Charlotte Regan

Knucklehead

1) What was your first professionally directed work and when was it?

Standby was my first short film which I made about two years ago, though me and the producer made it with about 2k of our own savings so I’m not sure it counts as professional. The Wretch 32 video I did with Knucklehead was probably the first project with I don’t know… real invoices and all of that? Before that the music videos I did were mostly for no money and had no budgets.

2) How did you get into directing?

I started doing the no budget rap videos for mates and kind of went from there. If I had any musical ability or I looked a bit cooler I probably would’ve got into rapping instead. Ive never been mad film obsessed… I didn’t make super 8 films during my summer holidays or spend every waking moment watching black and white films. I just liked the rap and grime culture that was around at the time and wanted to somehow be a part of that and like I said my absolute lack of any musical talent meant holding a camera for rap freestyles was probably the only option!

3) What is your most recent project?

I just finished a short film My Boy with Sam Spruell. Its a one shot kind of phone call about a dad coming to terms with the loss of his son. Real cheery stuff. And at the moment I’m just finishing post on a short Oats & Barley with Harris Dickinson. Its about a family going to different funerals doing dodgy side jobs, like selling cocaine.

4) What is the best part of being a director?

It’s just a mad job. Or to call it a job feels mad. One day you can be stood on set surrounded by amazing people who are the best at what they do, the next you could be researching an obscure subject for a pitch or a script. To steal someone else’s words…Danny Boyle always says what he loves most is the change from each stage of the process, how you never spend days and days doing the same thing, every day is different. And I’ve kind of always loved that explanation. If only I were clever enough or poetic enough to come up with my own great answer!

5) What is the worst part of being a director?

You’ve caught me in a proper good mood today so maybe I’ll say… there is no bad part? Ah! madness. So happy today. On a bad day id no doubt have moans for days. I mean you for sure have dodgy experiences, projects that might not go as well as you hoped. But they’re always the ones I feel I’ve learnt the most on. The ones that keep you grounded and make you improve and keep trying harder. I’m straight out of a cheesey quote catalogue today. Honestly no idea whats going on.

6) What is your current career focus: commercials and branded content, TV movies? Do you plan to specialize in a particular genre–comedy, drama, visual effects, etc.?

I love stories about people. Whether thats in the film and TV world, the commercial world, the doc world. Any genre. As long as there is a story and a character I can try to understand. I kind of love a mix of both, I like writing and developing long form projects and I’m working on a feature at the moment as well as some TV ideas. But I love short form stuff too. I think telling a story in a 60 second ad or a 3 minute promo is an insane skill and is often harder than getting people to connect in a film where you have so much more time. So I hope I can do both!

7) Have you a mentor and if so, who is that person (or persons) and what has been the lesson learned from that mentoring which resonates with you? (Response may be up to 125 words)

He will absolutely hate this. At the moment it's for sure Knucklehead Tim. I’ve annoyed him since day 1 and he’s the person I always want to pester with new ideas. I dunno why. He’s honest and has a different point of view. And I suppose that’s what you need out of mentors. A different perspective and some harsh truths. Neil Maskell has always really helped me as has Malik Vitthal. I think what I learn from all of them is to try to be a nice person and be grateful for doing what you love. And thats not necessarily something they’ve verbalized but its for sure there in them all. And being a tiny bit more like any one of them would be a great thing.

8) Who is your favorite director and why?

I annoyingly kind of love different directors for different things! But in terms of who’s work I consistently love and think is flawless it’d have to be Scorsese. Maybe I should of thought of someone really obscure and arty so I could seem more edgy and cool. I watch The Departed whenever I’m feeling a bit down and need to be reminded about how powerful cinema can be. Its so easy to get lost in his films. I also love Shane Meadows, Clio Barnard, Taika Watiti.

9) What is your favorite movie? Your favorite television/online program? Your favorite commercial or branded content?

This sometimes changes like the weather too. My favorite 3 films are Fruitvale Station, The Assassination of Jesse James and Starred Up. My favorite TV show at the moment is probably Line Of Duty. But like everyone else I love Game Of Thrones, Fleabag. The only TV show I’ve ever re-watched a number of times is The Wire. So maybe that’s an all time favorite. Some of my favorite ads are Barnardo’s "Life Story" that Ringan Ledwidge did, "Made To Move" by Christopher Hewitt and I am a bit obsessed with the "Every Lesson Shapes A Life" ad 32 did recently.

10) Tell us about your background (i.e., where did you grow up? Past jobs?)

I grew up with my mum and my gran in London. My mum to this day thinks directing is the silliest job in the world and not a day goes by where I don’t hear “you need to pack that job in”. She absolutely hates all my films. And I think that’s great! Wouldn’t have it any other way. When I was 17ish I was a Paparazzi photographer for a bit, packed it in after a few years because I was terrible at it. I worked in a scrapyard for a bit which was great and full of characters. And worked for a fashion magazine which was by far the worst of the lot. I wear the same mad cheap hoodie and jeans every single day. You couldn’t meet someone less into fashion.

Contact

Contact Cathleen Kisich, Managing Director, Knucklehead, regarding Charlotte Regan via email
www.knucklehead.tv