Sword and Fiddle Productions

27/02/2024

We've had some GREAT news! 🎉
One of the scripts we've been working on for the longest time has been chosen for a live Table Read with a REAL Director and ACTUAL Actors as part of this year's London Screenwriters Festival.
It's a script that's had a lot of work put into and many re-writes including a complete format change from TV to Film, so it'll be interesting what they make of it and a great opportunity.
Congratulations to Amy Sparkes Author and all the other screen writers who've been successful - not sure who's on here and who's not!

Get access to over 500 film industry professionals including agents and producers over 70 sessions and three days. The London Screenwriters' Festival is the leading screenwriting event to help you improve your screenplay and make contacts that who get your script made.

08/01/2024

Congratulations Tiverton Canal Co - have a great 2024! We're so pleased to have been part of the setup for the celebration, and look forward to joining in!🎉

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! . . . .

It's 2024 and it's 'PARTY TIME' for the Horse-Drawn Barge !!!
As we Celebrate '50 Years' of The Horse Drawn Barge in Tiverton Devon.

We have already started to plan 'Party Events' to celebrate the 50th
as well as an Open Day on 13th July.

Please keep an eye open on our page & website . . we will keep you up to date with information as we get it.

ALSO NEW for 2024 is our 'Serenity Sunday' Afternoon Trips.
( by popular demand of your feedback last year . . . Thank you )

In other BIG NEWS! . . . We will be releasing a New Tiverton Canal Co & Horse-Drawn Barge Film in 2024, in time for the start of our season for the 50th. . . We will keep you posted on this too.
We were proud to chose Tiverton based Sword and Fiddle Productions to make the film.

New PDF 2024 Trip Timetable & Fares : https://www.tivertoncanal.co.uk/horse-drawn-barge/timetable-and-fares

New PDF 2024 Leaflet 50th : https://www.tivertoncanal.co.uk/upload/files/NEW%20TCC%20Paper%20Leaflet%202024%20245mm%20long.pdf

PDF Canal MAP (11 miles) : https://www.facebook.com/tivertoncanal/photos/a.423474086082/10157360879661083/?type=3

02/12/2023

Very pleased to take up Bristol Old Vic Theatre School's invite to see Into The Woods performed by their 2024 graduating actors at the Redgrave Theatre. It was a great matinée and fantastic to see and hear the actors spreading their musical wings.
Details here:
https://oldvic.ac.uk/events-shows/into-the-woods/
and the show trailer is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blTrm6e3J6c

Journey Into the Woods at The Redgrave Theatre as beloved fairy tale characters come together for Sondheim’s magical, musical adventure.Follow the Baker and ...

21/11/2023

Congratulations to Ché Tligui on being awarded the David Banks Performers Fund 2023. The Performers Fund is an initiative supporting actors from a low-income background during their training, helping to relieve some of the financial pressures associated with the final year of drama school.

Ché commented, “I’m very grateful to be the recipient of this award. It’s a huge help in giving me a chance to focus as much of my time and energy on my final year as possible. I want to thank the David Banks Performers Fund for their generosity, it's such a privilege!”

🗞️ Full announcement: oldvic.ac.uk/news/david-banks-performers-fund-second-recipient/14621/
📸 Craig Fuller

10/11/2023

We enjoyed watching the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School final year students perform 'Jekyll & Hyde' yesterday. It was our first trip to the To***co Factory Theatres - a brilliant venue, and we loved the engaging set-up of the stage. Congratulations to the students and everyone in production on a fantastic show!

03/11/2023

A much-needed team meeting pushing forward development of several projects, including a new short film 🥾. Lots of exciting things on the cards.
However, two people, three biscuits... let battle commence.
🪨📄✂️🐸🖖

02/10/2023

Breaking News ! . . . .

All of us including our lovely heavy horses are very excited to let you know that Tiverton Canal Co has been awarded a 'Finalist' position within The Devon Tourism Awards for ‘Small Visitor Attraction of the Year 2023/24’.
The final decision on which finalists will receive a Gold, Silver or Bronze award, takes place on 16th November in Torquay.
Philip Brind said, “Jacquie myself and the team, feel very honoured to be a Finalist, as we know there are many hundreds of excellent quality Tourist Attractions in Devon.
The recognition of this award means so much to us as a family as this award will coincide with the Horse-Drawn Barges 50th year on the Grand Western Canal in Tiverton, as it started back in July 1974”.
We will of course keep you posted as to results in Torquay and to thank those that made this award possible.
Best Wishes
Tiverton Canal Co

04/08/2023

Never work with...? I mean, things worked out OK this morning. Working on our commission for the fabulous Tiverton Canal Co in Tiverton, and getting some shots of the heavy horses during their morning routine. Handily, some very good friends showed up to ride the barge and got us a reverse-angle shot!

20/07/2023

Finally there's good weather, so we can push on with some outdoor shooting. George the wind-muff has been working hard in the sunshine, so we thought he deserved a treat.

