From Nottingham’s renowned Junior Television Workshop to the heights of Sky One, Tim Smith has led a glittering career in just eleven years. Now the young actor has turned his hand to filmmaking with Schoolboy, a story investigating violence in schools. Drawing in friends from his TV work and the Junior Television Workshop, Tim’s using the film in schools to spark debate among students. Here’s what we got from Nottingham’s other famous Mr. Smith:

Who're some of the actors involved?
Kieran Hardcastle plays Ed Fish, he's in This is England as well. Andre Squire, who plays Ty in the film, he's really really really good. His characterisation in the film is excellent and interesting because there's an instance in my life where something, not quite as extreme as this happened. I've known Andre for a long time so he was always a person that I particularly wanted as Ty, because he knew where this idea had come from and people we knew that were like the character, and he absolutely smashed it.

You also used young people from workshops that you'd been running?
I did there's a lot of kids in it from a school I was working in in Swadlingcote called the William Allitt school who're really passionate about their acting, and also a lot of my friends who went to the Junior Television Workshop. I don't think used is the right word...

Where did the idea for the plot come from?
One of the reasons was that my life was affected about five years ago when a friend of mine was stabbed and killed outside his own house. Out of that I noticed that it seemed to be happening all the time. When I was researching and developing the project it was in the paper three or four times about kids who had taken guns into school or kids who'd been stabbed outside of schools and it really got me thinking about the link between weapons and schools. It just seemed a bit crazy that people would actually do this, and when I show people the film now my thoughts originally were 'Is this too extreme?' and 'Is it realistic?', but, it just is, y'know? It happens, a lot. It's pretty scary really. So that was one of the main things, to get people to consider it, especially young people, what the potential outcome could be if they hadn't thought about it and they know someone who's carrying a gun or a knife or a fake gun for a laugh or whatever reason they've got it, just to consider what could happen.

What's the long-term plan for the film?
The long-term plan is just to get it out there and get as many people to see it as possible. We've started taking it round to schools already to screen it and then get a debate and a dialogue going with young people about the issues that are raised in the film, and the idea is to continue that across the Midlands.

Is location important?
Not really, I think it's relevant to everyone really regardless of where you're from. The school that we shot in is on the edge of town in Swadlingcote, a sort of semi-rural area, and that was interesting because there a lot of films [about violence in schools]already that are set in these urban environments, so I think Schoolboy's quite poignant saying that this can happen to any school.

Is it a comment on school violence in general versus school violence in Nottingham?
It's not a comment, more a reflection. An observation of things that happen, and an exploration of why these things happen maybe, and what the outcomes of them are. The film is a catalyst to start a debate to discuss where these characters would be now as a result of their actions. How maybe some of the things in the film could've been avoided, what could've been done to change the events.

What did you learn about the subject while you were researching?
Hell of a lot, just how widespread it is really. About how it's affected the people that get wound up in these situations and their families and their communities. It's just an awful thing. Going into schools and finding that kids know people that do carry knives or guns or BB guns and just thinking well, if you do know someone who's doing that, then get that out to someone who needs to know. That's part of what we're doing in schools, just telling them who they can talk to so they can do it in the right way before something like what happens in the film can happen.

What surprised you while you were making this film?
I suppose how good everyone was, not that I doubted people! And the fun that we had, on the days that we were shooting because it was a really good atmosphere and because we had such a mix of people- people from unis, who were there to get experience whether it be in sound or script; and there were kids there who I'd worked with in schools who'd never done any acting on a camera before at all; and there were professional DOPs*. We had Chris Parker from EastEnders there as well and Stacey Roca who was in The Office, so there was this mix of people who were all really enthusiastic, and for people who'd done TV shows who'd seen that daily routine of shooting day in day out, it can get a bit tedious. But [with Schoolboy] even though it was really hard and we had so much to shoot it was just a joy to be part of something that people weren't getting paid for but everyone was still really grafting. Then it was getting late at night and if you're working on a TV show it'd be like I wanna get home, but people said no we'll stay we'll stay without me even asking them to do so. So that was the real surprise. It was a really well-oiled machine.

How did the young people from your workshops respond?
Really really well. A couple of the girls who were part of the film have written a script. I went to do a test screening at the school and they said, "We've written a script and we've sent it to the BBC." They were brilliant and I was really proud of them because they were like little mini-professionals with no experience and I just thought it's such a great thing to give them this opportunity and for them to really grab hold of it and be so enthusiastic and so good, that made me wanna do more and give more people opportunities like that.

Are you planning to do more films with young people?
Yeah, definitely. I want to give the same opportunity to more people after seeing what it's done. They've started script-writing, another one is really getting into editing now, and a lot of them are focusing on acting, so, that's been a real joy. I'd just like to have a bit of a wider net now and catch a few more people who are maybe that bit harder to reach who are a bit in danger of losing that kind of drive to other things that might be distracting them and giving them the chance to realise that they can go out and can do it.

Are people going to have an opportunity to see this film?
It's gonna be on at film festivals, if you didn't get to see it the Bang! Short Film Festival at the Broadway Cinema in March, they can contact me through myspace.

Schoolboy on myspace




Comment (2) Send to friend Print Add to Facebook Socialise