The Hustler’s Edge

Celebrated writer, director & actor Noel Clarke was a film industry sensation at 29, performing in and writing his own feature film, Kidulthood. He went on to direct the much anticipated sequel Adulthood, which grossed £1.2 million in its opening weekend. Both films explore a darker side of London life, and are easily comparable to French classic La Haine. Last year he picked up a BAFTA – which was [statistically speaking] a highly unlikely event [did I mention he’s black]?

To begin with it’s important to know that Noel has levered his way into the film industry as an outsider. He’s a natural hustler… someone who has been willing to take risks, to work hard, and to put himself about town. He has now reached a point in his career that most view as an impossible dream.

It all started upon graduating from London Met with a degree in media. He’d no professional experience, and no agent. His goal was professional acting.

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‘Acting is something I always wanted to do. That’s what I wanted to do as a kid. So I left university and began hustling for work. People said, “buy this book called Contacts”, which had all the agent’s names and numbers. I chose the top 50… and sent my photos and what was – at that time – a ludicrously amateur CV. I just hustled.’

‘The moment I got a professional agent who bothered to take me on, everything was wiped off my CV. Everything was taken off!’

‘It’s kind of a catch 22, because they say you can’t get an agent until you’ve done professional work. But how are you supposed to get professional work, if you don’t have an agent!?’

Noel blagged his first TV role after some successful networking. He was given a tip about an audition for the pilot of Metrosexuality [1999]… but the call was for a 16 year old. His agent told him not to go. Noel turns up with his young face on, having shaved off all his hair… keeping his age to himself. None of the casting crew spotted that he was actually 23.

What kind of Assumptions have you made that have proven unhelpful?

‘I assumed, like a lot of people do, that once I had done TV jobs, that I would work constantly. And that is a very bad trap to fall in… You have to continually drive… I continually worked. I’ve learned that just because you do something, and it does well, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in the club.’

No Substitute For Action

Noel has a classic case of the entrepreneurial bug. It was this need for self-determination that led him to his scriptwriting, and his ultimate success.

‘I wasn’t getting the kind of parts that I felt I should get. Which is every actor’s thing. But I was always taught not to rest on my laurels… to grab your opportunities! I would read scripts and say [to myself], I think I could do better than this! So I decided to start writing. To see if I could do it.’

Technique

Kidulthood follows young inner-city black and Asian kids  causing trouble in West London over a 24-hour period; all of them carry considerable character flaws. It’s a violent, aggressive tragedy, and it paints a very different picture of childhood from the popular myth… Kids sucking-off drug dealers, drilling guns and getting their heads kicked in. It’s a challenging story riddled with moral ambiguity. And there is its secret right there: realism. ‘They are real people, because they are flawed’, he insists.

He followed one of the most sacred rules of writing; stick with what you know. Such is the quality of his storytelling, you have to keep reminding yourself that this was his first film.

It was a major breakthrough, having been a significant risk for everyone involved [audience included]… ignoring the popular demand for clichéd plotlines and popular characters. ‘I’d rather not make popcorn films. Sure, I want you to be entertained… but I want you to be thinking.’

How long did it take to pull together?

‘Pulp Fiction. I probably wrote 3 and a half scripts before I wrote Kidulthood. I already thought about it a lot. And then one day, at about 3 o clock in the morning… I just woke up and my mind was just like full. I was like, “now it’s time to start writing”. I wrote probably about 40 pages in 2 days.’

Where do you take your script once you are happy with it?

You get networking. ‘I took it to a guy I thought might know someone. And he did! He knew a director that was in LA at the time. He said, “I know this director, he likes stuff like this. He’s been waiting for a film, and he likes stuff like this.”’

‘You know, it could have taken 10, 15 different people. But luckily, the first person was the person. He flew back from LA and he said, “I wanna make this film!”.

We start talking about the ins and outs of successful networking… offering the people you meet something of value.

‘All of a sudden, we had something to talk about… “Can you read this, and tell me what you think?”’. He stresses that it’s important not to be overly optimistic, even with a good script. Whoever you send it to must still have the time and the motivation to read it.

‘There’s one producer whom now I know quite well – I’m friends with her. She was actually the first person to get it [Kidulthood], and never read it. Because she couldn’t be bothered. I was just some kid who was sending her a script, so she couldn’t be bothered.’

‘You can use negative energy to fuel you, as well as positive energy’. If people annoy me… instead of getting really angry about it, I kind of internalise it, and use it. It fuels me’.

