Written and Directed by Barney Pell Scholes and Tom Harnett O’Meara
Introduction:
Lucy and David are a young couple trying to get a foot on the first slippery rung of the London housing ladder. Lucy is six months pregnant, making the whole situation even more stressful. Visiting a potential flat one evening, they are disturbed by the unsettling behaviour of the Estate Agent. He seems determined not to let them leave. Soon they realise why. Someone…or something…is already living there.
Inspiration:
For Sale is a micro-short horror inspired by the horrific process of trying to find somewhere decent and affordable to live as (relatively) young people in London. We were chatting over a pint one day about our shared flat-hunting woes and the idea developed from there. As the prospective renter/buyer, it often feels like you have absolutely no leverage in the situation. You feel exploited because you know there are so many other people in the same situation, and everyone’s desperate. Also, let’s be honest – nobody likes estate agents. We love genre films so we were really keen to try our hand at a horror with a few good jump-scares. Somebody recently described the film as “like Stath Lets Flats but haunted”, which is a pretty good description.
The Process:
We filmed in an upstairs flat at the studio where we worked in London. Partly because it had a really good vibe for what we wanted, but also because it didn’t cost any money and we had the run of the place. We have a friend who’s a brilliant sculptor and creature designer, Stef Cordioli, so we worked with him to design something really gnarly-looking for the monster. Because it was a small cast, we were able to do group castings, which was great because we could see how different actors bounced off each other. The whole shoot was really fun, which isn’t always the case on short films! Getting the jump scare right was probably the biggest challenge. We struggled with it for a long time, and we didn’t really know if it was working until quite late in the edit. Our composer, Sulk Rooms and our sound designer, Will Cohen, really made a huge difference; they brought the film to life.
What It Means to Be a Finalist:
It’s brilliant to be a Finalist at Worcester Film Festival – we were invited a couple of years ago with a previous short film, The Soldier on Smithdown Road, which was nominated for Best Film. It was such a fun night at the awards ceremony; we met loads of cool people, many of whom we’re still in touch with. We can’t wait to be back!
Where to Watch / Follow:
You can follow Barney on Instagram @barneypellscholes and Tom @thomas_harnett_omeara
After the festival run is finished in the next few weeks, we’ll put the film up online. Follow us for updates on that, and on our other projects!
About The Author
