Getting a place on Raising Films Creative Residency 2024 was a dream come true! I’d applied in previous years but was beyond excited to have been offered a slightly different residency this year to stay in producer Laura Giles Cornwall Air BnB – and have it all to myself! As an admirer of Laura’s work I was able to spend some time talking with her about our experiences and my next steps over a walk, and speaking to another Producer was so key at the time – especially being the freelance lone-wolf I’d been for a little while.
As a producer often pulled in various directions by other people, and being led by what others need – the first day was definitely strange at first, being able to have an extended and uninterrupted window of time across a week where the only person I was accountable for was myself was a new experience.
The shift in space had an immediate effect – space from the everyday, home routine and parental responsibilities changed a gear in my head, it really felt like I was stepping into something that was for me. It was a real luxury to give myself however much time I wanted, and to be able to really focus inward in a setting which offered so much space in the outwards.
The Air BnB sat on the dramatic coast of Mount Hawke, atop sea side cliffs that on their own would inspire a film idea. I set up a little bit of a plan for the week (in producer mode) – but was conscious that this was an opportunity to be led by what I felt drawn to do in the space and with the time.
When the light shone through the woodland behind the living room, I made the most of walking in that smaller and more enclosed space in the afternoon as a break from writing. In the mornings, the intense cliff top wind and sound of sprawling crashing waves far down below forced me into a head space where I could ask myself the bigger questions.
“The experience gave me permission to think as a creative, something coming more to the surface for me recently and giving that attention and time led me to understand what it is I want to do next and where I want my ideas to go.”
Having clarity allowed my ideas and creative writing to come through – and being in the different space gave me a perspective on it that let me take a step back and look at them, but also move forwards in what was next for them. I noticed this in particular with my own short film projects, I could be quite critical of them to start, where they were at, and what the next steps were for them.
I got into a habit of treating my down time and the evenings differently too – sitting in the little pub at the top of the road in the evening – full immersed in the local community sat round me and reflecting on what I’d written in the day, followed by a proper rest with lots of dreams – a change to the multi juggle of numerous projects across any given day or evening.
Across the week – I’d written and developed my short film projects, scripts, beginnings of a business proposal for my own company and wider creative ideas more than I had across the whole previous year. My scripts and ideas are based in remote and historical communities, and so thinking about and writing about these somewhere else other than the table in my living room in Shoreham felt like a good match.
The experience gave me permission to think as a creative, something coming more to the surface for me recently and giving that attention and time led me to understand what it is I want to do next and where I want my ideas to go. I loved the experience and was so happy to go home having had that time there.
The experience has continued to stay with me, and emphasised how much a shift in space and perspective can connect you with whatever it is you want to give focus to creatively, and I felt extremely lucky to have gotten the chance to experience that.
