Support: The Fitzroy - An Open Letter From The Film’s Director, Andrew Harmer.
Editor’s Notes: Visit The Fitzroy’s Kickstarter Campaign and support to help makes this feature a reality. Follow The Fitzroy on Twitter at @The_Fitzroy. Below is an open letter from the film’s writer and director, Andrew Harmer.
Hello, I’m Andrew Harmer the writer and director of The Fitzroy.
Now I’ve grabbed your attention with a clever, witty introduction I’ll give you the elevator pitch.
The Fitzroy is black comedy set in a post-apocalyptic 1950’s Margate. The world is covered in a poisonous gas and the Fitzroy Hotel (a beached submarine) is the last place for a traditional holiday.
The hotel is sent into chaos when one of the guests murders the hotel’s owner. It is left to Bernard, The Fitzroy’s hapless bellboy, to keep the hotel from falling apart as he struggles to hide the murders from the other guests and the ever-suspicious authorities.
So that’s The Fitzroy in a nutshell. It’s a bit of Sci-Fi, a dash of period, a sprinkling of noir and a whole heap of comedy. All the things I love.
And The Fitzroy really is a labour of love. We are trying to make the film through social network sites and Kickstarter. The main reason for this is The Fitzroy isn’t your traditional safe bet of a film. It’s not particularly the kind of film that appeals to production companies. You know - it’s not a slasher or zombie film that’s (almost) guaranteed to make its money back. It’s a bit more niche and in some ways old fashioned. But like I say that’s the sort of film I love.
The other thing that is great about Kickstarter is the direct connection between creator and artist. It’s a chance for film fans to help get the kind of film they want to see made. I just hope there are enough people who want to see The Fitzroy.
I’ve always been drawn to stranger films, I’m a big fan of Ken Russell, David Cronenberg, Richard Lester people like that. And since I can remember I have wanted to make films. Somewhere in a dusty box in the attic there is a VHS home movie of a five year old me playing a gangster who had a gun that made people invisible (thinking about it, that’s still a great film idea). Thankfully by the time I had grown up, I’d learnt I couldn’t act. Over the past ten years I’ve made a number of short films and low budget music videos. Some have done quite well at festivals but this will be my first foray into feature films, which is equally daunting as it is exciting.
The Kickstarter campaign has started with a… well… kick. We’ve had a wonderful launch and were staff pick within the first day. But we really need to share the film with as many people as possible. We’ve got some awesome rewards. From limited edition posters and premier tickets to something that I think is great fun. I’ve always loved title sequences and animation. So we figured we’d make the titles into a little animated short film that shows the backstory of The Fitzroy; how it came to be and how people managed to survive. Or not, as the case may be. So for one of the rewards, if you send us your photo we will turn you into a cartoon character that will populate the titles. I think of all the rewards, that’s the one I would buy!
Well that’s The Fitzroy and what we are up to. We would love for you to come aboard and join in. If you have 2min 58secs check out the video. It really shows off the location beautifully. And please share with any film fans.
Thanks,
Andrew
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