indieactivity: Give a background of your personal experience with the story, writing, and production of your script?
Nick Musgrove (NM): I co-wrote Favourites with my writing partner Nick Russell who also directed and produced the film through our jointly owned production company, Tandem Media. Favourites is the second of our recent works which explores what happens when everyday people make high-stakes choices before their context dramatically shifts underneath them. We’re really interested in the themes that flow from this conceit – and love trading in the basic primal truths of human emotion as storytellers.
Working on the script with Nick Russell was a joyous experience. As long-standing writing partners, we have exacting standards of each other though it’s always a process underpinned by love, mutual respect, and an innate understanding of each other’s strengths as creators. It’s also wonderful fun making each other laugh. Our joint goal is to unleash each other’s creativity onto the page and screen. We think we’ve achieved that with Favourites.
Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Nick Musgrove (NM): We wrote the script with the cast in mind. Across two decades, Nick and I have collaborated with several of Australia’s best loved and most talented cast and crew. We were delighted to assemble them in order to bring Favourites to life. We remain incredibly grateful to everyone involved.
The Official Trailer for Favourites Written by Nick Musgrove
How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?)
Nick Musgrove (NM): Once we knew the broad concept for Favourites, we spent several writing sessions interrogating the best way to deliver it. We tried lots of different settings and situations. Once we settled on a setup and context that was both compelling and producible, we dived into the script. There were around 12 drafts of Favourites. Sometimes, Nick Russell would write a draft, other times I would, then as things progressed, we’d increasingly sit in a room together to finesse. By the end, we were signing off on every line together – all of which needed to pack a punch in a five-minute short. It was a great challenge.
When did your production company form – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
Nick Musgrove (NM): Nick Russell and I started writing and performing together 26 years ago. We were in a school play together when we were 12 years old. From there I’d write plays at school and Nick would star in them. At university, we wrote and performed in the comedy revues together which was exhilarating. Following University, in 2012, Nick and I formed a sketch comedy group called The Peloton. As The Peloton found audiences both in Australia and abroad, we realised it was time to form our production company, Tandem Media. The motivation behind Tandem is to create, write, direct, and produce our own ideas and concepts. We also work in the advertising and corporate content space, which allowed us to independently finance Favourites.
What was the first writing project that you were involved with or that was out of the gate?
Nick Musgrove (NM): My first love was playwriting. I remember vividly the first time I tried it. I can even recall the classroom and the exact chair I was sitting in. The words seemed to spill out of me as if they’d been waiting to emerge my whole life. In hindsight, the words were probably not great, but the feeling was electric. It’s a vivid and treasured memory which I return to often. As I’ve matured, film and television comedy/drama became a natural fit. My major break came when I wrote ‘Wrong Kind of Black’ (ABC, Netflix) with Australian Children’s Laureate Boori Monty Pryor which was nominated for an International Emmy Award. It was an extraordinary privilege to work with Boori to help tell his story. He remains a treasured friend and inspiration to countless Australians and audiences worldwide.
What works better in this latest production that mightn’t have worked so well in the last one you did?
Nick Musgrove (NM): Having worked on other people’s projects so often, it was exhilarating to create a work that was ‘just for us’. Favourites is an undiluted, uncompromised representation of our vision as writers and filmmakers. For this reason, it’s incredibly validating to have received such a positive reception from audiences across the globe.
Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
Nick Musgrove (NM): The financing side of independent filmmaking remains challenging. We’re very proud to have self-financed Favourites entirely – though this took years of slowly setting aside the money to do so.
Where do you think your strengths lie as a filmmaker?
Nick Musgrove (NM): As a writer, I consider my strengths to be my command of dialogue and my sense of comedic rhythm. My challenge is to master structure and sequence – fortunately that’s one of the areas where Nick Russell really shines!
Let’s talk about finance. How did you finance the trailer for the film?
Nick Musgrove (NM): Tandem Media financed Favourites. It’s liberating and terrifying spending your own money though we’re really glad we made the leap. Beyond the rewards of taking a film to audiences around the world, we now have an asset that truly represents our style, tone and ability.
How much did you go over budget? How did you manage it?
Nick Musgrove (NM): Through fitting our shoot into one, very intense and robust day, we managed to hit the budget. This is absolutely down to the quality and professionalism of our very experienced cast and crew – and also the planning and organization of Nick Russell who not only directed the work but was also the producer.
How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make any dent without it these days?
Nick Musgrove (NM): Across our careers, we’ve attempted to follow the famous advice of Steve Martin of being ‘so good they can’t ignore you’. Our time writing sketch comedy taught us that if you put your work out into the universe for long enough, and the quality is there, good things will eventually happen. For us, that approach eventually landed us a sketch comedy pilot in LA which kicked off our work on an international scale.
That said, there’s no point trying to make ‘undeniably good’ work in a vacuum… and it can be a brutal, attritional struggle to wait to be discovered on a YouTube Channel! People need to see your work – both to progress your career and in order to receive feedback and improve. For this reason, we see strong merit in marketing. The ability to deliver our work more directly to potential buyers, collaborators or audiences makes what we do sustainable
Can you tell us about your marketing activities on the project – and how it’s gone for you?
Nick Musgrove (NM): Through our managers at Atlas Literary, our agents at The Gersh Agency and our PR representatives at London Flair, we’re in the process of raising the profile of Favourites through interviews, podcasts and appearances in the leadup to the Tribeca Festival. We’re sharing our journey via our Instagram account.
What do you hope audiences get from your film?
Nick Musgrove (NM): Our film is about family dynamics and contains a seemingly impossible choice. When audiences watch it, we want them to explore their own dynamics and consider what they might do in the same situation. We’d love nothing better than for audiences to laugh their way through our film then go out to dinner and kick off a debate about how they’d respond in the same circumstances.
Do you have the feature script written? Tell us about it? How do you expand a short into a feature script?
Nick Musgrove (NM): In building the feature version of Favourites, we’ve bottled up our characters in the immediate aftermath of the action in order to watch them squirm. It’s wickedly good fun. We can’t wait to share it with people.
Tell us about how you intend to make your pitch for the feature to the studios interested?
Nick Musgrove (NM): We have a feature version of Favourites in development which we’re excited to take to market in the coming months.
What else have you got in the works?
Nick Musgrove (NM): At the top of our slate is a feature film in its financing phase, entitled “Someone’s Son” which is packaged up with a world class director and cast. We’re ready for discussions with foreign sales partners. We also have a comedy/drama television show in the pitch phase which is a co-production between Tandem Media and CJZ. Our teams at Gersh and Atlas are taking this out in LA in the coming months. It’s tonally a really nice accompaniment to Favourites in the television space.
Tell us what you think of the interview with Nick Musgrove. What do you think of it? What ideas did you get? Do you have any suggestions? Or did it help you? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
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