Oniros Film Awards 2020 – Call It a Day
Follow Amy and Eva, as they navigate through life with wit, boldness and vulnerability. Shit’s about to get weird. And fun. But yeah, mostly weird.
Interview with Writer/Producer/Actor Rachel Mariam and Producer/Actor Oriane Pick
Watch Call It a Day here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
RACHEL: As two struggling actresses, we wanted to create our own work and play roles that actually represent and excite us.
ORIANE: It’s also showing very real and flawed characters, no more perfect young women. Our girls express themselves, they drink and have a good old laugh talking about sex together. They’re you and your friends, and 2020 women that aren’t as crazy as society would like them to think, they’re just living their life and hitting a few bumps on the road at the same time.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
RACHEL: It’s a show about two very different women, going through very different things. It’s funny and relatable. We wanted a show where people could relate but also put some humour on things that aren’t necessarily funny at first glance.
ORIANE: It’s also showing very real and flawed characters, no more perfect young women. Our girls express themselves, they drink and have a good old laugh talking about sex together. They’re you and your friends, and 2020 women that aren’t as crazy as society would like them to think, they’re just living their life and hitting a few bumps on the road at the same time.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
RACHEL: Everything that happens to the characters could happen to anyone. The characters are very different, so their issues are very different too, which will cover a lot of ground for people to relate to.
ORIANE: Throughout the whole season, we touch on a lot of societal topics such as anxiety, stress and sexism in the workplace, following a certain path that has been written for you by your family and so on. Some were inspired by personal experience, and others simply reflect what we all notice in the world today.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
RACHEL: Numerous re-writes were done, as for any projects. The main focus was the characters’ arcs. I wanted them to be fully fleshed, and authentic. And I wanted their paths and evolution to make sense.
ORIANE: Once we had shot the whole season, came the editing stage and we also tweaked a few things when in the editing suite to ensure all episodes were as strong, fast-paced, and clear as possible to fully define our main characters and tell the story we wanted to tell.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
RACHEL: It’s funny because we received both really positive feedback, people saying they loved it because they identified with it. And then people who hated it, saying the characters are vulgar and drinking too much etc... Very opposed reactions! But the feedback and reviews have been largely positive so we’re very pleased!
ORIANE: Yes it’s been an amazing ride and having festivals adding our show as part of their official selections has been incredibly rewarding as well. We can’t wait to see what comes next.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
RACHEL: I think we expected that kind of responses. It made us realize that portraying flawed women on screen is still new and some people are having a hard time with it. And you can also improve and build from positive or negative feedback. So it’s important.
ORIANE: Totally. I think it’s important to receive that kind of feedback. This is exactly why we wanted to create the show. We need to see more real women portrayed on screen and when we hear the audience reacting to it (positively or negatively), then we did our job right.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
RACHEL: Season 1 was a very ambitious and exciting project to create. Now, we want to get commissioned by a network or a streaming platform so we can push and develop the show as best as possible.
ORIANE: Also, give a special shout out to our amazing cast and crew. We couldn’t have done it without them. If you’re looking for a Director, a Director of Photography, a 1st AD, a Production Designer, or any other crew member, check out the credits of the show. They were all so dedicated, believed in Call It a Day 100% and made the show what it is today. We owe them so much and couldn’t recommend them enough.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
RACHEL: We want to get commissioned and get some backing from buyers, distributors, journalists, networks... People that can help give the show exposure and a good platform for it.
ORIANE: We will also be looking for a co-production that would be interested in approaching broadcasters with us. So any help spreading the word, or further interviews/reviews for the show would be much appreciated and help increase our chances to secure a broadcast deal in the months to come.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
RACHEL: We live in an Instagram generation where it’s so easy to appear perfect like you have it all figured out. We wanted the series to show the behind the scenes of our generation’s life. We want people to watch this and feel less out place or less pressured to be perfect.
