Best Friends

Director's Statement

Craig Talbot

It was a real pleasure to direct this film, which was written by my good friend Megan Smith. When I read the script, I instantly recognised the female competitiveness and knew this was a universal theme that all audiences would be able to connect to in their everyday lives.
I wanted to take the viewer slowly through the stages of the competition and for them to feel the awkwardness of the situation building, but also laugh at the ridiculousness of how the characters are responding to each other.
One of the difficulties of making this film was trying to shoot the five women and constantly changing the angels without disorientating the audience, but my editor and DP Will Austin was really great at resolving these issues for me. So filming on the day was very smooth and we finished ahead of schedule!
Working with these actors was a wonderful experience. I wanted to challenge them to keep thinking throughout the scene and play the different beats clearly, and they all embraced my directing approach and exceeded my expectations; Adding their own personal funny touches to the scene.
Working with the crew was similar. They embraced the framework of what I wanted to capture, whilst adding their own genius creative touches.
The experience working on this film has given me a real confidence to continue working on more diverse subject matters and trust that with a great cast and Crew I will be able to get the audience to connect to the film as well as I do.