January 2021 – Matthew Cooper Director

25 January 202121 March 2021

Buy Markham – Low budget Horror Film shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove

My low budget horror feature film ‘Markham’ shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove and on set in Leeds is getting a lot of local interest in the lovely, picturesque areas it was shot.

Markham was almost entirely improvised with the actors, inspired some great locations in Staithes and the surrounding area, it’s based loosely on the short story ‘Shadow Over Innsmouth’ by H.P. Lovecraft.

Markham was shot in 2019 and 2020 on a low budget, and was initially released in 2020, it’s available to buy here, just click add to basked and we’ll get one in the post.

The film has had pretty decent reviews – like the one here by David Dent a prominent horror reviewer (scroll down the pages to the section on ‘Markham’).

There are a couple of different trailers and images below showing some of the local area used in the film.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire, UK Script editor and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. His UK script coverage service, Script reading service and script development service are highly sought after.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can contact Matthew directly to purchase his ebook The UK Soap Opera Script Writers Handbook.

24 January 2021

Matthew Cooper Director looks back on The Long Goodbye

I’m quite near to a first cut on my second feature film as a director – the low budget horror ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ and I’m pleased to say it’s coming together nicely. There have been a few surprises in the edit suite, but nothing too bad, so that’s good.

As a break this week I watched Robert Altman’s ‘The Long Goodbye’ his hip 70s, update on Phil Marlowe.

I’m an Altman fan, chiefly because of this film – and ‘McCabe and Mrs Miller’, ‘The Player’, ‘MASH’ and ‘Gosford Park’ are all great too. That’s a handful of very interesting and original movies right there. I’d say McCabe is my favourite. There are few westerns like it, and Warren Beatty has never been better.

But Altman made a ton of films, a lot of them hard to see, or considered disasters. He himself said that he just carried on doing the same thing, sometimes the films hit, and sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes the films didn’t work themselves and he knew it.

Altman was a gambler, and made a very good film about gambling called ‘California Split’. He also knew that filmmaking, like gambling, depended a lot on luck. Sure, skill and know how is involved, but luck too. And when the films didn’t work, it was down to luck, the same as when everything came together and you’d shot a masterpiece like McCabe.

So, on my second film as a director, I’m slowly learning that being lucky sometimes helps. I’m sure Altman will tell you he worked as hard on the films that didn’t work as on the films that did. And I’m sure that’s true, and other directors will tell you the same.

‘The Long Goodbye’ works, it transcends the detective genre, it’s funny and cool and sad as well. It’s Jazzy. The camera slips and slides, Elliot Gould is doing his own thing in scenes, listening to another beat. This whole thing could come crashing down around the story and crush the film, but luck keeps it together. And some directors are luckier than others.

As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

17 January 2021

10 films every director needs to see – Matthew Cooper Director

I’m on my third week of post production on my second feature film as a director – ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ a moody little horror film based on the story by H.P. Lovecraft. This is my second horror feature film as a director and this week, as I’m knee deep in horror, I’ve decided to list ten films that directors need to see – which are out of the horror or sci-fi genre. A palette cleanser if you will…

These films aren’t in any order and are the first ten that came into my mind. I’ve also avoided the usual films and directors that I talk about a lot.

The Last Detail – What a script! And what performances by all the cast. Director Hal Ashby doesn’t get in the way of Jack Nicholson turning in the best performance of his life. A funny, sad and ultimately tragic tale, a road trip, not much happens but we learn everything about three sailors, two taking the third to the brig (prison). It’s a shitty detail.

The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 – one of the best heist movies ever made, when a group of colour coded professionals take over a subway train and ransom the occupants. The city of New York is a character we meet the Mayor, chief of police and these odd guys called transit cops, lead by a deadpan Walter Matthau. It’s tense, funny, rousing and has one of the best scores of the 70s. It’s also one of those films that shows a dirty run down 70s New York, a city on the skids reluctant to pay. The remake is nowhere near the original

The Commitments – the best let’s start a band movie. Great characters, very funny, good music, but what it captures best is the feeling of aspiring to be something beyond the norm, and the bittersweet worry that it won’t go anywhere or last. But better to be an unemployed sax player than an unemployed pipe fitter, right?

Breaking Away and Gregory’s Girl – the two best films about growing up. One set in Glasgow, the other in Indiana. They both share the same spirit.

Margin Call – yes, it’s about the financial crash, but it focuses on the impact on one company and one set of employees. It’s an eye opener and feels realistic and well researched. All employers will fuck you over eventually, but in this case, they fuck over the entire financial system too.

Bad Company – a western for young people. But a REAL western never the less. Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown are cast as the two aspiring outlaws, and things don’t go well for them at all. Will they live, and survive the multiple ways young men could die in the west? You must see it yourself. Great original score too.

Hard Times / The Streetfigher – known under two different titles. This depression era set tale of bare knuckle boxing is a top film by Walter Hill. You’ve got James Coburn and Charles Bronson, which is all you’ll ever need. It’s gritty and tough and you’d expect nothing less.

Black Book – Paul Verhoeven is simply one of the best directors still working. He’s still very underrated by many. Check out Black Book, shocking, rousing, engrossing and a film that will be talked about for years to come.

Bad Day At Black Rock – Spencer Tracy arrives in a small town looking for someone, it’s clear the town has a dirty secret. The question is, will Spenser get out alive. Ripe for a remake, outstanding actors, locations and camerawork (I didn’t count more than two or three close-ups in the entire film). It still stands up today.

Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here

9 January 2021

Editing and Post Production on – At The Mountains of Madness – Matthew Cooper Director

I’m one week into post production on my second feature film as a director – ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (ATMOM) and already, the process is much smoother than on my first feature film Markham which was released in 2020.

On ‘Markham’ we used improvisation, and never had a real script or storyline. While this made ‘Markham’ a pretty unique film, it also made it hugely hard work.

‘ATMOM’ had a script, I didn’t entirely stick to it, but for the most part, the actors had set lines to learn, we had set scenes and a pretty strict structure too. And, that has made making the film and editing it soooo much easier.

As a script writer for hire and in demand script consultant of course, I should know this myself. Yes, everything works better with a good script – but it’s a gentle reminder to the director in me to get the script working before you do anything else – something I didn’t do with Markham, I almost attempted to write the film after we’d shot it. A mad idea.

ATMOM is already looking like a winner, like Markham it’s a horror film based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. It’s the second film in what will be a low budget trilogy of horror films based on Lovecraft stories.

All being the well, the film be finished very soon, for a late April release. Keep checking back more info.

Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.