Film's Ray of hope

By the time he got to the first day of shooting the film Everything, what had begun as a professional challenge had become a test of his emotional resilience when his parents were left fighting for their lives after a road crash in France.

But by then he had teamed up with Chippenham charity Kandu Arts, begged stolen and borrowed a cast and crew and persuaded film and TV star Ray Winstone to star in his gritty tale about prostitution.

With such a short time in which to work, and the whole project resting on his shoulders, Mr Hawkins, 38, a former pupil at Hardenhuish School in Chippenham, decided he had no choice but to continue.

"It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do,'' he said. "Here were all these people waiting on me, and Ray Winstone arriving on set for the first time and all I was thinking about were my parents. I was just numb.''

But he decided that getting on with directing his first film was what his parents would want.

"Afterwards they said they were worried about me stopping the film. It seems ridiculous that they were there in intensive care and all they were worried about was me.''

Happily his parents, Pat and Ivor, recovered. They had gone away on holiday because Mr Hawkins had persuaded them to let him use their home near Lacock for part of the filming. "I thought it would be better if they weren't around,'' he said. "It was hard enough when we were filming in London but when we filmed at the house in Lacock it was dreadful. There were reminders of them all around me.

"I found myself being very houseproud. I was fussing about how people treated the place. Usually when you are on location in someone's home you just don't give a damn. Eventually I had to put someone else in charge of looking after the place so I could concentrate.''

The film is a very personal project but how it came to be partly filmed on location in Chippenham, with Kandu as a partner, goes back to his schooldays at Hardenhuish, where he struck up a friendship with an equally-rebellious Ed Deedigan, Kandu's director and founder.

He said: "We were very like-minded in lots of ways. We were in bands together, awful bands, and we busked in Bath.

"Ed spent a lot of time at my parents' house, which is why filming there was so special for both of us.''

When he left Hardenhuish he abandoned plans to go to university, instead making for Istanbul, where he spent a year. He harboured dreams of acting or writing but realised he had no experiences to draw on. "I thought going somewhere exotic would help.

After he returned to England he eventually joined a theatre group as a writer/producer and began honing his craft.

Eventually he found work with the BBC and in 1998 his first major work, a comedy drama called The Theory of Flight, was made into a film starring Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter. The experience was a chastening one for him. "I learnt that the writer has no power in a film. You have to hand it over to a director and allow them to do what they want to it. It was quite painful for me.''

During work in the film he built up a close bond with Bonham Carter, so much so that when she was struggling with her dialogue in David Fincher's 1999 box office smash Fight Club, she called him in to help.

He was flown to Hollywood and spent time with Bonham Carter and the film's star Brad Pitt. He said: "It was an amazing experience and I suppose I thought I'd made it then, which was just not true. I did have opportunities but I just didn't pursue them. I must have something wrong with me.''

Back in Britain he continued working with the BBC and his own company, High Street films.

He met his wife Claire, who is from Trowbridge, and when she was expecting their first child, he began working on a new script.

"I was supposed to be working on something I'm contracted to do for the BBC. In fact I still am supposed to be working on it.

"But I had started to think about parenthood and what it meant and I wondered just how far you would go as a parent to protect your children.

"I came up with everything, a story about prostitution and the world prostitutes inhabit. I didn't know what I was going to do with it at that stage.''

He was invited by Mr Deedigan to do some work with Kandu Arts in Highworth, where the charity was working with young offenders.

At first Mr Hawkins was sceptical about the benefits to him or the charity.

"I was sitting in this room with Ed and 35 kids talking about making a film of their experiences. I remember just wondering if they would ever shut up or sit still. I think I was just worried that we'd come back and all the equipment would have gone.''

But the results of the project had a profound effect on him. "They produced these films about their lives that had real honesty.They were able to talk about their lives and how they related to authority, it was amazing.''

His relationship with Kandu continued with other projects and he became a patron of the charity.

He was still wondering how to turn his script for Everything into a film when Mr Deedigan mentioned a project Kandu was working on with young prostitutes in St Paul's in Bristol.

The funding came from an American backer who has put money into Mr Hawkins' High Street films.

But the £47,500 the Americans paid out would not normally foot the bill for a star of Ray Winstone's calibre for much more than a day, let alone run to a supporting cast, a crew, equipment and locations.

Mr Hawkins and the charity, particularly Kandu worker Michelle Redfern, began calling in favours.

Panasonic were persuaded to lend the filmmakers a state of the art high definition digital camera. The supporting cast and crew were hired for fees way below the industry minimum or nothing at all.

Young people who work with Kandu in Chippenham played extras and Mr Deedigan took the role of a pimp.

Byker Grove and former EastEnders actress Jan Graveson was hired to play the leading role of the prostitute who receives regular visits from Ray Winstone's hesitant Essex policeman.

The film was shot in Soho as well as Chippenham and Lacock. "We had to produce about ten minutes a day of completed film, which is an incredible amount. We were rushing from one set-up to another but the schedule was designed like that so that we could get it done in the shortest time possible but with the best quality we could,'' said Mr Hawkins.

The difficult moments at his parents' home were made even tougher by the fact he was having to shoot a sex scene in his parents' bed with Mr Winstone and the actress playing his wife.

His parents still have no idea what was filmed at their home.

"I don't know when they are going to see it. I'm not sure what they will think, disgusted but proud I imagine,'' said Mr Hawkins.

The battle for the filmmakers now is to find not an audience but the means of showing it to one. Film distributor Soda Pictures has taken it on and is touting it around film festivals.

Mr Deedigan is certain that choosing film as a medium for highlighting prostitution will benefit the charity and the people it is trying to help.

"People might wonder why a charity is helping to produce a film but to me this is a valid way of getting the issue of prostitution discussed,'' he said

"I could hire the Neeld Hall and invite everyone in Chippenham along to a debate about it but who would come?''

Everything premiered to journalists in London last month and made its public debut at the Raindance independent film festival in London on Friday, where it was applauded by critics and film industry wheeler dealers.

It is set to appear at other festivals in Newcastle and Poland in the coming weeks.

"We hope we can get a deal in cinemas or on television,'' said Mr Hawkins.

"I am very proud of what we've achieved. It is not a preachy film. It has a message but I hope it is a good story and it is brought to life by some exceptional actors .''