Movies You Made: “Revision” by Matthew Cowan

Here is the first in a 7-part web series called “Revision” from Glasgow, Scotland filmmaker Matthew Cowan. The premise:

Jolyon Reid, a final year student, receives a message from himself warning of Orpheus, a shadowy company he is about to work for. Revision: A science fiction, espionage web drama series set in Glasgow University

I asked Matthew about the financing of the series. His response:

We have had 2 grants which have came to a total budget of £800 as well as whatever little we can scrape together when we need it. Most of that money went on props in later episodes and everything else we have begged or borrowed for. We are now in the process of applying for another round of funding (fingers crossed).

To be honest, though, we found that with one grant, where we had to spend all the money (£200) by a certain date which was before the filming, we bought a lot of things which we never used simply because we had to spend the money but, as is the nature of the continuing series, plots changed (usually to accommodate actors, which has accounted for a large amount of our plot, we have found that when filming over such a long time with people we are not paying when they want out they need to be written out somehow) and our needs changed making many purchases in advance redundant.

There’s a writing challenge for you: When unpaid actors leave the project, you have to somehow write them out of the series.

You can see the first 5 webisodes of “Revision” on the series’ YouTube channel.

Facebook page here.

If you have been involved in the production of a movie — short film, full length, web series — and would like it promoted on GITS, email me or leave links and info in comments.