On this week’s episode of The Screen Podcast, the team behind new UK indie Sunny Dancer reveal how they made the tricky jump to a second feature and discuss the film’s pre-sales, budget manoeuvres and festival launch.
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Filmmaker and producer George Jaques, a 2022 Screen Star Of Tomorrow, and producer Ken Petrie talk to Screen’s senior UK and international reporter Ben Dalton about making their new feature Sunny Dancer, which is set at a summer camp for teenage cancer survivors. The film made a significant number of pre-sales at Cannes 2024 via Embankment.
“It’s a film made by young people for young people and about young people,” Petrie explains of the market’s response. ”I think that really helped with some of the junior acquisitions executives at distributors who were like, ’Wow, this is someone who’s like me, talking about me, in a world that I know people that have existed in’.”
Sunny Dancer is Jaques’ second feature following his 2023 debut Black Dog, a DIY indie made on a budget of £500,000. While Sunny Dancer was a big step up, Jaques discussed how he navigated budget limitations.
“If you let too many things slide, you lose the vision, you lose the directive viewpoint, which is so dangerous for an indie film,” said Jaques. ”But also if you don’t let things slide, you don’t get it made… you have to adapt and mould and change it.”
The Screen Podcast is produced by Ellie Calnan, with Wendy Mitchell serving as editorial director. New episodes every Thursday.
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