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Crowdfunder – ‘Fight Me’ debut feature film by Sarah Grant

In the face of industry cuts, award winning working-class Glaswegian filmmaker, Sarah Grant, turns to crowdfunding to finance her debut feature film, Fight Me.

Fight Me logline

Plus-size wallflower, Terry, upsets the delicate ecosystem of her corporate office, when she punches the office misogynist and self-proclaimed “nice guy”, Keir, in the face. When Keir decides the equilibrium of the office needs recalibrated, Terry needs to find her inner main character to overthrow this oppressive regime.

Fight Me is the debut feature film from working-class Glaswegian filmmaker, Sarah Grant. After ten years of making award winning short and mid-form work across film, television, both independently funded and industry funded, Sarah and her team have decided to go down the community funding route. Fight Me is a comedy set in Glasgow about empowerment and changing society by being a little bit rebellious.

STORY SYNOPSIS

Fight Me is the story of Terry, plus-size wallflower accountant and period romance novel addict, and how her life (and the microcosm of society that is her corporate office) is irrevocably changed, when one day she snaps and punches the office misogynist in the face. While everything in her screams to apologise and restore the status quo of the office, she can’t help but notice that things are better for everyone after the punch. Maybe things shouldn’t go back to the way they were? In order for this shy and mousey woman to stand her ground, she must let go of the heroine she aspires to be from one of her books – demure and spirited, like Jane Bennet from Pride and Prejudice – and learn to embody heroines with more fight and rage – like Xena Warrior Princess – especially when the man who was punched challenges her to a rematch. She does so with the help of her queer misfit, nerdy neighbour, Ember.

The Kickstarter campaign hopes to raise a minimum of £10k. That is the absolute minimum needed to undertake this huge creative endeavour, but the team are hoping to make their stretch goals of between £15k-£20k.

THE LANDSCAPE

It has never been a harder time to be a filmmaker in the UK. The recent announcement that Short Circuit, the ONLY development organisation supporting first time feature makers in Scotland, delivered by Film City, will no longer be running from June 2024, has caused so many filmmakers working toward their first feature to feel their progression through the pipeline come to a sudden stop.

Scotland is a lush land for filmmaking and high-end television, attracting some of the best international talent in the world with productions like Bat Girl, Good Omens, and many more. However, these productions bring in external Heads of Departments and so offer no way for talent living and working in Scotland to develop their craft beyond a certain point.

The culture of risk aversion is affecting every level of filmmaking worldwide. Like Oscar Winning Director, Cord Jefferson (American Fiction) said in his acceptance speech; “I understand that this is a risk averse industry, I get it, but $200million movies are also a risk, but you take the risk anyway. And instead of making one $200million movie, why not make twenty $10million movies, or fifty $4million movies. I had so much joy making this movie and I want other people to experience this joy, and they are out there, the next Martin Scorsese is out there, the next Greta, the next Christopher Nolan, and they just want a shot and we can give them one.”

Sarah’s a working-class Glasgow girl who know how to make a quid stretch further than should be possible. She and her team don’t need $4million, and she’s hoping her community will rally around her to provide an alternate way to getting work made outside of the industry pipeline. With the state of the landscape in mind, the team have structured their Perks and Rewards system around providing opportunities and non-gatekept learning for other creatives, holding the door open for colleagues in the industry looking for their own way through these difficult times.

ABOUT SARAH

Sarah is a writer, director and performer based in Glasgow. She has a number of BAFTA qualifying fiction short films under her belt (including Candy, funded by BFI and Screen Scotland), and her debut documentary short, Big Moves, is currently playing at the Oscar qualifying festival, Hot Docs. She has created short and mid-form work for BBC The Social and BBC Short Stuff, gaining tens of millions of views across digital and social media and winning a Royal Television Society Scotland award for Stunners. She is moving towards writing and directing long form for film and television as part of cohorts such the BBC Comedy Bursary, Young Films Residency, BAFTA Flare, and BBC Voices Scotland, receiving mentoring from Jack Rooke (Big Boys), Alice Lowe (Prevenge), Jack Clough (People Just Do Nothing, Things You Should Have Done), Joe Thomas (The Inbetweeners), Guz Khan (Man Like Mobeen), and Ben Gosling Fuller (Two Doors Down). She has long form work in development with BBC Studios, Candle and Bell, and Northbridge Media. Sarah is the author of Fat Girl Best Friend, a creative non-fiction book about representation of plus size women in film and tv, published by Tippermuir books. She is also a practicing spoken word artist and award-winning theatre maker, with shows she has taken to Glastonbury and beyond. Sarah is committed to creating body positive, sex positive and inclusive female-led stories that are honest, feminist and fearless.

WHY THIS STORY (written by Sarah)

‘When I was in uni I was told I would find work because I was pretty and had big boobs. When I graduated and worked in an office, I was told having photos of women on the corporate website would make the company look weak. When I was killing it as a filmmaker and I got onto a highly competitive development cohort, a very well-respected expert on story told me I could only tell impactful stories that were important to me if I “made it sexy and hid the message in with the acceptable”.
I do not condone violence, and even if I did, I was raised to be nice and polite, and I still find advocating for myself hard when it would make me unlikeable (I’m working on it). I think a lot about those conversations, and whether those men would change their ways if I gave them a strong right hook after all their awful and idiotic words. I’m not allowed to punch people, but I can make a film about it.’

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Sarah Grant says: ‘In 2016 I decided to stop making films because I felt my voice would never be taken seriously in such a male and middle class dominated industry. In 2019, I was brought back when I made Scare, a short activism film I made entirely by myself for the 48 Hour Film Project about a woman’s right to choose, during the legislation changes to abortion rights in Northern Ireland and Alabama. In my career, my greatest successes have been driven by my want to tell stories that change things, as I have been supported by my community at every turn. Our arts culture in the UK sure as hell needs to change. It’s never been harder to be an artist, and while my work is critically acclaimed, I am still in a male and middle class dominated industry. If I’m going to undertake the marathon that is my first feature, I want to do it in a way that is representative of my work; loud, brash, audacious, and warm, with people community in mind. I am a proud person and I find asking for help very difficult, but I’m asking for it now. Help me achieve this vision, stand up for independent filmmaking in Scotland and bring Fight Me to life.’

The Kickstarter campaign launches on Tuesday 7th May, and will run for 55 days.

Kickstarter Link

SarahGrantCreativeWebsite

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