Hanging Loose with the Crew – ten years of independent film making

Tags

independent film, Loose Crew Productions, making movies

Once upon a time (because all the best stories begin that way)…

I was introduced to Dominic Holmes by his sister Rachel during the early part of 2003. He had a screenplay that he had written, he wanted to film it and my name had been suggested for the villain of the piece. When I met Dom for the first time he was quiet, a little nervous and very sincere about making a film called The Courier. It was about a small time gangster, the courier who had stolen cash from him and a newspaper reporter intent on getting the whole story. The Courier began filming in May and after a small false start everything ran along rather nicely. We had guns, we had stunts, we had chases, we had skateboards (for all of ten seconds) and we had a lot of fun making the film. I got ‘shot’ for the first time, and accidentally punched Simone Dunne in the nose during one memorable scene. We shot around Cannock College and on location using what we had at out disposal.

My car even made an appearance in the film and would go on to appear in other Loose Crew features.

Our next film was Last Time She Lived, a tale of witchcraft and resurrection. We spent a lot of time up amongst the trees of Cannock Chase for chunks of the filming and managed to pick up some nasty sun burn along with the fabulous footage.

The Clown featured a homicidal clown slaughtering his way methodically through a group of friends. The Clown featured the infamous ‘Lasagne shot’ where one of the characters gets his arm torn off and is then bludgeoned with his own bone!

Over the years Loose Crew has produced features, short films, music videos and documentary work. Always with a ‘can do’ attitude of taking a camera, a small group of people and shooting. Some of our friends are still working with us to this day, some have gone on to successful careers and we are always meeting new people.

The hoody I’m wearing in the photo above is the same one I wore during that very first day of filming with Loose Crew all those years ago on The Courier.

The last decade went past in a bit of a blur, but it’s always been entertaining and fun. There are new projects on the horizon, new friends to make and always new things to try.Loose Crew Productions goes from strength to strength and the next ten years promise to be as much fun as the last decade.