Wasted Youth

Back in 1995, I was helping paint the set in an old school in Pilton, Edinburgh. On the 2nd day, the producer approached me and asked if I could act. I said no of course but would be happy to audition for a wee something in the film...

That night, there was a knock on my door in Thistle street around 10pm. It was said producer clutching the full script for Bruce Naughton's new feature Wasted Youth.

So, thinking that I may have won a wee extra part I welcomed her in and she immediately told me that I was to play the lead roll and shooting started the next morning!

Now, not being trained in any way on technique, learning lines, delivery, posture or any of the other 1000 elements around acting, I set to work on the script to find out that I had to learn 3 pages for an argument scene then next morning.

Anyhoo.... 5 weeks of this passed and the film eventually got it's 1st screening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Here we are 19 years later... Bruce gave me the Beta tape of the film and we've agreed to launch it online in full to give it a wee bit of life.

Here's the link: http://www.coffeewithalid.co.uk/wastedyouth/

Film Info:

Jamie and Ben are two students faced with the age old trauma of getting out of bed in time for lectures and into bed with the girl of their choice, until they come across a bag filled with several pounds of hash that's been hastily discarded by a slimy local crook. Here is the gateway to a fantasy term of dulled brains and newfound popularity: "the answer to all our troubles" reckons Ben, floating inches from the ceiling, "financial, social and spiritual"

Running Time: 83 mins
Director: Bruce Naughton
Producer: Bruce Naughton
Executive Producers: Kaitie Corimer, Lockhart Murdoch, Jack Shea
Editor: Deccan McGrath
Screenwriter: Bruce Naughton
Director of Photography: Martin Parry
Sound: Robert Anderson
Music: Mick McGarr
Principal Cast: Colin Usher, Brett Macadam, Angie Keenan, Lulu Preston