Written & directed by Charlotte Hamblin
Produced by Leonora Darby, Charlotte Hamblin, James Harris, & Mark Lane
A dark comedy about death anxiety that follows Mara as she grapples with the belief that she has killed everybody she's gotten close to.
ABOUT THE FILM
Everybody Dies… Sometimes swept our Kino London Short Film Festival 2023 awards taking home four awards including our Grand Prize Short Film Fund for writer/director Charlotte Hamblin’s next project, Best First Time Filmmaker, Best Performance in a Comedy for Tanya Reynolds, and our Audience Award. Additionally it was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Editing.
The film then went onto it’s International Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and to win Best Director – Silver Prize at the Young Director Awards for CANNES LIONS 2023.
But… before all that Everybody Dies… Sometimes had it’s World Premiere at the Raindance Film Festival 2022 where it was Nominated for Best UK Short. It also won Best UK Short and Best Editing at the British Short Films Awards 2022, where it was also nominated for Best Director, Best Actress (Tanya Reynolds), and Best Supporting Actor (Mathew Horne).
Additional awards include the JURY PRIZE and Best Actress at Filmoramax 2023 and Best British Comedy at the Discover Film Awards 2023.
Festival highlights include the Academy Award qualifying HollyShorts, the BAFTA qualifying Norwich International Film Festival, Women X Festival, and the BIFA qualifying Bolton International Film Festival.
Everybody Dies Sometimes has been selected to screen on all Virgin Atlantic Flights.
ABOUT THE FILMmaker
Charlotte is a queer director, writer and actor. She is currently writer/director for her TV series THE COMMANDMENTS a comedy/drama starring and produced by Olivia Colman and her company South of the River Pictures. Charlotte is also co-creating a series with Keeley Hawes for her production company Buddy Club. Amongst other projects she’s adapting the best selling novel THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell Paramount Plus, due to shoot in 2024. Her next second short film as a director is NOT A MOURNING PERSON, written by Toto Bruin produced by Izzy Meikle-Small has just started its festival journey and has screened at Women X Festival.
Charlotte has two feature films in development with Federation Stories and BAFTA Award winning producer Christine Langan. Charlotte has also written episodes of Amazon Series HANNA She has taken part in writers roomS for Sky, Working Title, NBC Universal, Paramount Plus UK, and South of the River Pictures to name a few. Charlotte currently has TV shows in development with Pure Fiction, Mark Gordon Pictures, Route24 and Federation US Charlotte took part in the Zurich Film Festival Film Lab 2023 as a director.
Charlotte has recently finished shadow directing Dearbhla Walsh on Bad Sisters Series 2. Charlotte was also on the Jury for RAINDANCE Film Festival 2023.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH CHARLOTTE
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your filmmaking background?
Thank you for having me! As you know I’m a massive fan of Kino. You guys have been so endlessly supportive so I’m chuffed to be featured! So, with filmmaking… I had none before Everybody Dies! Well that’s not strictly true, I did make what I called a ‘filming camera’ out of a ReadyBreck box and a toilet roll in my kitchen when I was six.
I’ve always been in this industry, I started as an actor and then went a bit mad because I had no say on how my life was going to go and so I started writing. So I was working as a full time screenwriter which is utterly dreamy, until I was encouraged to direct. And I wrote Everybody Dies… Sometimes and here we are! I’m so glad I just did it. I’ve honestly learnt so much and had the time of my life. Still a lot to learn I hasten to add!
Tell us about the genesis of Everybody Dies Sometimes. What was the inspiration behind the film and how did the project get greenlit?
So I was working on a feature film with Tea Shop Productions and producer Leonora Darby said that I should direct it. I thought she was a bit mental, but then the more she encouraged me I thought, yeah maybe I could do that. So I started with a short film. But it had to be story I wanted to tell, that only I could tell. I’m very open about this film being semi- autobiographical. I suffered really badly from death anxiety as a kid, because a lot of people in my life kicked the bucket. Anyway, I was sent to a therapist to deal with it and would you believe it, he died. Six sessions in. Couldn’t write it hey? But I did. I was telling someone that story in lockdown and they were saying how mad and really funny it is. So I put pen to paper and wrote the film in one sitting.
