Andrew Jones

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Andrew Jones (born on 6 October 1983) is a British screenwriter and director. He is best known for his gritty documentaries and for horror films.

Biography

Andrew Jones was born on 6 October 1983 in Britain, in Swansea in South Wales. His father was a painter and decorator. He was educated at Olchfa Comprehensive School (1995–2000).

He began his career in 2004 at the age of 21, when he had his first script, a horror film entitled Stray Dogs, optioned for a small fee by a US production company.

In 2005 Jones joined actor Gavin Dando in setting up the production-company, Steel & Glass Films Ltd., based in Swansea and Newport; and under that banner wrote and directed his first feature film, Teenage Wasteland, a low-budget docu-drama focusing on teenagers in dysfunctional families. Jones wrote the script in three days, and then worked as a painter and decorator to raise the £1,500 budget for the film, which was shot on a borrowed, digital, video camera and featured non-acting teenagers in a lot of the roles (many cast by the director straight from the streets of Swansea). In 2006 the film premiered at the Swansea Bay Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Feature Under 75 Minutes.

During this period Jones also spent time with homeless people and heroin addicts in Swansea, researching his second feature film. Many of their stories appeared in the screenplay for what became The Feral Generation, a gritty urban drama focusing on a young couple as they live rough on the streets of Swansea and attempt to support their heroin addiction as well as each other. Ex-EastEnders actors and real-life couple Brooke Kinsella and Ray Panthaki played the leading roles in the project. The film secured six-figure financing, and was produced by Urban Way Productions Ltd, the company known for Kidulthood and City Rats. The Feral Generation later won the award for Best UK Feature Film at the 2008 Swansea Life Film Festival.

In 2008 producer Ovidio G. Assonitis, famed for giving James Cameron one of his first directing jobs on 'Piranha II: The Spawning', commissioned Jones to write a script for a remake of 1974 cult horror classic Chi Sei? (a.k.a. Beyond the Door and The Devil Within Her) for KOA Entertainment.

That same year Jones was attached to write and direct a remake of 1979 horror classic The Driller Killer, starring 'Last House on the Left' cult actor David Hess in the lead role. The film re-located Abel Ferrara's original story about a psychotic artist from New York to London. However, the project never got into production after a financial dispute between the Executive Producers and Abel Ferrara could not be resolved.

In 2009 Jones was originally attached to direct the film he wrote for US production company Thunderball Films, The Beautiful Outsiders. He hired Cameron Douglas in the leading role with Cameron's father, Michael Douglas, set to come on board as Executive Producer. But Cameron was arrested for dealing crystal meth in the United States; which resulted in his being fired from the project. Jones later opted out of directing the project, and sold the script to Thunderball Films.

In 2010, Jones set up the Swansea based production company North Bank Entertainment. The company was named after the section of the Vetch Field football stadium Jones would attend as a youngster to support Swansea City Football Club.

The company's first production was Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection, a British version of George A. Romero's 1968 horror classic, with Jones as co-writer/producer. The film was a co-production with Cardiff based company Mad Science Films and financiers Independent Moving Pictures. Principal photography took place during September and October 2011 at locations in Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Llanharan. In April 2012, the film was acquired for North American distribution by Grindstone Entertainment Group, with a release across all media platforms through Lionsgate Home Entertainment. In May 2012, the UK distribution rights to Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection were acquired by 4Digital Media for a limited theatrical release followed by a DVD and VOD release.

On 9 December 2011, Dread Central announced that Jones would be producing a remake of the 1974 film Silent Night, Bloody Night with his production company North Bank Entertainment. The new version will be called Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming. Filming took place in Wales between 20th April and May 11th 2012 in Swansea, Carmarthen and Bridgend. The film was North Bank's second collaboration with Mad Science Films and Independent Moving Pictures, with Jones serving as co-writer/producer on the production.

Other projects in development at North Bank Entertainment include a biopic of Charles Manson entitled Manson Rising.

Andrew Jones' other credits include Associate Producing for UK production company Afan Films Ltd and screenwriting commissions for US company Thunderball Films and Canadian company Robomonkey Productions. He has also contributed articles on horror films and the film industry to the UK movie website Andy Erupts.

Awards

Swansea Bay Film Festival

Swansea Life Film Festival

Reviews

"So here’s my take on The Feral Generation. I think Andrew Jones has pulled off a genuinely objective, dispassionate study of an aspect of modern life about which it is very hard indeed to be either dispassionate or objective. The Feral Generation is not a film that casts judgements - we are left to do that for ourselves - but it simply documents in detail something which we normally only see briefly at a distance...This is terrific acting, this really is award-winning stuff.And it is helped by Jones’ amazing dialogue which manages to be realistic and credible enough to fit in the mouths of these characters yet at the same time erudite enough to hold our attention and make us think about what is being said...

Frankly, some of the direction is astounding; there are some pauses in the interviews that seem to last forever and shots of the couple hugging and tearful which last even longer. This is incredibly assured and confident work for a young director on his second feature. The Feral Generation is a magnificent film, powerful but not preachy, serious but not sentimental. In terms of storytelling it’s simply masterful: stunning acting, excellent script, amazing direction, supremely competent on every technical level."

Review of The Feral Generation by film critic M. J. Simpson.

Personal Quotes

BBC Interview

On Filmmaking in Wales:

"A lot of films made in Wales tend to make it look like they've been filmed by the tourist board."

Interview with MJ Simpson

On Hollywood:

"In Hollywood now their lead characters aren't even allowed to smoke! I think the notion that protagonists in movies have to be totally 'pure' to be relatable is bullshit. Every person has their good points and bad points so as a film-maker why not embrace the flaws in your characters? I think audiences are not given enough credit and are sick of seeing these cookie-cutter, mainstream movies where characters are morally black or white. I know I am. I hope every movie I make will have lead characters who are a little fucked up. It's just more interesting to me."

On The Feral Generation:

"I was certainly interested in bringing the lifestyle of the so called 'feral generation' to an audience and giving them a glimpse into a world very unlike their own. But I didn't set out to direct from the top of my soapbox and make an overtly political movie; I'm a film-maker, not a politician. I hate the fact that people like Bono from U2 try to be so political. That guy is a musician, not Jesus; he should know his place and shut the fuck up about saving the world!"

Quotes about Andrew Jones

"I'd love to work in Wales and I think I'm going to get the opportunity this Fall because there is this young Welsh director, Andrew Jones, who is just really... he's a real visionary in terms of the kinds of films he wants to make. I'd work with him and it’s basically, for me, just constantly pushing the envelope."

Actor David Hess

"One of Britain's most promising young directors."

Gorezone Magazine

Filmography (as writer and director)

• Teenage Wasteland (2006)
• The Feral Generation (2007)

Filmography (as producer)

• Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection (2012)
• Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming (2012)

External links

• Andrew Jones at the Internet Movie Database
• North Bank Entertainment