DO AS I SAY is a short drama about a piano teacher, her teenage student and their musical catharsis.

SYNOPSIS

Clare, a middle-aged piano teacher, mourns her failed career as a concert pianist; a drink always in hand. Grappling with this aching disappointment and unfulfilled legacy, she is pushed to the end of her tether by the rebellious student she once perceived as her younger self, Eva.

At opposing stages of their lives and confined to one room, the clash of differences begs for conflict. The forsaken artist and the unruly teen culminate in a very charged, yet intimate recital, proving music to be the most truthful expression of deep-held emotions.

THE MADNESS OF MUSIC

We’re not fundraising for activism, but we do have a purpose. This film is an ode to the magnificence of the piano and its ability to move us. A toast to letting loose in order to let go.

We hope you’ll join us in celebrating the wonders of Rachmaninov and the talented hands that will bring his Prelude Op.3 No.2 to life. 

OUR HOPES AND DREAMS

• We hope to fundraise £12,800.00 to go towards the production of this project
• Every donation above £10 will receive a special perk to say thank you!
• Even if you can't contribute, we would greatly appreciate your help in spreading the word with friends, family and musicians.
• Be sure to check back to see our final film and follow @doasisay.film or updates on how we’re doing in the festival circuit or what our cast and crew are up to.

SETTING THE SCENE

Arguably the most important thing after our cast and crew is location. As a short piece with 100% of the film taking place in one room, we need the surroundings to be an extension of our characters. From the imposing, fine-tuned piano to the trinkets and treasures gathered over a lifetime, the detail we can go into designing the set will make a Major difference.

THE ARTISTES

To bring this to life, our wonderful Casting Director Mandy Steele has helped us fill our protagonist’s roles with the absolute talents that are…

Angela Yeoh as CLARE

Angela has always been passionate about the power of stories to shine light in dark places, surprise audiences, and inspire change. Before becoming an actor, she worked as an international reporter for the Wall Street Journal, BBC World Service, and ABC. She then spent two years training in France with clown teacher Philippe Gaulier, plus two years of Meisner technique in London. Working across film, TV and theatre, Angela often plays the blunt, straight-to-business person who will get everything under control... except perhaps her own life.

• Film work includes THE BATMAN (DC), ALL THE OLD KNIVES (Amazon)
• TV work includes THE BABY (HBO/Sky), BUFFERING (ITV), GHOSTS (BBC)

Julia Haworth as EVA

Julia started her filming career playing the role of Zara in the short film BLUEBIRD for the National Film School. She went on to play Rosie Chamberlain over two seasons of SILENT WITNESS between 2017 and 2019. Most recently she played the lead role of Evie in another short film, ANYTHING YOU DO for Abnormal Behaviour. Julia plays the piano and the violin and currently trains at Arts Ed. Previously she trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, the Urdang Academy and was part of the National Children's Orchestra and Guildhall School of Music and Drama for violin. 

Amanda Bright as Rose

Since graduating from the world-renowned Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2003, Amanda has worked on productions across theatre, TV and Film. She most recently featured in IN FROM THE COLD (NETFLIX), CASUALTY (BBC) and MARLEY'S GHOST (BBC). She is also a writer - a graduate of both the Soho Theatre Young Writers Programme and the Royal Court ‘Critical Mass’ writers programme. In 2019, Amanda was commissioned by BBC Ideas to write and produce two films for their online platform. She is also the Founder / Director of Art Bridge Charity, an arts-based educational charity which uses the arts as a bridge to learning in ‘hard-to-reach’ communities who have little to no access to creative activities. She's represented by Bloomfields Welch Management.

THE ORCHESTRA

And as the saying goes, behind every great film there is a great Head of Department. And we’ve been lucky enough to snatch up some of the best up-and-comers across all of these, working together to shape the dynamics and movement.


Ana Pio – Director - BAFTA Crew and Directors UK member

Andrea Land – Producer - Head of Production at Anima Films

Gerry Maguire – Producer - Pins and Needles Film

Sarah Beardsall – Associate Producer - Managing partner at Island Pictures

Jackie Teboul – Director of Photography - BAFTA Crew and Illuminatrix Rising member

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres – Film Composer - BAFTA Crew member, represented by Manners McDade

Haresh Patel – Sound Designer - BAFTA Crew member

Amanda McLaughlan Evered – Costume Designer

Mandy Steele – Casting Director - BAFTA and CDA (Casting Directors Association) member

Julia Boehm – Production Assistant - PA at Anima Films

A NOTE FROM OUR DIRECTOR:

In 2020, I made a short film with BAFTA Crew, titled PMS, where I explored the comedic side of female hormones as a precursor to the feature I am currently developing about the relationship between a perimenopausal mother and a daughter who just had her first period.

I am looking to explore this relationship further in DO AS I SAY, but instead between a piano teacher and her student. I want to make a short film that explores the clash between a middle-aged woman and a teenager. One that, through subtleties in dialogue and subtext, will bring to light the obstacles that generational gaps and hormonal idiosyncrasies create.

Women of all ages are still expected to feel, behave and want certain things at different stages of their lives. Both Clare and Eva break these expectations.

Girls of Eva’s age are at the crossroads between childhood and adulthood; the pressures of laying the foundations for a successful career and/or trophy family. Women of Clare’s age are expected to have achieved all that. But Clare hasn’t, and Eva doesn’t want to.

DO AS I SAY aims to question the hypocrisy of often outdated teachings and perceptions of women in society which give way to unnecessary frustrations, worries and anxieties that act as barriers in finding happiness.

I want to approach this film like the time that passes in being in a waiting room -- the angst borne from routine and boredom, the mounting tension of being in the same place, doing the same thing, day after day, and the confrontation that ensues. In order to do this, I will restrain myself by telling the story inside the living room only and over the course of one narrative day. The living room is the claustrophobic portrait of what Clare’s life has been reduced to. A feeling that most of us felt during the repeated COVID lockdowns.