Interview with director

The Shed – Interview with director Jessie Smith

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[Audio clip from The Shed micro-budget independent British horror film]

Low, tension-building music plays. SFX creaking door. Heartbeat SFX thuds in background.

FRED (main character)

Is… Is there something in there?

Heavy breathing is heard, then a thud. A moment of silence is followed by a piercing scream…

[Audio fades out / beginning of interview]

Film critic and broadcaster Mark Kermode (MK): That was a clip from The Shed, a new micro-budget independent British horror film that is out in the summer of 2021. I’m delighted to be joined by the director Jessie Smith who is here to discuss her new horror movie. Welcome Jessie!

Jessie Smith (JS): Thank you Mark. It’s a pleasure to be here.

MK: The Shed is described as a ‘micro-budget’ film – what does that mean and how did you get hold of the money to make it?

 

JS: It wasn’t easy! Micro-budget means it’s even lower budget than a low-budget film. We made The Shed for around £50,000 and shot the whole film in 11 days. The money mainly came from The British Film Industry and the National Lottery funding – I was very lucky to be able to access the money and make my first feature film.

MK: Tell us about The Shed – why should our listeners go and see it?

JS: In many ways, it’s a classic horror movie – jump scares, deaths, tension. But with our budget and the time we had to shoot it we couldn’t make it too graphic so most of the fear is inside the audience’s head. We’re playing on things that might be familiar to audiences and making them scary – everyone has seen a garden with an old shed at the end. What if there was something in that shed that was slowly killing everyone in the neighbourhood?

MK: Who is the main character in The Shed?

JS: I wanted to challenge what we usually see in the media so I have a black male lead who doesn’t fit the stereotype that we see in newspapers and music videos. His name is Fred, he’s a brilliant young scientist and uses this to take on the danger that they are facing.

MK: You’re a female director in an industry dominated by men. How difficult has that been for you?

JS: I would be lying if I said it was easy. Although women are definitely becoming more of a part of the industry, most of the people at the top – the people running the film studios, making the decisions – they are still overwhelmingly white men. So we’ve got a way to go but I’m thrilled to have a film out there and hope to build on it from here.

The Shed is out in selected cinemas in Summer 2021