It’s been just over a week since we shot ‘Abigail’s an Activist Now’, my latest short film. I say, ‘latest’, what I mean is second ever. The learning curve has once again been precipitous. It’s about a woman unravelling – in front of and behind the camera.
To backtrack for a moment. My last film, ‘I Want This’, made a year ago, was a micro-short in every sense of the word – small team, short script, simple production requirements. I cut my teeth. It was a project I held very close to my chest creatively, taking on the roles of producer, actor, writer, director, composer and PR. I needed to maintain control of the tiny budget and of the new creative process. I was fortunate enough to have a skilled and generous micro-crew to help guide me as I sailed blindly into the wind. I also shot it at my own home and my own children took part in some of the scenes and audio. That further intensified things, adding the role of mother to the many hats I was simultaneously wearing. To say it was intense is an understatement! I realised that to do any more film projects, I would have to let go, to open up, to unravel a bit. And I definitely did want to make more film projects. Despite all the challenges and vulnerabilities, the process was electrically exciting.
But back to the here and now of this current film, ‘Abigail’s an Activist Now’. When I pitched to the Exeter Phoenix team again – for a larger 10-15 min piece this time – (incidentally with my preschooler in the room during the pitch: an access need that the Phoenix team accommodated with grace), I said I intended to work with a bigger team, with the support and partnership of a producer, plus adding in some new creative challenges to keep me on my toes: filming on location, directing others and having a go at comedy writing. Their faith in the project and in me, despite this step up, was the first little boost of support I needed. The project had begun.
The preproduction phase was a steady roll of admin that I chipped away at together with my extremely capable producer Jacob Saul. As a mother-artist, what that looked like was writing the script in snatched moments while my preschooler watched TV, and opening the laptop after bedtime during the school holidays to work through items on the spreadsheet of dreams. Somehow, the duality of this helped keep me steady, a constant reminder that, when it all got a bit stressful (like when the location fell through ten days before the shoot, eek) that life would carry on beyond this project, regardless of the outcome. In younger years, I’ve often cared about creative projects so deeply that I become entwined in them, inseparable. While I still care deeply, I’m learning that a bit of detachment might be healthier in the long run. I didn’t manage to keep my two worlds wholly separate though. In the final week before the shoot, the admin rose to a whirlwind and my brain caught fire – my kids got very used to hearing ‘hang on, I just need to…’. And they didn’t massively appreciate being dragged round the parks and green spaces of Exeter on my endless location recces, but hey, they coped.
The film explores themes of activism and our own roles in addressing climate change, so we’ve tried to make the production as sustainable as possible. We’re even trying to get special Albert certification for it as a marker of a sustainable film. This translated into borrowing props and costume instead of buying, encouraging car sharing to the shoot, providing water to reduce plastic waste. It was heartening to see how achievable this was and really helped us to keep on budget too, ably assisted from afar by props/costume assistant Hazel Horspool.
Perhaps I’ve been lucky, but my experience of film in the South West to date has been one of support and openness. It sounds naff, but this project just keeps reminding me of how fantastic it feels to work with others towards a shared goal. As a writer, I often need to lean into solitude and my inner world but this has been such a welcome balance and sense of belonging. And on the shoot, the collaboration was breathtaking. The cast and crew became an organic flow of information, decisions and actions that took on a life of its own. The unflappable and gifted DOP Alister Malcolm, was able to translate my half-baked ideas into shots of clarity and beauty, with the constant smiley support of Charlie Davies as AC. James Buckett on sound tackled a range of technical issues to capture all the audio we needed, navigating the shouts and whispers with aplomb, supported by multitasking queen Sinead O’Toole (who is also the editor). Faith Mackenzie gathered a LOT of runaway potatoes and fielded a lot of interested passersby and Emily Hansen translated character arcs into visual stories with hair & make-up. Cristina Gomez-Penna fetched & carried, transported people to loos and generally kept us all looked after. And my ever-supportive husband Tom delivered vats of pasta and the gift that is hot coffee. I’m so grateful to all involved.
On day one of the two day shoot, I honestly felt like a witness, in awe of the tech, the scale, the pace of it all. A close friend helping out observed that I looked timid within the hurly-burly. A film shoot has its own language, its own patterns. I didn’t know the words to use, the order of things, where I could fit. It’s a strange feeling to be nominally in charge of something but hopelessly out of your depth. Why do I keep doing this to myself?! I don’t know, but I’m a sucker for it. We battled the elements as the rain started, continued and then unleashed its fury so that we had to stop early to keep the kit safe. Again, that night, Jake and I faced tricky problems – what happens if we need to cancel the next day’s filming because of the rain? Could I do an emergency drastic rewrite and we find a way to shoot indoors? Could we dramatically cut the number of shots needed? Could we use alternative filming/sound methods? Was it safe for actors and crew if it all got too slippy out there? I had a rant, I had a cry, I had some wine. It wasn’t feeling great.
Thankfully, day two felt like a different shoot and the weather gods got the memo. I woke super early and went to the location alone to gather my thoughts. I found my mojo just when it all looked like it was going to shit. We calmed the tempo first thing, had coffees, reconnected with each other as a team, shared thoughts, decompressed. So that when we started filming again, I felt we had a new energy, a positivity, a stronger sense of team. I felt more confident to participate now, to guide the actors, to check in with Jake and the wider crew. It felt as if everything had somehow settled. I can’t believe how resilient and just bloody marvellous the four actors were, in the face of really tough weather and lots of chopping and changing of shoot schedule. Abigail Oaks, Mimi Cassidy, Charlie Coldfield and Beatrice Savill gave some stunning, playful, surprising performances that left me itching to review the footage and get stuck into the edit. Abigail, playing the eponymous protagonist, is an old friend from drama school. It’s a long time since we’ve worked together but I just knew she’d bring tremendous skill to the role, and she more than delivered. It’s a delight watching someone excel at what they do. I kept forgetting to yell cut at the end of takes because I was enjoying the performances so much!
And there were laughs, real belly laughs. A highlight was watching Spark Garry Jenkins yelling ‘Shut up!’ repeatedly across a field for an additional sound effect, offering us all a masterclass in stress release. We finished in the pub, thank god, with tales of past and future projects and the lovely random chitchat that happens when a group of people have started to find connection.
Sometimes with creative projects, as with children, you need to hold them tight and nurture them privately and sometimes you have to learn to let them go out into the world in order to grow. ‘Abigail’s an Activist now’ is by no means complete, we still have the mountain of post-production to go. But it is at a point of pause, a point of reflection, and a point of gratitude to all those who have helped, and are still helping, to breathe life into this dream of mine.
‘Abigail’s an Activist now’ will premiere at Two Short Nights Film Festival 2025 at Exeter Phoenix.
(All photos courtesy of wonderful photographer Jim Elton, who captured endless details during the shoot)
michacolombo.com 
Leave a comment