SPOTLIGHT.
TIM COURTNEY
INTRODUCTION
Tim Courtney started out in music videos, short films, and corporate ads before moving into television drama, directing RIVER CITY for BBC Studios. His first feature film THE EMPTY SPACE INSIDE MY HEART is currently in development with Compact Pictures.
In 2018, Tim won the Best Short Film BAFTA Scotland Award for MY LONELINESS IS KILLING ME, a BFI Network commission. The film has screened at over thirty film festivals worldwide including the BFI Flare film festival 2019, nominated for Best British Short film at the Iris Prize Film Festival, and winning the Rogha na Féile at the Trí Rivers Film Festival.
INTERVIEW
How did you get into your current practice? What initially inspired you?
I was always interested in story telling, but I didn’t find my medium till later in life. I was that odd 80s kid who’d play on his own and reenact his favourite movies in the garden or utilise every Ghostbusters toy, Thundercat or Lego set I had to create original stories - so becoming a filmmaker isn’t much of a surprise in hindsight.
But I used to illustrate my own comics when I was at high school and was really passionate about painting and I always thought that was what I’d end up doing. I never really had any aspirations to do anything else but go to art school. However to tell the truth, my passion for drawing and painting just couldn’t stand up to the scrutiny of academia.
So I moved to Visual Communication as a way to get into Photography, Graphic Design, Illustration and Digital Video. MiniDV was just coming into its own in the early 2000s and editing on a Mac really opened my eyes to what I could do with the medium.
When I was a teenager, I used to crudely edit my Dad’s Hi8 holiday footage by using two VHS recorders. At the weekends and evenings I would to steal my Dad’s camcorder without him knowing, and I would film my pals mountain biking and doing stupid adolescent stunts, then edit it together. I found an elaborate hack to hook up my portable CD Player to provide a metal and grunge soundtrack. The idea of easily doing all of that stuff on a computer kinda blew my mind.
By the time I graduated from my masters I had moved into art installations and short films, and because I was in various bands at art school, I fell into making music videos too. I was lucky enough to go on to direct videos for artists I’d shared a stage with, like Codes in The Clouds, OK Button and Kathryn Joseph. The first video I made for Kathryn was done on a shoe string budget and many called in favours, but the success of that video after Kathryn’s SAY Award win was what seemed to legitimise my career as a Director.
What themes do you tend to interrogate in your work?
Ok, so, I’m gonna be a huge Debbie Downer here, my apologies in advance!
When you’re a director, you find yourself spending most of your time pitching for funding, and trying to tap into your inner pretentious arsehole. And this is a question that development people and financiers always ask. I tend to deal with a lot of themes but I’ve realised that I do channel everything that interests me through the lens of one particular theme, and that’s ‘Loneliness’. (I know, not only am I pretentious, but I’m also a massive emo kid it seems!)
This wasn’t something I was really aware of to begin with. It wasn’t until we were pitching our short film My Loneliness Is Killing Me to the Scottish Film Talent Network that I had that light bulb moment. I was looking for ways to answer the question of theme, but also the “why you?” conundrum Directors are faced with, because being a good filmmaker just isn’t enough.
At first I was looking back at my work for ways to retrofit some hackneyed link to the themes of the film. But after some interrogation, it seemed everything could be reduced down to Loneliness.
I realised that I gravitate to stories about outsiders struggling to find belonging. It actually wasn’t until I started to see a therapist a few years ago, that I realised a lot of that has to do with my childhood experience as a biracial kid growing up in the Highlands and the sporadic postings to new towns when my Dad was in the army. Often the new kid and the only Asian face in class.
As a storyteller you’re always trying to find truth and ways to empathise with your characters, including the seemingly unlikeable ones - figuring out why they do what they do and how they justify themselves as the heroes of their own stories. For me that’s usually by looking within myself. It’s the reason why it was important to me that we cast a person of colour as Elliott in My Loneliness Is Killing Me. My connection to his loneliness was as much about his experience as a person of colour than it was about his femininity. It might not have been apparent on the page, but the conversations that myself and Luke (the actor) would have about the character, was just us relating to each other’s personal experiences. It brought new ideas to the table and created a richer character for the screen.
If anything, learning about why a theme might interest you is as important as the themes themselves.
What was it like winning the Best Short Film BAFTA Scotland Award? And can you tell us more about My Loneliness is Killing Me?
