Desperate to break into the film industry, Lara local Scott Day, self-funded a feature film by working tirelessly at a meat factory in Breakwater through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Why? Because filmmaking has been his burning life-long passion.
“I was bullied at primary school because I was obsessed with movies to the point where it was the only thing I would talk about. I almost had an eidetic memory when it came to who won Oscars in certain years and who starred in what movies.
“I had no other interests, and that’s how I found escapism, especially finding solace in writing my own stories and plays from the age of 7, but I didn’t write prose, I wrote dialogue instead.
“I kept alienating my peers without my teachers knowing I was on the spectrum until I was diagnosed at 12-years-old.
“I got into filmmaking because writing has always been a passion of mine, and I was determined to pursue my craft after finishing high school. I tried to pursue law and other things, but I always found myself coming back to film. It’s like it’s a part of me,” explains the 25-year-old.
The film, titled ‘Wanda & Sully’ after its two main characters, tells the intriguing story of two teenagers who investigate the student council representative’s affairs after discovering he’s potentially involved in an embezzlement scheme… or even something frighteningly more sinister.
“I wrote the script with Joshua Marchant in 2018, but I couldn’t afford to make it on my own and nobody would give me any funding because I had no track record except for a couple of short films. That’s when I decided I would fund it myself because I can’t see anything else I want to do with my life. I’m obsessed with the art of filmmaking and storytelling.”
Scott Day is the Executive Producer and Co-writer of the feature film ‘Wanda & Sully’. It was directed by Matt Williams. Filming occurred between December 2020 and February 2021.
“It took 17 days to shoot the entire film and as a result, was an extremely intense shoot, but it was also so very rewarding. We shot eight hours a day for 17 days and ended up with 20 hours of footage, but the final cut should be approximately 90 minutes.
“I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot, but it’s about social media, its relationship with politics and conspiracy theories in a high school setting.”
‘Wanda & Sully’ stars Grant Young and Neighbours’ Mieke Billing-Smith as the title characters as well as Lara resident Darby Teesdale and former Lara resident Mitchell James O’Neil as the antagonists Jonathan and Mr. Redwood respectively.
Midnight Mindset Studios is a Melbourne-based film production company.
“I hope ‘Wanda and Sully’ gets some exposure at film festivals around the world and that a distributor like Netflix of Stan take it on. Accessibility is important and all I want is for people to watch it and enjoy it.”
If you would like more information, you can get in touch with Scott at scott.day.filmmaker@gmail.com
Photo supplied.
HuG 