PLAYMATES
When two awkward geeks are reunited after years, they are forced to confront the complexities and hidden truths of their relationship.
Hello all! We are the crew and cast of Playmates, a coming-of-age film that is tangled with toxic masculinity and friendship. Viewers' discretion is advised! Fortunately, the film has been completed and is about to start its festival run globally. Unfortunately, festivals are rather expensive to enter. This is why we asking for your help as the shoot has already drained our budget. Our ultimate goal is to get the attention of the big film and television corporations, and potentially get a deal with them. For this to work, we need to have a grand impression within our community and become even more recognised in the indie sector of Film and Television. With our previous short film SUNDAY ROAST we have already managed to win several festivals, as well as the prestigious RTS award, so now we are following that up with an even better film!
Below is more information regarding the crew, cast, and film itself.
Synopsis
Nick and Dan’s friendship is very one-sided: The two awkward teenage geeks spend most of their after-school time in front of Dan’s dusty PC gaming away the hours. Dan makes the rules here, while Nick watches him like the sidekick he is. And apart from the odd comment about the hot girls from school and ranting about their teachers, their friendship seems more like a convenience in re
Years pass and Nick has visually evolved from a former nerd to an edgy scene kid, while he and Dan have lost touch completely. Puberty has hit hard but the cringe-worthy moustache and his predatory way of talking about girls is not helping his lack of success with the opposite gender. His friend and low-key love interest Stella calls him out on it constantly while waiting at the bus stop, but Nick seems like a hopeless case. Suddenly they spot Dan walking past and Nick runs after his old buddy, excited to reconnect. After a brief chat, they arrange to meet up at Dan’s place the following morning for a hangout.
Everything seems like the old days at Dan's place: Dan dominates every game while Nick accepts defeat. They talk about school, girls, and how things have changed over the years. Nick opens up about his hopeless crush on Stella and his sexual frustration, while Dan almost seems to taunt him with his whining and plays the strong stud, but there is something weird about it.
Dan leads him to his room to show him the old PC they used to play on back in the day. Nick, caught by a flash of nostalgia does not realise that this was just a way for Dan to lure him into his bedroom. Dan quickly overwhelms his friend and pushes him on the bed.
What follows is a truly pathetic attempt of two virgins trying to work out how sex works with the knowledge of Beavis and Butthead - A truly embarrassing disaster.
As they separate and get dressed again, Nick swiftly tries to leave but Dan blocks the exit and in a fit of panic reaches for a butter knife. In this standoff, Dan finally opens up about his fears and his inferiority complexes. But just before it escalates, both of them switch back into ‘bro-mode’ and part way as if nothing has ever happened.
While Nick is trying to process the experience he numbs himself with more videogames and seeing Stella fool around with another guy at the bus stop is not helping his frustration.
Finally, Nick returns to his friends' house.
To repeat the same game? Or to take revenge?
BACKGROUND - Director's Statement
PLAYMATES offers an alternative view on suppressed sexuality without romanticising it, while being set around the aggressive emo & gaming culture of the late 2000s. The focus lies on questioning masculinity and the connection between physical intimacy and dominance. Both protagonists aren’t openly gay and do not refer to themselves as such. It is the desperation and curiosity for any sexual experience and physical touch that drives them to what they are doing.
This story is inspired by a personal experience of mine during my teenage years and after having it suppressed for quite some time I now feel ready to share his story and build it into a narrative. It serves mostly as a counter-image against the usual positive idea of sexual liberation and self-exploration during puberty.
I rarely find any depiction of sexual misconduct between young men of the same age in other movies, that are not trying to romanticise the topic. This dynamic, especially between straight men, is rarely talked about and I want to shine some light on this with my film.
True to its genre, the film also touches on the search for identity during one's youth and the constant feeling of switching one "true" identity for the next one as if trying out different clothes.
This film is meant to shock the viewer by being very direct, at times exaggerative and unromantic in depicting sexual trauma. There is no turnaround or liberation involved. Almost everyone has experienced a type of sexual misconduct or disappointment in their formative years and this film wants to go to the raw core of it.
CAST
Dane Juler as Daniel
Dane, a recent graduate from Rose Bruford, is making his screen debut in Playmates. Since wrapping up playmates, he has shot episodes for coronation street as well as a Stephen Soderbergh feature. Dane was drawn to the project by its opportunity to explore complex characters as well as the valuable experience it offered to collaborate with talented filmmakers and creatives early in his career.
