the whole thing really relied on the dialogue being as sharp as possible. And honestly, after so many drafts it’s almost impossible to say who did what. I mean, the scripts went back and fourth so many times really couldn’t put a figure on it. But I do feel that we got lucky, because of the way we got involved as actors first, we were able to introduce improvisations into the writing process, which allowed us to give the dialogue a more authentic and conversational tone on the page. Something that doesn’t usually happen until it’s being shot. I mean, how many actors can say they got to perfect their own improvisations through redrafts? Also, it mean’t we had gotten it out of our system, so when it came to shooting there was basically no improvising at all. Which helped as we didn’t have much time to shoot.
Oli: Sounds like that camaraderie really helped the project overall… any plans to make anything with Chris and/or Danny in the future?
Dan: With Chris, absolutely, we already have a handful of separate projects we are looking to get off the ground, some internet based, some not. But since it’s likely only a few of this will happen, we would rather wait until they are definitely in the works before discussing them, just incase. And Danny? There’s nothing planned at the moment and while I would jump at the chance if it presented itself with him being so busy it seems unlikely to happen in the immediate future.
Oli: Sounds intriguing! Well we know you are keeping yourself busy with Narratively Minded for The Electronic Farmyard. Care to tell us about that?
Dan: Yeah, well I talk about film and TV a lot, and I don’t always have others who are that way inclined around for me to share that with, so Narratively Minded is my weekly way of expressing my thoughts on TV. Because it’s either that or I drive my girlfriend insane talking about TV shows she doesn’t watch. It’s actually more of a hobby than a job to be honest, those thousand words a week almost never feel like a chore. Anyone who’s interested in my ramblings should definitely pop along to electronicfarmyard.com on Mondays to see what it’s all about. Or any day of the week to be honest, the site has some really great writers.
Oli: I’ve noticed a lot of filmic types do venture into the world of article writing. Do you think it helps you keep your skills sharp for fiction projects?
Dan: Definitely, beyond the simple experience of the writer expressing themselves with their keyboard and teaching younger writers how to motivate themselves to keep deadlines. If the subject of the content happens to be other works of fiction, as it is for me, then the writer forcing themselves to dissect fiction in a way that can really clear up their position on what works and what doesn’t in storytelling. Because you would be amazed how few writers can spot good from bad writing, and if you can’t do that, then how can you be expected to rewrite your own work? Rewriting is all about spotting one from the other and fixing it.
Oli: You raise a good point there! So you’d recommend budding writers to try there hand at article writing?
Dan: Absolutely, it might be hard to see the benefits from the outside, but once you start doing it you realise how much you learn each week. And so many up and coming websites are desperate for content, pretty much anyone with basic proficiency in the English language can do it these days, and it’s not even hard to find an audience either, through social networking, like Digg, Reddit and Twitter.
Oli: Definitely… so, before we leave you, any advice for those wanting to step into the Filmic Arena?
Dan: One word. ‘Finish’. The hardest thing about being an amateur filmmaker is you don’t have a studio setting you deadlines, so you have to motivate yourself, or nothing happens at all. You can’t call yourself a writer or director or editor if you can’t finish your projects.
Oli: Simple, effective, delicious. Ok Dan well thank you very much for your time!
Dan: Anytime!
Dan Doolan can be found over on Twitter, or you can read his TV musings over at Narratively Minded or watch the whole series of Liquid Lunch on the website.
