A partnership forged between Screen Manchester, the city’s screen agency, and independent production company and Waterloo Road producer Rope Ladder Fiction has resulted in the production of the short film Heritage.
Heritage is a vehicle for career progression for both early careers and established crew. It further builds on the relationship between Screen Manchester and Rope Ladder, who share a driving force: to enable and empower individuals to further their careers.
The film’s producer, Charles Abbott, explained the ethos and career development theory at the heart of Heritage: “Heritage delivered vital ‘step-up’ roles, providing first-time positions for our production designer, key grip, DOP, gaffer, runners and many more,” he said. “In total we delivered 38 opportunities for crew members to progress in their chosen fields, taking up a more senior role and securing their first credits in these positions, as well as providing five on-set shadowing opportunities for students. This ethos was central to Heritage’s creation, championing new craft and creative talent both below and above the line.”
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Elli Metcalfe, crew and facilities manager at Screen Manchester and one of the film’s executive producers added: “At a time when many in the industry may have felt slightly held back we decided to explore what we could do to support mid-career talent. Cameron Roach and the team at Rope Ladder Fiction have a proven track record in delivering excellent short films which have offered first-time opportunities to new writers and directors. We have also enjoyed watching the progress our production trainees have made over the course of seven series of the Rope Ladder Fiction and Wall to Wall-produced BBC One series Waterloo Road.
“The opportunity to extend this concept wider, allow trainees to develop further, and include many more production disciplines along the way was too good an opportunity to miss and we are delighted with the result. Heritage will hopefully be the first of many more projects in this mould and may even forge an industry model in the future.”
Rope Ladder Fiction founder Roach said: “Partnering with Screen Manchester on Heritage has enabled us to encourage locally based crew members to step up across all craft disciplines, which has been truly energising. We believe that making work with emerging creatives is the key to building sustainable talent pipelines, and seeing Jain, Daisy and Zoe run at this project in a collaborative and creative way, has been incredibly inspiring.
“We’re excited to now see the forward momentum for Heritage both on the festival circuit and in our development conversations with broadcasters and streamers. In Oz, Charles, and our writing team we genuinely have some incredible rising stars.”
Written and created by Jain Edwards, Zoe Iqbal and Daisy Miles, Heritage tells the story of fledgling middle-manager Lucy (Lauren Patel) who is forced to discipline her best friend Kelly-Marie (Zoe Iqbal) at Back To Life Historical Reenactments Agency. Hyper-aware of her nepo-baby credentials, Lucy stumbles between her professional duties, pressures from her mum (Saira Jackson) and responsibilities to Kelly-Marie, a crystal-toting toxically positive queen. Will she save
her mate’s job? Will she make her Mum tolerate her? Will she make it out of the disabled toilet long enough to do anything?
The film’s director Oz Arshad, formerly a high school teacher in a middle management post before pivoting into Film and Television shared his direct experience of what this opportunity has meant to him: “Having spent ten years as a teacher I’ve seen everything from ego tantrums and classroom lock-ins to obnoxious behaviour and petty mind games. Workplaces are natural breeding grounds for politics. Now that I’ve transitioned into the film and television industry, nepotism is an ever-present reality that crawls under the skin of hardworking, working-class creatives.
“Heritage is a comedy born from that specific frustration, exploring the paralysing weight of unearned privilege that ultimately benefits no one. Universally, I wanted the film to capture that frantic, highly relatable urge to just hide from your adult responsibilities. Driven by fast-paced dialogue and a brilliant script from the writers, Heritage interrogates one agonising, hilarious question: how do you fire your best friend when you know you don’t even deserve your own job?”
