Directed, shot and edited by Harrison Gall, starring Michael Roper and Alessio Russo

SUMMARY

Blood Money is a short scene, which put simply, is about two brothers – their history and a financial dispute that is tearing them apart. I wanted to show how disputes that go unsaid, feelings of inadequacy, holding on to and blaming people for your problems can strain relationships, and how these issues can boil over when in the heat of the moment someone says something that can’t be unsaid, and damages a relationship irreparably.

MY PROCESS

The process of making this film began with iterations of a draft, when I worked out one that I was happy with, I did online auditions with actors from StarNow sending me their rendition of the script. Then once I had cast the characters we had a shoot over a couple of hours. When I wrote this scene my goal was to create a moment that felt authentic and engaging, I wanted it to stand out and leave a lasting impression and I wanted to create a scene where you learned everything you needed to know about what is happening within the scene without it feeling like an exposition dump. I initially planned for this scene to fit more within the genre of crime, which is where I got the idea of a debt collection, however as I trimmed the scene I decided that a crime element distracted from the dynamic between the brothers which was the most important part of the scene.