Folkestone plasterer shares story on how he became a movie director

KentOnline / KMTV

Luke Mayers's gangster movie 'A Brothers Bond' is now streaming on Amazon Prime, he joined The Kent Morning Show to share his story.

Transcript

00:00I was an extra on a few films and I've looked around and I thought I'd love to get involved

00:06in this somehow so I thought I broke it down and I thought I could actually possibly do this

00:12so I'll write a story and I literally just kept working on the next steps the next steps and

00:19fought and then at the end I had a film it was amazing so um so yeah I've done that and then I

00:26I've done the film got it on Amazon that was two years ago I had a film called On Top it's still

00:31on Amazon now um and then I finished and I thought oh I've done it wow and then everyone said what

00:37you're doing next what you're doing next and I thought well I weren't really planning on carrying

00:40this on but as everyone was behind me why not I mean I love doing it so yeah I'm just carrying

00:46on and now I've got my second film on Amazon called A Brother's Bond and everyone's really

00:51happy with the development in my um directing abilities and my producing and I've got a third

00:58one that's um in writing at the moment yeah it must take that it must take a bit of a village

01:04though and it's not a one man band thing as a you're plasterer before and I imagine you can

01:09you can go and do that pretty much on your own but this this takes a lot of people not only the

01:12actors we can see here but the production the filming the editing as well so how do you go

01:17about gathering a team behind you well I wouldn't say I've done it all myself because obviously all

01:23the actors in it have all had a tremendous part in creating this project but I did have to dig

01:29deep and get involved in every aspect of the journey I've had to carry around the microphone

01:35setting them up directing even starring in it because obviously the budget we had um I had to

01:43just do everything I could even the editing after the film was shot I spent many many many months

01:50upstairs editing um not really going out doing anything just grinding away until I finally

01:57got to the end and um yeah I mean I did I had to do a lot of it single-handedly

02:02but now of course you're reactors in the film that really helped me in my vision definitely but now

02:08you know your films are up on Amazon Prime on the streaming platform alongside some of the

02:13the biggest blockbusters of the year so that must feel great tell us about

02:17A Brother's Bond then tell us about the film uh what can people expect right so this one's based

02:23on two brothers um Tom and Danny Tom is like a bit more calm and like a bit more um collect

02:31and then Danny's a bit erratic he's um a bit snappy but they get um entangled in the criminal

02:38underworld and they go beyond the point of no return and they both really figure out who they

02:44truly are um and they have to deal with the pressure surrounding them and um yeah it's it's

02:53quite incredible the journey they go through it's a really good structured film I'm really proud of

02:58the uh the writing and everything in it and um it's definitely one to watch you've got to see it

03:04on Amazon Prime really what is it about it that that you hope people sort of learn from it and

03:09take away what do you want someone who's sitting down to put it on their tv what do you hope they

03:14take away and what do you hope they sort of enjoy throughout well you've got like the classic

03:20gangster kind of film but it's got a unique sprinkle of humor in it which I've I've very

03:26carefully added into it I haven't just done it like in a tacky way I've tried incorporating it

03:32so it's actually believable and actually funny as well so I think that kind and I've got a slight

03:38different kind of style of filming which I haven't really seen anywhere so you'll have to see it and

03:43give some feedback but I think it's definitely 100% one to watch um if you like that kind of film

03:51give it a watch um and it just goes to show like what you can do if you really do try and produce

03:58a movie like this it sounds like people say I couldn't do a movie but if you break it all down

04:03and you just take your time you can actually achieve something very fantastic yeah and I

04:08wonder not only it's obviously the passion that drives you because you really want to do this but

04:12where do you gain the skills to be able to direct because it takes a lot we do we do some sort of

04:17similar skills with with our operation here at the tv and it takes us years to learn it and perfect

04:22it as well and then when you're making a movie which is down to you know we can often get it

04:27wrong live and it doesn't matter it's quite fun but when when you're directing a film and you

04:32need everything to work seamlessly that's a huge skill where did you get that from

04:37well it's pretty much like the plastering you can't learn this stuff on paper you have to just

04:42dive in so with the filming on my first film I got it wrong so many times I had to reshoot scenes

04:49I'd come home I'd be like that didn't work I need to go back there again so I'd ring everyone saying

04:54mate we've got to all go back we've got to do this again and it's just in the deep end that you

04:59really learn quickly you literally I I did underestimate it to be honest I jumped in and I'm

05:05like what have I done but I I put so much work in I couldn't stop you literally takes over your life

05:11you literally you wake up in the middle of the night you're writing things down you've got a

05:15scene coming up you're planning everything you're calling everyone you're getting all the costume

05:20you're doing every single thing you're checking out the locations you're literally learning on

05:24the job pretty much and I mean it takes about an hour to get one minutes of footage if you're lucky

05:31and I've got two films over 100 minutes so that's just on set I mean it's a lot of lot of time it

05:37takes over your life so you're literally just in the deep end learning I mean it's it's a brilliant

05:42underdog story you know from from being a plasterer to now being a multi-filmmaker I mean what's what's

05:48next for you what what who are you taking on next well you literally I've got a story that I'm just

05:54about to turn into a script I'm just doing some finishing touches with the casting I'll have to

06:00sit down and just discuss about who I think is going to be good for that character

Category

Transcript

Recommended