Directed by Christopher Deakin
WRITTEN & produced by paul ludden
Men of a certain age will generally talk about anything other than their mental health. Ben and Pete are no different.. Two middle-aged mates on their first fishing trip since their friend Marko took his own life, a complete and utter shock to them both. Even the crazy stories, dark humour and piss taking can’t stop them opening up in a way they never expected.
ABOUT THE FILM
GONE FISHING was an official selection at the BAFTA qualifying Bolton International Film Festival, and a Semi-Finalist at our very our BIFA qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival. Other festival highlights include Barcelona Indie Filmmakers Festival, Montpellier Indie Filmmakers Festival, and Madrid Indie Filmmakers Festival. It’s been featured by Film Shortage. Award included Best Actor at Cine Paris Film Festival 2024, Best Short Film & Best Screenplay at Folkestone Film Festival 2025, Best (NW) Short at KINOFilm Manchester International Festival 2025 and Best Director at TMFF.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Paul Ludden is a Writer/Producer from Manchester, he is also the CEO of MancMade Productions. Paul’s third film, Being Billy (starring Con O’Neill) his second with Lee Child as Exec-Producer (they first worked together on The Visit) is currently in post-production.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH paul
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
My name is Paul Ludden and I’m the Writer and Producer of Gone Fishing Short. Gone Fishing is the second short film written and produced by me for MancMade Productions. We’ve just finished filming our third short film, Being Billy. That’s in post-production and should be ready for festivals very early part of 2026. In the meantime I’m working on the script for our first feature, inspired by The Visit short film we released a couple of years ago.
Tell us about the genesis of Gone Fishing. Where did the idea come from and how did you develop that idea into the short that's now made its way out into the world?
Gone Fishing is a story that has been running through my mind for a long, long time. It’s actually dedicated to the memory of a friend of mine who took his own life back in the early 90’s. I wrote, produced and directed a “Pod Play” (audio-drama) of Gone Fishing a couple of years ago, released on The Pod Play, a platform I founded to support new writing. The theme was pretty much the same but it was rewritten as a short film because I’m passionate about doing whatever I can to get men to start conversations about their mental health and I wanted to create something that would hopefully resonate with men of a certain “vintage” like me, who are pretty shite about talking about how they feel.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Gone Fishing and how did you overcome them?
As with most short films the biggest obstacle was probably funding. I make sure that everyone involved gets paid a decent day rate. Some people may accept less than normal compared to the bigger productions they’re used to working on, and that was certainly the case for the actors. This was all self-funded and I was also lucky enough to work with partners who were prepared to do whatever they could to work within the budget I had.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
Gone Fishing has had great feedback from festivals around the world. We’re talking about a subject that resonates with lots of people, regardless of language barriers (but with subtitles). The Festival circuit has its issues, no doubt about that. But I’ve found a good few that are absolutely about supporting the films and the filmmakers first and foremost, Kino London Short Film Festival being one, so I recommend those to other filmmakers. In terms of selections there is definitely no exact science but if a festivals heart is in the right place, selected or not, they should be supported.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
My advice to any short filmmakers is always the same. Work with people you want to spend time with and are good at what they do, certainly in terms of crew. Work with different Directors, you can learn something from everyone that will help you. Work with quality actors, don’t just give roles to your mates. Don’t put up with toxicity on any production, life is too short to work with people who are dicks.
