Hundreds of people audition for a South Shields director’s film set in Byker

Nathan Glendinning, from South Shields, has revealed that hundreds of people from across the North East have auditioned to star in his upcoming short film, ‘The Bluebird’s Daughter’.

The film, which will be set in Byker, is about a little girl who is out looking for her dad who has been missing for a few days.

Nathan has previously told NewcastleWorld that he likes to tell stories that reflect the social environment of being brought up in the North East - with a previous film, titled ‘Nowt Like Home’, having focused on celebrating the culture of South Shields by showcasing what the area has to offer.

To ensure that his upcoming film is as authentic to the North East as possible, Nathan opened it up to auditions from anyone across the region and he was overwhelmed by the positive response.

He said: “The response has been amazing and overwhelming, we did have quite a few auditions in already but it seems like people across the North East have really been engaging with the project.

“It showed us just how much talent there actually is in the region, especially from people who have auditioned who have never done anything like this before.

“To me, it feels like we are doing the right thing because our ethos in making the film is to ensure that we have a represented cast and crew from the North East.

“It has been a bit crazy to get through all the auditions but at the same time, it has been a delight to do that.

“We actually had to close casting due to the amount of responses making it hard to keep up, but now our next steps are to select individuals for in person call backs, which will be held in South Shields.

“Everyone who we are calling back has really engaged with the character profiles that we gave them and the positive feedback that we’ve received has pushed us in a great direction.

“As it stands, we are scheduled to shoot in August so pre-production is really going to start now and we are open to speak to anyone who is keen to collaborate on this with us.”

Click here to sign up for NewcastleWorld: Essential, our weekly email newsletter sending the city’s headline highlights to you

Nathan has also revealed that he has launched a Kickstarter campaign to ensure that everyone who is working on ‘The Bluebird’s Daughter’ will be paid a fair wage for their contributions to the film.

He added: “To make something like this, there isn’t always a lot of funding bodies to get it done.

“We do have funding to get this made; however, one of the biggest things that we want to do is to ensure that anyone who works on the project is going to be paid for their work, and paid fairly.

“Usually short films are self-funded and then you’re asking favours but I felt that because this film is to celebrate the North East, we wanted to make sure that people are getting paid the rate that anyone else would.

“So the Kickstarter is there to ensure that the collaborators, the actors, and the crew are going to get a fair wage, which is the main driving force for that.”

You can view the Kickstarter for The Bluebird’s Daughter by visiting: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thebluebirdsdaughter/the-bluebirds-daughter-a-short-film-in-the-byker-wall.

Have you got a story you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld at https://www.yourworld.net/submit/.

It's free to use and, once checked, your story will appear on our website and, space allowing, in our newspapers.