Before a showing of his classic film “Dancin Thru The Dark” writer Willy Russell explained that it was not available on DVD because Palace Pictures, the films original distributor, had gone bust and he suspected that the film was caught up in a pit of receivership and copyright hell.
Which is a shame because I suspect that there would be great demand for this highly entertaining film. Not least in Liverpool were “Dancin Thru The Dark” was filmed.
The Barclays sponsored event by Picturehouse at FACT was showing “Dancin thru The Dark” to a sell out audience in support of the Clapperboard Youth Project which brings young people between the ages of 12 and 17 in contact with professional filmmakers.
The project, which covers the Northwest, including Merseyside, enables young people to make short films with a social comment. The young people decide the subject of the films relating to issues that effect their lives including antisocial behaviour, gun crime and gang culture. A film by a Greater Manchester group will be shown at the Tivoli Young Peoples Film Festival at Tampere in Finland later this year.
Many short films have been made and over a thousand young people have been involved in the project as well as professional filmmakers including Paul Abbott, Frank Cottrell Boyce, David Morrissey and Willy Russell.
“Clapperboard gives young people an opportunity to get involved in film making and I am sure that if I was a kid now I would gravitate towards the project’ said Willy Russell.
Unlike some of his contemporaries Willy Russell has never left Liverpool, he said that actors in particular have to be at the centre of entertainment if they want to work and London is the centre, as a writer it does not matter where he is based.
“Even before the internet I would just put a script in an envelope and post it off, it was a golden age for writers when I started at the BBC, the management were all old RAF types who would listen to an idea and just let you get on with it, you never had to “pitch” anything”
Willy lamented that it is not like that now.
He doesn’t think that parliament should be based in London, “Parliament should move about the country, imagine how things would improve around here if Parliament was based in St. Helens for ten years”
When asked why he was so good at writing for women, having written “Educating Rita” and “Shirley Valentine” Willy said
“I don’t know and I don’t make a distinction except that a writer has to get it right” he went on to say “ I could never write about Mr Valentine I couldn’t get past, Mr Valentine opening a door and saying “Shirley where’s me tea”
He does not do sequels, “I write one off dramas and I don’t know what happens to my characters later, if I did I would be writing soap operas, which I don’t do, not that there is anything wrong with writing soaps”
Willy Russell is a great supporter of The Clapperboard Youth Project and attended the showing of “Dancin Thru The Dark” with his wife Annie, who was a producer on the film. After the showing the audience was invited for a complimentary drink at Alma De Cuba on Seel Street.
Clapperboard founder Maureen Sinclair announced that the next Picturehouse at FACT event would be a screening of Jimmy McGovern’s controversial film “Priest” with a stellar cast of Linus Roache, Cathy Tyson, Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle “Priest” will be showing on Monday 1st March starting at 7 p.m. Jimmy McGovern will be in attendance to answer questions after the showing. A sponsor is being sort for the evening. Clapperboard are a not for profit organization that relies on sponsorship for funding.
Sponsors are also being sort for the Clapperboard Youth Project Annual Awards Ceremony at the Liverpool Playhouse on Monday 24th May. Tina Malone who plays Mimi Maguire in Channel 4s “Shameless” will host the event and many local and national celebrities will be attending the awards. Anybody interested in sponsoring the awards ceremony or any of the Picturehouse at FACT events can contact protect founder Maureen Sinclair on 07973 783140 or via the website www.clapperboarduk.com
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