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new talent, new media
Jane Bussmann
There were a number of moti- vating factors in writer Jane Bussmann moving out to LA to kickstart a writing-and-directing career in the States – the over- whelming one being that she was “as mad as hell with the British tel- evision industry.”
Sick of watching “game shows and sitcoms presented by TV pre- senters as opposed to real sit- coms with real actors”, she upped sticks and moved to California where she threw herself into writing and directing a short taster for her proposed feature film, My Terrorist Dad.
Bussmann, 30, has previously written for Brass Eye, Smack The Pony and The Fast Show and her wicked humour is reflected in the film which she describes as “a comedy about terrorism, ripping the piss out of the militia under- class who live out in the woods eating crow pies.”
Her enduring memory of directing it is a less than glam- orous one. “There was a scene featuring a monkey but instead of a cute monkey turning up we got this vicious baboon that had a permanent erection.
“And when it lashed out and tried to scratch the little girl in the film, I said to the trainer ‘is he alright?’ and the trainer respond- ed ‘oh, he’s not good with peo-
ple’ – and this was a monkey that was costing me about a thou- sand dollars!’
The film shocked and interested various agents and producers at Sundance but Bussmann is currently in London looking for UK funding for a UK/US production. “I need £1.3mil- lion,” she declares, “which is cheap- er than a flat in Hampstead!”
Terry Turbo
Terry Turbo is a six-foot tall skin- head who recently appeared on network television in Britain’s Angriest Men. But don’t mistake him for a thug (unlike the other two decidedly neanderthal contenders for the title).
The eloquent and savvy club promoter – born Terry Pettit with the ‘Turbo’ coming from his breakdancing days - has regular facials and manicures “to get away from it all.”
He’s currently setting out to make a name for himself in act- ing, albeit playing hard men – more Ray Winstone than Vinnie Jones, he insists.
“The programme was a good advert for me,” he admits, “because obviously the sort of roles I’ll be playing will be angry men, gangster, thugs and so on. I’m not likely to do anything Hugh Grant-ish.”
Turbo, 31, decided to turn his hand to acting after appearing in
a British gangster film, Hell To Pay, as a favour to a friend. It went to Cannes last year and is due for release later this year.
Not one to do things by halves, Turbo has since got him- self an agent, taken acting class- es, had speech tuition and is doing courses at RADA. In a year, he’s racked up a number of credits including a star turn in Dog, a black comedy (gangster again) and a week long run in Knocked Up at The Soho Theatre from October 14.
He’s also auditioning like mad and loving the whole experience. “I’d like to get my experience up, get some good credits and then I do intend to go to America and meet people. That’s my aim: every actor want to be in Hollywood one day.” Don’t bet against him.
Belinda Bauer
Back in 1993, Belinda Bauer won the Carl Foreman Award for her script, The Locker Room, and got a scholar- ship to California State to study screenwriting.
She admits it felt like a dream come true. “The most important thing I learnt there was the feel- ing that it could actually happen and you could actually make a living as a screenwriter. It instilled in me the belief that as long as
you write the right screenplay and get it to the right person, you can do this as a career.”
But ultimately when she returned to the UK, she found the going tough: “When I came back I felt that the only place that you could make it was in Hollywood.”
After a couple of years as a secretary and journalist, Bauer, now 32, was encouraged to change an LA-set script, Happy Now, to Wales by director Philippa Collie-Cousins. The film was fund- ed, gained an all-star cast (Ioan Gruffud, Om Puri, Alison Steadman, Susan Lynch), and was BAFTA Cymru nominated. Bauer is now writing full-time.
“I have to say I’ve always loved Hollywood films and I would love to go and try my hand there,” she admits, “But I’m lucky really that it happened this way round instead of throwing myself into a pool of sharks in Hollywood and blowing it with my first cock-up!”
“Obviously the fantasy is to write a film a year in Hollywood for a million dollars that would be an Oscar–winner. But the reality is that if you can do a film a year that actually gets produced, that would be absolutely fantastic.”
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talent spotting
Focusing on tomorrow’s generation of movers and shakers compiled by Jane Crowther