2003 ‘Orwell – Against the Tide’

ORWELL: AGAINST THE TIDE      

This month celebrates the birth of Eric Blair(George Orwell)on the 25th. June 1903              

He changed his mind about the Scots after fighting alongside Bob Smillie, who lost his life in the Spanish Civil War.

“… here was this brave and gifted boy who had given up his career at Glasgow University in order to fight against fascism’(adapted from Homage to Catalonia).

On 20th. May 1937 Orwell was nearly killed fighting on the Aragon Front when a fascist sniper shot him in the throat.

‘…… there seemed to be a loud bang and a blinding flash of light ……the bullet had passed straight through my neck and blood was dripping from the corner of my mouth’( adapted from ‘Homage to Catalonia’) 

He was hospitalsed in Monflorite, a remote village still marked by the conflict’s scars; where bitter memories, stillhaunt and divide local families.

As part of the film’s period re-creation, my art departmentpainted temporary war slogans on the ancient village walls.Then we followed a shire horse pulling a 1930’s hay wagonled by a young Catalan. This a visual device to reveal the life and soul of Orwell’s time there. 

The result? A film that was nominated for a B.A.F.T.A., won international awards, and was warmly received by the Orwell estate. The Guardian/Observer also used the film during its Orwell Centenary celebrations.

Having been invited to the Oxford Film Festival, I feared Orwell scholars might dismiss our informal approach, but the packed audience of both film and Orwell buffs seemed to enjoy and understand our efforts to penetrate and reveal visually, the appeal and excitement of his story and that the written word was much more able to express his intellect. 

You know what they say: “A Pictures worth a thousand words” or “Every picture tells a story”.

#GeorgeOrwell #BobSmillie #Aragonfront #monflorite#SpanishCivilWar #VisualStoryTelling #HistoryUncovered#BAFTA

‘Orwell: Against the Tide’ along with many other stories, is available in my book ‘Shaping the Shadows: A Picture Maker’s Story’ for £10 from The National Library of Scotland:http://shop.nls.uk/shaping-the-shadows-2798-p.asp

marklittlewood.org.uk  and Amazon.

How did I end up at Shaftsbury Avenue?  – read previous blogs(I) and (2).

…..I was wrenched back to Shaftsbury Avenue by the startling reality of a young man greeting me at the door of A.M. Heath, literary agents, dressed in pinstriped morning attire. Pinstripes proceeded to guide me through an Aladdin’scave of books and scripts balancing on shelves, on tabletopsand on the floor. Flecks of dust floated in the shafts of light,as the sun forced its way through the lashing rain outside,creating enchanting patterns in this magical Dickensian place.

I was terrified, but full of hope as I made my way through this hallowed literary land. This is where writing careers were in balance, some to be made, others to be broken.

I knew that the stern, silhouetted figure sitting opposite mecould sink my film to unrecoverable depths, either by limiting copyright permissions, not granting them at all, or charging an exorbitant fee which would impact the production values I had so carefully planned “….and which quote of Orwell’s do you wish to use” said the voice from across the desk.

With trepidation I said, “I need permission to quote from all of Orwell’s books, all his short stories and all of his articles”.  Just a small ask 😉. I told him my ideas for the film and why I needed the complete freedom to use everything that Orwell had ever written, published, or spoken. Furthermore, I wished to dramatize some of his work from ‘Homage to Catalonia’ his masterpiece about the Spanish Civil War.

There followed a long silence. This person had never heard of me; I was just a very wet person sitting opposite him dripping hope and water onto his floor. I wasn’t from the BBC or some other major broadcaster, I wasn’t making a feature film with loads of money, no big– named actor attached.  The silhouetted figure leant towards me, out of the shadows and smiling said, “I like your ideas for the film and I’m going to grant you all the permissions you’ve requested. The fee will benominal”.

He told me afterwards that Hugh Hudson, director of Chariots of Fire was planning a feature film based on ‘Homage to Catalonia’ and so he’d approached Hudson to explain that my dramatization would be more like John Grierson’s definition of a documentary: A creative treatment of actuality and not in conflict with his large-scale feature film.

                                                                                                                                    2​                                                                                                                       A.M. Heath was formed by Audrey Heath and Alice May Spinks. Looking

back I feel fortunate that they were Orwell’s Literary Agents. Their mantra is ‘Independent Thinking’ and an ambition to shift, shape and enrich cultural conventions, with innovative ideas – we seemed a good match.

I will be writing a 4th Blog to celebrate the Birth of Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell).

#culturalconvensions #orwellagainstthetide #freedom#copyright #orwell #literaryagent #independentfilm

This story and many others are available in my book at the student rate of £10.

‘SHAPING THE SHADOWS: A Picture Maker’s Story’ available from The National Library of Scotland: 

http://shop.nls.uk/shaping-the-shadows-2798-p.asp 

marklittlewood.org.uk

Amazon.

Securing funding for any project is never a simple feat, but forindependent films, it’s almost impossible.—but in 2001, I once again stood at the edge of that unenviable task, this time driven by the bold ambition of bringing our Orwell Project, ‘Orwell – Against the Tide,’ to life.

I don’t know if luck came into it, certainly plenty of hard work did. We applied through Media plus, a department of the European Union and were the only recipients awarded the maximum amount of Development Funding that year. This was a brilliant start, as it enabled us to write the treatment & script and begin the long search for the co-producer and Production Funding.

That year we attended all the Festivals and Forums throughout Europe supported by the MEDIA programme, where we networked with all the Commissioning Editors to pitch our idea. Barcelona was our last Festival, and by then we had got to know each other better and everyone we needed signed up.

The strength of the Orwell Story; the persuasiveness of our case and personal resilience to suffer the knockbacks, each ‘no’ taking us closer to a ‘yes’, meant we had ten broadcasters lined up across nine language zones, including the new Catalan Agency ‘Institute Catalan de les Industries Cultural’

Scottish Screen, with a lottery grant, was the major production funder and by this point we had found our Catalan co-producer Oriol Porter.  Porter was pivotal in sourcing key crew and facilities so we could film at the Aragon front(where Orwell narrowly escaped death, after being shot in the throat) and elsewhere in Spain. 

I had been so focused raising the money that copyright permissions from the Orwell estate had somehow slipped on to the back burner.  So now I had the money, but not the permissions!! This was a showstopper.

And so….I found myself standing in the pouring rain, staring apprehensively into a puddle reflecting the multicoloured lights of Piccadilly Circus, London.  Slowly I began to squelch my way up Shaftesbury Avenue towards the offices of A.M Heath, Lawyers and literary Agents for the George Orwell Estate….

In my next post, you’ll learn more about what took place within those hallowed walls….if you can’t wait for that, read about it in my book….’Orwell: Against the Tide’ availablefrom the National Library of Scotland at a special student price of £10.00

See: http://shop.nls.uk/shaping-the-shadows-2798-p.asp

See further info at: marklittlewood.org.uk

#Funding #ComissioningEditors #IndependentFilms #Orwell #GeorgeOrwell #DevelopmentFunding #ProductionFunding #ScottishScreen, #EuropeanUnion