Blank Canvas

Blank Canvas is a short film currently in development, building on our previous successes and serving as a further step towards our feature-length productions.

Will, a brilliant but insecure art student, is running out of money to stay at college and is so worried that he is unable to concentrate on his painting. His friend Leo, a confident and charming would-be art dealer, is just as broke. When they are offered the chance to help their tutor’s friend Kate clear out her county mansion, Leo sees this as an introduction that could reverse Will’s fortunes. He is disappointed when Kate, still grieving after the death of her wealthy artist husband, is too distracted to listen to them.

Will is shocked when Leo comes up with another plan – why don’t they just steal a valuable statue they’ve found at Kate’s house? But can Will be tempted, despite his sympathy for Kate? And what are the consequences for them all?

MPT co-producer and writer Lucy Nordberg wrote the script to address the theme of the division between the generations – a much-discussed topic at the moment – and to explore the contrasting struggles that are felt at different times in our lives. Mixed with the everyday dialogue, the main characters speak at times in dramatic verse – a style MPT is developing for future productions, and used successfully in the award-winning Time and Tide trilogy. Lucy first wrote for theatre using modern blank verse, and feels that film can add another layer to this kind of storytelling, and that, in turn, this style offers something new to film.

MPT co-producer and director Marc Green Marc will further establish the MPT signature style, where story and characters are front and centre, with technology and effects used to enhance the story and the acting, without distraction from the central narrative. His painterly approach – informed by his past work as an artist – suits this story set in the art world.