Interview with Joe Roguszka and Allan Rafferty
Where were you in 1996? Probably watching England in the European Cup football tournament finals at some point no doubt. Well, we sat down to talk to Joe Roguszka and Allan Rafferty about their new Midlands short EURO ‘96 which aims to capture the spirit of that iconic summer.
With their crowdfunder (link) in full swing, we discuss their exciting new project, its journey to production and their joint love of Midlands filmmaking icon Shane Meadows.
Hi both. Can you tell our readers a bit about yourselves and your filmmaking experience?
ALLAN: I’m a graduate of the University of Derby and in 2018 I won the It’s My Shout competition and had a short film I’d written created by them and broadcast on BBC2 Wales. I’ve also created several web series including When it Rains, a study of mental health through the scope of a comedy-drama and Lionel in Lockdown, a mockumentary comedy about a guy living through the first lockdown of 2020.
JOE: I’ve loved film and tv as far back as I can remember. I wrote, directed and produced a short film called Collision in my second year, and wrote, directed and produced a fairly long short film called 20th Century Tribe in my third year. Both were overly ambitious, a case of me trying to do something as big and epic as I could while I still had the amazing opportunity of free access to equipment. The positives were that it was an amazing, fulfilling, fun experience and I learned a lot essentially trial by error.
Do you or the projects you choose specialise in any genre?
ALLAN: I’ve spent a lot of time working on comedy as I feel this genre allows access to a whole range of emotions and subjects that can sometimes be untapped by drama. I’m very interested in what stories I can tell and always willing to try something new though. That’s why this project appealed to me. It was an opportunity to do something a little different to what I’m used to.
JOE: I tend to go for “slice of life” realism, inspired largely by one of my favourite filmmakers Shane Meadows. His work has an amazing sense of realism, authenticity, but understatedly so. I think I try to emulate that to an extent, however in my more recent writing I’ve started playing around with a sort of… comedic surrealism; whacky, eccentric characters. I love an ensemble cast of characters as well. That to me is the most appealing quality in a film, if it has a large cast of vibrant, colourful characters.
You plan to make short film Euro ‘96. Can you tell us a bit about how it came about?
ALLAN: Joe initially came to me with the idea to create a trailer for a TV pilot that he had written. Joe is super passionate about the nostalgia of the 90s, he also likes giving actors a bit more freedom to break from the script and improvise. It was made even more exciting when we took the end of the pilot and made it the main concept; this story was to take place over the two hours of the England V Germany game from Euro ‘96 and thus the film was born. We want it to feel almost like you’re there, back in the pub again watching that match, experiencing the highs and lows of the event.
JOE: Euro ’96 is loosely adapted from the film I made in 2018 called 20th Century Tribe. I felt like the concept had great potential for a tv series. The pilot episode is called Euro ’96 and takes place in a pub on the night of the England v Germany match. Allan decided he wanted to direct, but he had the idea of shooting a proof-of-concept short film instead of a trailer which I think is a good idea. So, the short is basically a condensed version of the pilot episode.
You’re currently crowdfunding for your film. How hard is that with indie filmmaking?
ALLAN: Joe has taken the reins on the crowdfunder and has done a fantastic job. He’s managed to keep the posting of content consistent and relevant. In the past I’ve always found crowdfunders a real challenge but Joe seems to have a knack with it.
JOE: I can’t even think of a strong enough word to articulate just how difficult it is. It’s serious, hard work. It’s exhausting. You have to be constantly putting content out on social media. I’m constantly thinking of ways to maximise our reach, maximise our exposure to maximise our chances of getting people to visit the Crowdfunder and put something in to support the project. It’s soul-destroying at times, when you hit a bit of a drought, because we have complete confidence in this project and it’s clear that a lot of people are excited about it.
From your experience, what are other hurdles faced by filmmakers?
