Meet the Beacons Makers: Tracy Spottiswoode

Inspired by the true story of the legendary ‘Ladies of Llangollen,’ Tracy Spottiswoode’s period drama Sally Leapt Out of a Window Last Night sees Sally and Eleanor scandalise society and escape the fate their families have planned for them.

Before the film’s broadcast, we spoke to Tracy about bringing history to modern audiences, developing festival strategies and experimenting with VR filmmaking.

Hi Tracy, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
In common with a lot of writer-directors, I’ve had a bit of a ‘wiggly’ career!  After graduating in Drama & Art from UCW Aberystwyth, I started out as a professional actor and stage designer (sometimes both at the same time), often working with theatre companies doing site-specific, devised work and that led naturally into writing and directing, initially for theatre then moving into radio, TV and film. I studied and lived in Prague for a short time, which led to a love of Czech New Wave films and inspired a number of Cold War themed projects including my first stop motion animated film. Animation was a good entry into filmmaking and combined a lot of the things I love: writing, directing, model and set design and acting too because you have to embody your puppets and bring their characters to life.  

I worked with Ffilm Cymru Wales between 2010 and 2017 as Development Exec, then Manager of BFI NETWORK Wales, and that gave me a great insight into the film industry from the other side. I’ve always tried to make use of that experience to help other filmmakers combat preconceptions and overcome barriers. Now I’m delighted to be back with Ffilm Cymru Wales as Talent Development Manager but in a job share so that I can continue to make my own work and straddle both sides of the fence - for the greater good, I hope!

How did you first hear about the ‘Ladies of Llangollen?’
I’m not entirely sure but I think I have Sara Sugarman to thank? Pretty sure I remember Sara mentioning them at an Iris Prize event years ago. Like so many Welsh histories and stories, I’d vaguely known of them for a long time, but I didn’t really know much about them. As a writer, I’m always interested in uncovering little-known stories and unheard voices from Wales, and when I did some proper research into their background, I realised there was a big dramatic ‘origin story’ there which hadn’t been depicted on screen in a fictional narrative. 

Dramatising it gave me the scope to explore visual metaphor and consider it in a broader sense than solely the documentary facts. I’ve always been a fan of Peter Greenaway’s work, as well as Kelly Reichardt, Andrea Arnold and Cate Shortland. Another influence was the lesbian surrealist artist Claude Cahun.  

What is it about their story that still resonates with modern times?
I’m really drawn to rebellion and resistance stories where people have a major struggle on their hands but in the end triumph against different forms of oppression. It’s well documented that Sally was in a #MeToo situation with her guardian Sir William and that, combined with the pressure Eleanor was under to marry or be banished to a convent for the rest of her life, gave the imperative for their escape. It was a very bold and brave course of action, especially in Ireland in 1778. As women their position was incredibly precarious, neither of them had independent income and were reliant on what they were afforded by a patriarchal society, which is still true for many women today. 

I was drawn to the queer love story and how their fight to live together on their own terms echoed down the centuries and resonates to this day for LGBTQ+ people throughout the world. Fortunately, their story had a happy ending and that’s perhaps been one of the reasons they’ve acquired a legendary status and their legacy is inspiring to us even now.  

The film has had a successful life on the festival circuit, with a UK premiere at last year’s Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival; how did you develop your festival strategy?
Yes, that’s been pleasing, it’s been selected for around 20 festivals worldwide and won six awards, including Best LGBT Film, Best Female Director and Best Cinematography, and we were delighted to be awarded the Chapter Queer Short Film Prize 2023. Getting into festivals is incredibly hard and very expensive too, so you need to do quite a bit of strategic planning and if you’re organised, you’ll be creating a big spreadsheet with dates, entry fees and pros and cons. It’s useful to look at the list of BIFA and BAFTA qualifying festivals and the ones that British Council will support you to attend with travel grants if you’re selected. Some, like Iris for instance, if they screen your film out of competition it can still qualify it as eligible for BIFA and BAFTA Cymru so it’s worth doing a bit of research on that. Dates are crucial to keep an eye on - for early bird entry fees that’ll save you money, waiver codes, and also for the date you completed the film because that can sometimes rule it in or out of some of the major festivals. Not all festivals are on Film Freeway, so check out their individual websites and sign up to other platforms. Above all, work out what your USP is or could be, so that you’re not competing with every other Drama film out there. As a queer short, LGBTQ+ festivals were a big target, or those that had that category as well as ones for women filmmakers. Having said that, it’s been surprising to see some of the selections and non-selections, for instance we were the only UK film (feature or short) at the Nepal International Film Festival out of 96 films from 35 countries, so you never can tell!

What kind of support did you get from Ffilm Cymru Wales & BFI NETWORK?
We had incredible support from Ffilm Cymru Wales and BFI NETWORK, especially as the first lockdown hit just when we had planned to shoot, so everything had to be postponed for another year. It was frustrating, but in another way was beneficial given it allowed more prep time (and I prepped the hell out of it with storyboard, animatic, shot lists and test shoots with the DoP, Keefa Chan). It also brought additional costs, so we were very grateful to be given extra funding for Covid support, which alleviated some of the stress of doing a costume drama on a very tight budget. Ffilm Cymru Wales have always been great champions for Welsh talent and we’re very lucky to have such a supportive film agency in Wales.

Can you tell us about your experiences of experimenting with VR filmmaking?
In 2018 I was fortunate enough to receive a Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales, and that supported me for about 18 months to research and develop XR storytelling.  Along the way, I completely fell in love with VR and its potential for telling immersive stories.  I did a short course at Raindance in directing 360VR, but I’ve pretty much had to teach myself through a mixture of trial and error and watching countless YouTube videos. In many ways, it’s similar to how I started out in immersive theatre and that’s how I approached the making of my first 360VR project A Signal Across Space / Arwydd Drwy’r Awyr. It premiered in 2022 at the Wales Millennium Centre and is the first creative VR film in Welsh and English. It was a labour of love and took quite a while given we were interrupted by the second lockdown, but overall it was a joyous experience working with a fantastic creative team, and this autumn it’s getting its international premiere in Toronto at FIVARS 2023.