Dream Teams: When Twin Telepathy Comes into Play
Jack and Boris, the creative collective that co-founded Deadbeat Films in 2014, have a different beginning to most. Their creative journey together started the moment they began their existence on Earth. “We started off as one egg, and then we split into two,” explains Boris reminiscing on the early years. “That lasted about seven months because we were two months premature… and since then we’ve known each other for 31 years.” Jack adds, “The months we co-existed in the womb were spent supporting each other so that was a great way to kick off a lifetime of filmmaking together!”
The identical twins received a video camera from their parents when they were in their early teens, which paved the way for the development of their common creative voice pretty immediately. But before they started filming parkour videos at the dawn of YouTube, they would spend their childhood drawing storyboards together and creating installations throughout the house in Glastonbury, Somerset, “paving the way for their filmic works”. Jack reminds us that we can still watch the parkour and skateboarding videos from the duo’s early work - “Just head to borisparkour for a taste of how the Deadbeat style was born!”
While they both loved experimenting with the camera their parents gifted them, Boris was actually the first one who got into filmmaking. Jack, by comparison, was passionate about acting and after a bitter rejection from the National Youth Theatre, he took his firm place behind the camera. It wasn’t until the twins went to university, at The London College of Communication (LCC) that they started exploring the professional realms of filmmaking and chose their respective roles, Boris with directing and Jack with cinematography.
As with any two siblings, their relationship was riddled with healthy competitive rivalry, which only got fueled by their shared interests. “While studying in London back in 2011, Jack started shooting content for electronic music labels, travelling the world filming festivals and tour videos,” says Boris. “Jealousy ensued and drove me to want some cool work for myself. Fortunately, I landed a gig with the immersive cinema company Secret Cinema, filming milestones such as The Shawshank Redemption and Brazil. Cool job nailed!”
Their constant strive for success egged on mainly by each other and the London creative buzz meant that after graduating LCC, the two came out with a hefty amount of professional work to lean on when looking for other jobs. While at university, the film degree had become ‘secondary’ and teachers were okay with passing fake essays with the excuse that ‘the twins were out in the world making real work’. And so they did! Because of their success, it only made sense that Jack and Boris set up their own production company - that’s how Deadbeat Films saw the light of day in 2014.
While both are founders, Boris tends to be the one doing more of the heavy lifting, as Jack was still working part time for another company to help with money. Boris wears a lot of hats all the time, focusing on business management, project management and accounting, while Jack became more of the visual guy - developing the brand’s visual identity, website and socials. “On set, I would write and direct all projects and Jack was the cinematographer - roles we discovered were our natural homes at university. We quickly formed a unique, symbiotic relationship on set, where little dialogue was needed - just a few looks and we knew what to do,” explains Boris. He jokingly adds that as a self-proclaimed ‘runt’ and the one that was lacking nutrients in the womb, banging their mother’s belly demanding to ‘get the hell out’, he is happy as the CEO of the company and a director - “That’s how I make up for it - get to boss Jack and everyone else around!”
Jokes aside, both Jack and Boris agree that their positions as director and DOP are a natural extension of who they are as people. Jack explains that while Boris is quite emotion driven, he himself loves aesthetics. “Artistically, ethically and spiritually, we are both very aligned, which makes collaborating on a project an absolute delight,” he says. “I feel very grateful, as most DOPs spend a lifetime trying to find ‘their director’ however mine is my identical twin brother and we have very little we disagree on!”
Shortly after establishing Deadbeat Films, the next few years were spent “filming low budget music videos, dance films and music festivals”. In fact, the twins pioneered the narrative driven Festival Aftermovie, using cinematic concepts, actors, and premium camera equipment - all things that had never been done before. “We found a niche and it literally exploded, filming every major festival in the UK and Europe,” says Boris. “Together we built a family of die hard camera operators and producers, who would commit their summers to tour around the country filming in sun, rain and mud. One of our camera operators even tattooed ‘Deadbeat till I die’ on his chest.”
But, as we now know, Jack and Boris’ mutual projects date back to way before they would have been allowed at a festival. In fact, the one they consider their first ‘real’ project together was their second year film studies, A-level assignment - a surreal short film set in the hotel of the pub Boris was washing dishes at back in Glastonbury. Named ‘Earthly Delights’, the film was about rooms representing each of the seven sins. “We used all of our mates to play the parts,” says Boris. “It was all produced on begging and favours and the whole experience was total chaos. Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel would have been proud! The film is absolutely nuts and still one of the most imaginative films I’ve made.” Jack agrees: “To this day I think the film stands up and perhaps one day we will remake it with a proper crew, budget and 15 years more experience!”
