Cold Callers | Jeff Sleeman on doorstep naivety

You don’t often see the sign ‘cold callers welcome!’. Instead, there’s a reluctance to have strangers knocking on your door in the hope of subscriptions, sponsorships, or to re-do your drive, roof, windows or anything else. In comedy short Cold Callers, that reticence is turned on its head, with unexpected consequences.

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The idea developed from an online sketch writing course that writer and producer Jeff Sleeman attended, taught by Kim ‘Howard’ Johnson of the Comedy Lab, which was organised through Brighton-based improv performance group The Maydays.

Dodgy builder

“This course was about sketch writing. But he suggested we could try writing a short film script,” Jeff tells D&CFilm. “I previously had the idea for a sketch of a householder who let a dodgy builder into his house rather than telling him to go away.”

That story evolved into the working script that saw the householder welcoming in a whole succession of doorstep callers.

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Jeff and director Steve Moles had developed a relationship, having worked on a few 48-Hour Exeter Phoenix film challenges. They were looking for a project to push that relationship into a short. They turned to Jeff’s script and started tweaking.

Robert Garnham

In his first film role, performance poet Robert Garnham plays the naively welcoming householder. Jeff was aware of Robert through the spoken word circuit in Devon

“I’ve known Robert for quite a few years,” says Jeff. “I’ve done a lot of spoken word comedy and poetry. I had gone to see Robert doing a preview for his Edinburgh show in Torquay. I knew he’d never done any film work, but he kindly agreed to come in for a screen test.”

Performance poet Robert Garnham is in his first film role in Cold Callers

If Robert was a novice in front of the camera, others in the film have a more established experience.

Jeff has known Charlie Coldfield and Rachel Vowles for years, working together on quite a few corporate role-playing training jobs.

“I was looking for Jehovah Witnesses, and they just seemed suitable as a pair,” says Jeff.

Another well-known face is Simon Tytherleigh, who was never intended to be in the film. He had agreed to come onboard to do some sound, but an availability conflict meant they needed a convincing builder.

“He said yes to that, and he just brilliantly inhabits that role so well,” says Jeff.

“All the principals were people I know, and like doing the work with, which makes it fun when you’re working with your friends.”

Spain

Filming took a couple of weekends, plus – and get this for a tight-budget short – a sequence in Spain.

“We thought about Cornwall,” says Jeff. “But we didn’t think it would look quite right. And there’s the whole thing of driving on the wrong side of the road. There was no budget. It is all self-funded on a microbudget shoestring – it was about having fun as much as anything else.”

From left to right, back row: Jeff Sleeman and Robert Garnham. Front row: Rachel Vowels and Charlie Coldfield.

Jeff and director Steve booked a flight to Alicante, and got an apartment.

“We spent a couple of days scouting locations, finding a local taxi driver who was willing to get involved, and setting everything up.” Charlie and Rachel arrived a few days later; they shot some exteriors and then flew back the next day.

Cement bag

“What I didn’t want to do was fly all the other extras out there,” admits Jeff, who used his garage for the Spanish interior shots, with the help of a Spanish cement bag, which he’d picked up on his journey.

Apart from the three-day trip to Spain and shooting the opening sequence, the shoot was completed with minor logistical issues in two weekends. The last scene filmed was the opening sequence, with Louis John Brzozka scoping out which homes would be receptive to his doorstep patter.

Soggy

“We were waiting for a suitably overcast day to do it,” says Jeff. It was eventually filmed months later in torrential rain, and looks seamless… if a bit soggy. Surely a testament to Jeff’s ability as a producer – he’d taken that role on Dom Lee’s musical Between The Lines.

“I don’t see myself as a producer,” says Jeff. “Between The Lines was a really good project, and taught me a lot. I’ve just fallen into producing. It’s knowing the right people and who to call on, who to help out when you’re doing low budget stuff, and calling in favours of people who want to and are able to help you. It’s a fun role and something I really like doing.”

Cold Callers is at the English Riviera Film Festival on March 15, at the Lyceum Theatre Torquay. Get your tickets