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[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
Rush director Ray Harrison Graham answers our questions.
How did you get involved in television?
I worked in the theatre for many years and in some ways that is still where my heart is. I spent many years developing and performing signed song and travelled all over the world with my company. This led to Channel 4 recruiting me as a presenter on their first deaf children's programme Hand in Hand. By the time we got to the second series, I was choreographing and co-directing the signed songs in the programme. I then went on to do Dart, a deaf arts programme. Again I was presenting and co-directing, though I was never entirely happy with the presenting side of things. I returned to acting, writing and directing for the theatre.
After winning at the Edinburgh Festival with my play Gary, about a deaf adolescent, I was approached by several companies to write for television. Resource Base were the most Deaf-aware.
In television, what have you worked on besides Rush?
My previous TV dramas are Strong Language, about a young deaf teenager struggling to make her parents accept her Deaf identity (Resource Base for Channel 4, BAFTA-nominated), Dream On, the story of two childhood friends, one deaf, one hearing, and their adventures during one summer (Resource Base for Channel 4, BAFTA winner and RTS winner).
How did you come to direct Rush?
I did training as a director at LWT working on The Weekend Show. I co- directed on Strong Language, Dream On and Rush series one. Once I had gained enough experience, it was a natural process for me to take it on.
How does the Rush team work? Who else is involved with the script?
I start off working alone on general ideas for the story-lines. I then present these to my producer and usually there's a lot of discussion before they go to the commissioning editor. Once they are satisfied with the general picture, I research the story-lines with some of the actors and other people in the Deaf community. When I feel I have enough material, I tend to disappear for a month or two and write the first and subsequent draft scripts.
There tend to be two teams: the artistic team, headed by the director, and the production team, headed by the producer. We work very closely together to produce what we hope is powerful, entertaining drama.
How long does it take to shoot an episode of Rush? How big is the production crew?
We shoot Rush like a single drama or feature-film rather than episode by episode. It makes sense to concentrate on shooting all scenes set in one location with one group of actors at the same time, so we are never working in the story-line order of the script. So, for example, we shot everything in Adam and Troy's flat on one day as we only had the warehouse for a day. We had a 14-day shoot and shot 76 minutes of drama. It's worth noting that a drama of 90 minutes often has six to eight weeks of shooting – so we work FAST on Rush because our budget is limited.
The cast and crew on any one day of filming is likely to be between 16 and 30 people. The crew is quite small by television drama standards – about 15 – as lots of the people do more than one job to save resources. Apart from the camera crew we have assistant directors, a location manager, the costume and art departments, and so on.
Rush is in some ways a pioneering drama. What would you say are the special challenges involved?
One of the obvious challenges in bringing an idea like Rush to the screen is the communication between a deaf cast and director and a hearing crew. Initially this was quite problematic as, for many of the crew, Rush was their first experience of working with Deaf actors. It meant that to begin with, things took longer. But once everybody got used to each other and gelled, things were fine.
Another problem with a project like this is casting. Finding 11 good deaf actors was not an easy task as there are not a lot of places for talented young deaf people to get professional training. This is a problem that I feel must be tackled.
What would you say is special about VEE-TV in general?
I think VEE-TV is special because it has changed the face of deaf television. We have never had anything like it anywhere in the world. It also attracts a fairly big hearing audience, which means that hopefully deaf programming and drama will cease to be seen as a poor relative of the mainstream. I think it says very clearly to the hearing world that young deaf people are out, loud and proud.
Did you learn things in making the first series of Rush that affected the making of the second?
In terms of writing, in the first series I focused very much on Deaf politics and issues. It was in some ways difficult to write because not only was I trying to introduce the audience to our characters but also their various problems, and I only had five minutes a week to do it in!
In the second series I have tried to move slightly away from the politics and focus more on the people, going deeper into their characters' lives and personalities.
Have you drawn on your own personal experiences?
Yes, I do tend to draw on personal experiences, or certainly on real-life situations with a little fiction mixed in. I think it gives your stories authenticity and therefore your audience tends to relate to it much more – more so than if you write purely from fiction. But that's just my opinion.
What are you working on next?
I am currently working on two short dramas for television. Also I am working on ideas for a new deaf stage play.
If you could make one thing happen for young deaf people, what would it be?
I would like young deaf actors, directors and writers to have a realistic chance at a full-time career in the business. The way to do this is to make more professional training available for young deaf people. However there is no point training people if at the end of that training there is no industry for them to work in. It is my dream that some day deaf television and particularly film will be regarded and respected in the same way any foreign-language film is. I see no reason why this should not be the case, as deaf people are also only speaking in another language.
However, if deaf people want that respect, they have to match the hearing for talent and expect no special favours. With the amount of up-and-coming deaf talent around at the moment, I firmly believe that my dream will become a reality.
Graphic version
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