Six Team Faves – Inspiring Women in Film and TV

It’s International Womens’ Day, and to mark the occasion we decided to big up some of the brilliant women in film and TV who inspire, entertain and amaze us. We asked some of the members of team Fireworks to pick their top inspirational women from the film world. Here are our top five.

Diablo Cody

Chosen by Hannah Robinson, Fireworks Director and Co-writer. Hannah says:

I’ve chosen Diablo Cody because she’s written some of the most witty, moving and irreverent movies, with the coolest, funniest flawed female screen characters, particularly Mavis Gary in Young Adult and Juno in, er, Juno. Her pen name is  Diablo Cody because she was listening to a song called Diablo whilst driving through a town called Cody. Also, she worked as a stripper who incorporated ninja kicks and screaming into her routines.

Lena Denham

Chosen by Jonathan Hall, Fireworks Co-writer. Jonathan says:

I’m going to choose Lena Dunham (of Tiny Furniture movie and HBO’s Girls TV series fame) – not just because I, myself, am a fearless, ferociously perceptive, young woman (inside a burly man body, obviously), but because she makes me properly laugh and gasp out loud while showing me something brand new. Kind of what we were trying to do with Fireworks.

Jodie Foster

Chosen by Claire Burns, Fireworks Executive Producer.

Since her debut at the age of three, Jodie Foster has had a staggering career as an actor, delivering acclaimed and memorable performances in Taxi Driver, The Accused, and Silence of the Lambs, and graduating from successful child star to A-list adult actor. Always convincing, always authentic, and generally brilliant in every role, she has now turned her talents to directing and producing. A woman with a genuine passion and understanding for film.

Ida Lupino

Chosen by Wendy Griffin, Fireworks Producer. Wendy says:

Ida Lupino (born in 1918) has always intrigued me as a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her forty-eight year career, she appeared in fifty-nine films as an actress and directed seven others. She co-wrote and co-produced some of her own films as well.

Jane Campion

Chosen by Simone Pereira-Hind, Fireworks Casting Director. Simone says:

I’m going to be really predictable and go for Jane Campion for sharing her astonishing vision with us, particularly for Top of the Lake, In the Cut, The Piano and An Angel at my Table. She writes incredible roles for women, gets staggering performances from her actors, shoots sexy but not exploitative scenes and knows how to point the camera and capture those stunning landscapes. Genius! LOVE her!

Sofia Coppola

Chosen by Rebecca Thompson, Fireworks Digital Producer. Rebecca says:

Sofia has been in the movies since she played a male baby in The Godfather, but it’s as a writer and director (a bit like our Hannah!) that she really shines. She’s the brains behind one of the most genuine and moving love stories in recent cinema history, Lost in Translation, as well as capturing the zeitgeist with The Bling Ring and The Virgin Suicides. Coppola has a bit of a thing for casting previous child actors in leading roles, so maybe our Kat will end up in one of her films one day?

 

Over to you

Who are your icons of women in film? Tell us who inspires you.

7 Good Reasons to Support Fireworks

With only 6 days to go until our campaign ends, we really need your support. Lots of you have already contributed, tweeted and shared about our film. Some of you, though, may still be dithering, and others may have no intention of supporting us. Yet! We want you with us on this. Here are seven reasons why you should get on board.

1. All The Best People Say So

Yes, we hang with some of the coolest people on Twitter. The brilliant Stephen Fry has put out a tweet telling people to support our film, and we’ve been retweeted by lovely people like Rebecca Front, Rory Bremner, Billie Myers and Gail Porter.

2. We Have Ewen Bremner

Ewen is a brilliant actor and we are thrilled to be able to create a role for him in his home town. Poor Ewen has been stuck out in Hollywood too long – give the poor chap a trip home.

3. You Might be in it Too!

Looking for our new teen star

We’re running an open online casting call for the role of Kat, a headstrong, sparky teenage girl. Tons of young women have already submitted their auditions. Will you be the chosen Kat to play the lead role?

4. It’s Made By Women

Not many films are made by women. Most don’t even have a lot of women in them! And when they do, these women don’t have much to say. With Fireworks the Exec Producer, Producer, Co-writer, Director and even the web guy are all women! Let’s show what they can do.

