@amaradatia says “I’m happiest when I’m doing what I love” in exclusive interview

07 Sep @amaradatia says “I’m happiest when I’m doing what I love” in exclusive interview

Amar Adatia is an actor and producer, known for Gangsters Gamblers Geezers (2016) and Name of the Game (2017). After extensive film and television roles over recent years Amar is certainly one of Britain’s fast rising stars. We held an interview with him.

Q.Tell our readers who is Amar Adatia?

AA: I’m the son of two very ambitious and strong parents who encouraged me to be the best I can be and never give up. So when I first felt the excitement and buzz of acting and producing, I knew I would never give up on my dream to be involved in the film industry. I’m happiest when I’m doing what I love and when I’m not doing that, I spend my time with those I love.

Q.First things first, your latest film is currently shooting – tell us more about Name Of The Game?

AA: Off-course , name of the game is a movie about

Chris Rose is a young professional footballer (30), from Essex, who finally gets the opportunity to play for his favourite team, a team he has been a fan of since childhood.

Signing with them takes Chris’s career from the championship to the premiership league however it isn’t a move that goes smoothly and, in frustration, Chris gets involved with a Russian organised crime syndicate who have their sights on using young players to fix matches.

With the help of his childhood mate, Adam Chopra , Chris goes on a life changing journey making many new friends and enemies in both worlds, including his love interest Ashley Queen.

When Chris scores the goal of his career, he discovers his professional life and his health are now in danger. Chris uses his knowledge of football and team strategy to pit the Russians against the Algerian underworld and a plan is set in motion to repay the Russian Mafia everything they are owed. However the clock is ticking. Can Chris achieve his goals, keep that side of his life secret and make a success of his golden opportunity as a pro footballer?

“In the name of the game” is a story full of action & drama, both on and off the pitch.

Q.What’s your take on the UK indie film market at present?

AA: To use a football analogy, the UK Indie film market is a game of two halves! On the Production side things are good – we have a lot of indie films being made as we have so much talent in this country. Digital filmmaking has made filming cheaper and more accessible to people, so more films are getting made. The government has also helped with the the EIS scheme and film tax credit which limits the risk to film investors, so more films can get made. However, in terms of Distribution, things are dire, with the plateau of the DVD market, high costs of theatrical and small revenue from streaming, there are less distributors in the market, and of the ones there are left, very few will take a risk on a film that has no A-List stars. This is because distributors are businessmen not artists, they have no artistic vision, they only care for the bottom line. In my opinion, distribution is an area the BFI need to focus on, perhaps offering tax rebate for cinemas to screen UK Indie movies so more of our films can get into the market may help.

Q.In your last film Gangsters, Gamblers Geezers you assembled a top calibre of cast, is there any secret to this?

AA: Our ‘secret weapon’ was the script. The script for GGG is a fun story with some great characters such as Olu the Nigerian landlord and Mr Laurel the kinky dwarf, that you don’t see represented on screen, so when people received it the response was great as it was something they didn’t see everyday. Also “working outside the system” – On the low budget side of filmmaking agents and managers tend to be a hindrance rather than a help to getting material to their clients. The number 1 priority for an agent is their cut of their clients fee for a job, they would rather their client sit at home watching Jeremy Kyle than working on a low budget film. We have had agents slam phones down on us and flatly refuse to give scripts to their clients, so we have to be persistent and inventive of how to get scripts to to the people we wanted. We asked people who they knew and approached them. You will amazed at how people are connected, for example: Tiny Iron knew Shizzio who knew Dave Courtney.

Q.How are you able to secure distribution in the current market?

AA: Getting a film distributed in this current market is tough and takes a lot of persistence. When you go to the Cannes Film Festival, there is a film market there and you see that there are thousands of films all competing for a handful of distribution deals. That puts it all into perspective: You made a film – great, but so have 1,000 other people. We were lucky with GGG that there was no other film like that on the market so we stood out, but our uniqueness made the film risky to some distributors. We luckily found a distribution team that recognised and valued GGG.

Q.You are without a doubt one to watch on British Film scene, hows the journey going?

AA: It has been a long road to get to where I am now and I have even further to go to get to my ultimate destination. In this business there is no such thing as an overnight success, it’s all about the work: the more you work, the luckier you get. I just want to make great films that people like.

Q.What can we expect to see from you in the future?

AA: Hopefully making more films with bigger budgets which means bigger casts, bigger special effects and wider distribution.