I have always had an interest in black comedy. My favourite films include Fargo, Dr Strangelove and Brazil. I’m also a great fan of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of Southpark.

I like black comedy because it’s about shaking up all the evil thoughts in your head and letting them out. It’s a relief when you hear other people laugh because you realise you’re not alone, which makes you laugh even more. And it’s always interesting to see who laughs the most because often it’s the people you least expect. I think all comedy should be a shared experience.

Tell Him Next Year came about because I wanted to do something that would demonstrate my film making abilities without being too pretentious or arty. So I decided to make a film that had an equal balance of action and visual comedy. The film starts off sickly sweet and gets darker with each scene. I wanted the audience to be constantly on edge, wondering just how far it’s going to go. The feeling that any second you might see something absolutely horrific makes the film exciting. And the over-the-top violence and gore - I hope - makes it funny.

© 2009 Two Roads Productions Ltd

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As well as being ridiculous and unrealistic, the gore couldn’t  look too cheap. If it did, I thought it would break the illusion and distract the audience. I also thought it was important for the bloody moments to sneak up on the audience. Too often horror films scream at you to look away as the money shot approaches and you miss what I think are the best bits. So, I opted to make the gory moments a surprise. Tell Him Next Year doesn’t let anybody get away without seeing something horrific.

My fondest memory during the shoot, was arranging a stunt in which the Dad (John Gillespie) had to charge at Father Christmas (Eryl Lloyd Parry) using a christmas tree as a lance. Although we weren’t making a building explode, for a bunch of low-budget film makers the stunt took a great deal of planning.

We only had one tree which, by some miracle, our art director (Lucy Nott), had managed to source in March. There was no doubt in our minds that the tree would only survive one take. We had to get it right. Fortunately we were in safe hands. Our stunt coordinator was the legendary Roy Scammel who arranged the stunts for Clockwork Orange. He was brilliant to work with and I knew he wouldn’t let us down.

He spent a whole day teaching John and Eryl how to collide and fall safely while running with a medium sized Christmas tree. We had arranged a huge pile of mattresses and card board boxes for them to fall onto.

To our amazement, the stunt was one of the few things on the shoot that went totally to plan. We got it first time. After we’d finished, we all got a huge fit of the giggles which lasted the rest of the day. We were so pleased with the shot that we kept playing it back over and over again. It’s not the greatest moment in the film but, knowing everything that went into it, it remains my favourite bit.

Another highlight of the film was getting to work with Warwick Davis, who played Santa’s Elf. He was an absolute pro and didn’t really need very much directing from me. There’s a bit in the film I love where the Dad (John Gillespie) prevents the Elf from running away by putting his foot on him like a football player would a ball. It was completely unprompted. Warwick and John had worked it out between themselves. I thought it was brilliant. It just goes to show that as a director you have to know when to step back and let actors do their thing.

Having completed Tell Him Next Year I feel that I’ve found a genre I really enjoy working with and perhaps I’ve started to find a voice. I’m really excited about applying everything I’ve learnt into making a feature film. I have lots of projects in development, all gory over-the-top black comedies.

For me, despite the hard work, every step in the making of Tell Him Next Year has been great fun, not to mention a huge privilege. I hope that Two Roads Productions has proved itself and that we will be able to carry on with new projects, doing what we love.

Warwick Davis

Harrison Sansostri

Eryl Lloyd-Parry

John Gillespie

Beverly Limbrick