The stigma around this topic is shifting, thanks to mental health champions such as Ariyon Bakare, one of the lead actors in Worthily Films’ latest short, ‘Waiting for Time’.  Bakare is an advocate for amplifying underrepresented voices.  His charity, iC4RE², brings about conversations on racial inequality, with other actors and actresses supporting the cause as well.  His passion for this advocacy extends into his passion for the arts – Bakare chooses film and television roles that touch him personally, those that instantly resonate with him.  His decision to take the role of ‘Heath’ in the Worthily Films’ short was not purely a professional one – it was also personal.

‘Waiting for Time’ delves into the pain and exaltation that love can bring, especially love that borders on infatuation and obsession.  Heath meets Lily, played by Jade Harrison, at a pub and instantly falls in love.  When she feels overwhelmed by the attention and dependency of Heath and leaves his life, Heath spirals downward into a dark hole, where the only respite is the memories of Lily that he keeps locked away in his mind.

The film uses innovative storytelling devices to bring the viewer into Heath’s mind, such as filming his memories through a pint glass, allowing us to see what he sees when he reminisces about when they were together.  Shot on Super-16mm film, the film creates a visual experience that adds to the intensity of the storyline and acting.  The viewers are intimately brought into this world with Heath.

But Heath is suffering on his own.  He is left alone with his thoughts, and his solitary ruminations only serve to push him further into the abyss that he fell into following Lily’s departure.  For someone else, the loss of a first love might be an event that is cause for writing a soppy love song or venting to their friends before moving back into the dating scene.  For Heath, and many men like him, it exacerbated the mental health difficulties that were already present in his life.  The film aims to show that depression and other issues can manifest in different ways and affect anyone.  As a black actor, Bakare was keen to emphasise the importance of not only highlighting men’s mental health but black men’s mental health

About Worthily Films:

Worthily Films is an independent production company focusing on commercial and narrative production.  Founded by Steve Dodsworth and Chelsea Leigh Macleod and based in London, Worthily Films creates imaginative work with high production value and character-driven plotlines.

Worthily Films caters to both large and small brands and is open to receiving short, full-length and TV pilot script submissions.

Connect with Worthily Films across various social media platforms for interviews, articles and the short film trailer for ‘Waiting for Time,’ which can be viewed here.

Worthily Films, An Independent Company based in Central London, that is founded by Steve Dodsworth and Chelsea Leigh Macleod for production of short films. Waiting for Time is their first short film produced mostly online. The Bashford Twins direct this film, and Paul Chronnell writes its story and script.

As it was the first film shoot after lockdown, so we ask the directors, Liam Bashford and Kyle Bashford some questions about their working experience in the film. We were exploring and discovering all about the process of film and the goals and plans of the directors.

Working on the Film:

For keeping everyone safe at the set of Worthily Films, Chelsea Leigh Macleod and Steve Dodsworth, Producer and Executive Producer respectively, made a lot of planning and preparations during Corona Pandemic and development of Waiting for Time film.

The work even casting before the film was taken into account through Zoom meeting. Then we met Ariyon Bakare and Jade Harrison at rehearsing face to face before the commencement of the film. By keeping social distancing, everything was moving so relaxed and enjoyable as it was deemed.

The excitement went at the peak when filming started, and we were back to the Worthily Films set to perform and shoot film with super 16mm. Our dream has got an opportunity from Worthily Films of shooting on super 16mm, and it became true.

Biggest Accomplishment:

During the journey, we have accomplished several things, and the one that makes us proud is getting into the carrier of filming. We were brought up in a small town Blackburn of Lancashire. For becoming a film director, the town was not offering enough opportunities, and consequently, we sold our equipment and moved to London. At Pinewood Studios, in the beginning, we worked for free and finally started to create our films.

Favourite thing about the Industry:

The great thing about the Industry was meeting with new people and working with them to explore what we like. Our motive is to understand by those people who are involved in the film industry, and we are going to form a family. You build trust all around, and for the sake of your bright future, you join everyone with excitement in every new project. The Industry is full of fun at each stage while doing commercial shoots or directing a music video.

Future Plans:

When we were 13, we aim to get the BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Director, but right now, we were enjoying our career-building process as directors. We were enthusiastic about creating this film and not were running in a race to direct a feature film falling on our lap. We were in patience and wanted to shoot a feature film or TV series in the future projects with Worthily Films.

The first short film, “Waiting for Time”, is in Post-Production at this Time, but we are getting ready for a positive festival sequence. Paul Chronell, the Script Writer, has also been working on new feature scripts and TV series.

Paul Chronnell

Worthily Films explains that it is not possible to shoot a film, a short one, with a more than 20 people team (cast and crew) along with following the guidelines of BFC (British Film Commission). It was the end of May, and we were almost ready to go, but the commission finalised COVID-19 Production Guidelines.

A script, “Waiting for Time”, written by Paul Chronnell, was the mean we probably would apply for finding out the intricacy of shooting a socially-distanced film. During Pre-Production, we make changes in the original script, and unimportant handshakes and bodily contacts were taken out to make it COVID-friendly. Luckily, Waiting for Time script aims to explore the life of a socially dysfunctional fellow. The narrative was excellent because our lead has to spend most of the time alone.

However, we were supposed to open an unchartered section, and undoubtedly we ought to have our hesitations. Could we be succeeded in this way? Will everything would likely to come together? Where to start?

First of all, we started preparations. We stocked up on suitable cleansing stocks to disinfect an entire hospital that was a hurdle in and of itself thinking of the way that some supermarket shelves remained destitute of disinfecting wipes and mitts.