Harry Cox as Nick
Harry Cox is an actor from Birmingham. After training at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts he moved back to Birmingham to pursue acting full-time. He’s performed in his debut short film Playmates.
Lizzie Lickley as Stella
Lizzie Lickley is an actor based in London who grew up in Hampshire. She attended a foundation year at The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts and then continued her training with the academy up in York. She graduated drama school in 2023 and shortly after graduation drama school she was signed with The Dazey Hills Company and is represented by Abbie. Lizzie is half Trinidadian half English and was in fact in Trinidad when she self taped for this production. She is very passionate about sharing her experience as being a mixed race female and how that has impacted her identity, which is what she wrote her dissertation on and has written a spoken word dedicated to her story. This is Lizzie’s screen debut. She was drawn to Stella because of the contrast as a character Stella is to herself. Which she found exciting to play.
Director
Lukas Steinmaier
Lukas Steinmaier is a Writer and Director from South Germany. Raised in the countryside, he started filming at the age of 14 and after finishing school began several internships as an assistant director, editor, and production assistant in TV and feature films. During his undergrad film degree in Vienna, he kept working as an assistant director for French director Marc Fitoussi and German director Holger Barthel. He soon moved to Britain to complete the directing post-grad course at Bournemouth Film School in the UK.
He is primarily interested in telling commercially accessible stories about social and political criticism, family & youth trauma and the profanity and/or chasm of humanity. His films are deeply rooted in his personal experiences and draw on dark humour as well as experimentalism. His characters are based around the principle that there is no definite differentiation between good and evil. He has a passion for fast-paced edits, extensive work with music & sound design and for bending profane reality into bizarre hyperreality. He is mostly inspired by the works of George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick and Mike Judge.
Since graduation in 2022 he has been working in post-production in London as a freelancer for the renowned post-house Molinare on Netflix & Apple TV shows such as ‘Heartstopper’,’Obsession’ and the upcoming ‘Prime Target’, while also occasionally directing commercials & music videos.
Producers
Vincent Dolan
Vincent Dolan is an award winning producer and writer from Maidstone, Kent. He studied at Kingston University and was later one of the co-founders of Compact Film Productions. Over the last few years he has produced multiple short films and a feature film. He feels that with strong determination, patience and resilience, he can achieve anything. He uses this mindset to produce and write, often trying to find the best way possible.
The thing that attracted him to the project Playmates was the nature of the script. It was a very real and honest look at a subject matter that is not often talked about. As a producer, Vincent's role was managing the behind the scenes of the project. He has to manage the budget and logistics whilst ensuring that when the shoot day comes, everything is ready.
Oliver Holmes
Oliver Holmes is an award winning Producer located in Maidenhead. His passion for filmmaking started at the age of 15, when he combined his love for photography with storytelling. When he graduated high school, he went and studied film production at the Arts University Bournemouth, which gave him the opportunity to develop a love for producing. He has produced a multitude of award winning short professional films, even during COVID. When he isn’t producing shorts, he works in the film industry in the Locations department. Some of the work he has been part of in the past include Ted Lasso, Bridgeton, Black Mirror & You. Oliver was brought on board by Lukas after he first Assistant directed his award winning film Sunday Roast. When Oliver read the script he was drawn to coming age theme that tackles an untouched area of toxic masculinity, and sexual assault.
“When I was younger I had a similar experience to the actions that take place in this film between someone I considered a friend. While this film tackles a delicate subjects and makes me rather uncomfortable especially when viewing, I wanted to be a part of its journey. If it makes you uncomfortable watching, then we’ve created the experience we wanted you to have, an experience that people live through daily, and in a perfect world shouldn't exist”.
PRODUCTION - IN ACTION
- Budget
Of course one of the major areas we focus in the production department is budget. Over the course of a films journey the budget is constantly revised and edited. Money is the usual obstacle that is expected when it comes to filmmaking, and so our department usually have to come up with ways to deal with those concerns with an out of the box approach. Bellow is how our budget finally looked after the shoot.
