Tag: Unborn

Association of Directors and Producers – Michael Custance

A.D.P: Association of Directors and Producers

From when ‘Jimmie’ Cellan Jones was directing ‘Jennie, Lady Randolf Churchill’ and told me he was part of a group of directors fighting the managements to get paid for repeats and foreign sales, known as director’s residual payments, matters had progressed and A.D.P., The Association of Directors and Producers had been formed. I joined, was co-opted onto the board of ADP management and created a monthly ADP newsletter. I stayed on the board and edited the newsletter until I started to make ‘Spyship’ three years later. With its 46 location all over the UK and the North Sea and the Arctic and over a year of production there was not time to do both so I resigned from the board and editorship.

ADP had gone from strength to strength and had won the battle. Since then all directors and producers receive a percentage of their fee for all repeats and sales worldwide. ADP was was also very influential in forcing the govt. to design the future new Channel 4 TV not to make programmes but to commission programmes from Independent Producers. This changed the face of UK TV by allowing producers to create their own programmes and sell them to the TV channel. Now that method applies in whole or part to every UK TV channel.

Whilst setting up ‘The Unborn’ there was a daring homosexual play being shot in the studio called ‘Solid Geometry’ by Ian McEwan. It was creating furious complaints from the costume and make-up depts. So much so that the technical head of the studios pulled all of his staff out of the studio and paralysed the shoot. The problem, there was a pickled erect penis in a jar on the mantelpiece in the set. The producer and director came to me asking for help from the ADP. I said I would call the president immediately but was not sure if ADP could help as it was in place to fight for working conditions and not bottled penises which is a censorship or public decency issue. This proved to be the case. I think the shooting went ahead minus one glass jar.

[N.B. the shoot of ‘Solid Geometry’ was actually halted, and the production cancelle].

‘The Unborn’ – Michael Custance

Here are some memories from director Michael Custance from 1980:
“‘The Unborn’
A play for BBC2 ‘Playhouse’ series. My first one-off play for TV! A psycho’ thriller. Earlier I had made ‘Empire Road’ for the same producer, Peter Ansorge.
With only two days in the studio it was tough to get all the special effects done in time.
There was one happy, or not so happy fluke.
The pregnant mother played by Mary Larkin, opens a parcel she received and discovers a human heart, beating and alive. Terrified she throws it across the room only for it land stuck up the lens hood of the camera. The brilliant cameraman held it in focus all the way ending with a giant full screen image of a bleeding beating heart which shocked the studio into a horrified silence. It was almost too horrifying for an audience but Peter, the producer, said to keep it in the show.”