Ex-Rental (Feature film)
Ex-Rental - A warm, funny, analogue‑soaked story of lost loves, rediscovered tapes, buried grief, and the healing power of cinema, music, and creativity itself.
A once‑promising singer‑songwriter chasing a romantic ideal returns to his hometown, only to meet a sharp‑witted filmmaker who pulls him into a nostalgic trip through old tapes, new songs, awkward memories, and the faded world of video shops. Together they discover that the stories they tell — and the films they love — are never quite as they remembered.
We are in the final stretch of shooting our no-budget, Bristol-based feature, Ex Rental, and we need your help to finish and return the film to the video shop on time. Over the last three years, we've exhausted our resources, and the final push is proving very difficult.
Paul and I met at university in the mid‑90s studying film. Twenty‑five years later, I'm still chasing music, and he's still chasing his first feature. Three years ago, we hit a now‑or‑never moment, raised £2,500, and started shooting. The money went quickly, but we kept going — helped by generous friends and a story that means the world to us.
We’re filming in the village where Paul grew up: the old video shop units, the parks, his old home - all woven into a story about why people hold onto dreams, how art, for good and bad, can shape our identity, and how creating it can help us heal. Despite the tiny budget and a crew of two, we’re aiming to create the kind of cinema we love to watch, with as much attention paid to the audio and visuals as to the character work.
So far, we have shot 80 percent of the film and have a rough cut standing at 70 mins, and now we are looking for a couple more actors to help us finish the rest of the film.
SONG SAMPLES:
We've also been having a lot of fun creating songs that our lead character wrote way back in the 90's as an angry and confused teen. Here's an advert for a crowdfunding perk that will be running in the lead-up to production:
We’re making a no‑budget feature film set in Bristol, and we’re now casting the part of Jules..
We can pay the standard minimum wage.
We've been working on this for the past 3 years, and it has been a true passion project. So far, we’ve shot around 80% of the film, and we have a rough cut currently standing at 70 minutes.
You can watch the latest teaser here to get a feel for the film:
Ex‑Rental — A warm, funny, analogue‑soaked story of lost loves, rediscovered tapes, buried grief, and the healing power of cinema, music, and creativity itself.
Jules (48)
Requirements:
There’s a single exterior scene, shot guerrilla‑style in one day: three actors, a crew of three, minimal kit, and very little fuss. Because the scene is set in summer, our window to shoot is likely before the leaves start to turn at the beginning of September. A Bristolian accent would be a bonus, but we’re open to others.
The film’s protagonist listens to a recording of a song Jules made 20 years prior. It would be great to find someone who is up for singing, but because the recording is old, we’re open to using another voice.
Character:
Jules is warm, confident, and playful — someone people naturally gravitate toward. She appears in a single, pivotal scene: a whirlwind who arrives for a few minutes, upends our leads with humour, and shifts the whole direction of the story.
She’s a major unseen presence throughout the first half of the film; we don’t know if she’s alive or dead, almost mythologised by our protagonist, Guy. Twenty years ago they were close — weekly video‑shop trips, shared obsessions, and eventually a romance.
Now, two decades later, they meet again — a complete surprise to Guy. He’s shell‑shocked and on the back foot, while she’s open, grounded, and entirely past it. She still enjoys getting in a few digs, letting him know she’s good and that he still has work to do — all with love.
The role needs someone who can be cutting in a playful way while still displaying warmth and empathy.
If you are interested, message us here, and we can send you a scene for a self‑tape.
Thanks so much,
Keith and Paul.
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