How to Shoot 3 Period Comedy Features in 3 Days

The 'Queen' flanked by two BA colleagues

When an insanely ambitious script comes in, the first instinct can be to think of how to make it simpler or more manageable. Not on this occasion.

From the moment Uncommon sent over the deck for the British Airways 2024 Cabin Safety Film, the director Sharon Maguire and the producers Jeremy McWilliams and Tom Whitehead went 'all-in'. Penned by the über-talented creative team of Laura Hutchison and Duncan Clark under the masterful creative direction of Christopher Keatinge, this was going to be a safety briefing like no other. For a start the script spanned four hundred years, staging scenarios from the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries.

Jeremy McWilliams confessed, “This was once of the toughest productions we’ve ever taken on. Thankfully the agency was great and fantastically collaborative. Shananne Lane, the agency producer, was with us every step of the way. There’s no other way we could have pulled it off. It’s no wonder Uncommon are the agency of the year.”

Sharon Maguire in the library of Hartfield House

Though Sharon is no stranger to commercials, she was chosen to direct mainly thanks to her work on the Bridget Jones films. The first was the biggest British feature debut of all time, and as 

Co-Producer Tom Whitehead said, “This was the perfect brief for Sharon – comedy, romance and British to the core.”

The Uncommon concept for the film is a pastiche of lavish costume dramas which have made the British film industry famous all over the world. So, it made total sense to bring in as many of the British film industry’s luminaries as possible. 

In fact, it may well be the most stellar crew ever assembled in branded entertainment. Between them, the crew had 9 Oscar TM nominations, and 3 wins, and 6 BAFTAs (with 14 nominations) amongst scores of other awards. In alphabetical order it included Costume Designer Jenny Beavan (Cruella, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room with a View), 2nd Unit DoP Ole Birkeland (Judy, American Animals, His Dark Materials), Casting Director Kharmel Cochrane (Saltburn, Rye Lane), Hair & Make-up Designer Erika Ökvist (Bridgerton, Downton Abbey), Production Designer Kave Quinn (Trainspotting, Emma, The Great, Judy), 1st AD Jack Ravenscroft (Elvis, Bohemian Rhapsody, Paddington 2) and DoP Erik Wilson (all three Paddingtons). 

The Supertechno crane and Duncan Clark, creative partner of Laura Hutchison

British Airways had used comedy in the past to hold the attention of their passengers, teaming up with Comic Relief in 2017 to deliver a safety briefing packed with superstar British acting and comedy talent. Their challenge for 2024 was to add period drama production values to the comedy, and to fill the screen BA Colleagues in as many roles as possible.

Casting for the film involved auditioning more than 400 BA staff from all departments of the airline, along with over a hundred actors, horse-riders, carriage grooms, musicians and dancers, in a process lasting over five weeks. Wardrobing took another month to source and fit all the right period costumes. For weeks before and during the shoot, dialect coach Jill McCullough, (veteran of four Star Wars films and countless others) helped the BA colleagues to deliver convincing performances. A choreographer planned the dance sequence and drilled the performers, many of whom freely admitted to having two left feet, for hours to recreate a perfect Regency Ball scene.

Meanwhile the biggest and grandest country houses in the southeast were being scouted to fit the appropriate eras in both exteriors and interiors. In the end two country houses 20 miles apart were chosen to span all the historical eras needed. Specialist electricians had to remove the anachronistic light fittings and approved movers were needed to move priceless items in the historic rooms.

Period-specific hairpieces were sourced and an army of stylists, washed, fluffed and curled hairpieces, some taking one person a whole day to make camera ready. Props, carriages, weapons, horses and horse armour had to be found. Sets, jewellery and even prosthetic teeth needed to be designed and built.

Security and a groomsman at Englefield House

The real battle was getting what should have been a five day shoot compressed into three days. That required three cameras, dozens of specialist technicians, and a shooting schedule that had to be executed with mind-bending precision. Numerous built-in contingencies were required for weather, and the logistical challenges of assembling BA crew from all over the world were worthy of an epic. Nerve-wrackingly, some flew in on the day they were shooting.

The task was helped immeasurably with unique and specialised camera and grip equipment from Panavision and exceptional lights from Panalux and we thank Craig Game and George Martin for joining us in the 'all-in' approach. 

The edit was done principally with the legendary Joe Guest and Leah Burton at Final Cut and post by the marvellous people at Unit.

Director Sharon Maguire has the final say, “This was definitely a dream team of industry legends. We all just loved the idea created by the talented and lovely creative team and the BA Colleagues threw themselves at it wholeheartedly, giving some really wonderful performances.”