Very luckily Leo and Tea Shop backed me and put half the finance in, wanting to support me as a director. That was very cool and I couldn’t have done it without them. I put the other half in. It’s the best investment I’ve ever made, but I’m aware I was in a really lucky position to be able to do that. So that’s how it came to life!
Tell us about the casting process and getting Tanya Reynolds attached to the project.
I met Tanya when the casting director Claudia Blunt took me to see her in a play at the Royal Court and obviously I thought she was amazing. So we stayed in contact and then when Covid hit and I wrote this, I only had her in mind to play Mara. So I sent it to her and I can’t believe she said yes. She’s won awards on the festival journey and I’m not surprised. I think her performance is a master class for comedy/tragedy acting. The film wouldn’t be half as magic without her. Or any of the cast for that matter. Utter gems all of them.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Everybody Dies Sometimes and how did you overcome them?
Probably me having no idea what I was doing! But I was guided by a lot of experienced, generous people. The main one was we lost our grip the day before shooting. Turns out Peaky Blinders stole every grip in the country. So I had no set ending. I knew what I wanted in my head, but I didn’t have the vocabulary to verbalise it. I kept saying ‘I’ll fix it in edit’. I didn’t… the genius editor Caitlin Spiller did.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
Well, I knew very little about the festival circuit. I’d written a short a few years before that went to Aesthetica. But I didn’t really get how big of deal it all was. We submitted to a few initially, and then out of nowhere got Raindance and Nominated for Best UK Short. I don’t think at the time I realised how good that was, specifically as a debut. They amazingly, asked me to be on the jury the year later and it was only then was I like. Holy shit. That was big deal. I think the naivety played quite well into my hands as I had zero strategy and a lot of blind faith. James Newman who I met when I acted in his Kino orginal was such a lot of help and took me under his wing a lot which how/what to apply. I really would have been stuck without him. When we got Tribeca I was like holy fuck. I knew what that was! And honestly, I had the time of my life. I mean now I can say Ben Stiller and Martin Scorsese have seen my first short. I can die happy. Winning 4 Kino awards wasn’t bad either… that felt pretty wild too!
congrats on getting distribution on Virgin Atlantic! How did that come about?
Our film was selected to screen on all Virgin Atlantic Flights because we won Best Comedy at the Discover Film Awards. All the winners were offered to Virgin and luckily ours was selected!
What do you think is the biggest challenge short filmmakers face in the early stages of their career when trying to break into the industry?
Money. Money is always going to be the thing. Even if you make your film paying people a packet of crisps and a curly whirly, festival submissions are SO expensive. I dread to think what I spent on submissions. It’s quite grim, but I don’t know a way around it. Also, who you know… who you know helps so much. I always knew someone who knew someone. Mainly from being in the industry for so long. Coming to directing a bit later than my peers was weirdly good as my mates had been doing it a while and were so damn kind helping me out. Freddie Hall who I rang asking if he knew a newbie who wanted to first. He said he ‘d do it. And he was my guardian angel!
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Ok. Keep your short under 10 minutes, if you have to 12. I think part of the reason Everybody Dies did well was because it was 8 minutes. As soon as people see it’s longer, your film has to work that much harder to get them on side. We live in a TikTok world now and peoples attention spans aren’t what they were.
If you’re starting out, go to a short film festival. I did that and must have watched nearly 100 in weekend. It kind of goes into your DNA what works, what doesn’t. I also think it super obvious if a short is a proof of concept. Now proof of concept shorts are great, we need them. BUT, your short has to stand alone as well. Short film is an art form in and of itself. I’m a bit traditional… I love a beginning middle and end. And a lot of shorts I’ve seen over the last eighteen months have a cracking beginning, middle and they end weirdly. Ending a short is way harder than ending a feature or a pilot. It’s hell. So give the script to three different people who have no idea what you’ve written about and ask them, doesn’t this make sense. What do you think you’re meant to be left feeling? Then you’ll work your way to a stronger ending.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Oh well, Zone of Interest was unlike any other cinematic experience I’ve ever had. My favourite films of all time are Almodovar’s Bad Education and the 1994 version of Little Women. It’s perfect. Don’t come for me.