A ROMANTIC comedy produced on a shoestring budget by an independent Scottish company has picked up four awards at the Blue Whiskey Film Festival in Illinois.
Where Do We Go From Here won Best Score, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Richard Addison) and Best Actor (Tyler Collins).
“The fact we picked up four awards in a festival on the other side of the world is just awesome – we haven’t had very many UK screenings but we have had a few in America and have our Canadian premier at the Bay Street Film Festival in Thunder Bay – so to know that international audiences are enjoying it and think it’s worthy of these awards is amazing,” said writer/director John McPhail, who was unable to attend the festival and watched the results coming in via Twitter.
“It opened the Melbourne Indie Film Festival last month, and that was a bit of a big deal for us too.”
The debut feature film from Worrying Drake Productions has previously picked up eight nominations over seven categories at the Sydney Indie Film Festival and bagged three of the awards – Best Film, Best Score and Best Female Support.
McPhail added: “I know Richard is delighted with his Best supporting Actor award, and I am chuffed with it too. Richard was always first on set every day and he loved being part of this film. Tyler is over the moon with both his awards – the fact that it’s our second Best Score award means a lot to both of us.”
Four tracks from Glasgow bands Medicine Men, There Will Be Fireworks and Christine Bovill were used, with the rest composed by Collins.
“The Best Actor award is also a great thumbs up to him – he is an American playing a Scotsman, which we all know is difficult – even Mel Gibson had a hard time,” pointed out McPhail, who said the was Best Director award was “humbling”.
“I personally am so grateful for the award. It genuinely means the world to me. To be so highly thought of by people who love films and screen so many films is honestly very humbling and the confidence I’ve taken from it will be a debt I can never repay the festival back for. It was awesome just to be accepted. We had no idea that we were even nominated for an award,” said McPhail.
Worrying Drake has previously produced four short films. Notes, their first, won the Best Scottish Film award at its first film festival, the Edinburgh Bootleg Film Festival 2013.
Their fourth, Just Say Hi, won two Virgin Media Shorts Awards – the Tivo Award and the Nikon People’s Choice Award.
Making a feature film was a huge step up but Worrying Drake has been buoyed by the awards.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here