EXIT was inspired by a newspaper story about the suicide of a young woman working in London's sex industry, and was a film I made when I was sixteen years old on the most basic standard (regular not super) 8mm equipment: I had to dub the sound later, there was no true sync.
The music was by my best friend at school, Paul Kendall, and his experimental jazz band, Strophie; Paul has gone on to produce extraordinary music and is now based in Paris. Check out his MySpace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewpro file&friendID=39916139
My biggest challenge was persuading my school friend, Sue Wilson, to play the woman. I think she gives an excellent performance, and I like her reading at the end, of lines taken from Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland.
The film was enough to get me a job directing a documentary for BBC TV while still at the British equivalent of high school. I am surprised now by how the dark theme and tone of EXIT foreshadows my novel (and film), The War Zone.