ALLAN: We are mostly stunned by the lack of budget. Especially when starting out, it can be very difficult to know exactly where to start. There are so many things that are dictated by the money you have; working with actors, getting location, the equipment you use. On a different note, a huge hurdle is the feeling of imposter syndrome. No matter how much work you do you always feel like you’re just playing at it and match this with the lack of budget it can make for quite a difficulty. What I’ve learned though is if you plan to make a film take it in steps, first figure out your resources, then find a story, then figure out how you’d execute it.
JOE: Time. It goes by too fast when you’re filming. It’s so easy to find yourself behind schedule, then you can have to cut shots or even cut bits of scenes. Which in some cases can lead to difficulty editing if you haven’t been able to get everything you need, but also it can mean that maybe you’re not able to get a certain scene or moment the way you want it. I think another difficult thing is getting crew, and equipment. I think ultimately the overarching difficulty is budgetary constraints.
And how did you come to cast your film?
ALLAN: When I came to the project Joe had already cast Katy and Cadhla. He was very happy with what Charlotte and Isabella were bringing to the roles. We recently put out a search on Mandy and Joe looked through Spotlight too. We offered them auditions and every single person we have cast blew us away during the process. The only person we didn’t audition was Jack Bence. And I’m very excited to work with the entire cast.
JOE: The first role to be cast was the role of Katy. That’s Charlotte King, she’s actually an original cast member of 20th Century Tribe, back in 2018. Also, this was the first time I incorporated a monologue into my casting process as the first stage, where I basically wrote a monologue for the character Cadhla and asked applicants to perform the monologue as a self-tape. Allan had the fantastic idea of putting out a casting call on Mandy, which worked really well as we got a lot of good applicants from that.
Returning to Euro ‘96, do you remember the tournament yourself?
ALLAN: I was only 3 years old myself so don’t recall the exact tournament but I do remember the nation being united when England was playing. My Granddad was an avid fan of football and he used to come around dressed in all of the merch and sit watching it with us. I hope to bring some of that to the film, the atmosphere of being in pubs back in the 90s.
JOE: I was born in ’91. I vividly remember how abundant the song Three Lions was that summer, as one of my earliest memories. It was playing everywhere, and people were singing it everywhere. As for the tournament itself, I have vague memories of that. England v Scotland is my earliest memory of international football in fact.
How do you plan to capture the spirit of the event in the film?
ALLAN: Joe has written a cast of wonderful characters but even the England fans in the background are going to matter. Seeing them go through the highs and lows of the event will really help to bring that nostalgia to the film.
JOE: My favourite part of it was the song. It was a fun and easy song to sing at such a young age. But also the way I remember it there was a great feeling of unity everywhere, great sense of community. We hope to capture the spirit of the event largely by having people who were there and who remember it, amongst our Extras. I’ve also studied the match in-depth, so I know what the highlights are and when they happen, and some of them come up in the script.
What are the influences on your film?
ALLAN: We are hugely inspired by Shane Meadows. He’s done some fantastic films and even better, he’s a local. Mostly, however, I’m amazed at how he brings these great stories together without too much focus on script.
JOE: Very much Shane Meadows. I think he’s great at understated realism. You could just be watching a video of real people in real life, very rarely feels performative in Meadows’ work. A bit of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996), perhaps Human Traffic (1999), the tv show Spaced, more for the comedic surrealism.
Finally, how can people still get involved?
ALLAN: There are so many ways people can be involved which range from a special thanks in the film, to being an extra in the film to even having a speaking part or becoming an executive producer. It’s all for grabs on the crowdfunder page.
JOE: Aside from funds, we’ll be needing plenty of extras for the shoot which is planned for August 29th-31st at The Honeycomb pub in Mickleover, Derby. If you have any historical England shirts you’re willing to lend us for the shoot that would be a great help. And something that would be a HUGE help is if anyone has a 1990s cathode-ray tube television or a VHS camera. If anyone has these, you’d be more than welcome to come to the shoot and film with us.
For more information and to check out the progress on the film head on over to the film's Facebook page by clicking here.
