Cheryl Rowlands School Of Drama

"Runland" is an independent film written, directed and produced by university colleagues and up-and-coming film makers,     Jack O'Dowd and Daniel Gittens.  Dan also wrote the film's soundtrack.  Drama School Principal Cheryl was asked to assume the role of Casting Director and Melissa   Rowlands was cast in a small role and everyone had great fun working on the film.  The cast and crew worked together brilliantly.  The guys sum it up in their own words:  "Being Human might have disappeared off to Cardiff for its third series, but upcoming Bristol-set short film Runland will keep the spirit of science fiction and fantasy alive and well in the west country.  ‘It’s Brazil meets Green Wing meets Chariots of Fire,’ director Jack O’Dowd enthuses, although writer Dan Gittens disagrees. ‘Actually, it’s Playschool meets Star Wars meets The Secret Garden,’ he says, ‘with bits of Brazil just thrown in there.  The film, not the nut.’ Jack and Dan are Media Practice students at UWE Bower Ashton, and are producing Runland as part of their final portfolio of work.  When asked why they chose to make such a decidedly weird film, they explained that in the second year they had made quite serious films,which, though good, were not particularly fun to watch.  Which brought them, in their third year, to Runland; a film about two brothers who find a door to another world in their uncle’s inheritance and that tackles amongst other subjects, the perils of the toy industry, a goddess with a penchant for landscape gardening and a wormhole in a shed.   It’s not without its problems though, as Jack confirms. ‘We were looking at using a local house for a location,’ he says, ‘and it hadn’t been lived in for a while so we were hoping it wouldn’t be a problem to use it, but the owner just immediately said – what’s in it for me?’ Dan agrees. ‘We’re students – we’re broke! So we rely very much on people being nice and letting us film around them in exchange for a mention in the credits, or a copy of the film itself.  The weird thing is that Jack’s quite well-known for his work overseas, but not over here in England.  We’re hoping all that’s set to change though.  You don’t get many British science fiction or fantasy films nowadays, especially ones like this, but it’s going to work. We’ve got an original script, a brilliant director, and no one wants to work with us on it!’

See below for some photos taken on set, plus the "Runland" advertising poster and local newspaper report, and click on the You Tube link to see the "Runland" trailer.