Hi Niels! Can you introduce yourself to us? What got you started in the film industry?
Hi Shimmy! What a great name! I always notice names because mine has always been so difficult for people, I always explain it as Niel with an ’s’ or Niel plural and then people are like ooooh, gotcha! I grew up in the U.K and always loved acting. I forgot about it for a long time till I was working in London and was approached by an agent at work who helped me get started.
I had to get some student films under my belt to build a resume to be cast in five features to be allowed to join Spotlight to be put up for castings… So I did just that. I thought, and still do to a certain extent that if only I take the next step I will be discovered and my career will take off but withevery step I took I realized how much more there was to learn.
Can you tell us more about Voices?
How did this idea come about?I began making different exercises for myself to try and understand what it was that I wanted to learn and one of these exercises was to write a script for twenty minutes each day without thinking or stopping and then when the time was up, hit save and close the laptop.A lot of interesting ideas came out but one that especially caught my attention and I sat for days thinking about what this conversation I had written meant and what it was. At one point I just had an aha! Moment and said to myself ‘This is a conversation you have in your head!’ -those were the begging lines and words of Voices.
The film was a real success. Did you expect that? How does it feel?
Thank you! I appreciate you saying that, it is still hard to believe that something I thought up in my head one day is out there for people to see and so far also enjoy! I didn’t expect any of this, I wrote and rewrote the script about 200 times over 2 years and eventually met Drew Sicard my friend and cowriter, co-producer and any other ‘co-‘ you can think of. We shared our work when we met and when he read the draft for Voices I think he saw in it what I saw in it and together we tried to rewrite it in such a way as to bring that to the surface.
This was all during the initial COVID lock-down and we had little else to do so decided to film it on our iPhones but apparently no one else had anything to do either because so many people offered up their time, equipment and experience and we managed to have a complete set there on our first day of shooting. I don’t really know how it feels at the moment, you are the first to ask! But I guess delicate? That isn’t a feeling but Ilove that people are seeing it and enjoying it, I love that it is starting to be recognized at film festivals but it feels fragile still like at any moment this bubble could burst and it all crumbles and fades away.
Which foreign films do you think are the best?
I never really watched them until I had a friend Max in London who introduced me to so many and I am always blown away by the talent and creativity, not only in the acting but in the story telling, the detail and the composure. When Parasite wonthe Oscar, I remember someone saying to me “Imagine how much better a Korean film has to be that Americans
voted it as ‘Best Film’ over all of their own content.” I think the standard for foreign films is much higher and I definitely believe the more diversity we can get in any situation the more beautiful and whole the outcome seems to be. Especially as we are now at a stage where language is almost not a barrier anymore, with the technological advances in translation apps and wearables there really is noexcuse not to have people from all over the world.
I see that you also do fitness. What time is your day, haha?
I do! My life is very full at the moment, I also just got a new puppy called Cooper who is taking a lot of my time and energy but is 100% worth every second of it! I wake up at five every morning and wouldn’t have it any other way, the mornings always feel so fresh and clean and I can think without the influence of an entire day of experiences.
Tell us a bit about your workflow from shooting to editing.
Well Voices was admittedly my very first project working behind the camera too. I’ve acted a fair amount and have been sincerely humbled by the work that goes on on the other side of the camera, as an actor it is easy to Geel that you are the most important person there but now I realize that that is 100% NOT the case haha!We kinda of fumbled our way through the shoot and into editing but decided to do it ourselves because the story was too complicated to really explain every detail of what we wanted so… I learned how to edit!
Are there any future project that are in production?
Yes we have another short which will shoot as soon as we are allowed. It is on IMDb at the moment as ‘The Evening Sentiment’ and I am pretty excited for it, it is another very interesting concept and I am excited to share it with everyone when it is done! We are also working on a feature which we should be pushing into production mid-summer if we are lucky with the virus and life.
What advice do you have for filmmakers and videographers just starting out?
Just do it. I know that sound like a nike commercial but if you think of it, do it and see what happens. You will surprise yourself by how lucky you get along the way. Or…. Don’t do it and save yourself a huge amount of time, energy and having to regrow half your head of hair because you have pulled it all out! Either way, live the way that you think is right and let others live the way they think is right.