Behind The Scenes of My Brother’s Web Series – Christie (2008)

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Watch my behind the scenes documentary of the Christie (2008) internet comedy video series (7mins) on filmaka.com here

In 2008 I was backpacking in Canada about to head home. On the phone my brother told me him and some friends had won the first round of an online film making competition. They’d been awarded some budget to make a series and did I want to help out? So started one of the crazier periods of my life, tearing around London in a low-buget shoot terrorising posh gentlemens’ clubs, stealing shots on locations we weren’t allowed and almost getting shot at the airport.

A few days into shooting the Christie (2008) Series we got a phone call from the producers at filmaka.com (including “Bend It Like Beckham”, 2002, producer Deepak Nayar) saying they wanted a behind the scenes video. I was working as a production assistant at the time and a Sony Z1 HD camera was thrust into my hands. I shot whenever I could between other duties on set.

I also ended up acting a couple of cameo bit-parts as “Mongo” the performing monkey, and Christie’s real life brother in one of the episodes.

I filmed, edited, and directed the documentary.

I snatched the main behind the scenes interview at the end of a very busy film shoot. Director Azi Rahman and Actor/Producer/Brother Alec Christie actually had a deadline that day, and Alec can be seen uploading an episode in the background.

We did’t win the competition final, but we had a bloody good laugh making comedy videos. And one of our videos did win an award at a Canadian film festival.

Then I got a call from the bank saying they wanted their overdraft paid back. They said I could only have an overdraft if I paid £1000 a month into my bank account. I tried to explain that I didn’t need an overdraft if I was paying £1000 a month into my bank account. But they weren’t having it. So we got jobs, signed non-disclosure agreements for a decade and worked in crappy advertising agencies amongst other things.

Meanwhile I did every comedy course in London, but that’s another story…

If the series ever gets a cult following, I may release more behind the scenes clips.

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