Ashley Tabatabai on the making of his emotional short film, 'Falsified'

Javier Baena (Ashley Tabatabai) & Henry Mercer (Mitchell Mullen) on set of “Falsified” discussing a scene with Stefan Fairlamb (Dir.)

I was the kid in school or at the party that was always observing things. I’d get involved too, but I seemed to naturally find myself watching human behavior. I’d definitely be labeled as introverted, until you get to know me. It’s all relative anyway. I was born in the UK and moved to Spain when I was a kid. I started acting during high school and then really pursued it as a career when I came to the UK for college. I got a degree in management, which may have helped out when it came to producing films. It’s hard to say.

I’ve worked on numerous independent films and TV shows as well as creating my own content with a team of trusted filmmakers. My recent short “Falsified” was the first project I created under the banner of my production company Taba Productions. We screened at various top festivals such as the LA International Short Film Festival and DC Shorts, and won Best Short at the LA Shorts Awards. I’ve also won 3 best actor awards for my role in the film (from the Actors Awards, Oniros Film Festival and Top Shorts Festival).

indieactivity: Why did you get into filmmaking?
Ashley: I saw it as a natural extension of what I was doing as an actor. There’s so much more scope to create your own content now. I recall having a session with my business coach Bonnie Gillespie around 4 or 5 years ago now. And she was the one who sparked up that first glimmer of a fire around creating my own work. It’s gone from there. We all have stories to tell and a desire to explore the human condition as artists. Filmmaking is such a rich and expansive way of doing that. You get to go places and do things you otherwise wouldn’t.

indieactivity: What is your filmmaking process?
Ashley: It always starts with an idea and then fleshing that idea out. I have to figure out what it is I want to say on any given subject. Whether it’s birth or death – there’s a lot of angles to cover and I’m not going to be able to cover everything so I have to narrow it down and focus on something, then build out from there. I will write out

indieactivity: What are the film that you have made?
Ashley: I collaborated on a TV Pilot with a Cinematographer friend (Adam Lyons) called Color Me Grey. That was our first exploration into making our own project. It was a great learning experience for us. We actually took the project to the American Film Market in 2015 and had some interest in getting it picked up. However, it didn’t feel like the right time. There’s a concept and vision in there that required more development and thought to give it the depth we want.

indieactivity: What is your concept of collaboration?
Ashley: Collaboration is everything. In all walks of life. You’re as good as the people around you, which is cliché, but for a reason. On Falsified, I was adamant from the outset that the people I brought in would get to focus specifically on their area of expertise. No distractions or wearing of multiple hats. I wanted them to come in with their A game for what they’re good at.

And when you collaborate with people who are rising up in their own field, as you are in yours, you can create this groundswell of energy and momentum that propels the project forward. As much as the end result is always in mind, it’s not about that. It takes time to create anything, and that’s not evident when people simply see the final product. But the months and years of the journey before are what mark the experience for the people behind the piece. So, who you collaborate with is essential, they become like a mini-family for that finite period of time.

Javier Baena (Ashley Tabatabai) on the set of “Falsified” with Stefan Fairlamb (Dir.)

indieactivity: How do you find the process of filmmaking
Ashley: It’s empowering. Of course it has it’s challenges, especially if you’re self funding. However, if you go down that road, the creative license is all yours and you get to tell your story. I think that’s a reason why the Duplas brothers are so admired. Because they just got on with things and weren’t afraid of investing into their own work. The process is the same as any entrepreneur starting a business. There’s a risk, you have to invest your own cash and time into the product and who knows what will come of it. But the journey it takes you own provides so many opportunities for growth.

indieactivity: Describe your recent film?
Ashley: Falsified is a short film about a man whose son was stolen at birth, and now after 30+ years is convinced he has found his long lost child. It’s inspired by Spain’s stolen babies scandal, Los Niños Robados. The script took around 7 months or so to finish. During the writing process I’d get continual feedback from Stefan Fairlamb who I brought on to Direct and Adam Lyons our DoP. That overlapped with Pre-Production which began around 2 months before filming.

Getting the actors on board was quite straight forward. I had the lead role of Henry secured from day one. It’s played by Mitchell Mullen (Genius, About Time, The Infiltrator) who was my acting coach for 3 years. He agreed to the project before reading the script, which was very trusting! The rest of the cast and crew were all people I had worked with before. So, it was this great coming together of people to help create the short. Post took a couple of months. Luckily Stefan has an editing background (Son of Babylon) and was able to direct the piece with that in mind. So he got through it quite quickly. And the grade was completed by Adam Lyons, who was DoP, so again, keeping that together made things easier.

The movie poster for “Falsified”

The final touches came in sound and the score, which was masterfully created by Howard Carter over the span of a few weeks. From there, marketing has taken place at different stages of the release. We did a private screening in London for industry at the end of 2016. Our real marketing push was from August 2017, which is when we had our global premiere in LA. We ran a 3 months press campaign, working closely with renowned publicists London Flair PR. That gave is loads of great exposure for the film.

indieactivity: What are your future goals?
Ashley: My sole desire is to keep creating life on my terms and to hopefully inspire others to be able to do the same. That’s intrinsically going to be through acting and filmmaking. Exactly what that looks like, who knows.

indieactivity: What do indie filmmakers need in today’s world
Ashley: Patience. It’s always been that way and it applies to anything, not just indie film. Things take time. There’s no quick win, or 3 step magic solution. It’s something I aim to constantly remind myself of in this instant gratification era we’re in. Yes, the opportunities are endless and that’s exciting. However, we all still have to do the work and trust in the process.