Dan Hartley, writer/director of "Lad: A Yorkshire Story"

Writer/director Dan Hartley talked to The Film Yap about making his semi-autobiographical drama, "Lad: A Yorkshire Story." For Indy Film Fest showtimes, click here.

This film was semi-autobiographical. Can you talk about your own experiences as a youth and how they colored your making of the movie?

I had a cherished childhood in the Yorkshire Dales. Our house was the last in the village, and everywhere beyond was beautiful countryside, so naturally, I explored the hills and rivers constantly. I think this is what encouraged my imagination and lead to me fantasizing about stories and different worlds so ultimately that has fed into my work as a filmmaker. Also, because I love the countryside, I find that my approach to filmmaking inevitably leads me to making the landscape one of the characters in the film, and so, in the case of "Lad," I actually started the process by conducting expansive location research before I'd written the script so that I could ground the story in real locations.

How did the screenplay and production come together?

Several years ago, I'd made a short film called "Love You, Joseff Hughes" and I'd discussed with my producer at the time the idea of making a feature film based on the friendship I had growing up with a park ranger named Al in the Yorkshire Dales. At the time, I didn't really know how the story would play out, but over the years, I kept getting asked about the film and it encouraged me to start developing it further.

I had, at that time, written a short film about the relationship between two brothers growing up the in the dales, so I decided to use that as a stepping stone and then worked on building it up to tell the story of the younger brother and the park ranger. At that time, I hadn't lived in the area for around 20 years, so I decided to start casting some of the roles that I knew existed and then workshopped and improvised with the actors to build the relationships and develop the characters. We then began shooting the film in a mostly chronological way over the course of a year and during that time, I continued developing the script and editing the film to find the most poignant story that I could tell.

Talk about casting the film and how you found the right actors.

Almost all the actors were from the area where the film is set and where I'd grown up, and they attended an open casting call advertised in local papers. Bretten Lord, the lead "lad," was from the village I'd grown up in and several of the child actors attended the school that I'd attended. The ranger Al was a tremendous find, as he'd never acted before but decided to chance the audition and delivered an incredible performance. In fact, during the audition, I asked him to improvise a scene where he was to nurture the young lad and a great deal of what he created in that moment ended up in the final film.

I think in the casting we got very lucky, but we genuinely found that there was a lot of local talent in the area. As a director, once you've cast a film, well, then a good part of your work is done because so much of their performance is down to their naturalism and what they bring personally to the role. And that's what gives the film poignancy.

You've got a lot of experience in various roles on a film set, but this is your first outing as a feature-film director and screenwriter. What made you believe you were ready to step behind the camera?

Although this is my first feature film, my progression has been quite slow and steady. I began making short films around 12 years ago and roughly made a short film every year. I'd also written another feature film script that I'd hoped to get financing for but later realized it was too big-budget for anyone to give me the opportunity. As with just about anything I've done, I didn't really stop to consider if I was ready but just set the ball rolling and figured that time would tell. As it happened, the whole process was really quick.

We began scouting in November 2010 and had finished shooting the film a year later. That might sound like a long time, but in that time we had to write the film, cast it, fund it and I also had to take four months' work on a different film to pay the bills. I think sometimes momentum is the greatest attribute you can hope for because once you get a project off the ground, so many people are there to help you make it and it's this collaboration that ultimately brings the goods.

The chemistry between Alan Gibson and Bretton Lord is so naturalistic. I was astonished to learn neither had acted on film before. How did you direct them to get such organic performances?

The trick with good acting is good casting, and what I saw in their initial auditions is what you ultimately see on screen. The fact is they're both incredibly naturalistic actors. So my job wasn't to give them anything; rather, it was to make sure that nothing impeded them.

I did have to introduce technique and film set etiquette in such a way that it didn't make them self-conscious. I think most of this was done by taking the time to explain what was happening and also by having a small friendly crew with whom the actors felt comfortable. Another piece of luck, though, was that Bretten and Al were essentially neighbors, so they would come to work together. I encouraged them to spend a lot of time in each other's company becoming real-life friends. That sort of chemistry translates very well on screen.

Tone is one of the hardest things to get right as a filmmaker. "Lad" seems to find the sweet spot — heartfelt and probing without getting maudlin. How did you "earn" those tender moments, especially toward the end?

I'd would agree that tone is so crucial to this film. I mentioned earlier a short film I made called "Love You, Joseff Hughes," and that really was an introduction to this type of story. So I had some experience of how the tone should feel. In the case of "Joseff," the film is perhaps a little too whimsical, so I was careful not to make that mistake again.

What I ultimately wanted to strive for is what I think the UK can do very well, which is to incorporate character humor into drama. That was a constant challenge, as I had to make sure that these didn't lessen the gravity of a film that is principally about mourning. It's the humor, however, that draws you into the characters and makes you will them to succeed. I felt very strongly that we should try and incorporate as much as the film could take, and I think this is what ultimately makes the film heartfelt.

What's up next for you?

I've currently got two projects that I'm developing. One is a thriller set in Alaska about an amnesiac filmmaker trying to track down his missing family, and another is a sci-fi/dystopian film set in London about surveillance culture. Both are rather different from "Lad," and that's because I'm drawn to story first as opposed to genre.