My Loneliness Is Killing Me is a short film commissioned by The Scottish Film Talent Network, Creative Scotland, the BFI Network and National Lottery. It’s an evocative film that tackles hookup culture and toxic masculinity and explores loneliness and division among gay and queer communities.
It premiered at Edinburgh International FIlm Festival in 2018, was nominated for an Iris Prize and played at BFI Flare amongst many other festivals all over the world, including countries where it was recently illegal to be gay. It’s a film that has struck a chord with so many people, and I am humbled by the response it has had.
Winning a Scottish BAFTA was crazy! When they announced our film had won and the music blared out, I was in such a daze I didn’t know how to get to the stage (you can watch and laugh on YouTube). It seems cliche to say, but none of us expected to win. I was up there with our writer, Michael Richardson and our two producers Siobhan Fahey and Stuart Condy - and none of us actually had a speech prepared!
I looked out, clutching the famous mask, to see the likes of Nicola Sturgeon, Alan Cumming and Rupert Everett staring back at me. I winged some awful acceptance speech, thanked the team, my wife and my dog and away we went to get our photos taken. It was all so surreal.
There are cynics out there that try to diminish the value of the award, though. They says it’s “just a Scottish BAFTA” or allude to my race and the film’s LGBTQ genre ticking a box as if it’s stealing it away from its rightful owner. But it’s that attitude that makes the award mean so much more.
It’s about more than just the film for me. It’s about having something to show for the struggle. All creatives will identify with the struggle, it’s just nice to hold something to show for it. As every filmmaker will testify, getting funding is so hard. And making a film no matter the budget is a huge achievement in itself! Everyone who makes something, LQBTQ, PoC or not - faces this struggle. And annoyingly it’s that struggle that can turn us into bitter cynics too if we’re not careful. (Remember what I was saying about empathising with your villains earlier?)
For me, I had a pretty rough time with my mental health that year. It’s something I’ve talked about openly a few times elsewhere so I won’t go into it here, but there’s an alternate universe out there where I didn’t live to see the achievement. Along with my wedding photos that the BAFTA sits beside on my mantel, it serves as a symbol of hope anytime I feel the struggle start to get the better of me. If anything it’s evidence of the “this too shall pass” incantation.
So I’m not gonna lie - I’m extremely proud of winning a BAFTA Scotland Award.
What advice would you have for creatives of colour looking to get into filmmaking?
I’ll try to sound as if I know what I’m talking about…
For the beginners - I hate to be another cliche filmmaker whose advice is to “just do it”. But it’s the best advice. Even if it’s just on your phone, grab some friends - shoot a sketch. DaVinci Resolve is an industry standard editing tool that’s completely free, there’s really no excuse. The first film I ever got into a festival was just made by me and two or three other people. We didn’t know what we were doing! But the best way to learn is by doing and filmmaking is a continuous practical learning curve.
And don’t be afraid to fail - turn the word into a badge of honour. At risk of sounding like a Pinterest Meme; Once you get over that fear of failure, you’ll begin to succeed.
For those who are already on their filmmaking journey - Your lived experience and your taste are what make you unique. Your lived experience should be poured into your characters. It’s what gives you something to say. If you’re passionate about what that is, there will be an audience out there eager to listen. There’s a massive appetite for stories from people of colour right now, as the industry realises just how important diverse representation is. Historically, there’s no better time for us to make films!
And as for taste, it’s that “little summin-summin” that dictates everything else. Your taste in music, cinematography, production design, performance. You know what you like, and you know what you don’t like. Learn how to communicate it effectively and don’t let anyone convince you need to like something you don’t (including the Godfather and Star Wars) because that gut feeling is the most important tool you have as a filmmaker.
If you’re true to those two things your work will at least be unique to you with no compromises on who you are as a story teller.
What are you currently working on?
My first feature The Empty Space Inside My Heart is in the latter stages of development. Written by James Mavor and produced by John McKay, the project was selected for the Film London Production Finance Market where we’ve pitched to various financiers, and we’re hoping to start production in 2022. Fingers crossed we can get that over the line.
As well as that I’m in the early stages of development with a film, that straddles the psychological horror line. It’s based on my dad’s experience of returning from the Falklands War with PTSD and becoming a new father. It’s also inspired by my mother’s struggle adapting to life in rural Scotland having moved from The Philippines to a small town where locals see this newborn family as a threat to their idyllic British identity.
And… to even out the bleakness I’m currently prepping for a super fun Gaelic Children’s TV series which shoots in January. I can’t say anything more than that, but I just can’t wait to get back on a set!