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'On the Waterfront is basically a spoof of (homage to) the legendary Elia Kazan flick On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando,' William Mager tells VEE-TV. 'I've taken the legendary "coulda been a contender" scene and changed it to be a scene between two deaf brothers.'
One brother, Charlie, is part of a shady gang; the other, Terry wants to work as a BSL teacher at the RNID. Terry's interview at the RNID is approaching, and he has high hopes. But Charlie has other ideas...
'I wanted to explore the differences within the Deaf community and in a way amplify them for closer examination,' William says. 'I also wanted to see what happens when you take a well-known classic film with hearing actors and turn it into a film with deaf actors.'
Born in Sheffield, William read English literature at the University of Durham, then did an MA in writing for film and television. Last year he appeared in a Pulse film called Metronome, and he has also written a script for a short film, Reservoir Wolves, a spoof of Reservoir Dogs, produced by Remark!, an independent deaf-run production company. William currently works as a researcher for BBC Online.
So what did he take away from the experience of making his own film for Pulse? 'I've learned that preparation and planning are everything,' William says. 'You have to make sure that you are ready for every eventuality and obstacle that crops up. For example, in one shot a modern car can clearly be seen in the background, which spoils the 50s setting of the film somewhat! That could have been avoided with more time and pre-production planning.'
And what about the future? 'I've definitely caught the film-making bug now, and would jump at the opportunity to make another film,' William says. 'Besides that, I'd love to write more scripts for other film-makers – deaf or hearing.'
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