Car Park: The Movie

About Car Park...



Car Park, almost decade in the making. Shooting started in April 2002. The final scene was shot in January 2009.

The film's budget is roughly the price of a second hand car.

SALFORD

Set in a Car Park in Salford, the film was shot entirely in Salford and Manchester.

GENRE BUSTING

This is a genre-busting movie. It starts off in the style of a light observational documentary. However, there is a point in the movie where there is a sudden and dramatic transformation and it becomes a thriller.

FEATURE FILM DEBUT

Making his debut feature film, (as are all of the cast) Writer/Director Bill McCoid first came up with the idea of a film set around the lives of Car Park attendants. "I wanted to find a decidedly really unglamorous profession where people wear uniforms."

By late 2001 a shooting script was ready and McCoid put together the cast.

"I was very lucky to get actors such as Stephen Swift, James Foster, and Malcolm Raeburn. Together they had a formidable television track record, having been in, Extras, Cold Feet, Coronation Street, Morse, and Midsomer Murders. So I knew I had people who could do the script justice. Of course they improved the whole thing beyond measure."

For the music McCoid drafted in some of Manchester's finest. "Atlanta Soul Band really are the best soul act in Manchester and I had been to so many of their gigs that I had got to know them. I would class myself as a fan."

Atlanta Soul recorded three tracks especially for the film. The theme from Car Park, written by the band's bassist Martin Hargreaves; Car Park Manager, a funky soul groove written by Hargreaves with lyrics by McCoid; and Hot Charlie, a beautiful piece of sax written by the band's leader Debi Leach."

The film's main score comes from Gabrielle's Wish and Jon Brooks.

Gabrielle's Wish are very well known and respected in Manchester having shared the bill with the likes of The Fall. There are also tracks from the singer songwriter Stuart Avery and hard rock outfit Arty Zyph.

SPACE

Though the film is a largely set in a Car Park, it does travel to other locations and includes a space sequence. Steve Bennett, Britain's one-man space race, makes an appearance as himself.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Making his feature film debut is Alan Keegan, known to millions as the voice of Manchester United. Alan is the match day Old Trafford stadium announcer. What people don't know is that he is also an actor as well as an after dinner speaker and disc jockey.



LEADING ACTORS

STEPHEN SWIFT

Stephen has worked with Ricky Gervais, John Thomson, as well as making several appearances in Coronation Street. This is first time he has taken a lead role in a feature film: "I did the film because it intrigued me. A rocket scientist working in a car park doesn't happen every day - although it might do soon if things keep going they way they are.

"What intrigued me even more though was that Bill said he was going to do a feature film, no compromises, hardly any fear - you've just got to work with a man like that."









RICHARD D WILSON

Richard is an actor and TV Presenter (with ITV Tyne Tees). In Car Park he plays Steve Abbott an ambitious car park attendant.

Richard: "At first the part was pretty easy because everything we did in the first part was natural for me."

"Then the film takes a sudden turn, so then it became a very challenging role. I had to really work to achieve a performance. It was always there in the script, if you searched for it.

"The film is about everyday people. The main characters are all examples of facets of identify. These facets are in all of us. My character's main trait was ambition."

Richard describes himself as, "An Actor who is currently a journalist, working for ITV Tyne Tees/ Border, producing and presenting news bulletins."

THE MAKING OF....

Bill McCoid: "I know a lot of film people in the north west who have spent years searching for funding for a movie.

"I figured instead of doing that I would spend the time actually making a film.

"It was conducted like a guerrilla campaign. We would shoot for a week, then we would leave it and return to our normal lives, then a few months later we would shoot another week.

"The same for editing, we would take a week here and a week there."

Shooting started in April 2002. The final scene was shot in January 2009.

McCoid: "Robin Ellis, our Director of Photography, was there in 2002 and stayed the course all the way to 2009. The loyalty and belief of the crew and their faith in the project has been staggering.

"The same goes for our main editor, Ian Patterson, who has been on board the project for seven years. All that time he as been doing other things, editing programmes for Channel M, becoming an authority on Machinema (a new kind of cinematic art form), editing short movies, cutting music videos, but he has been on board for Car Park all the while."