Lee Plummer spoke with the 2011 winner of the Enter The Pitch competition



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Tim: That's correct yes.

Lee: Tell us about the process of making the movie.

Tim: One of the amazing things about the Enter The Pitch competition is the support you get in producing your film. Unlike a lot of other film competitions, you get a lot of good industry support. After winning the competition I developed and wrote the screenplay with my friend Beth Shouler and we were supported in that by the BAFTA nominated screen writer Stuart Hazeldine and then as part of the production we worked with Luke Walton and Jackie Sheppard who produced the feature film Africa United, which was a film about the World Cup that was the Times best film list for several months; so that development stage was supported by professionals. Then once we got to filming we were also working with some amazing casting crew. The whole process of making it was amazing.

For me in some ways the whole mentoring and developing was one of the best parts of the competition, because it developed my skills and gave me some amazing industry contacts. It's not every day you get that kind of support; that kind of backing to make your film dream become a reality.

Tim and Phil in production
Tim and Phil in production

Lee: And the second part of the prize is that they send you to Hollywood.

Tim: Yes.

Lee: That is a phenomenal prize. You've just got back recently from Hollywood. Tell us about this.

Tim: It was incredible; very surreal. You get to make this film and you're working so hard at making this film and you finish it and all of a sudden you are going to Hollywood to meet some serious Hollywood professionals to show them my film and get feedback and meet new contacts. My wife and I flew out and we went and stayed just outside of LA, in a beautiful home in Pasadena overlooking the LA skyline.

We went there and then as part of this we saw various Hollywood professionals. We saw Ralph Winter who's the producer of all of the X-Men movies. We also saw the actor David Oyelowo and his wife Jess and David has just finished filming Jack Reacher, the new Tom Cruise movie; he played alongside Tom Cruise. He's also just finished doing Lincoln, the new Stephen Spielberg movie about the American president. He's also doing things like Last King of Scotland and various others. These are guys who are operating at the very top of Hollywood. They are not aspiring producers or actors, these are guys that are actually doing the real thing on a global scale and we were able to go in, show them the film and meet them in their offices. Ralph's offices actually overlooked the Hollywood sign. You can imagine what a buzz that was.

Lee: You were saying that this whole process can't really happen without the fantastic support of great family and you've got a very supportive wife Kate who's helped you through this haven't you?

Tim: Yes absolutely. I think that the whole endeavour of making a film and you often see it at a much lower level, but you do see it most probably in the Oscar features where they thank their families etc., but making a film is an all consuming endeavour. I couldn't have done what I have done without the support of my wife. That's been a huge part of the whole process. I think I also thought that with having two kids and we've got a third kid on the way that this may be something that I wouldn't have had time for, but she was so encouraging and really believed in the idea and believed that I could do a really good job. We went into it together and thankfully after that she was able to come out to LA and enjoy a bit of the competition prize.

If anyone is looking for their big chance to make their own biblical interpretation on the big screen, all you need to do is get the information from Enter The Pitch. You can go on their website www.enterthepitch.comCR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.