5. It Sorts Out Your Christmas Shopping

Don’t just do it for us – do it for that tricky international auntie who loves knitting, or that guy in the office who’s a bit of a smunt. Our campaign is one big Christmas shopping market. Check it out.

6. We Want to Destigmatise Mental Disorder

Fireworks is inspired by Director and Co-writer Hannah’s experience of growing up with a father who suffered from bipolar disorder, or manic depression. Hannah wants the film to help get people talking openly about mental illness, to help reduce the stigma that sufferers already face.

7. It’s Going to be Good

This is (arguably) the most important point on the list. Fireworks is going to be a cracking good film. It’s funny, it’s got a great actor confirmed and others potentially in the wings. The script has won a ton of awards, and the team behind it are celebrated film-makers and writers. You do not want to miss out on this film!

It’s not easy to get a film off the ground that bucks the box office trends and tries to do something a bit different, but with a bit of help we think we can create something really special. Please support our film, and help spread the word on twitter and Facebook. Thank you!

Behind the Scenes in Alison’s Mug Firing Studio

Over on our IndieGoGo campaign, we’re taking our perks very seriously. In the case of the branded mugs, we’re going as far as getting the Co-writer and Director’s mum, Alison, to fire them especially for you. We thought that you might like to find out a bit more about how the mugs are made, so we popped round for a chat with Alison.

Hannah’s mum Alison shares a cool and quirky pottery studio with other ceramic artists in Edinburgh. One of her skills is transferring logos and slogans onto fine china mugs, and so she very kindly offered to pitch in to help out with the film. We nipped over to the studio today to find out more about how the process works, and chat about which lines from the film would look best on the mugs.

Here’s how it’s gonna work

1. Choose Your Slogan

There are too many great phrases from the film for us to choose from, so we’re going to need your help with that. Use our poll to make sure we fire your favourite lines, and keep checking back to find out the winners. If you select to get a mug as a perk this week, it will say ‘SMUNT’. Next week’s word or phrase is up to you.

2. The Bare Mug

Alison buys the plain mugs ready made. Here’s what they look like.

3. Transfer Time

We’ll make sure that Alison has the right artwork in her book of transfers. Your favourite line from the film will then be soaked in water and smoothed onto the mug.

4. Fire it up!

Alison heads downstairs to the kiln room and hand fires your mug for you in this little beauty.

5. Catching the Christmas Post

We’ll pop down to the studio and package up your mugs ready to send out in time for Christmas.

This week’s mugs will say SMUNT – choose what next week’s mugs will say.

Custom Mugs for the SMUNT, Robot or Squirrel on Your List

We’ve been having a great time trying to choose which word or phrase from the film to print onto the mugs for your perks in return for your contributions to our crowdfunding campaign. But we found it impossible to limit ourselves to just one. So we thought we’d let you choose instead.

This week, if you select a hand-fired mug from our list of perks, it will arrive printed with the word SMUNT. We’ll leave it to you to decide what you think this made up word from the film might mean, and we’ll definitely let you decide who to give that cheeky wee gift to. But let’s face it, we all know somebody who would suit a SMUNT mug.

Next week you choose

Vote now in the poll below to tell us which line from the film you would like Hannah’s mum Alison to fire onto the mugs next week, and find out which is the most popular.

Thanks!

CLICK HERE to get your SMUNT mug this week only.

IndieGoGo Campaign – Your Christmas Shopping Sorted!

We’re announcing lots of ways to get involved in the making of Fireworks, including, today, a new IndieGoGo campaign. We’re looking to raise £15,000 to help make Fireworks sparkle, and we need your help. Please check out our campaign page. We have some really cool perks, including everything you need to tick off those tricky customers on your Christmas list.

Visit our IndieGoGo page and start following our crowdfunding story.

Perks include mugs featuring some of the cool catchphases and words from the film, hand-fired by the Director’s mum in Scotland, to film credits, sweetie bags, and even the (soon to be famous) hut from the film.

We would love to hear your thoughts about the perks on offer. There’s still room to add a few more if you want something special from the film.

Please help spread the word by sharing the campaign on Facebook, Twitter and in any blogs that you manage. We really do appreciate your help.

44 days to go – wish us luck!