Above the graph clearly states that the main expense is crew and cast fees, and this is the reality when it comes to independent filmmaking at a professional standard, especially for the people who dedicate long periods of time to bring this production to life. Due to this being a larger expense, sacrifices are made, for example collectively using kit, props and even a location that belongs to our diverse crew. At the end of the day, one of the most overlooked in independent filmmaking, yet most important areas in a budget is catering. Even with that we worked we a restaurant business that was family owned by a crew member. Because of this collective team work, we all saved money giving some extra funds to the departments that needed it. This was a joint effort by everyone in all departments. Unfortunately due to cost, contingency was used, and so a self funded project that has been completed needs your help to get it out into the world, for all interested to see.
-LOCATION
When working through the script a good common starting ground is to break it down with the director, creating a mood board for where each scene takes place. Below are a couple of examples.
Below are some examples of AI generated images used for inspiration for our location hunt.
Lukas always had a clear vision on the scene at hand, and one of the starting places we looked at for scouting locations with such little budget was Airbnb and rental companies that have untouched properties. Both the routes, while gave us more options in ideas of the look, it proved tricky in a timely matter. We decided to go back to the drawing board, and Vince started to realise his flat could be a potential place that could work. The team got together and scouted it out, and realised a gold mine was sitting right under their noses. Below are photo for the scout.
This positively affected the budget, especially later down the line, when working with council to get permissions started to add up. The second location had to place close enough to our main set, yet not have drags of people. This can be considered rather difficult at times with budget constraints, but the team worked together in finding a potential solution. Our solution is below. …..
First Assistant Director
Rafael Ceribelli
Rafael Ceribelli is a filmmaker and journalist with extensive experience as 1st Assistant Director in a variety of formats: shorts and feature films, documentaries and digital media.
With a focus on storytelling, he has also worked in different roles to bring compelling narratives to life. In 2019, Rafael was recognized for his contributions to the industry as a nominee in the 'Media Hero' category at the Royal Television Society Thames Valley Awards. He is a BAFTA Connect member and founder of ScriPitch Media, an online platform and development hub based in London, UK.
“I met Lukas Steinmeier at the Barnes Film Festival in 2022. I was there because one of my films was selected for the program, and his debut short film, "Sunday Roast," was also being screened at the festival. I thoroughly enjoyed watching his short film and we stayed in touch over the next year. When he introduced "Playmates" and asked me to join his crew as the 1st Assistant Director, I found the opportunity both intriguing and challenging. The experience on set was fantastic, thanks to a wonderful cast & crew. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of all our hard work.”
Director of Photography
Raised in Italy but with an international upbringing, his work on commercials and editorial pieces is nuanced and beautiful. He approaches light and composition in a way that gives his work its own unique style - purposely distancing himself from “cinematography fads”. Having worked with some excellent brands including Nike, Barbour, Lavazza And Vanity Fair, Alessandro has experience managing crew or accommodating run and gun scenarios. With most of his work in the commercial and music fields, he has also shot a feature documentary in Cuba.
Sound Recordist
Matteo di Cugno
Hi there. This is Matteo, one half of soundbanana.com, I am in charge of the location recording while Tobia, is mostly in charge of post production sound and, together, we often work in tandem. We like to focus on story telling and narrative and we believe that planning and communication is key for a successful soundtrack. We believe that the script should be studied and the recording of each scene should be planned with sound in mind so any wild track, off screen dialogue and ambient sound can be recorded promptly within the time scheduled and the location given. We aim at being always prepared and never let the production wait for sound, on set, any second count! A great communication between production, post production, director, wardrobe, vfx, camera and any other relevant department is key for a successful, immersive experience. Despite having done location sound for about 6 years now I have up to 8 features under my belt, the most affluent being: HOD: “London Files” TV Series currently on Voot HOD: “Election Night” from Neil Monaghan. Please, take a minute to have a look at our website and I will be looking forward to hearing from you. I can provide examples of work as separate links for projects who have not yet been released or you can glimpse through my IMDB.
Production Designer
Hany Soliman
A seasoned production designer with experience crafting sets for TV commercials, he began his career as an art department assistant on one of the BBC's most prestigious docu-drama projects. "Play Mates" marks his debut as a production designer for film.
This film ("Play Mates") holds a special place in my heart. It evokes the nostalgia of my teenage years and the games I loved to play. The set subtly hints at a maternal presence, even in her absence.
