Neil Monaghan - Writer Director
A writer for film, theatre, television and radio, Neil trained with the BBC, working in post-production for the Film Department. He left to set up his own production company. He has written several award-winning shorts as well as undertaking multiple feature commissions. His first feature, Made in Romania, a comedy ‘mockumentary’ about independent filmmaking, starred Jason Flemyng, Jennifer Tilly, Danny Hustion and Elizabeth Hurley.
Neil’s upcoming feature With Friends Like Thesestars a host of International stars including Martin Kemp (Eastenders), Kate Ashfield (Shaun of the Dead), Carmen Electra (Baywatch), Adam Garcia (Coyote Ugly), and Douglas Henshall (Shetland), among others.
Neil’s theatre work includes four plays staged at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Alan Ayckbourn’s famous theatre in Scarborough. Beautiful People starred Gina Bellman (Leverage) and Dot’s Net was later adapted for broadcast on BBC Radio 4. His play Eye Contact featured Kelly Brook and had a sell out run at the Riverside Studios. His play 100 won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award and transferred to London’s Soho Theatre before embarking on a world tour.
His screenwriting commissions include the screenplay Kiss and Tell with producer Mark Crowdy (Saving Grace, Doc Martin) and director Nigel Cole (Calendar Girls, Made in Dagenham).
Neil is developing several other projects with director Jonathan Gershfield (Three and Out, Trollied).
Darren Ripley - Producer
Darren has been heavily involved in the film industry since his directorial debut Tragic Irony in 1997. The 16mm feature, which he co-produced, wrote and starred in, was a gangster thriller in the vein of Pulp Fiction. Made for just £6,000, it was sold to sales agents Cine Electra.
His second film as director, the black comedy short Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, starred Richard Harrington (Spooks, Lark Rise To Candelford) as a funeral director with a morbid plan on how to increase turnover. The short was funded and produced by ITV Wales’ Big Little Pictures scheme with the Welsh film agency, Sgrin.
Darren’s third film was zombie thriller The Gatekeeper, starring Tim Downie (The King’s Speech, Hollyoaks) and Craig Kelly (Waking The Dead, Coronation Street). Darren also developed a hard-hitting, Sopranos-esque series Local Boys for ITV Wales. Darren produced two further shorts, The Boxer (2009) and Wilderness (2010) before returning to the other side of the camera to star in The Stranger opposite Rachel McDowell (Mamma Mia, Quantum Of Solace).
As well as writing The Smoke, he also co-produced the film and played the supporting role of the hitman Phil alongside Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ Stephen Marcus and Snatch’s Alan Ford. Darren is currently in development on four features: comedy caper Taff’s Gold, heist movie Going Straight, horror thriller Shadow Valley and film industry mockumentary The Director’s Cut.
Mark Caldwell - Director of Photography
Mark is a dedicated, highly skilled & experienced cinematographer with nearly two decades’ of working in films, music videos and commercials. He learned celluloid film lighting in the late ‘90s with the UCL Film Society (Christopher Nolan) before moving on to the Metropolitan Film School (Ealing Studios) to advance his practical knowledge. From there he was taught by and worked with Paul Wheeler BSC and progressed to become a fully professional Director of Photography having previously worked on countless productions (clients including D-Cinema, Panavision, Arri, Warner Studios, and many others) as either a camera operator or lighting technician.
He has worked as the Director of Photography with the likes of Ed Skrien (The Transporter Refueled/Game of Thrones) & Lucy Morton (The Legend of Long Wood/Miss You Already). His work has been shown internationally and selected multiple film, including the ‘Festival de Cannes’.
Two Wrongs will be the fourth film collaboration between Neil Monaghan and Mark Caldwell. Having spoken at length about the look and visual style of this latest collaboration they have decided to use Mark’s experience with creating modern workflows for the latest high end digital film cameras and lighting technology to create a mainstream visual style at a fraction of the cost.
The visual style of Two Wrongs is based on classic British Romantic Comedies but with a modern twist. The bright, colourful softly-lit world outside will be shot to contrast beautifully with the dark, black undertones of Brighton’s fetish scene, while never losing sight of the light-hearted British tone of the plot.
Ewan Dunbar - Associate Producer
Ewan began his career in the film industry as an assistant director and production manager, on titles such as Chatroom, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and World War Z.
His next role was that of producer, working on internationally released films such as Outpost 11 and, most recently, The Carrier (as associate producer). He then moved into international sales and acquisitions for several sales agents.
Most recently, Ewan has negotiated rights sales for titles including Zero Tolerance (Scott Adkins/Dustin Nguyen) and Iron Sky: The Coming Race, the sequel to the 2012 smash hit comedy Iron Sky.
Ewan monitors evolving trends in the marketplace, and uses this expertise to ensure UK-based producers maximise their films’ international and domestic commercial potential.
His role in Two Wrongs will be to consult at all stages of production on how to boost the film’s appeal to audiences nationally and worldwide.
