9:39 Cinema LTD is an upcoming Scottish production company founded by three former university friends and colleagues in April earlier this year. Now it's first independent film, SOCO, is due to come out in the new year.
Short films often contain an originality, a creative freedom, an energy and an invention that is inspiring and entertaining.
One fledging film company, 9:39 Cinema LTD, is bringing the art of the short film back to our screens. The upcoming Scottish production company was founded by three former university friends and colleagues Cameron Strachan, Shonagh MacKenzie and Reece Steel in April earlier this year. 9:39 Cinemas is already working on its first independent film, now in the later stages of the editing process, and aims to be completed for the start of the new year.
Shonagh and Reece both recently graduated at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) an Honours Degree in Filmmaking & Screen Writing and they are both now attending a Masters course in Filmmaking at the same institution.
Cameron is a recent winner of the UWS Creative Entrepreneur of the Year award and enjoyed some minor success in having films reach some low-key festivals in Belgium, America and London.
Creating their own company was something that Cameron, Shonagh and Reece always wanted to do, but it took a meeting in Wetherspoons for it all to come together.
“We met, and we basically put together what we wanted to do for a company and we all agreed to be a part of it,” Cameron explains. “We set out ground rules because it’s not university now it’s a job, if we have a problem, we tell each other, and work it that way. We set out rules for how we were going to pitch films to each other, so we’d go through a process. From there I did a treatment for our first film.”
Around the same time, The Hunter Foundation (which is a proactive venture philanthropy that seeks to invest in determining model solutions to issues relating to poverty eradication and educational enablement) launched a ‘100 Disrupters’ competition to support the Year of Young People 2018 in Scotland.
The competition was open to any young person up to the age of 26 and the idea was that THF would award 100 grants of £1,000 to individuals or groups who were positively disrupting Scotland.
Under a different name at the time, 9:39 Cinema applied for the competition and was chosen to get the grant.
“We applied for the 100 Disrupters' competition,” Cameron says. “And we used our old name Ctrl Alt Delete Cinema because we had to come up with something to make it official and we hadn’t decided on a new one yet. Then we surprisingly got the grant. After, when it came to register, we changed the name.”
The company’s new name came with a very sweet story.
“The train that all three of us were on going to university arrived at the station at 9:39 so that’s how 9:39 Cinemas came about.” Cameron explains.
“We all met on the train,” Shonagh adds. “We tell people and they go ‘Aww that’s lovely’!”
It was Cameron who originally pitched the idea for their first film SOCO. The film is about a crime scene photographer, Charlie, who is faced with an old trauma that places into question her ability to do her job.
“I really liked the idea of doing a film on a crime scene photographer because I had never seen a film done about it. I liked the idea of what effect it would have, like if you’re constantly photographing dead bodies there’s going to be an effect on you. So, I was always intrigued to see what the effect would be., So the story kind of came from a fascination of a crime scene photographer and making it relatable.”
SOCO, which is aimed to be roughly 10 minutes in duration, was directed by Cameron and Reece was the First Assistant Director whilst Shonagh was the cinematographer and director of photography. The team spent six months in pre-production for a three-day filming shoot, but this was because they wanted to take the time to make sure everything was done right and wasn’t rushed.
“We take pride in what we do,” Shonagh says. “We wanted to take our time with it."
“Most of our time in pre-production was working on the script; we worked for four months on it and there were ten drafts of it.” Cameron explains.
“And it wasn’t stupid changes it was dramatic changes,” Shonagh adds.
“I helped as a script editor,” Reece says. “With every draft there was a feeling that something was missing. We didn’t know what it was, but it was something and something needed to be done. So, it got to the point where Cameron and I were on the phone and we just went through it scene by scene asking is this one necessary, is this one necessary. That was a very good method of narrowing down the script and that was one of our last drafts when we did that.”
With SOCO being their first independent film, the team were going to face some obstacles. But their trust and faith in each other is what makes them all work so well together.
“We have the trust in each other,” Cameron says.
“Everyone knows what they’re doing and it’s good that way. When arguments happen it’s not down to ego. It’s never about that. its actually more about what’s best for what we’re doing."
“Usually when we’ve made a film for university, we know we need to get it done for the grade. But for this one it was different, everyone wanted to be there. It tested us because at any point one of us could have said ‘you know what I don’t need this’ and left but we didn’t.” Shonagh explains.
In terms of future projects for 9:39 Cinema, the team hope to make a horror film, which is tough to do for a short film. But if any company can do it, it’s this one.
To keep up with SOCO’s progress, you can follow 9:39 Cinemas on Twiter at @939Ltd or like their facebook page @9.39cinema.