Hair and Makeup Stylist
My name is Erin and I am the hair and make-up designer for Playmates. I have seven years industry experience; having started in fashion and e-commerce, I transitioned to music videos, broadcasting, and campaigns, and I know primarily work on short films and in HETV.
MAKE UP - IN ACTION
I drew inspiration for the film from 90s and early 00s pop culture - shows such as Skins and hairstyles from football players and popular bands were a big source of inspiration for all of our character’s looks. I put together mood boards and collaborated with Lukas, our writer and director, to ensure we were both happy before signing off on the looks. I also made sure cast were happy with their looks throughout filming as it’s important to make sure they’re comfortable and their looks fit the vision they have for their characters as well. I took continuity photos for each scene we did to ensure the looks matched in each take we did (hair can make, especially when shooting outside!). It was also important for us to differentiate between the looks of older and younger time periods without making such drastic changes as to draw attention away from our character’s personas whilst still ensuring there was an obvious time difference.
Below is a basic mood board for each character, this is not the final draft so isn’t as detailed and the looks changed after this as we discussed and developed further.
Costume Desinger
Rosa Aston Vamey
My name is Rosa, I was the costume designer for Playmates. I’m very new to the industry and so far have been working backstage in theatre and making suits for opera. During my time at university I worked on a number of short films in a mixture of assistant and designer positions.
COSTUME IN ACTION
When I heard the concept of the film I was very excited to work on it as a lot of the films that influence my designs are from the 90s/00s. My focus around each character was very different. For Nick I wanted items relating to the music taste we had. This was where the jacket he wears through most of the film came from, patches and slogans are a big part of the alt culture Nick is a part of and I also felt it played an important part in the way Nick interacts with others - I felt that he wanted to hide his shyness under a layer of looking unapproachable.
For Daniel I wanted to emphasize the scrappiness of his appearance. He is very clearly a character that doesn’t care much for other’s opinions and his rather rude treatment of his friends has clearly resulted in loneliness as he’s grown up. This resulted in me wanting his costumes to look mismatched and scrappy. A lot of the work on his clothes was in making them look dirty because of this.
Editor
Antony Blanshard
I'm Antony, the editor for Playmates. I've worked as an Edit Assistant for over two years at various post-production houses, and I collaborated with Lukas as the editor on his last film, Sunday Roast.
Having worked on Sunday Roast, I believe in Lukas and his vision. I joined this film because I know Lukas has a unique perspective and we work well together.
Script Supervisor
Sam Young
Sam Young worked as a script supervisor for Playmates. He has previously worked on short films, directing and writing, as well as working as a 2nd AC and script editor. This was his first time as a script supervisor and he found it challenging yet rewarding.
Intimacy Coordinator
Sabrina Seguro
Sabrina has been behind the camera for over 15 years - a brief start in production, then pivoting into a career as a stills photographer (bouncing between documentary and portraiture). She was as a stills photographer that first became hooked on crafting stories using light and shape.
Working in the UK and EU, Sabrina is now an emerging intimacy coordinator. Through her documentary practice she developed a passion for and understands the necessity for empathy and agency in storytelling. As a result, Sabrina is dedicated to creating trauma-informed, nurturing and empowering spaces that are built upon the principles of intersectionality and inclusivity.
In 2022 Sabrina trained as a Recovery and Behavioural Coach and went on to spend a year working with female and trans teenage survivors of sexual trauma in a central London treatment facility - an experience that significantly informs the way she approaches working with bodies.
As an intimacy professional who utilises an approach that is respectful of mental health, anti-racism, disability justice and gender and sexuality, Sabrina is able to assist in scenes of inclusive sex, BDSM, LGBTQ+, non-consent and emotionally challenging content and has been privileged to lend her knowledge, experience and intuition to projects with performers from a range of different backgrounds.
Casting Director
Abbie Hills
Abbie is a talent agent and company founder of The Dazey Hills Company. She has been working in the industry for over 10 years, and throughout this time has worked on a range of projects from Hollywood feature films to indie shorts. Abbie has a well rounded knowledge of the film industry having worked in costume, production and also as an access coordinator.
Using her knowledge of talent management, and utilising her connections and passion for new talent, Abbie has also been involved in Casting for various projects, most recently, Playmates!
**The Screening is currently scheduled for the 22nd August 2024. If you would like to attend please see the reward section**