PR and Alan Ford's vocal talents


In the meantime a trailer is needed, plus the materials to begin the marketing campaign. James is still beavering away on the student towns info and Guy sets about devising a trailer voice over. He decides on a piss take of the Brit ganster flicks and hopes he might get Alan Ford (Lock, Stock) to do the v/o.

In the meantime Guy and John try to decide what the poster might look like. They contact Darren the stills photographer and set up a shoot. The idea is to drop pictures of the lads on to a table littered with the usual student crap. Strap lines for the film are bandied back and forth and they decide on 'Living in Hope - You'll remember this'.

They chose Emfoundation to be the PR agency for the film. The agency works with both big and small clients, especially Film Four, seem keen and most importantly really seem to know their stuff.

But there's a danger that there won't be a film release to work on anyway. Tony Jones who's a big cheese with many key RFT cinemas does not like the film at all. He calls it 'old-fashioned'. This leaves both Winstone and Fluidity amazed and a little shell-shocked. The chance of a West End release recedes. Perhaps more crucially, Cambridge, a key target (this is beginning to sound like a general election), is also in doubt.

After further chats with Emfoundation it has become apparent that the poster isn't the right idea and neither is the strapline. More strokey chin moments pass between John and Guy. 'Living in Hope - get an education' metamorphoses into 'Living in Hope - it's an education.' The poster is now likely to be the silhouette of a bloke running with lit bog roll up his backside. At least they won't forget the film.

The producer attempts to persuade Ray Winstone to appear in the trailer. Sadly he claims to be too busy but is nice enough to wish the team well. Alan Ford says yes and a return to OR Media is blagged to do the voice over.

Also under creation are two pop promos. One for Supertoys 'Can I be Your Soldier' and one for Sophie Lechner's theme tune. John busies himself planning how to shoot the vids for zero money and is immediately in the producer's good books.

The v/o with Alan Ford is perfect. Alan is a great bloke. John and Guy are thrilled to meet him, not least when he tells them that when he first met Guy Ritchie five years before, he was in exactly the same position as they are now. Alan does the v/o for the trailer and for a 30 second and 10 second radio ad. The producer is sceptical whether radio ads remain a financial possibility, but hope springs eternal.

The v/o (thank you OR) completed, the next trip is to finalise PR details with Emfoundation. Let's just hope is not a great campaign without a film to see. The producer is heartened to see that they worked on Monsoon Wedding which started out life as a tiny release that has gone ballistic.

Guy then goes off to complete one of the film’s scariest assignments – a discussion with 30 eleven year olds at a local school. He decides to show them one of his and John’s early shorts (well it was one way of passing the time) and try to explain why English and maths are important for a career in the film business. He might have added anger management, frustration control, lying for a living and winging it, but he’s not sure those courses were available in Nailsea.