The script came quickly, and as I knew I was making this as a Straight 8 film - www.straight8.net - it was a perfect chance to use a proper noir voiceover. I managed to persuade St. Charles Hospital to let me use the exterior and a ward for some of the early establishing shots, and hired an office for the weekend as the hero's and YGF workplaces (not that it's ever mentioned, but YGF stands for You Gullible Fool.).

Pre-production had taken a while to get together - getting the web pages designed, and persuading Kal from the Contraband crew to animate the spine movie which would be the "proof" that leads to James' greedy undoing. Available to view here in it's original glory.

Casting took a couple of days, and I knew that I had my man on meeting Nick Chambers. Likewise when I met Amy Hylton, I knew she had all the right qualities to play the noir vamp. When you remember that there is only one take of every shot in this film, I think they both did an incredible job.

Pre-production took a while, and Marvin Belle was an invaluable help in his role as 1st A.D. I couldn't have made the film without him. The crew all did a fantastic job over the weekend we filmed.

We took the polaroid that opens the film the Friday night before the weekend shoot on the first weekend of May. I wanted to play around with the concept of editing when you're shooting in sequence, and I think it kind of works.

The shoot went well - both Nick and Amy putting in superb performances, and getting the rhythm right. Sunday saw us shoot in the Blag in Notting Hill, and the tracking shot was captured by me sitting in a wheelbarrow, an effective dolly shot that I first used on .

Sid Merrett delivered an incredible soundtrack. It made it sound like a Soderbergh picture, and although I hadn't seen what I'd shot yet, I knew that it would be a perfect match for the images.

When I found out that the film had been chosen as one of the winners for the Straight 8 screening at Cannes, I was delirious. There's nothing like the buzz of having your film on the Croissette. To have a film at the world's premiere film festival is an awesome feeling.

I wasn't anticipating the film to be as out of focus as it is in parts - my only defence is that something must have happened to the eyepiece setting. But it was still well received, and it's still a piece of work I'm proud of.

I'm toying with the idea of remaking it at some stage, as I think it was rushed in parts, and as you can see from the script, there are lines which were cut in order to keep the soundtrack fluid at just over 3 minutes, and not too clunky.

The "great man" referenced in the first line is Bill Hicks, who remains an inspiration and a legend.