How do you acquire a film, and what was this process like with Shifty?
Jezz: For Metrodome to acquire a film and the story behind acquiring Shifty we're invited to a screening fairly early on. We went and saw it and often for a film we look at what kind of genre it is, whether there's recognisable star talent in it and these are things that we know can help us get a film out to a broad audience.
Shifty was a bit of a surprise for us because none of the actors are that well known It's a first time director, first time producers. But we went to a screening and we were just blown away by how good it was. And again, not just the story at the heart of it but just how well handled and how - although it's a début director - he seems very confident about how film works and how to construct a story and how to use clichés but how to step clear of clichés as well.
So although it's a very low budget film, we just felt because of the story and because, as well, it has similarities with films like Kidulthood and Adulthood, we just thought there would be a strong market for it in the UK.