We tuned into an online conversation between Prano Bailey-Bond (writer-director of the upcoming Film4-backed psychological horror Censor) and Oliver Kassman (producer of the soon-to-be-released Film4-backed horror Saint Maud) to hear what they had to say about genre filmmaking and more. Here’s what we learnt…
On developing their voices in the horror sphere
Prano grew up in rural Wales “on a diet of VHS horror” and was “always drawn to the dark stuff”, although she credits her older siblings with introducing her to a lot films, perhaps sooner than she was ready.
Oliver is a more recent convert to the genre, admitting to being “a complete wuss” when it comes anything nerve-shredding on the big screen. He began his journey by consuming a decade-by-decade history of horror, from the original Nosferatu onwards, which he recommends as a way of learning about the techniques of horror filmmaking and how they’ve developed and evolved.
On what makes a horror film work
Oliver attributes successful horror to conjuring “a sense of dread” or confronting its audience with something uncomfortable that has normally been eschewed. In Saint Maud, written and directed by Rose Glass, we are confronted with a young nurse’s zealous religious faith; a devoutness that brings with it more than a little dread and danger.
Prano admitted that her favourite kind of horror is when “something else is happening psychologically” beneath the surface, or when horror can be used as a platform to talk about society. “For me horror is about the return of the repressed, as Oliver said, something that you don’t want to face.” Her film Censor, which is currently in post-production, is set in 1985, against the backdrop of the social hysteria surrounding video nasties and uses the story of a woman’s disappearance to explore violence, censorship and moral panic.
On the current popularity of horror films
Prano was quick to credit films like The Bababook, Raw and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night as “breakout horrors that have shifted the industry’s attitude to the genre. ” They demonstrated audiences’ appetite for complex and nuanced horror, so “now being a female horror filmmaker feels like more of a positive thing.”
Oliver agreed that it appeared “easier to get horrors made at the moment” and suggested that it was because of the genre’s uniquely cinematic flavour. “Quality television nowadays can cater to drama, thrills and to a certain extent sci-fi” whereas horror and genre as a term “suggests a certain fairytale grandness that you’re not necessarily going to find on TV.”
On pitching a project
Oliver recommended distilling your project into an aphoristic one-liner, i.e. a log line which can easily communicate the tone or aesthetic of your film. “It comes down to ‘is this going to make it easier for someone to ‘get it?’”
Prano is a strong proponent of making short films before segueing into features as a mean of honing your voice and learning how to manage all the various aspects of filmmaking. “I would try and make things off my own back…that’s difficult because you don’t always have the means, but I was making things for £200 and pulling in all my talented friends. I crowdfunded to help make Nasty (her short film) happen and put a bit of my own money in.” She also credits this experience with creating the buzz needed to level up to features.
Prano also recommended Frontieres, a financing and pitching event for genre projects organised by Cannes and Fantasia, as a great way of “starting a conversation around [your] film and creating a strategy around financing early on.”
On dealing with rejection
Prano recalled how Censor went through several drafts and rejections before Ffilm Cymru, the BFI and then Film4 came on board. It was after their filmmaking team were turned down by iFeatures that they refined their treatment and pushed on with pitching.
Interestingly, Prano framed each rejection as a more of a pivot, something that prompted the Censor team to hone their project even further. Oliver agreed that “the negatives have to be the fuel to fire…rejection is a stimulus to refine things”.
Encouragingly Oliver noted that when it comes to short films, he has “zero interest in what funded schemes [it] went through, or what festivals it went to…I want to know if it can tell a good story.”
On budgets
Particularly in terms of short filmmaking Prano recommended writing around “what’s available to you.” She used her short film The Trip — which is set in a cannabis factory — as an example of this.
Oliver agreed with this sentiment, although was quick to caution young filmmakers not to limit their imaginations when it came to the script. “Just pen the best version of the story that can possibly exist and think about making compromises down the line.”
Ultimately he recommended “using your instinct.” Setting something in space might be too out of this world, but a chamber-piece like Saint Maud or Ben Wheatley’s warehouse-set Free Fire is arguably much more realistic in scope and its likelihood of getting made.
The session was kindly organised by BFI’s Film Hub North and moderated by Anna Bogutskaya. You can stay up-to-date with all their events here.
To hear more advice from Prano, read our article on How to write during a crisis and to discover more about the making-of Saint Maud, here’s writer-director Rose Glass on what she loves about the horror genre.
PRANO BAILEY-BOND
Prano Bailey-Bond is a writer-director who grew up on a diet of Twin Peaks in the depths of a strange Welsh community. She was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2018 and is currently in post-production on her debut feature film Censor, backed by Film4, the BFI and Ffilm Cymru Wales. Prano’s strong body of shorts and music videos invoke imaginative worlds, fusing a dark vocabulary with eerie allure. Her short film Nasty screened at over 100 festivals after premiering at BFI London Film Festival. She is represented as a writer-director by Casarotto and is an alumna of BFI Network @LFF and the Berlin Talent Campus.
OLIVER KASSMAN
Escape Plan is a genre focussed production company, founded by producer Oliver Kassman. The company’s first film was Rose Glass’s debut Saint Maud, starring Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle. Funded by Film4 and the BFI, it premiered at TIFF 2019 to rave reviews and sold worldwide to A24, Studio Canal, Diaphana and Sony. Previously, Oliver was Head of Production and Development for eminent producer Michael Kuhn’s Qwerty Films. There he scouted and developed many of the company’s projects, including Stephen Frears’ Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, on which he worked as Associate Producer. Oliver was named as one of BAFTA’s Breakthrough Brits in 2019, and Escape Plan received the BFI’s Vision Award in 2020.
