New Short Film, Bad Mother

Short Summary

• Who are we? We are Marnie Baxter and Nicola Stuart-Hill – actresses with almost twenty years experience in the business. This film is based on an experience Marnie had with her children. We wrote it, and will also be directing it together.
• Bad Mother is the story of Grace, a stressed out mum, who meets another mother, Jenny, on an empty beach. After some time together, Grace leaves her children in Jenny’s care to go and buy them all lunch. But whilst she’s away, Grace begins to wonder if her children are safe, and if Jenny really is who she says she is.
• Bad Mother asks – can we rely on the kindness of strangers in this modern world? And what does make a mother good or bad, can it be that black and white?

• Our producers, Mini Productions have a wealth of experience and are excited about the story and helping us to tell it.
• We’re working in connection with the PregnantThenScrewed movement who help mothers who are discriminated against within the work place.

Watch the short film here

What We Need & What You Get

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• Our fundraising goal: £7,800.
• This will pay for our cast, crew, equipment, location, catering and accommodation. It will also cover editing, sound design, music ​composition, grading and festival entry fees.
• 10% of every penny raised will be donated to PregnantThenScrewed.
• There are lots of great benefits of donating, including BABYSITTING, LUNCHES, SET VISITS and some quirky surprises to be revealed along the way.

The Team

Marnie Baxter – Writer/Director: 

Marnie graduated from the Royal Conservatoire, Scotland in 1999 with a BA in Acting and has since been seen in a variety of roles in film, television and theatre.

Marnie’s most recent film credits include playing the lead in ‘Dancing Shoes’, a short film in the web series ‘Packing/Unpacking’ for Matthew Hurt and Oli Mason,‘The Tormented’ for Blue Monkey Films, and the BAFTA awarded ‘Running in Traffic’ for Dabhand Films. Recent television work includes a recurring role in ‘Shetland’ (Series 2 and 3), ‘Eastenders’ and ‘Doctors’ for the BBC and comedy pilot ’Sunset Dreams’ for Tremendous Pictures.

Marnie has also worked extensively in theatres all over the country. She played Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in the critically acclaimed ‘Anna’. She travelled to Palestine with the same company to devise ’Al Nakba’, which depicted a family’s endurance of the prolonged bombings in Gaza, and went on a National tour of ‘The Flood’, a two-hander about the effects of war on a young relationship.

Theatre producing credits include ‘Lunch’ by Steven Berkoff at The Kings Head, ‘High Brave Boy’ by Rod Wooden for the Gilded Balloon, and ‘The Time Step’ by Matthew Hurt, directed by Linda Marlowe and Josie Lawrence.

Nicola Stuart-Hill – Writer/Director:

Nicola has been an actor for over a decade, and trained at Mountview Academy. She recently graduated with a degree in Creative Writing & English Literature last year; which has kept her out of trouble. She is currently on screen in BBC’s Thirteen, Hetty Feather and ITV’s Emmerdale.

Recent work includes feature films Excalibur Rising & Laura Marlin Mysteries which completed last year, along with the Film London funded short, Afro Punk Girl, which is out on the circuit and commissioned for a feature.

Nicola was in the national cinema release of The Honourable Rebel; voiced by Diana Rigg.

Recent theatre work includes playing Lady Macbeth in two regional theatre productions of Macbeth, the N01 International tour of Corrie on Stage, Speed the Plow at Theatre Royal Winchester, and principal roles in other plays at Oxford Playhouse, Vienna’s English Theatre, Riverside Studios, Assembly Rooms Edinburgh, Soho Theatre, Brockley Jack Studio & The Old Red Lion.

Mini Productions – Producers:

Mini Productions is a multi award-winning London based production company currently developing a slate of feature films and TV. It was founded in 2012 by April Kelley with a mission to nurture creative talent and bring stories to life on screen. In 2014 Sara Huxley joined the company and together they expanded into production for theatre. With a wealth of contacts at their fingertips and a focus on the power of storytelling, they bring together the best team possible for each project and intelligently craft new ideas into innovative and exciting realities, with their personal touch.