03/07/2023

Grabbing a quiet moment to develop storylines on our TV show. Hoping to start work on the script soon. I love the weaving together of story threads.

29/06/2023

Final moments of setup for the first real day of filming the Tiverton Canal Co ready for next year's 50th Anniversary celebration. Thanks to James Land for coming on this creative journey with us, and thanks to Sew Much More for an amazing and supremely effective anti-wind-noise microphone cover.

11/06/2023

Huge congratulations to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School final year students for a stunning showcase yesterday at the gorgeous The Wardrobe Theatre.

First we saw The Brink written by Brad Birch, directed by Daniel Preciado and designed by Marta Sitarz, starring Samuel Bell, Ellie Jack, Tommy McAteer and Mira Edirisingha.

Second up was The Ugly One written by Marius Von Mayenburg, directed by Natalie Simone, designed by Vyshnavi Krishnan, and starring Kate Cartwright, Sumah Ebele, Kerr Loudon and Christopher Williams.

Incredible performances, which rocked you back and forth between laughter and sitting on the edge-of-your-seat. Absolutely brilliant.

27/05/2023

A brilliant night at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Summer Festival at The Wardrobe Theatre yesterday watching a performance of 'Holes' by writer Tom Basden. Congratulations to actors Melina Sinadinou, Peter Burley, Lucy Pascoe, Tom Canavan, director Lydia Cook and designer Chen Chen
The audience were in stitches - the comedic delivery was perfect. And the emotional scenes were stunning. To swing from comedy to drama is not an easy thing, but this cast delivered it.

01/05/2023

We're very pleased to be able to say that S&F has been engaged by the Tiverton Canal Co to produce a film celebrating the company reaching 50 years in operation. Working with other local professionals, we'll be taking a relaxed look at life along the canal and how the horse drawn barge fits into the community.

23/02/2023

Now we've got some more projects in development, we thought we'd tweak the website. You can see what we're up to here:

03/02/2023

Exciting times for Sword & Fiddle, presenting a storyboard at a meeting today.

28/01/2023

Brilliant to be able to share this great news!

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is thrilled to announce that a third year BA Professional Acting student has been selected as the first recipient of the David Banks Performers Fund. Established in 2022, the Performers Fund is a new initiative supporting actors from a low-income background during thei...

28/01/2023

It's been an exciting couple of days. We polished up a pitch for a new TV series and have been talking with actors and agents. Attachments are under way and things are moving forward!

01/01/2023

Happy new year to you all! Hope 2023 is a good year for you. It's shaping up to be a busy year for us, developing two comedy-dramas, a family film, shooting our first short film, and shooting our first infomercial. Exciting times!

28/10/2022

Really pleased to have helped this new local fencing club with a promotional video - our first finished outside project! 🤺📹

Short promotional spot for Heart of Devon Swords' Saturday Sabre family fencing instruction

02/10/2022

Really exciting to have written the closing lines of the first film script. I've written them first because I know everything is building up to that moment. 'That moment' is the entire point of the film and it feels so good to have it down. Back to the beginning now to finish it off!!

02/10/2022

Out for a lovely rainwalk this morning. I started off marching for fitness, but I was soon distracted and zooming in on the beautiful detail of the rain and it's effects around me. I love the connection of everything. The echoes of the world around us when we stop and listen. And how that moves us to storytelling. Standing beneath a tree, holding my breath, watching and waiting as this raindrop prepared to fall, a whole new idea was born.

24/09/2022

Things are progressing with our short film plans. We've been looking at locations, doing calculations and having exciting conversations with talented actors and crew. On we go!

26/08/2022

Down by the coast, pondering and plotting. This autumn we're pushing forward with developing and producing some short films. So many exciting ideas to explore...

24/08/2022

No video this time, but our 2nd order of "test" merch has now arrived. As requested, drinking vessels are available!
This does mean I've opened up the merch store on our website www.swordandfiddle.com now - full disclosure: S&F does get a small amount from each sale which gets reinvested into the company.

11/08/2022

Bit of excitement for a hot Thursday. Just had our first set of (non-clothing) merchandise through for us to quality-check. Thought you might like to see it too! If it seems OK, and the other items we've organised look good, we'll sort out a store with this partner in the next couple of weeks.

08/08/2022

Had spare time today, so wanted to have a go at making a bit of promotional kit. No idea when/where we'll use a 20cm-wide standee, but a useful exercise and not really something we'd be able to buy! Could use it as an office door sign too I guess.

06/08/2022

04/08/2022

Absolutely loved writing a special monologue for an actor to perform as part of our pitch. Six drafts of the script, sometimes only changing one word in a draft. Every word has to work hard and be the absolute best it can be.

Finished the process feeling even more strongly about this character than I did before. If I have some time to play, I'll be creating a one-page monologue for every single character, if only for the joy of seeing and hearing them uninterrupted for a whole minute.