Directed by joe murphy
Produced BY joe murphy & Clare McCahery
Phil Rochester battles to conquer Manchester's toughest standup contest, revealing the relentless drive of an artist to perform - even when he's not thanked by audiences for doing so.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Joe Murphy is a filmmaker based in the North West of England. He directed his first short documentary in 2024, which was a finalist at the BIFA-qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival and won Best Documentary at both the Shared Visions Film Festival and the Gloucester Independent Film Festival. With an early background in comedy, his focus has shifted towards intimate, character-driven documentaries, maintaining an eye for the small moments of humour in otherwise dark and challenging circumstances.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JOE
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I originally started out as a teenager focused on comedy. I created an online sketch show with a couple of friends who were kind enough to perform in it, and I was surprised to find that some (I’ll reiterate—some) people actually thought it was funny. That gave me a bit of confidence when it came to writing and directing.
I ended up falling in love with documentary at university. One thing I hadn’t really understood before was that direct cinema often includes funny moments, even if the overall tone of the film is more serious. People tend to be quite funny in their daily lives without even realising it.
Milking the Dog is my first “real” film after graduating in 2020 - and my first-ever documentary. So, to me, it made sense to follow a story with comedy baked into its DNA. That familiarity helped when it came to the pacing and editing of a scene, and it gave me room to experiment and start figuring out my tone of voice.
Tell us about the genesis of Milking the Dog. 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?
In 2018 I was shooting b-roll for a student film about a brutal gong show in Manchester. Phil happened to be performing that night. After a short and rough set, we grabbed a quick backstage interview - only for Phil to ignore every question and launch into a wild story about performing at a pub where a man milking a dog stole the spotlight. The footage was totally unusable for that project, but in 2023 I finally reconnected with Phil and began making a film centred entirely around him - he’s definitely not a side character in someone else’s story.
As a filmmaker, I was drawn to rejection as a central theme. It’s a universal part of life that everyone experiences, and as a creative, you quickly learn it's part of the process. Stand-up comedy, in particular, offers the most immediate and unforgiving feedback - you get a laugh, a heckle, or silence. There’s no hiding from it. I wanted to make a film about someone who embraces that, and Phil is exactly that person. He creates for himself - not necessarily to “make it” as a comedian, but simply because he loves being on stage. That kind of drive is rare and admirable.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Milking the Dog and how did you overcome them?
The obstacles were mostly logistical - the film had the budget of a ham sandwich, like most indie projects. The only real way to overcome that was by massively scaling down the production - which, in the end, I think really benefited the film. One thing the low budget taught me is that you can make a documentary with just two people, as long as the director is comfortable handling sound. It actually helps the people that you're filming feel more relaxed and open, which leads to better and more honest material.
The real creative obstacle was making sure the film never strayed into exploitation. It would’ve been easy - and boring - to make a cringe comedy by just following a stand-up around and laughing at them bombing. I think the only way to avoid that is by never losing sight of the humanity of the person you're filming. Phil is one of the kindest people I've met, and I felt that as long as I conveyed that - and reflected some of our relationship within the narrative - we could steer clear of it becoming a cynical piss-take.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
I first screened the film for friends and family - including Phil, who showed up with a bin bag over his head to avoid drawing attention to himself. My main goal was simply to share the film with as many audiences as possible. I submitted it to just a handful of festivals, hoping one might be interested. The response has blown me away - it’s been accepted into far more than I expected, including making the finals at Kino, which felt surreal. Since it leans into comedy, watching it with live audiences has been fantastic - people’s laughter tends to grow as the film progresses, which I take as a sign they’re warming to Phil.
One of my favourite memories is when I first sent the film to Phil. I woke up to three missed calls and a message - he’d planned to terrify me by pretending to be furious about how he was portrayed, before admitting he actually really liked it. A lot of the shoot was like that: Phil constantly trying to wind me up.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
I feel like a fraud handing out any advice, as Milking the Dog is my first film, and I’ve learned so much from others at the various festivals I’ve been lucky enough to attend. I guess my main advice is to always focus on the story first and spectacle second - something that is attainable - and then frame the superficial stuff around it; otherwise, you could end up losing a lot of money. Taking a break from the film for a few weeks at a time usually helps me look at it in a fresh way and stops me from going crazy reviewing the same material constantly.
Also, befriend someone really rich and trick them into funding your film. I’m still searching for my sugar daddy.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Streetwise (1984), directed by Martin Bell, is an absolute masterclass in documentary filmmaking. It follows a group of kids in Seattle who survive by selling drugs or partaking in sex work. The film conveys deep empathy without shying away from the harsh realities they face. The fact it was shot on film blows my mind, it must have been a logistical nightmare. It also just looks beautiful and serves as a powerful time capsule of 1980s America.
Crumb (1994) is an insane documentary. It follows Robert Crumb, who is a super controversial American artist, and to me, the whole thing plays like a repulsive stream of consciousness that perfectly matches the tone of Crumb's grotesque cartoons. A fantastic documentary about a collection of people I hope I never have to meet.