Risks

‘The biggest risk for me, I would say, came with Adulthood. Essentially, when The Film Council and a reputable film company like Pâthé give you the money to make a film, and you are the writer, star and director… if it doesn’t go well, you’re done! You have to do at least what the first film did in numbers. But also, you are writing, starring and directing. Nobody does that in this country. It’s a hell of a workload. If Adulthood didn’t work… my career would have been over. So that’s a risk. But this goes back to what I said at the beginning, about taking opportunities. Up until this point, I wasn’t really getting a lot of film roles. I could get TV roles, but I wasn’t really getting the roles I wanted.’

‘I knew from the beginning that if it didn’t go well, I’d probably have to go find a job. But it was a risk I was willing to take. I think that’s what life’s about. Taking chances. I didn’t see it as a risk really… I saw it as an opportunity.’

Innovation on a Shoestring

‘The most important thing is realising that there is a change happening.’

‘What we did with Kidulthood, which was a very early example, and what we did with Adulthood, which is still considered an early example, because a lot of people still haven’t quite caught-on… we used digital and online marketing. Most films have a 6 week window, where the companies will say, “Right, we have 6 weeks before the film comes out, we’ll start our PR, we’ll start doing our TV spots”, and then posters start coming up… and 3 weeks before, they’ll start the TV spots…’

‘It’s all very strategic. I think that with the times we’re in now, that’s too late! With Adulthood, the moment the film was green-lit, the social networking starts up. We started engaging the fans.’

‘Behind the scenes photos… come down and be an extra… here’s a competition to have a little part… this is what happened today on set…’

‘If you engage with people that support you, and they feel like they are part of the process, then they will continually support you. And it’s not a gimmick. It’s not a trick. You know we had people down as extras. We let people send their music in, and potentially be in the film. We let people come down, and people got parts! You know, there are a lot of people who aren’t given opportunities, and this was a way of doing that. We put out an underground promo on Youtube, 9 months before. By the time the film came out, it had half a million hits.’

‘The reason Adulthood did well… so well, is not because it’s a brilliant movie. It is because it engaged its audience. It knew what the audience was. It spoke to them, as opposed to at them. And it related to real people.’

This pace of change must be difficult for established film-makers to keep up with. Is it a good thing?

‘Yes! The prevailing change is definitely positive. Experienced people that are willing to move with the times will survive. But people who just think, “this is the way it’s done”, will find it very difficult.’

Noel has been willing to take his ideas forwards – to act on them. And that’s the one of the fundamental points we agree on – he gets on and does it. Most people don’t.

Encouraging Times

We talk about ‘Virgin Media Shorts’, the national short-film competition which Noel had just been judging alongside the likes of Kevin Spacey and Gemma Arterton.

‘You know, we had about 2,000 entries for the Virgin Media Shorts. You can guarantee that there were about four or five thousand people that wanted to do it. But the point is, those 2,000 did it. And there is the key. They DID it!’

The definition of a writer, or a film maker… is someone who writes… or makes films. And there’s all these people who consider themselves as the next big thing – the wannabes – but they aren’t writing. They aren’t making films.

‘That’s right! I get so many messages from people saying, “I want to write this script”, and “I want your advice”. My advice is write it! Do it! Why are you telling me you wanna write something? I’m not interested. Write it.’

‘I’d rather someone write and say, “I’ve written this thing and I’m really proud of it, I hope one day I can meet you and you can read it.” I’m more interested in that. Then I might actually do it. If I’ve got time, I’ll be like, you know what, I’ll read that. But you have to have it done. It’s kind of like they want me to do it for them.’

There’s no substitute for action.

‘That’s completely right. There isn’t. And do you know what, the 12 finalists [Virgin Media Shorts.] are only here, because they bothered to make the films. And I’m sure some of them lost money making those films. It’s a risk. But at the end of it they’ve got a film, and if they get into the final 12, then that is a door open. Even if they don’t win it, there’s still a door open, because they’ve made a film that they can show people.’

So innovate. Do it. But be ready.

‘Have your package ready! Don’t go to a meeting talking about script writing… what you wanna write… unless it’s [a meeting] with your mates. Think about ways that you can get stuff out there. Even if it’s a film with your mates, you know, you can put it on YouTube. There’s so many ways. You can drive people to your site by Tweeting, or through Facebook. There are ways, but there’s no set way. Be pro-active, not re-active.’

Here endeth the lesson. If you haven’t already seen Noel’s films, you know what to do. Similarly, if you are itching to get ahead in film, in writing, or anything creative, do it. Get involved. And while you’re at it, put yourself in for some competitions like the Virgin Media Shorts.