Following a successful run at Southwark Playhouse, 'Blood On Your Hands' gets ready for it's adaptation to screen. Compared to the recent ITV series 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' for using entertainment as a platform for social activism by Lyn Gardner and James Haddrell (Artistic Director of Greenwich Theatre), Patch Plays buckles up to make a ten minute short film capturing the gritty, original themes on screen.
The Story:
Why don’t you go somewhere else?
I have nowhere else to go.
Blood On Your Hands tells the unheard story of the forgotten victims of the meat industry: slaughterhouse workers.
It’s Ukrainian ex-veterinarian Kostyantyn’s first day at the slaughterhouse, where he meets Dan, a happy-go-lucky Welsh lad who cracks too many jokes for his own good. Despite their grim working conditions, an unexpected friendship begins to form. Amidst bleak conditions, this is a tale of human strength, connection and hope. Will the two men save each other from slaughter?
Blood on Your Hands has been shortlisted and longlisted for national awards such as BBC Writersroom, the New Diorama Theatre Untapped Award, the Phoebe Frances Brown Award, the London Library Emerging Writers Programme, and the Masterclass Pitch Your Play award.
Previous Praise for 'Blood On Your Hands':
'Packs a punch' (The Telegraph)
'Powerful, Playful, Pertinent' (Strand Magazine)
'Sheer Originality and Strength of Characterization' (West End Best Friend)
'Phenomenal...highlights the hypocrisy and irony that run deep in society.' (Adventures in Theatreland)
'If Mr Bates vs The Post Office has proved anything, it is that audiences are crying out for entertainment that also informs, and that informative drama can mobilise the masses and bring about change. With that in mind, with any luck ITV commissioners have Patch Plays on their radar.' (James Haddrell, Artistic Director of Greenwhich Theatre)
'Grace Joy Howarth's script is brilliant...it navigates the range of challenging topics covered with empathy and harsh reality without feeling overly moralistic. Anastasia Bunce's direction of the more naturalistic scenes in particular is fantastic' (London Theatre Reviews)
'Shannon Smith and Phillip John Jones lead this talented cast with sheer mastery' (London Theatre Reviews)
Our vision for screen:
The film follows Welsh working class lad Dan who has lived in his small hometown for his whole life, and now works at the local slaughterhouse. This is where he meets Ukrainian Ex-Veterinarian Kostyantyn on his first day at the job.
We would love to film on site in Wales to capture the rural beauty contrasted by the grim working conditions in an abattoir. To capture the juxtaposition between what people imagine animal agriculture to look like, and the stark reality. We want to allocate budget towards location to ensure that we can capture the details of life in a small Welsh town to see what a day in the life would actually look like for a meat processor.
Working with an immensely talented team will capture a very strong atmosphere on film. Our DOP's work is poetic, dynamic and visionary, which can be seen in the show trailer on this page. We want to create a short film that is raw and honest, which captures the chemistry and humor between the leads in their unlikely friendship. We want to capture this in a realistic backdrop that can give audiences a glimpse into the reality of those who work in animal agriculture.
Some sources of stylistic inspiration for the film are Ken Loach's 'Kes' and Martin MacDonagh's 'Banshees of Inishirin'.
The Talented Team!
The team behind the theatrical production reunite their forces to tell this tale on screen.
Writer - Grace Joy Howarth
Director - Anastasia Bunce
DOP - Alex Powell
Gaffer - Chiara Fulgoni
Dan - Phillip John Jones (nominated for an Offest Award for his performance in the play)
Kostyantyn - Shannon Smith
The Man - Jordan El Balawi
How much we need to achieve this:
As a grassroots, voluntary organisation, public donations help catalyze our projects into reality. We have put together a microbudget of £5k to shoot this film over 3 days. These costs will cover payments for all cast and crew for the shoot, costs for location and equipment. Alongside crowdfunding we will be hosting fundraisers as monthly events. The writer and director are investing 1k to match fund. So we are aiming to raise £2k through crowdfunding to reach our goal to make this dream come true.
Our ambitions with this film:
A ten-minute short film will allow us to submit 'Blood On Your Hands' to national and international film festivals. Our goal is to create a short film as a pitch for commissioners looking to develop new ideas for mini-series for screen. In order to have a shot at this, we need to create a highly professional film that showcases our vision for the future of this project. Following Patch Productions' success with filming 'Meat Cute' by Bibi Lucille, which is in the circuit currently being reviewed by Film Festivals, we are lucky to know talented creatives who will jump on board to create a beautiful, professional and original film. We strongly believe this concept has a future, from our incredible responses during our run at Southwark Playhouse where audiences recognised the importance of telling this story of exploitation.
Charles Flint Photography