Breakwater: Pre-production (Max Morgan)

MAKING A FEATURE FILM

'BREAKWATER IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA SET BETWEEN OXFORD AND THE SUFFOLK COAST, EXPLORING HOW WE CONNECT, FORGIVE AND GRIEVE FOR BOTH OTHERS AND OURSELVES. IT FOLLOWS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OTTO, A UNIVERSITY STUDENT, AND JOHN, A RETIRED ANGLER WHO LIVES ON THE COAST WHO BOND OVER SHARED TRAUMA OF LOSING A LVOED ONE. BREAKWATER IS OXFORD UNIVERSITY'S SECOND EVER FEATURE FILM, WITH 2022 MARKING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRIVILEGED, THE 1982 FILM BY OXFORD UNDERGRADUATES THAT LAUNCHED THE HOLLYWOOD CAREERS OF HUGH GRANT, ANDY PATERSON, MIKE HOFFMAN, MARK WILLIAMS, IMOGEN STUBBS AND OTHERS.'

Breakwater is the most ambitious student / independent production I have been involved with to date. To make a feature film with limited resources and budget at first seemed unfathomable – perhaps the key reason it had not been attempted in Oxford for 40 years. 

I started working on the production in the summer of 2022 as the Associate Producer. We had been floating the idea of a feature film since the summer term (beginning in April) and Max, the Director, had drafted a rough script by the summer. While Max revised the script, Jemima (Producer) and I began by posting a crew call and brainstorming how to budget and raise funds. The production quickly grew, receiving more traction and interest than I had expected. By autumn we had a crew of roughy 30 people, including a finance team to support with fundraising. The crew was comprised of Oxford students, film students from the University of Westminster, and more. 

I organised the initial fundraiser: a raffle at Oxo Bar. It was a successful and fun launch party; however, the money raised was sourced from students, and we knew we had to be more ambitious in order to secure our £30k goal. 

The Privileged reunion I facilitated through OUFF highlighted key mentors for the production. Andy Paterson (the Producer of Privileged) and Mike Hoffman (the Director) were keen to support Breakwater by providing advice on funding/budgeting and the script. Andy worked closely with Jemima and Mike supported Max through numerous drafts. Their support was invaluable to the production. The only regret I have about their involvement is that OUFF as a society did not receive the same mentorship or support. It would have been great to extend their knowledge – and the financial support of the Privileged cast and crew – to the wider filmmaking community at Oxford. 

During Michaelmas Term (October to December 2022) I concentrated predominantly on casting. We had 70-80 auditionees for the three lead roles. The initial round was through self tapes and then we held 2-3 rounds of in person auditions. The actors that we cast were perfect in each role and truly made the characters their own. However, I wish that there had been one additional crew member (perhaps a Casting Director) on the panel. Max and Jemima began the audition process with a strong idea of who they wanted to cast and that bias was present throughout the process.

It took us a little longer to cast the roles of Louise, Helen, Pete, and John, as we were unfamiliar with casting actors outside of the university age range. We used platforms such as Spotlight and Mandy, as well as various Facebook groups. These auditions were conducted via Zoom.

Early in the audition process Max was also in touch with Will Gao, an actor known for his role in the Netflix show Heartstopper. Will expressed interest in the film and Max was keen to cast him as the lead, Otto, believing that Will's name would also help promote the project. Negotiations with Will's agent (Curtis Brown) delayed the casting of Otto by months (there were understandably wary of Will's involvement in an independent film orchestrated mostly by students). I personally believed we should cast Danny as Otto – he was brilliant in the role and I wanted to give an upcoming student actor the opportunity to shine through the production – and that Will could be cast as the supporting character Matt. This is ultimately what transpired, but it took months for Max and Jemima to accept that it was the best solution. 

Filming was initially scheduled to begin in January. We intended to complete the week of filming in Oxford during the end of the Christmas vacation. However, delays to both casting and fundraising meant that we delayed all filming to the Hilary vacation period (March through April). This was one of the best decisions we made. 

We ran a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo which was highly successfully – we reached our target goal of £10k. The marketing and finance departments explored various avenues of raising awareness and securing the funds. 

We also organised an art gala (11 February 2023) at Oriel College. We worked with numerous artists from Oxford (including Fine Art students at the Ruskin) – we split the profits 50-50 with them. We also received a generous donation from Maggi Hambling (an artist local to Suffolk) which we sold for £3k. 

I also assumed the role of Production Manager during pre-production. We had regular meetings and I supported mostly with catering, accommodation, and travel. The delay in filming provided us ample time to coordinate the logistics. We increase filming from two to three weeks: two weeks in Aldeburgh and one week in Oxford. 

Accommodation was relatively simple to organise: Max offered his home and a family friend's (for £0) as our key accommodation in Suffolk. The family friend's house in Thorpeness doubled as our unit base. We rented one airbnb five minutes from the unit base for the camera team. I assigned accommodation based on preferences through a form. The unit base had the cast, myself, 1st AD, and Costume Designer (as well as other members of the crew), as it made preparation in the mornings simple. 

In Oxford the majority of the production team stayed in their student accommodation. Anyone in need of accommodation was put up by other members of the crew. 

Due to our budget, catering was more difficult to sort. We provided lunch and snacks for the duration of the shoot. The budget for catering was £1.5k. It was initially £750, but I negotiated with the Producer as the original budget – allowing around £1.15 per day per head – was not feasible. The additional budget was possible because we received a £750 grant from the university. After lots of research and budgeting, the Assistant Producer and I realised that it would be simplest to work with a catering company for hte first leg of the shoot. This cost us about £1.2k, which was within the budget. In Oxford all lunches were sponsored by a few different places that members of the crew frequent. We were also able to secure sponsored coffees for both legs of the shoot – these coffees were a great morale boost. These generous companies were willing to support us because they knew us, but we also promoted their brands in exchange. Breakfasts and snacks, which used the remaining catering budget, were arranged by the Producer.

Transportation was likewise coordinated by utilising resources from within the cast and crew. We carpooled from London and Oxford to Suffolk using the three cars that I organised for the Suffolk leg (this required one car to make two trips). The camera team also hired a Luton van (from their own portion of the budget to transport the equipment. The three cars were used to transport cast and crew to and from the set. At the end of the first leg, cast and crew were also car-pooled to Oxford for the second leg. We reimbursed all petrol costs. We also covered the train fares for crew members that joined or left outside of the two designated travel dates. One actor had to fly in from Ireland and we reimbursed his travel as well. Oxford is walkable so we did not have travel costs during the last week of the shoot.

If I could do the pre-production process again, I would have insisted on attending one of the recces to better understand the transportation needs of the shoot. I relied on Max and Jemima's opinion, and it certainly would have been beneficial to have at least one hired driver for the shoot. 

You can read more about the actual filming of the production here.