Something For The Weekend: Ed Blum on Scenes of a Sexual Nature...

Scenes of a Sexual Nature is best described as a comedic and sexually charged look at what makes us tick. On a sunny afternoon in August, temperatures soar between seven couples as they explore love, sex and relationships on London’s Hampstead Heath. Director Ed Blum shot the movie over just three days on a budget of just £260,000 and managed to score super hot stars such as Ewan McGregor and Adam Lincoln for the cast. To win a copy, enter here

Prior to the DVD release of Scenes of a Sexual nature on March 12th, Becky asks Ed Blum, exactly how did he manage it all?

I read that you re-mortgaged your flat to increase the budget? Is that true?

I took a loan out yes, if only so I could keep on going and feed myself, you know. I had to take a fee so I could get myself provisions mostly!

What did your bank say?

Oh they didn’t know what the money was for, I doubt they would have leant me it for a movie. I think I told them it was for a new kitchen. If I need another loan for another movie I think I’d like a bathroom next…

I was going to ask whether you would have invited a mean bank manager to the premiere, just to rub his nose in it?

(laughs) Well, we actually did have a bank manager there, as well as all sorts of people, but he was a specialist bank manager, just for film projects. I actually invited everyone to the premiere - even the cast came. We had lots of support but we just didn’t know what would happen.

You met the film’s writer Aschlin Ditta at School, had you worked together before?

Aschlin’s a great writer – we met at the National Youth Theatre. It’s not the first time we’ve worked together no, but it’s the first time anyone decided to put our movies into production. Aschlin actually knows Catherine Tate through other comedy projects and she loves his writing, so that definitely helped.

What’s Catherine really like, was she fun to work with?

Catherine’s great, she’s not only funny in real life but she’s incredibly down to earth and good natured. Actually, everyone was, they were all such a pleasure to work with. Because it was such an independent film that we’d started ourselves from scratch, there was a real buzz about it – everyone believed in it. And even though it was sort of made on the cheap, so to speak, everyone was excited to see what would happen with it.

Is it true that the actors were only offered Equity minimum and a percentage of the future profits to take part?

Yes that’s true, and there were no ‘favoured nations’ as we call them – everyone was involved on an equal footing from the start, which wasn’t a problem because everyone seemed to enjoy the script so much. Plus I think it was an easy project for everyone because there were only about three days of filming, no studio hassles, no long contract negotiations – you know, I think it must have been quite refreshing. Because of the speedy nature of it all it, taking part didn’t really affect anyone’s schedules.

You went on last at the Raindance film festival – were you surprised at the reaction?

Oh it was fantastic on so many levels to have such a great reaction and to close for them. I used to go on courses at the Raindance on how to make budget films, as did a lot of people, including some executive producers! It was very important to us to be received well by them, especially as ours was an independent film and we couldn’t really afford to pay for our own premiere. As it was there was a line around the block to see it and it totally sold out. We probably couldn’t have paid for a better one!

I’m told you’re off to LA. Does that mean the hard work is finally over?

No, I’m only half going out there for a holiday. I’m actually meeting all sorts of people. We’ve had some interest from America considering variations on the film and that was probably helped by the great cast in the film. But the best thing that could have happened was our deal with Sony.

How did that come about?

Well we actually set up our own distribution company called “The really honest little distribution company” which the cast loved as it really was all our own work, from start to finish. Sony just loved the approach in that the cast all wanted to help promote it, attend the premiere, help with PR and everything, it was like a family production. Luckily that helped us get where we are, and helped get me my agent, William Morris in LA. And now, who knows what’s next?

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