WRITER/DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Fellow writers will know how it works...A lot of our time is spent trying to mentally process the handful of ideas or shreds of stories we are carrying. Most of these ideas will never go anywhere, while some tend to germinate for a long time before we get them on paper. But for one tiny fraction of those ideas, what it takes is just one trigger, one catalyst to make the story roar into life inside our heads with electric intensity, and thrust us into action to write it down, then somehow get it made as a film.
Some time in December 2017, I read a news story about a horrific incident involving a young American couple, whose main hobby consisted of posting funny prank videos on Youtube. One day, the boyfriend came up with a genius idea...He would make his girlfriend shoot him with a gun from a foot away while he holds an encyclopaedia to his chest, to see if the bullet would go through the thick book. Just imagine the amount of views they could get for this stunt...Think of all the new followers!...BANG. Lo and behold, the bullet did get through, and the young man fell dead, in front of 30-or-so spectators. He was 22. His girlfriend, aged 20 and mother of two at the time, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment...But hey, at least they got the fame that they were seeking.
That tragic news story was my trigger to write and make HotHed. Don't ask me about the other ten/fifteen script ideas I have. I'm still working on those...
ABOUT HOTHED
HotHed is the story of an up-and-coming Youtuber named Rhea. Bored with her day job in a café and yearning for excitement, the only thing which gives her any joy in life is making her stunt videos which she then uploads online. But her life is about to change dramatically...
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Rhea catches the attention of HotHed Inc., a struggling energy drink company. With tumbling sales figures and a marketing team desperately out of touch with their young target audience, the company are on mission to rethink their brand strategy in a big way. Two of its brightest marketing managers, Faye and Duncan, see an opportunity in Rhea and reach out to her, hoping to make an offer she cannot refuse...(Name the film.)
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With a click of the fingers, Rhea becomes a mascot for the HotHed brand, simply by placing the drink "discreetly" in her increasingly outrageous stunt videos. As her audience of young social media followers grows exponentially, so do the company's profits; an unlikely business partnership, which turns out to be a match made in heaven. For a little while, at least..
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HotHed is a upbeat comedy with more than a few sharp edges, but its satirical bite is a perfect vehicle for a message which is anything but lighthearted. Under its veneer of broad humour, its story deals with a real-life cultural phenomenon which often propels very young people into the spotlight, with frighteningly little in terms of boundaries and sometimes tragic consequences. Social media stars, particularly Youtubers and influencers, have come to epitomise the archetypal celebrity of the 21st century, but underneath the glittering surface of the entertaining, slickly edited content they produce, is a ruthless competitiveness which forces content creators to raise the stakes to extreme levels, in order to maintain their appeal to their followers.
HotHed is a bold experiment in short filmmaking. No expense was spared to bring this story to life: a cast of over twenty, a varied range of locations, and a fair share of technical challenges along the way. But at its core is a poignant statement about society’s toxic relationship with social media.