A Brookie Horror for Cheshire Trainees

IT’S not every day you get to work at TV’s infamous Brookside Close, but that’s exactly what two Cheshire trainees are doing after clinching prized jobs on Salvage, a Capital of Culture feature film which is about to go into production in Liverpool.

Salvage is a horror film written by former Hollyoaks Story Editor, Colin O’Donnell, and directed by Lawrence Gough, and is using the vacant Brookside set as its prime location. The movie is one of three feature films to be commissioned by Digital Departures, the micro-budget filmmaking initiative run by Northwest Vision and Media, the screen agency which works on behalf of the region’s TV, film, radio and digital content industries.

In addition to fully-funding and supporting the making of Salvage, Vision and Media has also arranged for some exclusive, paid placements on the four-week shoot – with Cheshire women Lyndsey Yarwood, 23, of Sandbach, and Rebecca Salisbury-Moss, 24, of Helmsby, beating off stiff competition to claim their place on set.

Lyndsey is working as a trainee make-up assistant, and Rebecca has managed to make her mark as a costume trainee.

“It’s not every day you get the chance to work on a feature film, so I’m really pleased to get this opportunity,” says Lyndsey, who recently finished working on Channel 4’s Shameless TV series. “Shameless was the first programme I’d ever worked on, as I originally trained as an illustrator, working on children’s books and storyboarding.

“Being an artist, it was a natural progression for me to move into film and TV production, to fulfil my dream of working in make-up and prosthetics. This is a fantastic opportunity for me as I’ll get hands-on experience of creating all the special effects that Salvage will need,” she adds.

Rebecca, too, is thrilled to have the opportunity to shine. “At uni I did a degree in theatre, film and TV production, specialising in costume, and although I’ve done a couple of projects since leaving uni, this is my first major job,” she says.

“I’m so excited to actually be here, on the set of Brookside! It’s all going to be quite intense, as we only have four weeks to complete the shoot, so there’ll be lots of early mornings and late nights, but that just adds to the excitement of it all.”

Rebecca concedes that working conditions are far from ideal. “We’ve set up our costume department in one of the empty Brookside houses, and I think our room is one of the few on set that has any heat at the moment! But that’s the kind of thing you have to expect when you’re working on location,” adds Rebecca.

In addition to the roles of trainee costume and make-up assistants, Vision and Media have also organised trainee roles in sound and editing as part of the Digital Departures project.

“The whole Digital Departures scheme is a fantastic initiative and really gives people like me a chance to get some real feature film experience,” says Lyndsey.

“I’ll be gaining valuable on-the-job training, as well as developing specific skills within prosthetics. I’ll also get the chance to find out more about other roles and processes involved in micro-budget feature film production,” she says.

Digital Departures was set up by Northwest Vision and Media to establish Liverpool and the Northwest as the centre of micro-budget feature film production in Europe.

“This training programme has been put together to compliment the Digital Departures initiative and offer crew who have worked on short film or TV drama the opportunity of working on their first feature,” explains Lisa Marie Russo, Executive Producer of all three Digital Departures films.

The other projects being made during Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year include a documentary by acclaimed, internationally-renowned director, Terence Davies, (Distant Voices, Still Lives). His film, Of Time And The City, is currently in post-production.

Also being made is feature film Starstruck, a drama written by Liverpool writer Leigh Campbell, which is due to start shooting in the next few weeks, and on which trainee placements will also be available.