After that, we emphasised that the whole team admit to a presentation that outlines the safety measures putting in place. On the set, our casting director, cast and their members were settled that we stick to a position of strengthened etiquettes. Their interests highlighted our previously performed trials, and hence, Worthy Films had ignored all the news and guidelines about film updates. We were fully combat-ready and able to stick to the guidelines of BFC.

On the set, social distancing was executed, and we put masks and gloves throughout. For dodging too many people passing routes, we set each section in a designated area. Both the guidelines of BFC and the team of “Waiting for Time” knew that it is impossible to keep a distance of two-metre during the shoot. Even when the proximity was a foremost concern, according to BFC’s guidelines, we used gloves and sanitisation.

Waiting for Time, a short film made from the script was touching on mental health. In the lockdown, we were strongly desiring and feeling the need for a story that was delivering hope’s message. On the set, we got an exceptional review from our team and were motivated for working great all together.

At this stage, we are in post-production and are getting ready for our festival series. Worthily Films are concurrently growing our slate and excited to walk into our following production. We have such honour for all the expertise that helped in this play with us. A tangible confident attitude was observed in the atmosphere, and that was the only catching part of the adventure.

According to Mind (a UK mental health charity) Coronavirus (Covid-19) is affecting all our lives. Things are changing fast, and many of us are worrying about what it all means for ourselves and for our loved ones. Those of us already living with mental health problems are facing extra challenges too.

Waiting for Time by Worthily Films is a short film directed by The Bashford Twins, starring Ariyon Bakare and Jade Harrison and written by Paul Chronnell. Waiting For Time highlights the theme of men’s mental Health, a subject, which may resonate with many, chiefly after living in seclusion for so many weeks.

As a newly formed creative company, Worthily Films wishes to tell stories with numerous layers and complexities, while inciting significant discussion. Waiting for Time is not a film about self-destruction, it brings light and a message of hope.

David Sessions the behind the scenes photographer on WAITING FOR TIME by Worthily Films talks about what pulled in him to the undertaking. “I feel emphatically about stories that address emotional well-being. Experiencing childhood in South Africa, in a culture that can be particularly conformist in their viewpoints, I felt there was an essential… Young men don’t cry mindset. As a gay man, I thought that it was troublesome living in a general public, which here and there has truly dated opinions on the progressive world. WAITING FOR TIME’s subject of psychological well-being is incredible. The story has a noteworthy meaning, which is why I needed to be part of the project. It discusses the need to grant your truth and express your sentiments instead of limiting them inside” David Sessions

For the Bashford Twins, WAITING FOR TIME by Worthily Films has a potent story to tell about men’s psychological well-being. “We read the script a couple of years back and cherished the idea. WAITING FOR TIME manages men’s psychological wellness and the battles Heath’s experiences. This was a main purpose behind bringing this story to the screen. There are stories in the media where the self-destruction of men has risen significantly, and it should be spoken about more frequently to educate and support the individuals who to require it” Bashford Twins.

In this article, we ask The Bashford Twins a few questions on their experience working on what has been called possibly the first short film to be shot in the UK after lockdown. We explore the adventure of the filming process and discover more about The Bashford Twins, their goals and future plans.

1) How was it working on Waiting For Time?

Waiting For Time development during the COVID pandemic took a lot of planning and preparation from Producer Chelsea Leigh Macleod and Executive Producer Steve Dodsworth at Worthily Films to make sure everyone felt safe.

In pre-production, every meeting was done via Zoom, even casting! When we finally got to meet Ariyon Bakare and Jade Harrison in person to rehearse a couple of days before filming commenced. It was as we hoped, very relaxed and enjoyable, even with the social distancing.

When filming finally came, we were excited to get back on set, especially since we were shooting on super 16mm for the first time. It had been a dream of ours to shoot on film and Worthily Films gave us that opportunity.

2) What’s your biggest accomplishment?

There’s been a lot of things we’ve accomplished that we’re very proud of, the main one would be the journey we took to make a career out of filmmaking. We grew up in Blackburn, which is a small town in Lancashire. Having aspirations of being a film director, there weren’t any opportunities there, which pushed us to make the decision to sell all of our equipment and move to London to live in a converted shed in someone’s back garden for a year. We did free work at Pinewood Studios and eventually built more work and contacts there to start making our own films.

3)  What’s your favourite thing about the industry?

Meeting and working with new people all over the world is what’s great about this industry. You get to create a film family and only those who have been making films know exactly what we mean. You form a trust and bond with everyone that you work with for the rest of your career. It’s also the excitement of doing new projects. One week we’ll be on a commercial shoot, and then the next week we’ll be directing a music video. It’s a fun industry to be involved in.

4) What are your future plans?

Our goal since we were 13 has been to be the first twins to win a BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Director which is a big goal to have but right now we’re enjoying the process of building our craft as directors. It’s not a race to direct any feature film that falls on our lap, but a film we’re passionate about making. We’re staying patient and looking forward to shooting the next project with Worthily Films, whether that’s a feature film or TV series. If we get anywhere close to our 13 year old selves goal, we’ll be happy.

Waiting For Time is currently in Post – Production and we are preparing for a positive festival run. Writer, Paul Chronnell has been working on the feature script follow on and an exciting TV series. Worthily Films is developing their narrative slate.

They would argue that the best time is right now. Waiting for a good time?  Worthily Films prefer to create a good time, also known as filmmaking.