Most recently they produced the BAFTA and BIFA longlisted short, Edith; it was the directorial debut for actor Christian Cooke (Stonemouth, The Art of More, Hello Carter) and starred BAFTA award winner Peter Mullan (Trainspotting, Tyrannosaur) and Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones) Sai Bennett (Mr Selfridge) and Elliott Tittensor (Shameless). Currently they have a slate of features and TV in development. They have recently filmed teasers for their TV projects: Annie Waits, directed by Marnie Paxton (War & Peace) starring Andrew Simpson (Notes on a Scandal, Rebellion, Road Games) Sam Gittins (Mr Selfridge, The Smoke, Ripper Street), Sam Swainsbury (Mum, Atlantis, Thor), April Kelley (Upstart Crow, Road Games), Moses Gomes-Santos (Youngers). Brunette Baby, directed by Abner Pastoll (Road Games). They are also executive producers on short films: Not the Devil written and directed by Siobhan Schwartzberg and Moose which is the vignette for the feature starring Anton Saunders (Luther, Downton Abbey, Adolf & Eva). As a company they focus on projects that have additional assets online and behind-the-scenes content, to create not only the film, but the world that surrounds it.

Linda Marlowe – Executive Producer:

Linda Marlowe worked with Steven Berkoff over a twenty-five year span as his leading lady in most of his plays, touring internationally and in Londons West End. Her association with him gave rise to her first solo show, Berkoffs Women, directed by Josie Lawrence.

In her many television and film appearances she has been lucky to work with actors such as Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney and Gillian Anderson.

Film credits include Big Zapper, Beckett, The Man Outside, Tamlyn, Manifesto, Mr Love, Wasp, The House of Mirth and Day of the Dead. Directing credits include Lunch by Steven Berkoff (Library Theatre, Manchester, Kings Head, New End, Young Vic, London), Zoo Story (New End Theatre, London), Gala Dali (Old Red Lion), A View From The Bridge and Madhouse In Goa (Oldham Coliseum), Metamorphosis (Contact Theatre, Manchester). Through The Leaves, The Artificial Jungle, Mensch Meier, A View From The Bridge and There Are Crimes And Crimes all at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. Invade My Privacy (Riverside Studios, London). Harry’s Christmas by Steven Berkoff, Odense, Denmark. High Brave Boy at the Edinburgh Festival 2003. The Invisible Monkey New End Theatre, Hampstead. Curry Tales and Shades of Brown- performed and written by Rani Moorthy. The Time Step by Matthew Hurt. She won the Manchester Evening News Award as best director in 1990.

Sam Emmery – Executive Producer:

Sam Emmery worked as a producer on the feature-length documentary A Very British Gangster, which was selected to play in competition at the Sundance Film Festival before being released theatrically.

Since then he has produced and directed numerous observational documentaries for broadcast television, including the BAFTA nominated first series of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.

Sam produced and directed Diaries of a Broken Mind, a 90-minute documentary for BBC3 about mental health, filmed entirely by the contributors themselves, which won the prestigious Mind Media Award.

He followed this up with a film about suicide in prison, which won the Best Single Documentary RTS Southern Award, before producing and directing the first episode of the acclaimed series Protecting Our Foster Kids, for which he was nominated for the RTS West Best Director Award.

Most recently Sam filmed, produced and directed the four-part BBC2 series Normal for Norfolk about gentlemen farmer Desmond MacCarthy.

Sam is currently working as an Executive Producer at Firecracker Films and his recent credits include Secret Life of the Human Pups and The Brit Who Tried to Kill Trump

Paul Bomber Harris – DOP: 

Paul started in 1990 at a film studio in Wembley. He wanted to get into any job or set that would help to pursue his passion for film making. Over the past 27 years he has shot in hundreds of studios and locations.

Making films and documentaries is what  keeps him inspired to keep shooting more and more.

Lydia Mannering – Editor:

Lydia currently works in the film industry as an Assistant Editor and has worked on big budget films, including Paddington and The Danish Girl. She is excited to work on a film with two female director/writers who have used their own experiences of motherhood and created a film that studies how society views mothers and asks the question: What is a bad mother?

Joeli Brearley – Pregnant Then Screwed:

Joeli is the founder of Pregnant Then Screwed and a mother of two young boys. Joeli writes for the Telegraph and the Independent and she has made regular appearances on TV and radio. She advises MPs on how the Government can address the motherhood penalty and is part of the Parliamentary group for Women and Work. She is currently working on a book about her campaign and the challenges working mothers encounter.

Other Ways You Can Help

• We understand that not everyone can donate BUT fear not, you can still help.. Spread the word – please share this campaign far and wide and help us tell this story!
• Use the #BadMotherFilm to find us online. We want you to share your stories about motherhood and the challenges of being a parent in today’s world!

Special thanks to Misty Moon Film Society: