The Day Fatboy Slim Narrowly Avoided Disaster
Right Here, Right Now represents a beginning and an end. As director Jak Hutchcraft tells Matthew Sherwood, the film is his directorial debut. A concert, like the one that forms the film’s subject, however, will likely never be repeated in the UK again.
The year is 2002. Superstar DJ Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) has decided to put on a free concert at Brighton beach. The authorities expected “around 50,000 people to attend” explains Jak. On the day, however, 250,000 fans crowd onto the beach.
The police are overwhelmed. On a hot summer’s day, the concert is surely heading for disaster. In the event, though, there are a total of just six arrests and one death – a tragic accident after the event.
Matthew and Jak discuss how Cook went from being a member of 80s pop band, The Housemartins, to being a DJ, and one of the biggest stars not only in the UK, but also America. They discuss his musical genius, looking at one of Cook’s most famous songs, Rockefeller Skank.
At the heart of their conversation, however, is the free concert on Brighton beach: how it nearly didn’t happen, the trauma it caused those tasked with policing it, and the impact it had on Brighton and Brightonians – an impact that is still being felt today.
Matthew discovers that Jak used to be a youth worker. Redundancy made him look at where his career was going – where he wanted it to go. Ultimately, his questioning brought him to Right Here, Right Now, and the concert of a lifetime.
“[Fatboy Slim’s free concert] changed people's lives... It changed dance culture and club culture and electronic music. It changed that forever, especially in the UK, [as well as] perceptions of our DJs and what they can do.” – Jak Hutchcraft
Time Stamps
00:00 – Matthew Sherwood introduces this episode’s guest, Jak Hutchcraft, and film, Right Here, Right Now
04:39 – Jak explains what Right Here, Right Now is all about
09:18 – The background to Fatboy Slim’s concert
14:01 – The nature of Fatboy Slim’s genius
18:14 – Fatboy Slim’s popularity
22:37 – Jak on how Right Here, Right Now is not a biopic but is about an event and the people who were there
22:56 – Jak on how his love of stories drew him to the Big Beach Boutique II
25:16 – Discussing the unexpected variety of people in Right Here, Right Now
25:49 – How the ‘irresponsible’ decision to go ahead with the concert became the sensible one
26:34 – Matthew and Jak discuss Trainwreck: Woodstock 99
28:30 – How the crowd at Big Beach Boutique II prevented rather than caused trouble
34:36 – The success of Big Beach Boutique II as ‘a cosmic warning’ not to undertake such a venture again
36:07 – Right Here, Right Now as Jak’s documentary directorial debut, and how he came to make the film
48:23 – Financing the film
51:35 – What viewers can expect to see in the film
53:18 – How Jak found the people who appear in the film
57:38 – How Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, and John Simm came to be in the film
1:00:02 – Jak’s Rule: ‘If you weren’t there, you aren’t in the film’ and how he overcame his filmmaking inexperience
1:04:35 – What Jak is doing now, and his hopes for the future
Resources:
Right here, Right now
MovieMaker Magazine
Innersound Audio
Alamo Pictures
Connect with Jak Hutchcraft:
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Transcript for Factual America Episode 126: Right here, right now
Matthew Sherwood 00:00
This is Factual America. I'm your host, Matthew Sherwood. Each week, I watch a hit documentary, and then talk with the filmmakers and their subjects. In 2002, Superstar DJ Fatboy Slim organized a free beach party for his hometown of Brighton, England. 40,000 ravers were expected, but a quarter of a million turned up. Right Here, Right Now brings us the story behind dance music's most infamous gig. Join us as director and writer Jak Hutchcraft discusses not only what it is like to work with a super DJ like Fatboy Slim, but also how a freelance journalist with the courage of his convictions turned a great story idea into a successful first time feature length documentary. Stay tuned. Jak Hutchcraft, welcome to Factual America. How are things with you?
Jak Hutchcraft 00:55
Things are really good, thank you, Matthew. Nice to meet ya. I'm feeling - I'm on cloud nine today, and have been for the whole month. How are you feeling, today?
Matthew Sherwood 01:05
I'm feeling great. I'm in Yorkshire, which I think you're originally from, aren't you?
Jak Hutchcraft 01:11
That's right, yeah. You're in York...
Matthew Sherwood 01:13
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 01:14
I do research on you, by the way, as well!
Matthew Sherwood 01:16
Well, good, good. Well, you better. I think more people should. But where in Yorkshire are you from originally?
Jak Hutchcraft 01:23
I'm from North Yorkshire; so, just a bit further north than York, where you are; so, a place called Richmond, which you might have visited. It's got a nice waterfall, and the castle.
Matthew Sherwood 01:31
Yes, yes. I know Richmond well. I'm actually living in Moulton at the moment. So, moved a little further out. So, yeah, North Yorkshire, the Moors, all that stuff. We live it up here. So - but that's not - we're not here - now we've lost the entire audience. So, we may have to edit this out. But what we're talking about, and the reason you're on cloud nine is, we're talking about a film called Right Here, Right Now, released earlier this month here in the UK, streaming on Sky Documentaries and Now TV. And I think you were telling me before we started, you can't find it elsewhere, at least legally, but there are plans to have a wider release, is that right?
Jak Hutchcraft 02:13
Oh, absolutely, yeah. So, it's - yeah, it's out on Sky, like you said, and Now TV, but, I mean, Fatboy Slim is so big everywhere, really, in the world. Like, he tours constantly. And, you know, massive fan base in South America, in America, in Australia, Europe, Asia, literally everywhere. We kind of cover it in the film, you know - the kind of far reaching fan base that he has. So, yeah, I want it - it'll be seen all over the world, eventually, and that's what we're working on.
Matthew Sherwood 02:47
I'm sure it will. Now, you've already mentioned Fatboy Slim, and just to get us started, won't you let our audience know - it's how we usually get started on the show is, what is Right Here, Right Now all about?
Jak Hutchcraft 03:02
Okay, so there's a British DJ called Fatboy Slim, and he was - he's what people call a Superstar DJ. In that he's massive. So, like, he was - like, a lot of DJ culture kind of came through the clubs and the illegal rave scene in the UK, and then bands - sorry, and then DJs started getting bigger, they started getting songs on Top of the Pops. And then, by the end of the two - end of the 90s, DJs, such as Fatboy Slim, and Chemical Brothers, and others, like Rem, were having number one albums, you know; like, this is, like, from the clubs to number one records. So, at this time, just after the turn of the century, 2002, he decided to have a free party on Brighton Beach. So, Brighton is on the south coast of England, and it's Fatboy Slim, or Norman Cook, that's his name, it's his home, and kind of, although he's not from here, it's kind of his spiritual home.
Matthew Sherwood 04:04
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 04:04
And he threw a free party on the beach. Anyone could come. It was on a Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, in 2002. And they were expecting around 50,000 people to attend because the year before they'd had, they'd had that number, there's 50 - around 50,000. And it was, you know, it was kind of - it was manageable. And then something happened on the day, July 13, 2002, which meant that 50,000 people didn't turn up. In fact, a quarter of a million people turned up. So, 250,000 people rocked up from all over the country, and all - and came from Europe, all came to the beach, to see Fatboy Slim, Midfield General, and John Digweed, DJ that day. So, there's some strange magic in the air. So, my documentary is about this one event that kind of - it changed people's lives that went there. Some for better or for worse. And it also, it changed the way we run events in the UK. It changed dance culture and club culture and electronic music. It changed that forever, really, especially in the UK, and kind of the perceptions of our DJs and what they can do and it's just got a kind of a special place in a lot of people's hearts in the UK as a kind of Woodstock. I'm talking about the original Woodstock for ravers, you know, this is like a mass gathering of people who just wanted to dance and be free on the beach. And it wasn't without its problems, obviously, with that many people you will get that. But we cov - I tried to cover it in a fair way. So, it's about - sorry, it's a long way of telling the story. It's about an event that got out of hand...
Matthew Sherwood 05:49
Yes.
Jak Hutchcraft 05:49
That's what it's about.
Matthew Sherwood 05:51
Yes. And we've actually had a - there's been other docs about events that nearly went out of hand. We've even had one of the two Woodstock 99 docs on, which - there's an interesting tie-in here, because Fatboy Slim was there as well. But he - I mean, one thing that your film does, and it touches on many - as you say, I think that's a very good description, there's this event called Big Beach Boutique II, right; is that what it's, you know, and just for me, you know - as you've may have figured out, I wasn't originally from this country, but I moved over here in 2001. And in 2002, you know, you just - and we'd been here - you know, I'd been hearing things about, you know - well, as you said, they'd already broken big, you know, this stuff. But, you know, even growing up, you know, in the 90s, you're hearing things about stuff that's coming from Britain, you're having another British Invasion, if you will. And, I mean, culminating in my own personal story in 2002, I'm even in Alaska at my brother-in-law's wedding, and I've got a guy there asking me about the house scene in Britain, you know. I wasn't even into it, you know, but...
Jak Hutchcraft 07:02
Yeah, yeah.
Matthew Sherwood 07:03
... he just assumed this guy from London must know something about it. So, it's huge. It's - so maybe you can say - because one thing that I think - you've gotten some good reviews - is that it's really good, you know, really gives a good synopsis of what led up to this event. So, maybe what - I mean, you've kind of already talked about it, but, you know, for British, non-British, audiences alike, I mean, this is a, as you say, an event of a generation. There's a whole generation grew up in sort of the 80s and 90s, and I didn't, but a lot of these people are about my age or a little bit younger, and it was - this thing was huge.
Jak Hutchcraft 07:39
Yes, that's right.
Matthew Sherwood 07:40
... DJs were massive.
Jak Hutchcraft 07:41
Yeah, yeah. That's right. It was - like, they were big in the 90s, but then by the early 2000s, they were having, like, like I said, number one singles and, like, pop hit records. And taking it over to America. Fatboy Slim did a good job of exporting that to America, which was difficult, which it wasn't such a big part of American, the American music scene in the 90s. Not as much as it was in the UK. But, yeah, what happened is - and I kind of, I tried to chart it in the film is - in the late 80s, is an acid house scene in the UK, a lot of it's underground clubs and illegal raves, you know, people just into the early 90s people just turning up to a field, sound system, dancing all night, getting shut down by the cops, and that had a real kind of, it had a real free energy to it. And so, that's kind of where the story starts. It's not where Norman Cook's story starts, because Norman Cook, Fatboy Slim, was in a pop band called The Housemartins through the 80s...
Matthew Sherwood 08:44
Yeah, I didn't even realize that. I know about The Housemartins, but I had no idea he was, you know, Fatboy Slim was in The Housemartins.
Jak Hutchcraft 08:49
I know. Yeah, so, it's cool. So, he had, he already had, you know, taste of the music industry, and a lot of success with The Housemartins. And then, like I said, this acid house and electronic music was kind of underground, but it was gaining traction in the UK with the illegal rave scene, and then clubs as well. And then there was a criminal justice bill that came in, that was imposed by the government that said that, you know, they couldn't - I guess they couldn't outright ban raves because - I don't think they could actually, I don't know how they'd ever word that properly...
Matthew Sherwood 09:29
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 09:30
... so, they decided to crack down on raving and people, you know, being free, dancing in fields all night, something that they couldn't control, a kind of anarchist spirit of acid house and the rave scene, because they couldn't control that, that's a bit of a threat to the government, isn't it, and how things run; so, they impose this criminal justice bill. And that said that if you have four or five or more people dancing around a sound system, with repetitive beats, is literally what it says, repetitive beats. So, if you're playing jazz or something like that, that's fine. But if it's repetitive beats, that's how they got - that's the wording they used, and then they cracked down on the rave scene. So, people got thrown in prison, promoters, ravers; and so, then, how it changes, super clubs kind of were born and club culture became, as it became more mainstream in people's tastes, so did these clubs started popping up, these big clubs and, you know, it was ticketed, and that was a whole different culture. Oh, well, an extension of the original culture.
Matthew Sherwood 10:33
Right. Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 10:34
And that still goes on today. There's massive clubs in the UK.
Matthew Sherwood 10:36
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 10:38
But that was through the late 90s. And then, by 2002, when clubs were the norm, you know, club culture was big, was mainstream, really, Norman Cook, Fatboy Slim, as I said, decided to throw a free beach party. And this was not for any other reason than he loves Brighton, and he just wanted to celebrate Brighton, and everything that he loves about it. And invite the world down. Little did he know the world actually turned up. Like, little did he expect, that the world actually turned up, and that's how we got there. So, that is a very reductive, I guess, and a brief overview of the dance culture in the UK, but that's the story, I - that's the story, I - Sorry, that's the journey I took, trying to take the viewer on, you know, from the raves, from the early dance culture in the UK, through the middle of the mainstream and popular culture and, you know, super clubs and then one last blowout. That's what it kind of feels like. This Big Beach Boutique is one last blowout before the drawbridge gets pulled up, the line gets drawn in the sand, we can't have free parties, anymore.
Matthew Sherwood 11:53
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 11:54
Well, people still do, but, you know, of that scale.
Matthew Sherwood 11:57
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 11:57
That's the journey for anyone that doesn't know.
Matthew Sherwood 12:00
And then, so - I mean, it's quite a journey to go from The Housemartins to what Fatboy Slim became. I mean, what is, you know, what is his genius, basically? How would you describe it? Because it's, you know, he's taken this boy from Bromley whose now spiritual home's in Brighton, but it is quite a journey he's on as well.
Jak Hutchcraft 12:24
Yes, exactly. What is his genius? I've thought about this a lot, and I don't think people are geniuses. I think people have geniuses in different parts of their life.
Matthew Sherwood 12:37
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 12:37
And so, I think the genius that he had, and still has, he doesn't put out music, anymore, he just plays live shows, but he's kind of like a crate digger, like a hip-hop producer's approach to dance music, right; so, like, all of his hits. Like, his big hits are, like, made up of samples of, like, obscure, often obscure soul, Motown, rock, psychedelic rock; like, hip-hop brakes, all sorts of vinyls that he's obviously - because he used to be a record collector. And he's obviously got a musical brain, because he used to play bass in The Housemartins. And he did loads of projects between then and Fatboy Slim, including Freak Power and Beats International, who were big, you know, big successes as well. So, I think his genius in making the records was taking these things that I don't even know how you do that. Like, if you - like, for example, Right Here, Right Now is an orchestral - is a sample of an orchestral outro on a song by The James Gang. Do you know The James Gang?
Matthew Sherwood 13:49
Yeah. Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 13:51
It's like ten second part of this orchestral outro that's a [sings tune]. And if you really listen to that, even if you wanted to make music, if you listen to that by itself, I don't know how you'd go, Boom. That's a number one record. And then he took a sample from Strange Days, you know, the film Strange Days?
Matthew Sherwood 14:12
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 14:13
It's got Juliette Lewis in it. He took a sample from that and put it over the top, and I think; like, on paper, if you look at any of his hits on paper, and that goes for Rockefeller Skank, like the intro of a Lord Finesse song; you know, like, the way he just [sings:] "Right about now, funk soul brother.". You think anything that - it becomes greater than the sum of its parts, and if you looked at it on paper, you'd think, well that's not a number one dance record. But then he, like, he's got rock samples - in the first album, he samples The Who, you know, he samples Black Sabbath. You think, What the fuck, man. Like, that- it's a strange genius, but it is a genius because it's not like, let's stick to the rules of having, like, a four to four beat with some dreamy pianos over top and a female vocal. It's like, let's take a soul sample from the 60s. Let's take a rock guitar. Let's take - let's put some, like, let's put some, like, breaks in it from hip-hop, a breakbeat. It's a strange thing. And then live, I think, coming from the rock world, or pop world, I think he has this natural swagger...
Matthew Sherwood 15:20
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 15:21
... this natural kind of showmanship that perhaps DJs didn't always have, or don't always have, but he's coming from, like, playing on Top of the Pops with his band. He's a bit of a - he gets the crowd going, you know, I mean?
Matthew Sherwood 15:35
Right, right.
Jak Hutchcraft 15:35
So, I think that between those two things are his genius. And I think a musician who obviously knows a lot about music, is a record collector. Someone like that, making electronic music, sample heavy music, it's just a different beast altogether. It's not - yeah, it's a - he's just unique, I think, really unique.
Matthew Sherwood 15:57
And then it just resonated with such a, you know, a sizable part of the population in a generation. It's just, it's almost like a perfect storm. But I agree with you about the hip-hop analogy. And also, you know, you wouldn't just think, Okay, I'm gonna take this one very small, extremely small sample, or riff, and just repeat it over and over and over again, and lay a beat on top, and all this other stuff that he does, that I would never even be able to think about. And think that that - and play it for six, seven minutes, and think that that's going to be a...
Jak Hutchcraft 16:30
I know, yeah.
Matthew Sherwood 16:31
... a hit, but it did. And it is. I mean, he's still, as you say, he's amazingly popular.
Jak Hutchcraft 16:36
Yeah, it's a strange thing. He has a real crossover appeal; like, a real crossover appeal that I think is owed to, not only to the strength of the songs and his live show and the club that he used to run in Brighton, but, like, I don't know. It's something about the music that appeals to indie crowds, rock crowds, and it appeals to hip-hop crowds because it's - the genre - originally was coined big beat because it was a bit different to house that was happening at the time. And it's slower, and it's a bit more, kind of - it's quite hard to define, I think, big beat because bands like Prodigy were also called big beat by some people, and Chemical Brothers, it's a lot of - it's sample heavy. Like I said, it's - I think it comes more from a hip-hop point, a hip-hop approach to making electronic music than perhaps a trance, trance or house DJ, that's what I would say. Yeah, but yeah; like, I've got NME covers from the late 90s, like...
Matthew Sherwood 17:38
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 17:38
... and he's on the front cover, and you think there's not many DJs that made it onto the front cover of NME. Like, there's, like, Orbital, there's a few. But in general DJs were kind of roasted by the NME. Even in those NMEs, even though he's on the front cover, he's obviously the cover star, in the article, because it's the late 90s, and it's the NME, they're so snidey; they're, like, it's just - it's music for zombies; you just press play and all this kind of shit. Why'd you put him on the front cover, man?
Matthew Sherwood 18:08
Yeah, well, they're trying to sell some magazines.
Jak Hutchcraft 18:12
The crossover appeal is real, and then fame to go and do it in America. Like, you know, to kind of break America. People thought he was a band. That's the thing. That's the funny thing, people...
Matthew Sherwood 18:23
There's that one intro. Yeah, exactly.
Jak Hutchcraft 18:25
And one guy goes, It's not even a band, man. It's a one man show!
Matthew Sherwood 18:34
Yeah, no. I feel like - except we'd get in trouble with copyright, and this never would get released on YouTube - I do feel like we should be having his music playing on in the background or certainly when we go to the outros, and whatever, but take a break. But I mean - actually, speaking of which, why don't we give our listeners and viewers a quick early break here. We'll be right back with the director of Right Here, Right Now, Jak Hutchcraft, who also wrote the film. It's on Sky and streaming on Sky and Now TV in the UK but be - if you're not in the UK, don't worry, it's going to be coming your way shortly.
Factual America Midroll 19:07
You're listening to Factual America. Subscribe to our mailing list, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter @alamopictures to keep up-to-date with new releases or upcoming shows. Check out the show notes to learn more about the program, our guests, and the team behind the production. Now back to Factual America.
Matthew Sherwood 19:27
Welcome back to Factual America. I'm here with Jak Hutchcraft, the director and writer of Right Here, Right Now on Sky and Now TV. So, we've been talking about Fatboy Slim. The culture of the time, what it was all leading up to. I mean, DJs - I mean, I - even in the early 2000s, I remember my wife was working at a place and they were really excited. I mean, I want even - I can't probably mention what the place was, but it's nothing to do with music. And they got Goldie to be their big spokesman, you know.
Jak Hutchcraft 19:57
Wow. That's cool.
Matthew Sherwood 19:58
And they were all - everyone was, like, really excited about it, you know, and that's how - that's where we were with these things. But so, this event, Big Beach Boutique II, it all leads up to this, your film leads up to it. It's almost a disaster. I mean, the size of, you know, Brighton more than doubles in size with all these people. For some it's the best day of their life, and for others, it's one they would rather forget, and you show both sides of that. I mean, how that was - that was a definitive - well, as you said, you try to show both sides and be as objective as possible. But is that a - it's interesting how one event can - I don't want to say divide. I wouldn't say it's 50-50. But there's certainly, for a few people, it was - they would rather not relive that. And then for others, it's the - one of the best days of their lives.
Jak Hutchcraft 21:00
Yes, yeah. I just want to pre - is it preclude? Prelude? What I'm going to say. Even though I talked about the genius of Fatboy Slim, just a moment ago, that's personal opinion. The documentary's, as you said, it's not Fatboy Slim isn't the focus, really, it's about the event and the people...
Matthew Sherwood 21:18
Exactly.
Jak Hutchcraft 21:19
... it affected, yeah. It's not like a kind of, like a biography of Fatboy Slim, and everything I like about him. So, yeah, it is interesting. But, you know, that many - this is why I was drawn to the story, I thought that many people there - I'm a journalist, so I, like, I write, and I make podcasts, and I make documentaries, sometimes, so. I'm always looking for stories. And I was drawn to this, because I thought that many people in one place, there must be some story, say, you know, like, 250,000 people; like, and as you said, people, a lot of people I meet, anyway, they remember it as some amazing, you know, It was the best day of my life, the best, the best gig ever, and the best rave ever. And then, I just knew that if I went down that route, it wouldn't be true - it wouldn't be true. It wouldn't be truthful, because...
Matthew Sherwood 22:10
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 22:11
... this is life, you know, there is light in this shade, you know, with everything. And if I watched this documentary, and it was all like, Oh, wasn't it the best time ever, you know; things are different back then, and it was all jovial. You know, I would watch it and go, Surely, that's not the full story...
Matthew Sherwood 22:31
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 22:32
Just the same as if I watched it, and it was like, Oh, it was so harrowing. Everyone had a bad time. I'd be like, that's not the full story, either. Because, like I said, I come from a journalistic point of view. And so, basically, everyone that was there dancing had a great time, for the most part, that I spoke to. And then anyone whose job or most people whose job it was to keep anyone safe, or was behind the organization of it, had a pretty traumatic experience...
Matthew Sherwood 23:03
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 23:04
... there, to put it bluntly. For example, a police officer that I interviewed in the film, who was working, who was one of - because they were only expecting 50,000, the numbers of police was so small, when, like, five times that amount turned up, it was almost like they didn't - they weren't there at all. And so, he had this - he has this experience that he shares with us, which is really kind of him.
Matthew Sherwood 23:32
If I could just...
Jak Hutchcraft 23:34
It must have been awful. Yeah, go on.
Matthew Sherwood 23:35
Well, no, exactly, you can tell he's still traumatized by it. I mean, the - I mean, what I think is - was brilliant about your film - I mean, if you had told me beforehand, you'd be, you know, there'd be interviews with a member of the city council and a policeman in charge of public safety and a guy in charge of events, I would have thought, I don't know, you know, but it actually, it play - it works really well. They're interesting, and it weaves in well with the story. So...
Jak Hutchcraft 24:00
Yeah. Thank you, man, thank you.
Matthew Sherwood 24:02
... because I think - yeah, no, it is a very, it is an interesting perspective that they bring to this, because they must have - I mean, another side of you must have been thinking, weren't they just so irresponsible for even doing this, you know, in the first place, and then making that call to go ahead? I mean, I think that you talk about it in the film. They made the call to go ahead, because they were told the alternative could be even worse.
Jak Hutchcraft 24:30
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, they can - it gets addressed in the film. Norman Cook talks about it, like, there's that many people in one place. They've come for the gig. If they pull Fatboy Slim's set. Like, where are all these people gonna go?
Matthew Sherwood 24:42
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 24:42
And, like, it could be dangerous...
Matthew Sherwood 24:47
And I wonder...
Jak Hutchcraft 24:48
... if people are dancing and having a good time, I mean, that's better than just standing around drunk and high, you know, looking for somewhere to go or something to do.
Matthew Sherwood 24:57 (26:34)
I mean, I wonder, too, if he was also thinking back to his experience at Woodstock 99. Because that - I mean, that - there people actually crashed a bus into his set, basically; you know, I don't know if you know much about that story, but he was there, and it was just a - I mean, the film was originally supposed to be called Clusterfuck but they had to change it to Trainwreck, because of - at the last minute on Netflix - we interviewed the filmmakers, but it's, like, this incredible scenes there - they show him - you know, he looks, he looks even more scared than he does in that one scene you've got, that you show in your film.
Jak Hutchcraft 25:35
I wonder if it did. I wonder if it was on his mind a little bit. I wonder if it was. What's interesting about what, like, it's interesting that you mentioned Woodstock 99 a couple of times, because that came out while I was making this film, and I was asked - well, I mean, I've seen - there's about - I've seen a few documentaries.
Matthew Sherwood 25:52
There's several. There's way - I shouldn't say this, but there's too many.
Jak Hutchcraft 25:56
Yeah. I enjoy them. But they - it was interesting because I thought it's, like, it's very similar - well, it's not a similar story. It's a similar story in that it's about an event.
Matthew Sherwood 26:13
Right, right.
Jak Hutchcraft 26:14
But Woodstock was all ticketed, and it was from the perspective of people trying to make money off people, jacking up the prices of water. The infrastructure fell apart, and even then, although I believe people do have some certain, some personal responsibility, I would say the problems were to do with the infrastructure, and the planning and the money grabbing nature of the people who'd set it up. And I would actually give no blame on any of the bands at Woodstock 99. There's metal festivals all the time. There's new metal festivals all the time. And they don't descend into that. So...
Matthew Sherwood 26:52
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 26:53 (28:30)
That's my view on Woodstock 99. Mine shows, I think, a different side to the same kind of human behavior, crowd psychology, in that - and I think it's - I think, and the crowd psychologist I interview, who was actually was one of the stewards at the gig, I interviewed another crowd psychologist as well, said that crowd behavior actually prevented disaster there. It prevented crushing. It prevented drownings. People looked after each other because the police and the ambulance couldn't get to you. So, it's kind of like a - it's so funny, because I listen to your podcast with the people who made Trainwreck: Woodstock 99, and one of the gentlemen said, It was like anarchy. It was like a social experiment in anarchy. And I thought, Yes, that's what mine was, too. But I don't think he understands the meaning of the word anarchy. Anarchy actually positive. People look after each other, you know, it wasn't - like, if you're left to your own devices, I see the world...
Matthew Sherwood 27:51
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 27:51
... in a way that we look after each other when we need to, you know...
Matthew Sherwood 27:54
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 27:54
... and that's what true anarchism is about. And so, that's what I think we got to the heart of, which is like, there are some factors that are at play, you know, people who are from the rave generation, maybe they're into taking ecstasy rather than drinking vodka and sniffing cocaine and having fights, that might have played a part of it.
Matthew Sherwood 28:15
A small part!
Jak Hutchcraft 28:16
Yeah, and maybe there was the nature of Fatboy Slim and the music, and his identity, maybe people were more loved up in that setting. I think there's something to be said for that. But I do think it's a real, like, miraculous stor - it's both a miraculous story, because...
Matthew Sherwood 28:33
I agree.
Jak Hutchcraft 28:34
I have to acknowledge that one person did die. This woman called Karen Manders. And she was a nurse, and she'd been to a party after the event and drunken, perhaps drunk, I don't know, but she fell off the escarpment, the Esplanade area, and she fell off and she sadly died. She hit her head and she died. And that was really tragic. And that is in the documentary, and it was something that I was really adamant on keeping in, on getting in, and actually building Norman Cook's trust enough that I could ask him about that on camera because it's a difficult thing, you know, someone dies at your gig, it's heavy, it's, it's heavy, and I have - I only met Fatboy Slim while I was doing this project. He's not an old friend of mine. So...
Matthew Sherwood 29:19
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 29:19
It was hard to broach that topic, but, I think when you zoom out a little bit, it is a miracle that more people didn't die. It's a miracle people didn't drown. There wasn't crushes and people kept each other safe. And this is what one of the psychologists - the crowd psychologist - says, the crowd prevented disaster which is not the narrative that often runs, which is, you know, mob mentality, which is, you know, people can't be trusted, that things break down, and we act like animals, which again is another misconception; actually, animals look after each other. Acting like animals is quite a good thing. We should do that more often. But, you know, like, I think mine shows a different element to, like, actually, you know, people together in one place can actually look after each other. And, of course, there were injuries, and, of course, there was a lot of mess afterwards, which is one thing that a lot of Brightonians, because I live in Brighton now, I moved down while I was making the film. A lot of Brightonians talk about that, Oh, did you know the beach smelt like piss for weeks afterwards? And I think, Yeah, I know that. And I put that in the film, but it's not exactly - that's not the main part of the story, come on; like, the time when the beach smelt like piss for a week, who cares? But, I put that in, and I think all these - kind of the build up and the aftermath is important to put in there. I think it's fair to say that, you know what, people do live in Brighton, people do work on the seafront, people do come here for holidays, some people it's just their home, they've always lived here. And all these people coming to one place and leaving it a mess, and glass and urine everywhere and what have you, you know, these are the people that have to put up with that. I wanted to capture that as well. Like, again, it's kind of, I didn't want to be a buzzkill. I think the documentary is in its nature celebratory. But I was also, like I said before, things - there's light and dark in a lot of things, you know, like, there's consequences and there's people who you affect, negatively, positively by any event like this, by anything you do. So, I tried to capture that. I think there's a bigger story even in there, but I'm yet to work it out.
Matthew Sherwood 31:33
Well, yeah, no, I think - I mean, just personally I do find crowd psychology a very interesting thing. So, one of the best books I've read was by American journalist about English soccer hooligans, and, you know, it was all about - it weaved in a lot of this whole psychology side of things. But just as that was of its milieu, if you will, when that was happening, 70s, 80s, you know, and not to - I think one thing about the Woodstock docs is there were two, at least two of them, one of them really dealt more with the sort of societal side of things, and the people we had on weren't dealing with it as much, they were looking more, as you kind of said, the infrastructure and the greed that was behind that story. But there were different things going on in the US in the 90s versus Britain in the, you know, England in the 90s, I think is part of it, but it can't, it doesn't explain it all. But I think, as you've pointed out, I mean, your film, you know, it's, as you say, you've just moved down there in the last few years, but it's an homage to Brighton, I would say, it's about this music, it's about the culture of the time, the zeitgeist of the time. It's about a lot of things. It's about, it's not a Fatboy Slim biopic, but, you know, I think it touches on - it's about crowd control, you know...
Jak Hutchcraft 32:57
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matthew Sherwood 32:58
... all these things, you know,
Jak Hutchcraft 32:59 (34:36)
Thanks a lot. It's interesting you say about crowd control, because, like, what I was, what I also think, is the event is also not only a sign of, you know, the goodness that people can do and how we can look after each other, but also, it's a bit of, like, a cosmic warning, you know, the event was, it was like, Okay, don't do this again, because people, someone died, and it was very dangerous. It was kind of like, as Becky, the woman that worked for the council says in the film, she said, it could - it would have been a matter of time before they had another event that was similar that could have got really out of hand. So, this was like a kind of the universe, drawing a line in the sand and going, Listen, okay, you flew too close to the sun this time. But, you know, but that very rarely happens. Things do go wrong. And this was like a strange, this is a strange time where - a strange event, where it was like, this almost went really wrong, but it didn't, but don't do it again. You know.
Matthew Sherwood 34:01
I think that's - maybe, we leave it there not for the podcast, but for that part of it. I mean, I think that's a very good way to end that. I mean, is this - you said you've done other documentaries but this your first big project, is it, or...?
Jak Hutchcraft 34:14
Yeah, yes.
Matthew Sherwood 34:14
So, it was your idea? How did - what came, you know, what part of you said, you know what, I'm going to make a doc - I mean, not only just make a doc about this, but it's going to be a - did you envisage that it was going to be an hour and a half and be streaming on Sky, when it was all said and done?
Jak Hutchcraft 34:30 (36:07)
No, I didn't at all. So, I - yes; so, this is my debut feature length as a director. I directed and wrote it. And I've worked on documentaries, shorter documentaries, in the past; you know, I've been producer, director, location scout; I've been - hosted, I've directed and - but, like, for a long time I've written for newspapers and magazines: Vice, The Guardian, DJ Mag, Kerrang magazine, all sorts of places. And so, I guess my history is, I'm a storyteller, and I just find the ways in which the stories can be told the best. So, whether that's a podcast or with an article...
Matthew Sherwood 35:14
Right, right.
Jak Hutchcraft 35:15
And so, this, yeah, where it came from was, it was the early days of lockdown, and I was looking for ideas, as always. And I had not long been full time freelance. I used to be a youth worker, working with teenagers in London. And then I, then my - I got made redundant, and I tried to reframe that because it was quite disorientating at the time.
Matthew Sherwood 35:42
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 35:42
I tried to reframe it as, Oh, this is an opportunity. Why not go freelance full time because I've always written, and I've made documentaries for a long time, and podcasts, you know, on the side of full-time work.
Matthew Sherwood 35:53
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 35:53
So, I started - at the end of 2019, I started working full time freelance. And then I was looking for ideas and trying to expand; you know, how can I make a living out of this? How can I work on bigger projects instead of articles every couple of weeks? And this was one where I thought - I was watching the videos of the gig because the actual concert has been - yeah, it was released the following year, or the same year, maybe, as a concert film. And it's great to watch [coughing] - pardon me - great to watch. It's just like watching the original Woodstock DVD, or any of those festivals, kind of, DVD. It's great fun. So, I was watching that, and I thought, Imagine that many people in one place; like, in the lockdown, when we were socially distancing, I thought, Imagine that many people in one place. So, to keep myself and my girlfriend at the time and our housemates entertained we used to put it on, on a Friday night on the big TV - the concert DVD on - and just be like, kind of pretend that we were there. And I did think there's a story here, somewhere. I thought maybe it's an oral history, following the people that went there. Maybe it's like, maybe there's documentary in it. And so, my idea hasn't changed that much since then. My idea was, find the people who went, you know; so, people, there's plenty of them, but find the stories from the people that went.
Matthew Sherwood 37:15
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 37:15
The people that organized it, and the police that worked it, and also get Norman Cook's point of view, Fatboy Slim. I thought this means a lot to different people for different reasons. I just knew that because of, you could see some discourse about it online on Facebook and stuff like that.
Matthew Sherwood 37:32
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 37:32
And so, I pitched it to Fatboy Slim's manager, Katy - yeah, yeah.
Matthew Sherwood 37:38
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 37:39
So, I was like, I thought I could do it all without him. If it was going to be a written article, I thought I could do it without him. It might be quite interesting to be, like, he's the kind of, he's the kind of hole in the donut that makes the donut what it is, you know, but I pitched it to her, and I thought it'd good to get him involved, and let's see if I can do something. So, I pitched it on a whim, one of the many emails I send out, you know, that I sent out that day: pitches, half-baked ideas, some of them are stuff that I've been working on for a long time, pitched out there, cross my fingers, went to sleep, woke up the next day. And she emailed back, Katy. I was like, Fucking hell, I can't believe it. Like, she e-mailed back saying that she really liked my idea. And this was, like, very beginning stages. I said, you know, it'd be cool to do an oral history. You know, whether that's a, like, an article or something bigger. I'd love to get Norman - I'd love to speak to Norman Cook about it, and she said, Well, we like the idea, but how about - and she really gave me a great opportunity. She was like, Well, why don't we do something bigger? And I was like, Alright, cool. And then I just disappeared. And I was like, I didn't email back immediately. And I thought, Okay, cool. And I just worked days on this treatment for a documentary...
Matthew Sherwood 38:59
I was wondering about that. Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 39:00
And then I was like, Now's my shot. You know, she's emailed back. I've got my foot in the door; you know, if it never come to anything, I've not lost anything; so, I thought, I'm going in. So, I sent her this big documentary treatment, which I had some friends of mine look over, and make sure it all made sense, and stuff. And then, she was into it, and that was in 2020. And, she was into it. And then since then it's just been a case of, my friend - well, my colleague slash friend Ben who's worked on documentaries that - he's worked for the BBC and stuff. He's a producer, a shooting producer and a great director. I spoke to him really early to ask for some advice like, Hey, man, like, I've got a really good opportunity here. Like, can you literally tell me what these words mean? Can you tell me what this means? Like, I didn't study filmmaking in college or school or university. I studied journalism, so my whole life has been writing. So, I was like, Listen, mate, I'm gonna need - I want to ask you a bit of advice. And then he was so supportive. He said, Well, why don't - why don't - and I said, Actually, why don't we work together on it? You know, he's a producer, I'm a director. And since 2020, it's just been me and him, and then an editor who we got on board later on, obviously, when we filmed it. It's just been us making it. So, three freelancers, and that's it. And it's been amazing. And then, when his manager, you know, liked me, we met each other, we talked a lot, and I kind of - she liked my idea. Like I said, the idea hasn't changed much. It was, like, the people's point-of-view, the people that were there; not some genius piece about Fatboy Slim, and how good he is, and how...
Matthew Sherwood 40:43
Right, right.
Jak Hutchcraft 40:44
So, that was another thing that I wanted to steer away from, was - I don't mind these documentaries. I don't mind them. I've watched a million of them, where they have a lot of other artists, or journalists from the NME, or journalists from Rolling Stone, or like, all the - the kind of heads from the time talking about, Oh, you know, Fatboy Slim, so good for these reasons. I mean, I've always had this; I just don't - I find the everyday people - that is a bit of a pejorative term, but, I prefer normal people; I don't think celebrities are that interesting, personally, and this is across all of my journalism. I'm not, like, you know, obsessed with interviewing Beyonce or Tom Cruise or anyone like that. That doesn't interest me at all. I'd rather interview, you know, Sharon, who lives down the road, and what's her story, you know what I mean? So, that's been my approach to this documentary, and I think they liked that because Fatboy Slim, he hasn't got a big - he's a down to earth, dude, you know, he's not like - he's not got some big ego that needs satiating, where he's like, you know, I want everyone to love me for these reasons. There was even talk of him not even being in the documentary all at one point; you know, I was round his kitchen, talking, Maybe there's a way of me not being in it. And then we realized, well, I realized, it would be cool to have, it'd be way cooler to have him in.
Matthew Sherwood 42:05
I think, yeah, I think it works. Definitely.
Jak Hutchcraft 42:09
He's not really - I tried not to make him the focus. I tried to give as much screen time to the ravers...
Matthew Sherwood 42:17
Which you do.
Jak Hutchcraft 42:19
... the ravers as much as we do the police officer, the people who worked there, his manager, and him; so, that was it. So, this is a long way of answering...
Matthew Sherwood 42:26
So, they weren't even precious - well, I know, I was just - sorry, I just interrupted you. But they weren't even precious about, you know, it wasn't like one of these things, because I'm aware of these sort of pitches with other types of celebs, where, you know, you got to get a certain director on board. They were happy you, you know, being the director.
Jak Hutchcraft 42:43
Well, yeah, this was the massive, a massive, thing for me, because they - I mean, they've worked with Spike Jones; like, think about...
Matthew Sherwood 42:52
Well, yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 42:52
... his music videos...
Matthew Sherwood 42:53
Exactly, exactly.
Jak Hutchcraft 42:54
He's worked with some of the best people you can work with. And so, it wasn't easy, I'll tell you that. It was imposter syndrome doesn't even come into it. Like, it was like, Okay, I want to do this. And it was like, I - do you know what, I'm quoting from the film, I can't not deliver - we can't - I can't not deliver; my whole life has been building up to this moment, that's what they say in the film. My life has been building up to this moment. I can't not deliver. So, I work my ass off. I learned - I read books and books about how to make documentaries. And obviously, you know, I wasn't coming into it totally dry. I've interviewed 1,000s of people, I've written for, you know, I've written for years, I've made podcasts, I've made short documentaries. I wasn't coming into it cold, but kind of - be entrusted with this, because there's another element to this work, it is an amazing story. Like, I'm not creating the story; the story exists, and the story is fantastic. It's got - it's so multifaceted. It's so interesting. And unlike Woodstock 99, there hasn't been any of the documentaries about it, right, and that's...
Matthew Sherwood 43:58
Did that surprise you? Because - I mean, I was a little surprised that there's - or...
Jak Hutchcraft 44:02
Yeah, well...
Matthew Sherwood 44:03
Go ahead.
Jak Hutchcraft 44:04
Well, do you know, I was a bit surprised. But then I think they didn't agree to make a documentary with anyone. Like, I think people asked over the years. And also, it's twenty years old, now. That event is twenty years old. If I made the documentary ten years ago; ten, you know, ten years after the event, I don't think it would have been (A) as good, and I don't think enough time would have passed for the people involved with it to - I don't know - to be able to reflect in the way that people can over twenty years, and for the world to have changed enough for it to be interesting. You know, what I mean; like, and that's why Woodstock 99 works. That's why - twenty years is quite a good length of time for people to be like, okay, things have changed since then, but it's recognizable. It's not like making a documentary about the 50s. I think the early 2000s is probably the most recent you could do a kind of historical documentary like mine, right. Because if you did something about the 2010s, it's not that interesting because people still, I still feel like I'm in the 2010s, but; so, yeah, so that's where I came from. So, it's a massive opportunity. And, do you know what, like, I've got a huge respect and gratitude for Fatboy Slim, and his management, Katy and Garry, for taking the chance on me, because it's - I knew I had it in me, but it was just getting the opportunity, man; like, it's just like, to get an email back is, like, getting blood from a stone, sometimes.
Matthew Sherwood 45:36
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 45:36
So...
Matthew Sherwood 45:36
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 45:37
So, it's a great opportunity. And I think - I'm happy with the film. So, it got picked up by Sky after we'd finished it. So, I made it almost exactly how I wanted it to be; so...
Matthew Sherwood 45:48
Amazing.
Jak Hutchcraft 45:49
So, there was a bit of, you know, a bit of tooing and froing, with some of the execs; so, people from his label and Fatboy Slim himself had a few ideas, which I actually welcomed them all because, you know, I actually wasn't at the event. So, there is - there are parts of the story that I - and I'm 32, so I was too young to have been there.
Matthew Sherwood 46:09
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 46:11
I would have been 11 years old. And so, there are parts of me where it's like, you know, tell me everything, you know, what do you want the documentary to be like, and other parts where, it's Norman Cook, he's a creative guy. I was like, What do you - if you've got an idea, like, I'll take it seriously. So, it was a bit of tooing and froing, but in general, I'm very happy with it. It is true to my vision, I think, from a very original vision. It's true to that. And then, Sky got on board afterwards, which is great, because it's, like I said, it's almost exactly as I wanted it to be.
Matthew Sherwood 46:43
And, I mean...
Jak Hutchcraft 46:44
It's never going to be exactly as I want it to be, is it...
Matthew Sherwood 46:46 (48:23)
No, well, nothing ever is, but, I mean; so, I mean, how did you - I mean, how do you fin - how did you finance this? I mean, it's - or did they - did Norman Cook help with this? Or is it - I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. It's often how it works.
Jak Hutchcraft 47:04
No, he didn't, he didn't finance it at all. It was through financiers called Beyond...
Matthew Sherwood 47:12
Okay.
Jak Hutchcraft 47:12
... Beyond TNC. And they go on board through on BMG Films. His label has, kind of, a film department. So, we worked with them. So, I mean, I said, you know, it was three freelancers that made the whole thing. Like, obviously, we couldn't have if we weren't helped out with the money. But...
Matthew Sherwood 47:29
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 47:29
... as far as the crew goes, it wasn't a production company. It was...
Matthew Sherwood 47:32
Yeah, that's amazing.
Jak Hutchcraft 47:33
... it was - and we were chipping away at it on a shoestring before we got the budget. So, we were filming - me, my friend Ben - we were interviewing people because you work on something to get it - like, it was like a passion project, and until we got the funding...
Matthew Sherwood 47:53
It was a pure passion project!
Jak Hutchcraft 47:55
Honestly, until we got the funding, it was, like, I was expecting - I was braced for it to be pulled away from us just because, like, you know, they don't owe me anything; you know, I'm not like - I haven't got the might of a production company. They could have taken my idea, or the idea, and given it someone else; so, I was braced to be, like, well, you know, if it happens, it happens, until we got the funding, and then the funding was like, you've got this much money to make it, and then you can go and do it. And then, a great thing, all the archive footage in it, which is very archive heavy; there are a lot - there are quite a few interviews now but archive heavy, and Fat - I remember I went to Fatboy Slim's management one day, and he's like, You should come have a look what tapes we've got. And I thought, Okay, cool. Maybe they'll have the odd VHS tape; and, walk in, and his management, Anglo Management, is on a boat, which is cool. Their HQ's on a boat...
Matthew Sherwood 48:55
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 48:55
... and I walked in, and there's just boxes and boxes and boxes of dusty VHS and Betamax tapes in there, right. From, like, 1992 to, like, now. Well, till people stop doing it - stop filming them - and some of them have, like, a good description, like, 'Fatboy Slim being interviewed on MTV Base' or whatever it said.
Matthew Sherwood 49:19
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 49:19
... and then some of them are just - got '1995' written on it. And you think, Alright, let's have a look at that. So, it was like, honestly, it was, like, it was a treasure. It was like finding buried treasure, and some stuff that had been filmed that had never been seen, and I can kind of tell by the stuff that was on there. You like, Wow, like, that - I wonder what that was for, but never got, you know, never got released. Some stuff was like - go on.
Matthew Sherwood 49:43
Yeah, no, I was just gonna say, maybe you can tell some of our listeners and viewers, what are the - what's, you know, what are the kind of things that they're going to - that's never been seen before? That's something they always highlight, right, with these things. 'Never before seen footage'! But, I mean, what kinds of things are we - you're already describing it but...
Jak Hutchcraft 49:58 (51:35)
Yes, yeah, well, do you know, there is - so, for the gig itself - so, like I said it was released on a DVD, a concert DVD, which is great. But we obviously have all the rushes, the isolated cameras from the day. So, we really had fun with that because the cameras are running from the afternoon till after everyone leaves, pretty much. And we really have fun just watching it through trying to pick different angles, different people to focus on, different kind of ways to tell the story from different points of view from the concert. And also, I mean, spoiler alert, but finding some of the interviewees, the ravers in the archive footage was...
Matthew Sherwood 50:43
Well, there was a...
Jak Hutchcraft 50:45
... one of the most exciting parts of my life, you know.
Matthew Sherwood 50:46
You know, I've seen the film, and I was like, Wait a minute, that does look like the 20 year old younger version of that person you've just been talking to, but I'm not - wasn't 100% sure, because some of us don't age as well as others over 20 years, but, yeah, no, that was quite impressive. I mean, how did you find these people? I mean, you're a journalist, so, I guess that's part of it. You're experienced in tracking people down, and things, but, you know, it's amazing, because you then - you build these stories from all these people you track down.
Jak Hutchcraft 51:20
Yeah, yeah, definitely. So, sorry, to go back to your archive question, and all the archive is basically from his career from 1996 until 2002, whether that's touring Japan, whether that's, you know, the album release, tours...
Matthew Sherwood 51:37
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 51:38
... gigging in America, going to Red Rocks, playing with the Chemical Brothers.
Matthew Sherwood 51:40
Exactly.
Jak Hutchcraft 51:41 (53:18)
All this stuff - some stuff has been seen, some stuff hasn't. So, that's what the archive is. It's great fun. If you're a real Fatboy Slim fan, you might have seen some of it, but for most people, it's hidden gems, I would say. And then, how did I find the people? So, Facebook's pretty good. Facebook's a good tool. Like, I mean, Facebook's inherently quite a bad place to hang out, I think, sometimes. But, in general, for finding people it's great. And so, for meeting new people, for me as a journalist, I use it a lot. And so, it was a lot of Facebook groups, a lot of, like, Brighton music groups, Brighton Local, Brighton Notice Board that you'd post in there, start speaking to people, or you'd look on Twitter, or I'd look on - and then, I had a brain wave of asking Fatboy Slim - this is when I'd built a relationship with him - asking him to set up an email address called Big Beach at Fatboy slim dot net. And that was, I was, like, Mate, like, can you do me a massive favor, because I'm getting some good stories, but I've got a feeling the best ones I haven't quite found yet. So...
Matthew Sherwood 52:48
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 52:48
... I said, Do you mind posting on your social media - he's got seven million followers across all of them - post on there, Has anyone got any stories, and - this was an important part - photos or video; photos was hard to find because people were off their head, and they had, like, a dodgy old camera that they...
Matthew Sherwood 53:07
Well, it was before smartphones.
Jak Hutchcraft 53:08
Exactly. So, people - some people had digital camera photos, but barely any.
Matthew Sherwood 53:13
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 53:13
I said, Can you post on your social media, and kindly request: Has anyone got any photos from the Big Beach Boutique II, or any stories. Email into here. And she gave me access to that email address. Just me access.
Matthew Sherwood 53:26
That's amazing.
Jak Hutchcraft 53:28
Yeah, it was amazing. And what did I get? 1,000s and 1,000s of emails! It was 250,000 people who went. 1,000s of emails, which I liked, and I enjoyed, and I spent days reading them. Ones where there's just like, I had the best time. I was dancing on the bus stop, and, you know, I was taking loads of Es, and I snogged this, you know, snogged this bloke, and we're swimming in the sea and - these are lovely memories, where you're like, that's cool, thanks for sharing. And then, you'd even get people emailing in, and going like, Oh, I remember the traffic was really bad. I live in Brighton and the traffic was all the way to Gatwick. You've had a bee in your bonnet for 20 years about the traffic. I was like, Thanks for sharing. And then, you get people going, like, you know, people talk about the rubbish and the piss, and the glass afterwards and...
Matthew Sherwood 54:17
Right.
Jak Hutchcraft 54:17
I hear you, I hear you. And so, there's all that. But mainly, it was people saying how much of a good time they had. Just - and that was great to read because that reinforced my belief in the project. I thought, this is good. This means a lot to a lot of people. And then it was me sifting through those, a lot of phone calls, a lot of meeting people in cafes in Brighton because I moved to Brighton around the same time, meeting people in cafes and having a chat with them, and working out, is their story interesting enough - not as harsh - they're all interesting, but does it belong in this film? You know, does it belong in this story of this film, because you can have - I can make - I can have a whole series of people talking, sharing their drug stories, or their stories about how dance music changed their life. And they're really good, but I wanted to find some different kinds, something that had a bit of an edge or something a bit of depth that was unexpected, perhaps. And so, as you remember, I don't wanna spoil too much, but as you remember from the film, the people that I focus on have got a kind of, there's a different element to their story, rather than just, well, as well as 'I went down and had a good time'. But also, one of the people that emailed in was a police officer. In fact, I think he was the first person that emailed in to that Fatboy Slim email address...
Matthew Sherwood 55:32
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 55:32
... was that police officer that I interviewed. Yeah, the police officer emailed in. And he was like, he obviously had a traumatic experience. So, he wanted to get it off his chest. And so, I thought, it's important that we show that side of it as well. So, that's how I found other people. It was a lot of work. But it was fun work. I love it. I love speaking to people. It's great, and hearing their stories, and kind of going to their houses sometimes and having a chat with them, and kind of finding - yeah, that's just all part of the fun of it, I think.
Matthew Sherwood 56:01 (57:38)
But then you also - I mean, like you said, you - and I think you concentrate on the, like you said the - lack of better way of putting it - everyday people, but you also get John Simm and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. How did that happen?
Jak Hutchcraft 56:16
So, it might seem funny when you watch the film; like, why are they in this film, you know, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and John Simm, but it does become clear why they're in it.
Matthew Sherwood 56:27
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 56:27
They - I just knew that they were there on the day.
Matthew Sherwood 56:30
You knew that, yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 56:31
I knew they were there because I saw them in footage. I found them dancing. I found them being interviewed and stuff.
Matthew Sherwood 56:37
Amazing.
Jak Hutchcraft 56:38
And then just, you know, shooted my shot and just emailed them. And, do you know, like, obviously working with Fatboy Slim, and the nature of the documentary.
Matthew Sherwood 56:49
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 56:51
It was welcomed by them, and Vernon Kay's in it, and Carl Cox.
Matthew Sherwood 56:55
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 56:57
And it was welcomed, because it's kind of - I guess, it's something that they're not used to talking about in interviews. They might be talking about - they might be on their press junket doing, you know, talking about their latest film or the latest TV series, but I was like, no, no, I don't want to talk about much apart from this event and Fatboy Slim, and the late 90s. And they were interesting because where they were in their careers at that time, was also a very exciting and kind of auspicious time, where it's like, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost had just released Spaced, and it had done really well. And then they were - about a year or two later, they released Shaun of the Dead, and then they really became big. John Simm had been in Human Traffic, which was a bit of a cult classic clubbing film in the UK. And then he went on to do amazing, massive things. So, it's a special moment, it's a strange moment in their careers where they're like, moving into bigger things. So, to have them talking now, and to have the archive footage of them was great fun, you know. And one of the rules that we stuck with, apart from Carl Cox, who is a Brighton lad, and he, I like him a lot, and I think that he brings a lot to the early rave scene part of the documentary because he wasn't actually at the Fatboy Slim gig, apart from that everyone that's in the film was at the gig. So...
Matthew Sherwood 58:25
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 58:25 (1:00:02)
The kind of motto between me and my editor, Eoin, was, if you weren't there - if you weren't there, you're not in the film. You know, like, if you weren't at the gig, you're not in the film. And that kind of - I think that really puts people in the moment. It's not like commentators talking about it, but, you know, looking back on it as a kind of moment, even the commentator that we do get - a commentator is maybe a harsh way of putting - the journalists that we get, the two journalists that we get, Ralph Moore and Nick Stevenson, they both work for Mixmag, and they were both there on the day, and Nick Stevenson...
Matthew Sherwood 59:02
Exactly.
Jak Hutchcraft 59:03
... Nick Stevenson was, like, This was my first big assignment. That was his first big assignment for Mixmag, going to the Big Beach Boutique and then raving it up, and now he's the managing director of Mixmag, and you think, like, come on, like, even that's an interesting story. And he gets to give, like, a cultural, journalistic...
