“As a Young Director, How Do I Find the Right Home?”

I grew up for the most part in a house, in a village, in Fife, in Scotland, with a mum, a dad and two older brothers. There were a few bedroom swaps and a few pets came and went. The walk to school took one minute and in the summer holidays there would be the big game of 'Man Hunt' around the eleven streets of the village, sometimes with bikes. Then there were the 'Moors', the River, the Park, the Bus Stop and the Shelter. The Moors were a small bunch of gorse bushes and the Shelter was a bus stop with an actual shelter. Exploring and discovering was key, and going beyond the boundaries was vital. 

From a village in Fife on the East coast of Scotland to signing to HLA in London, I am asking: what is the relevance of the story?

I arrived into filmmaking via a compulsion to add pictures to sound when I was at art college watching a lot of video art and being quite frustrated by what I was seeing. There were all these interesting ideas but not in the way I wanted to see them. Before this I had not considered the idea of being a director or making films. I was just a banal consumer. 

In actually trying to make films I started to dig up all this stuff from childhood. I would intensely remember an image or a bit of music from something that I watched on my tiny Matsui 4:3 CRT television at the end of my bed. I begged and begged my parents for this - and they eventually gave in to the idea in the 1990s. It was mainly for the neighbours, but that then progressed into unknown-to-me late night films on Channel 4 which brought with it adverts and idents.

Alongside my trusty Matsui was this HP printer-scanner that assimilated its way into my bedroom. I got a kick out of photocopying bits of thread, material and colourful ends of my mum’s un-spun wool. This was my first time working with something physical that existed in the 'real world' and translating it into something two-dimensional, just like I do now in my films. It pretty much sums up what I love about film as a medium.

I think this is invaluable to know as a young director (I am enjoying this phrase); what the driving force in you is - perhaps this is also called 'vision'. This is because for the other people (producers, EPs, production managers and assistants…) who are all going to work very hard supporting what you do, you yourself need to have a strong, clear belief in your vision and communicate - perhaps through words but moreover through the work you are putting out. I think this is one part of finding the right home. 

So how to find the right home? I think a lot can be said about sharing experiences and being open. Sharing what matters to you with the people around you and nurturing those friendships. I love shooting on film so I naturally gravitate towards anyone who lets me do this. Keeping the creative projects going is a must as this is the most potent way to communicate who you are as that brain for hire. You also need to know yourself. Everyone is different, has different needs and we all thrive in different environments. When I first met Helen [Langridge] and Mike [Wells] at HLA I immediately felt their generous spirit and enthusiasm behind what they do. I felt they had that feeling of exploration and discovery and being a small company who are solid, I liked this. It feels like I have found my new village in London.

Rose Hendry is a director at HLA