What does splashing around in swimming pools, bossing around boys and winning national championships combined with an intense time limit, a budget and a devoted and talented team, give you? Swimming for Gold of course! Simona from Film in Revolt spoke with Hayley MacFarlane, the director of the new sporty and energetic film, Swimming for Gold about her journey as a filmmaker and the creation of her new film.
Simona: Hi Hayley. What connected you to Swimming for Gold? Are there any personal experiences you can share?
Hayley: Yes, absolutely. When the script came to me, I hadn’t worked with any teen content before then. What I loved about it was that I practiced gymnastics growing up, and then I coached gymnastics for eight years before I got into film and TV. In that sense, I understood the world of competitive athletes and particularly with young girls and what it’s like for them going through that at the tender age of 16. I love sports films, like Bring It On and that’s the world I saw it in.
What paths did you take to get where you are now? You said you went to film school, but was there anything else?
Hayley: I went into film school and then the funny thing about this industry is it’s all about networks and not necessarily what you know. After film school, I was lucky enough to get a job. Working on Big Brother Australia and that was my first, foray into reality TV. I moved to London after that, and that helped me get a job directing Big Brother UK. Then I was in the world of reality TV, which I’ve done for about the last five years.
Simona: Speaking about different roles and when you were younger. What advice would you give to a younger person who was just starting in the film industry?
Hayley: I would just say perseverance. It can be a tough industry and people can give a lot of their own negative spins but if you enjoy what you do, and you work hard, there’s room for everyone and you only succeed if you just stick it out.
Simona: What is the most rewarding part of your career?
Hayley: Honestly, I think one element that has been really rewarding is when younger girls have come up to me in different environments and said, because they saw me directing, it makes them believe that they can do it. And that is something that I never saw coming. I didn’t get into it for that, it just kind of has happened a few times and kind of taken me by surprise, but, it makes it all worth it for me like obviously, I love my job to know that it is maybe inspiring other girls to do as well as is really rewarding.
Simona: Would you describe yourself as a risk taker?
Hayley: Oh absolutely.
Simona: What risks were taken in Swimming for Gold?
Hayley: Risk? What wasn’t a risk? I mean, we had a really big scene, a big, big swimming competition at the end of the film. Yes, that was a real challenge because we didn’t have a massive budget or a lot of time, we had to recreate this event that’s meant to be big and massive and with a lot of avenues to achieve that and resources. That was that definitely felt like a risk at the time like we were literally scraping it slim is like a good next person trying to capture all that within our time frame was quite a challenge.
Simona: That’s very stressful, in the moment, you’re trying to get everything in and make sure everything’s running smoothly. But when you watch it, it’s completely different. And you wouldn’t even think about it.
Hayley: I know! Because there’s certain things in the film that I don’t like and I have to remember no one watches the film and goes, Oh, they only had 18 days and they only had this much money like no one knows that. They just watched the film for what it is.
Simona: Did you shoot Swimming for Gold in 18 days? That is amazing for such a long film.
Hayley: 18 days, it was very fast. It was a challenge. Let me tell you.
Simona: Yes, it would be. Especially, I noticed some bits were pre filmed or probably filmed out of order. Was that hard to organize and get everything running smoothly in 18 days?
Hayley: We had a really great first Assistant Director. Christine does all that stuff naturally and she was really on it. We certainly shot fast. It was like go, go, go. Luckily, I’m someone that doesn’t do a lot of takes and generally I get it in about two takes. We didn’t have the luxury of much more than that. It was really quick.
Simona: What was your favorite scene to shoot? And if there were any really challenging scenes?
Hayley: The nighttime scene at Southbank where they have a bit of a party. It was challenging because it was the first night and they wanted us to shoot it. Everyone was still warming up. We were really tight on time, we had to manage and the romantic kissing as well. Peyton and Daniel had met each other two weeks prior, and we’re just thrown into it. That sounds like nice stuff was certainly a big challenge.
Probably the pool training, I would say we had a lot of fun shooting those training scenes, when Claire’s in military mode. Another is when they’re partying and the footage in the party scene, where Chris Bodie, and Claire on the sun loungers and they’re laughing, that was actually an outtake. So that was actually for real. They didn’t know we were rolling. I was just like, quick ‘Roll, roll roll’, just in between takes, and then they were legitimately losing their minds laughing. So those days were really fun.
Simona: What is it about Swimming for Gold that you think will appeal to younger audiences?
Hayley: One thing I focused on in the script is the fact that teenagers have challenges and it’s not easy. If someone else picked up the script it could have been easy just to go make fun, fun, fun and party, party, party. Whereas I wanted to dig deep and find out for every character what they are going through. It was something that was really important to me. That’s something I hope when younger kids watch it is like, Oh, I’m going through that or I’ve got a friend going through that. But look, she pushes through it, and she’s fine. And she gets through it, I think it is kind of the message I would love kids to get.
Simona: You conveyed that perfectly. Especially with Claire going through such a hard time, at the very beginning. No one wanted her there but she pushed through, and she did amazing.
Hayley: I’m so glad you got that. That’s awesome.
Simona: What films made an impression on you in your youth?
Hayley: There were so many, the film that has actually come up recently because, it’s got parallels with a new project I’m working on but I like films like Now and Then. Films like that – family films I can remember lines of dialogue from that film. I never saw myself making a teen family film. Swimming for Gold was my first film but when I look at what I’ve enjoyed in the films and that have stayed with me, a lot of them are actually these kinds of family teen films that everyone can sort of enjoy. It’s been quite nice to realize that.
Simona: Oh, nice a lot of films nowadays, whether they are for teens or older generations, miss a bit of the family friendly aspect.
Hayley: Yeah, it’s kind of this world of like, indie filmmaking is like, Oh, you’ve gone mainstream, like, it’s cool to be an indie filmmaker. Yeah. and sometimes to make, a mainstream film can be kind of frowned upon, in the film world. It’s interesting to break it down and go well, no, it’s okay to make films that are loved by everybody.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today and I’m sure everyone is going to enjoy Swimming for Gold just as much as I did.