The pilot episode, the web series, the proof-of-concept – all popular avenues in the short film arena, but the sequel, a filmmaker returning to the same narrative universe within a new short, that’s a rare thing. For London based writer/director Oliver Goodrum, that’s exactly what’s he doing next. Seven years on from the release of his hugely popular short (it currently has over 14m views on YouTube) This is Vanity, he’s returning to the story to explore it from a new perspective.

Eager to find out more about why he decided to return to this story now, we spoke to Goodrum to find out what we can expect from the new short.

Sequels are quite a rare thing in the world of short film, what made you want to return to the story of This is Vanity?

Right from Vanity we had envisaged it being a trilogy – I think there’s an Iniquity trailer on the end of Vanity on Vimeo, which was on all releases of the film (inc festivals) – back then it just seemed right to examine the issue from every angle, to be balanced. Back in 2012 it was Iniquity for Michael (the bully) and Solidarity for Peters (the cop).

A still from the Iniquity trailer at the end of the This is Vanity

We had discussions on it after Vanity but it just didn’t happen for a whole host of different reasons. So fast forwarded to 2019 and Alex (writer Alexander Craig) and I were having a beer, first good catch up in a long while and he suggested us giving it a go again together. We’d both been off trying to get other things made, and written a feature together (which we kind of fell out on a bit), but nothing had landed or given us what Vanity did.

“we could do something different, bigger and more refined with this one”

We agreed that after initially feeling cautious about returning to the same world and being pigeoned holed as kitchen sink film-makers, that actually we could do something different, bigger and more refined with this one – utilizing the experience we gained as writers, and me as a director, to put together something we’ll be proud of, something huge.

We didn’t want to just leave the original story there. It felt like we were saying he [Michael – the bully] was just bad, that it’s his fault and it’s not that simple. We don’t believe in those simple/religious views of good and evil and people being born bad, everything he did, he did because of his conditioning up until that point. We knew that event would effect him immensely and how that could play out was really intriguing to us as story tellers.

Plus I had always felt like I let Michael and Richard down a bit, I think. Michael the character because, at the time, we didn’t think we had enough room (not true) to give him more, and Richard the actor because he was a huge part of that project and he’s phenomenal – I’ve actually had him in a few Ad things since, because he’s that brilliant and great to have around.

Richard Crehan as Michael in the original short

What can fans of the original short expect from the new film? Where’s the story going to take us this time?

It’s not a sequel in the strictest sense, we think of it as a follow-up or companion piece. Alex actually thinks of it a bit like the Pusher trilogy. It takes Michael as the central protagonist character and joins him 10-years after the events of the first film. He’s at a moment in life where he’s finally escaped the notoriety of what he did and he’s mostly been forgotten by the press and public, that is until interest resurfaces on the 10th anniversary.

“Fans of the first one can expect a similarly troubling situation”

Even though most people have forgotten, he hasn’t and can’t. He’s never been able to forget and really move on with life and find happiness, because he’s never really come to terms with it, with what he did. He never acknowledged any responsibility, he’s never seen a therapist and he’s never talked about it.

He’s unstable and the new attention puts him under a lot of strain. Fans of the first one can expect a similarly troubling situation and examination. We want to have a discussion about something really complex, confusing and polarising, which I think is rare in film, let alone short film.

The original short was shot over 7-years ago, with hindsight on your side now, is there anything you’re going to do different with this shoot?

Haha, yes indeed. Although we did a lot right first time round, so I won’t throw our younger selves under the bus completely. Having experienced things done properly (RNLI advert with a cast and crew of 100), the aim this time round is to treat it like we have the budget of a 30-min TV episode and pull off something that would be perfectly at home amongst anything on Netflix, Prime, HBO etc.

“We want to be open to everything we can unearth and learn during every part of the process”

From a story creation and manipulation perspective, we want to approach it so the script is never locked, the story can always evolve – on the page before casting, in workshops, on set, in the edit and off the back of reshoots – it’s like a marathon that has no fixed finish line. We want to be open to everything we can unearth and learn during every part of the process and being open to what all the great people we’re going to work with it will bring to it.

This also applies to the film’s life once locked (although again we would be open to changing and tweaking the film off the back of seeing it with an audience) with regards to festivals, online etc. Would we throw it into festivals for 6months and then straight online for free? I think the answer is maybe not. It was amazing last time round but I wonder whether we should have been more patient – this time round I’d make sure it got to the right people directly – those who are going to give us the next, proper, paid opportunity.

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Oliver is currently trying to raise around £15k for the production of This is Iniquity on Indiegogo, having raised just over £20k from their own funds. This additional money will mean they only have to “make the usual compromises rather than cutting huge parts of the detailed and rich story”. You can read the short’s script here.