David T. Guest

David's first film experience (that he remembers) was watching Casablanca on BBC2, at the age of 4. It was not until he was 16 that the urge to step behind the camera took a firm hold with his first viewing of Reservoir Dogs (he has watched it over 500 times now). With a few friends and the aid of a teacher at school he began work on a film entitled "Time of Your Life", a coming of age story about a group of friends on the last day of school. Sadly the project was never completed and it wasn't until he entered University that he attempted to start a career in film making. He joined the Lancaster University Film Society and became Vice President and Film Bookings Officer in his second year. The society allowed him the opportunity to watch a wide variety of films from art house/independent to Hollywood blockbuster as well as discuss their merits with people of a like mind. It was in his second year that David began his course The Theory & Practice of Documentary, working on a group project entitled 'Jewel in the Crown', an exploration of the past and future of The Midland Hotel in Morecambe. Armed with valuable experience of film and film making, David managed to work his way on to the set of an independent film shot in Lancaster. In his role of Camera Assistant/ Script Supervisor he was able to watch first hand the process of making a narrative short film, learning techniques and mistakes to avoid. Soon after he began writing his first script, a feature entitled 'Peacocks', revolving around the conflict between a mysterious patient at a mental hospital and his newly arrived psychiatrist (this is still currently work in progress). Upon meeting Christopher Abbot, David found a kindred creative spirit. They soon embarked upon their first (of many) film projects together, 'Physics', a simple genre film combining 'Get Carter' with 'The Sixth Sense'. Due to constraints of time, money and equipment the project was cancelled (although Chris Abbott still has his eye on making it). Frustrated by the lack of support and opportunity, David and Christopher began talking about how something should be done to enable filmmaking to become more accessible to those people who were unable to afford film school and did not have the advantage of living in a major city. Workshop Productions was born as a concept. David travelled to Edinburgh after he graduated to work on another independent short film, 'Bingo'. Working with an experienced and professional crew he found validation for his personal dreams and ambitions of film making. Financing Workshop Productions through a Graduate Loan, David and Chris began work upon Wildcard, a story of a poker game gone wrong. In tandem with this project they started SMUFs (St Martin's Undergraduate Films) giving them access to an inexperienced but enthusiastic crew. The consensus is that it looks like a professional piece shot on 16mm film. Emboldened by this 'success' David and Chris took production reins on the first independent film developed by SMUFs. Mourning Sickness, John Corrigan's directorial debut, was a Hitchcockian narrative about a man attempting to remember disturbing events of the night before. Sticking fast to their motto of 'no creative input' David and Chris guided the newbie filmmakers through the entire process of filmmaking resulting in a polished short film, soon to be entered into film festivals. Whilst working on various short films and industrial projects, as well as directing their fledgling company, David and Chris started to develop an idea concieved of by Chris Abbott in the early days of Workshop Productions. A World War I film, based around the idea of the 1914 truce, entitled Letters of The Line. This shall be their first feature. Their goal is make a name for themselves in the industry. In keeping with their ethos, all profits from Letters of the Line will got to the British Legion, being released on Rememberance Sunday. David T. Guest is currently working on the script treatment of this project, and those who have viewed it to date, consider it an excellent story and are impatient to see it on the big screen. David's writing and directing style favours an understated development of character and story. His favourite thematic device is the inversion of 'normality' to illuminate a new perspective, creating a subtle sense of surreality that enhances rather than detracts from the overall narrative. His characters are usually misunderstood individuals, harbouring secrets that threaten to destroy them and/or others. He enjoys working within tight genre conventions, manipulating expectations to generate tension and suspense. This is often broken with a dry, knowing humour either present in dialogue or in events and action. As yet he has been unable to write a musical. This doesn't seem to bother him.