EXCLUSIVE: British actors Sam Buchanan (Back to Black) and Issy Knopfler (Before We Die) have teamed to launch their own indie production banner, Silent Knight Productions.
The company’s first project is a short titled Day Release. The project will also mark Buchanans’ directorial debut.
Written by Lewis Jamison and co-directed by Buchanan and Jamison, the film stars Jamison and tells the story of a man from Middlesbrough who is out of prison on day release. Trying to navigate the streets of ‘Doggy’, a widely used nickname for North Ormesby, a suburb of Middlesbrough, he attempts to reconcile relationships and struggles to outrun his past.
“As an actor, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on such a variety of projects with directors I admire so much. I was properly excited to have the opportunity to get stuck in on the other side of the camera,” Buchanan said of the project.
Buchanan and Knopfler met whilst starring alongside each other in the fantasy series The Wayfinders. Buchanan said their goal with Silent Knight Productions is to “create work, opportunities, and to give a voice to creatives struggling to get their head above the parapet.”
Knopfler added, “To tell engaging, honest stories alongside passionate and dedicated people is what brings me the most joy. To second what Sam said, ‘Day Release’ was also my first experience on the other side of the camera. Although we are learning, it’s just been such a wonderful new venture. Fantastic scripts and driven storytelling are what made me want to be an actor in the first place, so it just felt like a natural progression to help take more work from script to screen.”