In terms of more recent collaborations, Boris looks back at the chaos of December 2020, when audiences weren’t allowed to attend any events for the extent of the year, so organisers had to get creative. Securing Arts Council funding from both the UK and Sweden, company Svalbard commissioned Deadbeat to create a one-take, live-streamed performance event onboard an iconic former lighthouse boat in Victoria Docks.
Reflecting on the challenging concept Boris says, “We had to incorporate live music and immersive performance, with a short time window, not very much money, bureaucratic covid restrictions and one long take. The nail-biting tension of getting everything right in one shot had the exhilaration of filming a live show and shooting a feature drama combined.” But, after all collective efforts, it came together - Jack nailed the shot and what’s left of it now is the unforgettable adrenaline hit of completing the project.
In terms of collaborations, Jack’s favourite dates two years prior to the Victoria Docks project - in 2018, when the two brothers made a trip to the Sierra Nevada in Colombia by invitation of the Kogi tribe of the Don Diego River Basin. They had to make a short, cinematic documentary called ‘A Message’, where a spokesperson from one of their tribes spoke to ‘Little Brother’, which is their name for modern man, appealing to society to take guidance from the Kogi’s ancient practices in order to preserve the planet. “It was an extremely emotional, cathartic experience and I am very proud of the film and its legacy. We are currently raising money to help buy back the Kogi’s indigenous land which you can support here.”
It’s important to know that both Jack and Boris knew that getting into commercials was always the direction they chose to reach their teenage dream of making movies. Inspirations like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Ridley Scott were their beacon of hope on the journey they took. So, eight years after Deadbeat Films they launched Deadbeat Studios, home for the brothers’ long form, features and documentaries.
Their asylum seeker docu-drama ‘Matar’ is among their biggest projects to date, and it also piloted Deadbeat’s sustainable model. “Sustainability and activism have always been at the heart of what we do,” says Boris. “A few years ago, myself and Jack had a shared vision to create a dedicated impact team - Deadbeat Impact - committed to creating inclusion and diversity within the film industry, through training, production support and impact and development consultancy.” The Deadbeat Impact team were working parallel to the rest of the team members on ‘Matar’, which only serves as more proof that at Deadbeat, the process is just as important as the outcome.
So, there we have it - two brothers perfectly aligned with their roles and with each other’s passions. But surely, there must be some friction once in a while going beyond that healthy competition! While Boris admits that Jack is quite visual, which means that as a cinematographer he is prone to sometimes prioritise things like lighting and image over story and emotion, Jack doesn’t mind the occasional misalignment. “Sometimes it might take some time for us to be able to get to a point where we are fully aligned due to the difference in our roles, however I enjoy the challenge and finding new creative ways to get there,” adds Jack.
All sounds quite easy, doesn’t it? And before you ask, no, Jack and Boris don’t read each other’s minds, however Jack is adamant that they share a very attuned understanding of each other and easily tune into an energy whilst working. “Sometimes all it takes is a glance over at each other and we know what needs to be done. It is slightly psychic,” he says. However when glances fail them, the straight-up, no-bullshit approach is what always helps, which is an area both are comfortable venturing in since they’re brothers. “Sometimes I even have to take a step back, realise that I’m in a professional environment, and treat him like a colleague, not as a family member. Especially when there are other colleagues around,” says Boris.
He continues, “However, it is very special to have a creative collaborator where you can be that honest and transparent with each other. When working on new projects with new teams, there’s often a lot of ice breaking to be done. With Jack, it’s never needed.”
Beyond the omitting of awkward ice-breakers, having a creative partner and especially having them be your twin brother has many upsides. “The film industry is a cruel mistress at the best of times,” reflects Jack. “And having my brother by my side takes the edge off it from time to time. We keep each other grounded and aren’t afraid to take a step back and have a laugh about it all.” When it comes to learning from each other, the two (despite allegedly not being telepathic) have one resounding lesson: “Never, ever presume.”
Looking back on their shared career and the times when they’ve strayed from each other, Boris says: “It all happened very naturally - we just did what we loved.” From spending their late teens filming their friends’ sweaty drum and bass nights in Bristol, to growing up as self shooter filmmakers, filming festivals with a ride-or-die crew, and today becoming a committed in-house team of nine, the Deadbeat brothers have proven they’re unstoppable.
They reflect, “It’s fun to think this all started with two small twin boys from Glastonbury drawing storyboards and creating installations around the house, but I guess that’s exactly why - because our interests and influences collided and together, we never looked back.”