ORIANE: Couldn’t agree more. It’s very easy these days to look at your social feed and feel like you don’t belong, that you don’t look as good in that dress, that you aren’t skinny and not working out enough, or simply that you don’t have those social skills some people have by making instant connections. This is not the real-life and that is why we’re thrilled to created and played complex and flawed yet very real young women in our show.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
RACHEL: Are we really used and accepting of seeing flawed women on screen?
ORIANE: Are you following a path that is truly what you want, whether it’s a relationship that you’re in, your current job or anything taking a major part in your life.
Would you like to add anything else?
RACHEL: We hope everyone is keeping well and is safe during this lockdown times... Keep that wine close, and that burrito closer.
ORIANE: Yes to that! Those are scary times we live in but please, don’t let your social feed and all those newly born banana bread bakers on social media fool you. It’s ok to take a moment to be sad, not be ok with what’s going on, want to binge-watch every series out there. Take care of yourselves!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
RACHEL: We created our own production company called Candid Broads Productions. Right now, we’re on pre-production for a dramedy short film about schizophrenia called I AM, that I wrote and will be directing. Oriane is producing it and starring as the lead. We wanted to create a short where schizophrenia is depicted more humanly and also put a little humour in it (because that always helps!). The goal is to break the stigmas around schizophrenia, as it is too often “caricatured” or “sensationalised” in films.
We hope to start filming as soon as possible.
So hopefully it’ll come out in 2020!
Interview: May 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Call It a Day
Follow Amy and Eva, as they navigate through life with wit, boldness and vulnerability. Shit’s about to get weird. And fun. But yeah, mostly weird.
Director: KIERAN BOURNE
Producer: RACHEL MARIAM, ORIANE PICK
Writer: RACHEL MARIAM
About the writer, director and producer:
Best known for award-winning and nominated films She's Just a Girl and So Am I, Soft Hands, Say Your Name and critically acclaimed series Call It a Day, KIERAN BOURNE is a dynamic screenwriter and director who has moved between genres and mediums. He wrote the screenplay for Beneath the Mind which was part of the Film London Microwave 2016/17 shortlist which included some of the most exciting filmmakers to come out of the scheme. He wrote the latest film for Four8 Productions - I Am Pilate.
RACHEL MARIAM is an actress, writer, producer, and singer.
She studied Theatre & Filmmaking at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, before moving to London at the end of 2018. Since then, she had the great opportunity to work with Academy Award-nominated Director Lenny Abrahamson on a speaking role for BBC TV series Normal People. She also wrote, produced and starred as the lead in webseries Call It a Day, which gathered thousands of views and is running the festival circuit in 2020, as well as being pitched to networks and streaming platforms in 2020. As a writer, she has been recently selected out of 3000 scripts to be a quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship for her feature film Juliet Is Fine (spoiler alert: she is not). Rachel Mariam wrote and will be directing a short film about mental illness called I Am in 2020.
ORIANE PICK is a French-born Actress with experience in Film and Theatre. After having lived in various countries in Europe, Africa and Asia, she moved to London in 2013 and has been involved in various projects since, including short films and commercials. In 2019, Oriane has produced and starred in the multi-award nominated short drama Say Your Name, for which she received two nominations as Best Actress. Having dreamt of creating her own series, Oriane is also the official writer, producer and lead Actress in the award-nominated and Amazon-Prime webseries called Just Saying as well as the Showrunner, Executive Producer and lead Actress of short-form drama Call It a Day which already gathered thousands of views on Youtube.
Key cast: Rachel Mariam, Oriane Pick, Michael Addo, George Rennie, Robert Lightfoot, Oliver Hays
Looking for: distributors, buyers, journalists, sales agents, film festival directors
Facebook: Call It a Day Series
Twitter: @CIAD_series
Instagram: @callitadayseries
Hashtags used: #dramedy #webseries #broadcity #fleabag #femalefriendship #tvseries
Website: callitadayseries.com/index.html
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Candid Broads Productions
Funders: Greenlit
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Pilot Light TV Festival / Manchester - May 7-10 (postponed COVID-19); Ramsgate / UK - June 11-14 (postponed COVID-19); UK Offline Webfest / London - March 2nd (postponed COVID-19); Oniros Film Awards / Italy - May 6th.