At Happy Hour Productions we love all things film and we’re thrilled to share that we’ve produced a new feature film, hitting US screens from February 2024!
“DarkGame” is a thriller directed by Howard J. Ford, starring Ed Westwick and co-written by Happy Hour Productions’ Founder and CEO, Tom George, who also produces.
Naturally, we interviewed Tom on his inspiration for the movie and the role of Happy Hour – and we can now unveil the trailer too!
What inspired the movie?
DarkGame is a film inspired by lockdown. Whilst we were all contained in our homes, I had this idea of making a contained thriller about a dark web reality game show – this was before Squid Game was a thing.
“I wanted to make something that would tick the genre box, but would also provide some commentary on our fascination with reality TV, even when it features peoples suffering, and how social media helps propagate that fascination.
“I also knew I wanted to develop something I could make if lockdown lasted for years, something primarily studio and interior location based that I could produce here on my own doorstep in Bristol, but that would look and feel international, something that was set in the US. So DarkGame was born.”
What’s the storyline?
Set in Portland, DarkGame centres on the city’s police who discover victims are being kidnapped and forced to play games to survive, for a reality game show on the dark web.
When the show is shared on social media, the number of viewers increases, which brings the public’s eye on every action the police take.
With the criminal underworld outbidding each other to decide how victims are eliminated, detective Ben Jacobs and his cybercrimes team are forced into a race against time…
Can you describe your role as creative producer?
“On a film project like this, where I am the originating creative producer, I am on the project from start to finish. That involves devising the concept, financing the script development and then raising the production finance. It also involves attaching the cast, putting the right team together – from director to all the heads of department – sourcing the right sales or distribution partners, and then managing the film’s creative and production process through to delivery.
“On our previous films, the story has dictated where the filming takes place (for example, a World War Two film set in Poland, but shot in a -20c winter in Belarus). On this occasion, I designed DarkGame so we could make it in our own backyard, and that meant the Happy Hour team could also service the shoot.
How do you marry feature films with TV advertising?
“I’ve always had a passion for film and for storytelling, and it’s part of the reason I founded Happy Hour.
“As a creative agency and production company, Happy Hour spends the majority of its time servicing advertising clients on their TV and video advertising, which in itself requires creativity and production skillsets. But part of the reason for choosing to produce high end short form content was to help enable the production our own IP; films such as DarkGame.
“Designing a genre film isn’t too dissimilar from designing an ad campaign for a client – you have to consider your market, what appeals to the consumers in that market, and put all those elements into the creative. The big difference is, we are our own client and service provider, so the buck stops with us.”
DarkGame was produced by Happy Hour Productions in association with Principal Film Finance and JCG Bits Productions and will be released on VOD in North America in February 2024. Check out Variety’s article for more info, including soundbites from director Howard J. Ford and protagonist Ed Westwick.
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