Interview: Lindsay Bennett Writer of PUPPY: The Devil is in the detail

Lindsay Bennett, the writer and lead actor for PUPPY, deeply discusses her short film, which completed January 2020. With a runtime of 16 min, at full color, UK released Puppy is a thriller, with an estimated budget £10,000 (GBP) from Skylark Vision. Puppy is currently being developed into a feature length motion picture.

indieactivity : Hello Lindsay, it is nice to meet you. What’s your experience with story, writing, production and marketing of PUPPY?
Lindsay Bennett : Hello. It is nice to be here. I initially started writing Puppy about 2 years ago from an idea that I had for a micro budget horror film. I ran the idea past a few industry people I knew and all said that it had scope to be longer, looking back it was the confidence push that I needed. The story changed so many times at first and then I had a Eureka moment and the full script began developing organically. Once the script was ready I had to look around to find the right Director and Production Company I felt I could work with. I really like to work collaboratively and when I met Marc Zammit I loved his energy for the film and filmmaking as a whole and knew we could work together.

indieactivity : Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Lindsay Bennett : Other than the role of Laura (which I play) and the role of Joseph Roth played by Nick Cornwall the casting process was very open. I really wanted to work with Nick Cornwall again and from even the early stages of the scripts development Nick was keen to play the role. All the other roles were cast via Mandy, we received so many incredible tapes, in fact the role of number 9 was developed for Lydia Hourihan as her audition was so captivating. Hector Bateman-Harden was brought in to play the role of Reuben the day before shooting (long story) so a few witching hour rewrites in the script and Hector smashed it out of the park.

indieactivity : How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?
Lindsay Bennett : Puppy took two (2) years to fully develop into a shooting script and other than that day before midnight rewrite I probably did about 7 drafts before I was happy. I’ve found that opening your work for peer review is really important – sometimes as a writer we don’t see those plot holes.

indieactivity : What was the first project out of the gate?
Lindsay Bennett : The first project I ever wrote solely was actually for theatre. I’d written two (2) one woman plays prior to branching into screenwriting which I think set me up with the basic tools I needed for storytelling. The first film I ever wrote was called Lions & Tigers & Bears. I think it has impressions of theatre in it – particularly the long monologue, you can watch the full film below…

indieactivity : During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Lindsay Bennett : Probably the scenes with the dog. She was amazing and worked for treats but when she didn’t want to work she let you know.

indieactivity : What works better in this latest production that mightn’t have worked so well in the last one you did?
Lindsay Bennett : We had a much bigger crew on Puppy, looking back if we had had that size crew on Lions I think it would have petrified me. I needed to build my confidence and find my feet first.

indieactivity : You wrote and acted in the film, what measure of input did it take to don these hats?
Lindsay Bennett : My director Marc Zammit and I discussed in great length the script, pace and structure of the film. He came with so many ideas and it’s important to trust the director to know where the script is going. He knew what he wanted from the characters and I knew each character inside out which effectively helped my own performance. Once you get on set unless there’s something drastic that needs changing then the script stays at the door and the acting cap is donned.

indieactivity : Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
Lindsay Bennett : The business side of filmmaking is so intrinsic and complex. Depending where you want to go in your career, if you want to start working with bigger budgets then it’s important to learn these aspects of the industry. It certainly doesn’t excite me as much as the creative side.

indieactivity : Where do you think your strengths line as a filmmaker?
Lindsay Bennett : I think my writing paints clear visual pictures. Nothing is original anymore but you can certainly put your own stamp on it. I like a degree of ambiguity in my work – I want the audience to figure out the film with me

indieactivity : Let’s talk finance, How did you get finance for a film?
Lindsay Bennett : As a filmmaker at the beginning of their career I realised that no one would take a chance on an unknown without a portfolio. So, for about 90% of all of my projects I have self-funded. I’ve landed a few good commercials and other acting work and invested all of it into the films. Since then people have seen the work I’ve been making and I’ve been fortunate to get some finance from private investors.

indieactivity : How much did you go over budget? How did you manage it?
Lindsay Bennett : For Puppy we went approx. £1000 over budget, it didn’t affect the running production but it has meant that all the festival submissions are going on a credit card. We are currently launching a crowdfunding campaign to cover this which will hopefully be up and running in late summer.

indieactivity : How important is marketing? Can a project can make any dent without it these days?
Lindsay Bennett : I’ve seen some amazing films promoted just using social media but I’m sure there are so any that fall through the cracks. Marketing is incredibly important to get your work to a wider audience – but if you have zero budget brushing up on social media is your next best option.

indieactivity : What do you hope audiences get from your film?
Lindsay Bennett : I hope it stays with them after they’ve seen it. And of course I want them to want to know more!

indieactivity : What else have you got in the works?
Lindsay Bennett : I’m currently developing Puppy into a Feature length film. I have also just finished another short film called Enter Nirvana which is in post-production.

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