Matthew Sherwood 59:19
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 59:20
... POV on why it's important for dance music. So, if you weren't on the beach, you're not in the film. That was our kind of thing. And Eoin, my editor, I learnt so much from Eoin and from Ben, I learned so much, and they supported me, and they - they're just - it's such a collaboration when you make a film. And when you do most creative things, it's a collaboration. And they were just - they were cool, man, they broadened my mind, they opened my creativity in ways I didn't know it could be opened, and they kind of supported me, and they were patient. And like I said, Cause this my first feature length, there are gaps in my knowledge, I didn't study film. I am a journalist, really, by trade. And so, I just had to lay it on the line with everybody. Even the sound mixer, the grader, the guy who worked in graphics, everyone at the - you know, where we did the post. I was like, I'm going to ask some stupid questions, okay. I'm going to ask several stupid questions, I said...
Matthew Sherwood 1:00:25
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:00:26
... about abbreviations, about, you know, acronyms, about terminology that I don't understand. I have a vision for this. Sometimes I can't articulate it in the way that other filmmakers might. So, I was just - laid my cards on the table, because I thought, I'm not - I just thought it's just going to be counterproductive if I try and blag my way through it, and not, you know, and pretend that I know everything about making films. I just thought that's not going to work with this because we need to make the film. I can't be bullshitting people. So, I was honest, and I was vulnerable, and I was like, Listen, yeah, be patient with me, please, I'm working it out. But this is my first big job. And they were all really patient with me. And they were really supportive and helpful. And it was like a crash course in how to make a feature film, you know. Every single part of it - not every single part of it, but most of it was a learning opportunity for me, which is great, which is like - it's like, what my ten years of being a journalist has been building up to, right. It's like, it's all about learning, and I learnt, how much I didn't know, which is always helpful, because you think every time you have a bit of a, bit of an ego about you, a bit of a swagger, Oh, yeah, yeah, I think I know what I'm doing there, then you get BAM, knocked back down, and that's quite helpful. That's good. I make mistakes. I learned from them, and I moved forward. And this was a really big thing for me personally, and professionally, and I'm glad that people are enjoying it.
Matthew Sherwood 1:01:55
Well, I certainly did. And congratulations, and I would say I'd never would have guessed it's your first feature. And I think it's good - I think - I mean, I'm not originally in the film world either, but kind of not really am now in many ways, but sometimes it's good to just be the one that asks the - what may seem like a basic, stupid question, and you sometimes find that these people think, Well, wait a minute, that's actually a good point. We've never thought of it that way. You know? So, I think...
Jak Hutchcraft 1:02:31
And what I learned from being a youth worker: the only stupid question is one that is unasked, right.
Matthew Sherwood 1:02:38
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:02:39
There you go.
Matthew Sherwood 1:02:40
Said like a good youth worker. Oh, my goodness. You're betraying your previous - your past. So, what's the plan? I mean, besides enjoying this, and living on cloud nine for a little bit. Do you have any - you know, another doc, another feature? What are you thinking?
Jak Hutchcraft 1:02:58 (1:04:35)
So, I was thinking about this earlier, all day, in fact. I'm working on stuff, man; like, I am basking, I'm on cloud nine. I'm basking in the glory of something that I'm really proud of. But I'm writing, you know, wrote something for ID magazine last week, and I'm writing something for Hook magazine at the minute about anarchism. I wrote about the early goth scene, last week, in the 80s in London, and I just, I just keep, I'll just keep going, man. I've got big ideas for feature docs. Now I've got contacts and kind of the momentum, perhaps, to kind of realize them and get them made - maybe get them made. I've got - I'm not short of ideas, I'll tell you that. But I am - I've got ideas for shorter docs. I've got a podcast coming up next year - sorry, this year, which I worked on all through last year.
Matthew Sherwood 1:02:58
Okay.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:03:02
... which I'm really proud of; really happy with. So, we edited this film in ten weeks. It was a quick edit.
Matthew Sherwood 1:03:32
Amazing.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:03:32
Yeah. And so, all that - I did quite - it was a very productive year for me last year. So, I've got a podcast coming out in a few weeks, month, maybe, who knows. And then I'm open minded. I'm open to anything. If anyone's listening, they want to work with me, I am a free agent, I'm looking for people to collaborate with. You know, I've got so many ideas. And, do you know, what this has given me, personally, is a big stamp of approval, you know; like, not that I need - not that I needed it, but, perhaps, but, it just makes me think I'm on the right path. And it's better to be on the beginning of the right path than further down a path that you don't want to be on, right, that's a quote that I read. And it's true. I feel like I'm at the beginning of this - my documentary making path. My mind is open and I'm alive, and I'm reading, and I'm watching, and I've got loads of ideas. I'm trying to work out how to tell those stories visually, or is it an article, or is it a podcast - yeah, it's cool. And, yeah, it's cool, man. I feel really, I feel really optimistic about the future. And I feel like it's big. It beats getting a real job, right, a normal job. So, it's - and then in Brighton, if anyone's listening, I run a month - I started a monthly night of talks about music and subculture. So, we have different musicians, authors, filmmakers. We have everyday music obsessives. They get on to the stage, and they share - they talk for 15 or 20 minutes about...
Matthew Sherwood 1:04:28
Cool.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:04:47
... about musical subcultures. So, that's what I've started down here to kind of get myself out of my bedroom and meet real people in the real world. Because when you do I do, you spend a lot of time on the laptop. Not great for my understanding of how things work. So, yeah, so I'm doing all sorts, man; I think the difficult second documentary I have got - I've got it in mind. But, hey, another idea might come along tomorrow that's even better.
Matthew Sherwood 1:06:04
Okay, well - and they can - there's links to a lot of that stuff on your - you have an eponymous website, don't you. We can put a link to it in the show notes, I think, but...
Jak Hutchcraft 1:06:12
That's right.
Matthew Sherwood 1:06:13
Yeah.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:06:14
Yeah, get in touch. Give me a shout!
Matthew Sherwood 1:06:16
Yeah, well, exactly. Check it out. I have. It looks - there's some interesting articles on there that I'm going to - I didn't have a chance to read yet, but I'm going to check those out. And just to say, Jak, it's been great to have you on Factual America. Thanks for coming on. And fortunate - coming to - unfortunately, we're coming to the end of our time together. But just to remind our listeners, we've been with Jak Hutchcraft, director of Right Here, Right Now. He also wrote the film, and as you've heard, a lot of other things, and it's streaming on Sky Docs, and Now TV in the UK, and will be, well, just check your local listings, as they used to say, it will be near you at some point in the near future. Jak, thanks so much. Great to have you on.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:07:08
Cheers, Matthew, lovely to meet you, man.
Matthew Sherwood 1:07:09
Great to meet you. And I do get down to London a decent amount. So, you know, maybe we can meet up sometime in - or at least, we'd certainly love to have you when you've got your second feature doc in the can.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:07:22
Oh, yeah.
Matthew Sherwood 1:07:23
Yeah. Great to have you on. Take care, and best of luck with everything.
Jak Hutchcraft 1:07:28
Cheers, man. Cheers.
Matthew Sherwood 1:07:29
See you. Take care. I also would like to thank those who help make this podcast possible. A big shout out to Sam and Joe at Innersound Audio in York, England. Big thanks to Amy Ord, our podcast manager at Alamo Pictures, who ensures we continue getting great guests onto the show, and that everything otherwise runs smoothly. Finally, a big thanks to our listeners. Many of you have been with us for four incredible seasons. Please keep sending us feedback and episode ideas, whether it is on YouTube, social media, or directly by email. Please also remember to like us, and share us with your friends and family, wherever you happen to listen or watch podcasts. This is Factual America, signing off.
Factual America Outro 1:08:14
You've been listening to Factual America. This podcast is produced by Alamo Pictures, specializing in documentaries, television, and shorts about the USA for international audiences. Head on down to the show notes for more information about today's episode, our guests, and the team behind the podcast. Subscribe to our mailing list, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @alamopictures. Be the first to hear about new productions, festivals showing our films, and to connect with our team. Our homepage is alamopictures.co.uk