Adam Watkins initially studied Creative Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University. His multi-monitor installation piece 'Dig a (whole)' went on to be exhibited at ICA's Summer Exhibitions, and was even invited back as part of their Open Submissions Greatest Hits. He then went on to work as a Transmission Controller and Broadcast Engineer before getting the film bug and jetting off to Sydney to study at the APA International Film School. A test commercial he shot while out there, John Smiths Non Nonsense Bitter – Golf, won second prize at last year's CFP-E/Shots Young Director of the Year at Cannes. In 2005 Adam was also 1st Assistant Director on the thoroughly international, award-winning Italian and Spanish-set short Dammi Il La.

However, 2006 saw Adam direct, write and edit his own short mockumentary comedy Colin Sprockett: Numbers Man, which sees the titular and slightly delusional character commit himself to a strict training regime to compete in the high stakes sport of… Sodoku. The film was screened at last year's Cannes Short Film Corner and Adam hopes to be taking his latest film Jonah's Quids there this year. Jonah's Quids has gone into pre-production and is shooting in April (www.jonahsquids.co.uk).

What was it like taking Colin Sprockett to Cannes Short Film Corner? What advice would you give to Cannes first-timers?

All round a great experience. The thing about the Short Film Corner is that there is no selection process as such. All you need to do is send a copy of your film and pay your fee (about ฃ75 if I remember right) and your film, however good or bad it might be, will be put in the system. Then it's your job to promote it whilst you're out there to get people to want to see it when they go into one of the booths there. So you get your film there and obviously have accreditation for the festival itself, so you can spend your time seeing some of the absolute huge amount of films that are screening there. This is what is so good about Cannes in particular – in addition to all the other stuff that's happening, the receptions, parties, master classes and everything else you can literally fill your whole day seeing a massive variety of films, and meeting people from all around the world. I went with a friend who also had a film that I worked on in the Short Film corner, and we managed to fill get to see a good amount of films and sit in on workshops etc, so all in all it was a tiring but totally rewarding experience.

As far as advice – and I don't really feel that qualified, but from my visit I'd say:
- Try and organise your days as much as possible. If there's a certain film you want to see, or an event you want to go to then get to the queue early and be prepared to wait. For any of the official selection films then you can get tickets in advance, but to a certain extent its hit and miss. We'd tried on numerous occasions to get tickets for the eventual Palm D'Or winner – Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes The Barley, with no joy. In the end we found a screening at another venue and waited and were able to get in.
- Bring the right clothes. It may seem ridiculous, but it's hot during the festival, so bear that in mind. If you want to go to one of the Gala Screenings (and why not – you're in Cannes after all!) then you need to dress posh. Bring a DJ with you if you can, or you'll have to hire one. It's a joke, yes, but there is something really nice about going up the red carpet in a DJ on a Gala performance. Obviously it would be better if it was for your film, but you can't grumble.
- Use the pavilions. Obviously you want to be hanging around the British Pavilion, which was very good and held interesting talks etc. as well as a drinks thing every night, but also go to the others. Use their computers to check your e-mails – you can get screening reports to see who's seen your film, then send an e-mail to them and find out what they thought. Note: Don't fork out for membership to the American Pavilion. In previous years it's been the only place with Wireless Internet, but that wasn't the case this year, and you wondered why they're the only one's who felt they had to charge to use their pavilion. Rip-off. And full off super-keen frat kids. Not the Coppola's & Kirsten Dunst as I'd been lead to believe.
- Coast the freebies. There are all sorts of receptions and parties at the pavilions etc in addition to the huge one's that you'll never get into anyway. Keep your ear to the ground (or take a friend who's good at chatting up officials as I did) and find stuff out. We had a great time drinking quality beer and munching on cheese and mustard in the Dutch Pavilion. Best beer by a country mile.
- Network. I hate it personally and am absolutely terrible at it, but apparently this is what this industry is all about. Bring business cards and all that jazz. Hate it – absolutely hate it, but there you go.
- Take it all with a pinch of salt. You might have just walked past Bruce Willis on La Croisette, but at the end of the day it's a load of nonsense isn't it? Most people have proper jobs. Keep a sense of perspective.

What advice would you give to a first-time shorts director?
 
Blimey – I don't know if I'm in a position to give much advice! I guess the main thing to do is to surround yourself, as much as possible, with good, reliable people. That goes for actors and technicians alike. Chances are you're not going to be paying them much, if anything, at this stage so they need to feel the project is going to be worthwhile to them. It's a completely collaborative medium, film, and it's important to keep an understanding of that. Try and get what you want for as little as possible without compromising the end result. That's what it comes down to in the end, at these early stages. It's all about the compromises. And don't write a helicopter shot. You can't afford it. If you're writing it yourself, or picking something to direct, your decisions should be based on what is possible. Be ambitious, but don't be ridiculous. The reason I wrote Colin... as a mock documentary was that I knew it would be possible to get it done in the style I wanted in the really tight time frame I had. I'd love to have done a sumptuous drama with lots of crane shots, but for a couple of hundred quid that just ain't going to happen. Saying that Robert Rodriguez would probably manage it!

You wrote and directed Colin Sprockett, do you plan to continue as a writer/director – or will you concentrate solely on directing in the future?

At this stage I'm in a position where I need to create my own work, so I'm trying to push things forward as a writer/director, but I'm more than happy to work with someone else's writing – in fact I'd be very interested to. I doubt I will ever be in a position to say that I only want to work on stuff that I'd written myself, and I think that's a bit of an arrogant attitude to have. I'm sure that there are some directors out there who only work on their own scripts – I'm thinking perhaps Anthony Minghella has probably been involved in the writing of all of the films he directed, but there can't be too many like him, and he is a particularly prodigious writer. I have no particular feeling that my writing will be able to match the style I might want to direct in the future, so certainly wouldn't say I'd concentrate on one or the other. There's got to be tons of good writing out there trying to get made – I'd be silly to close that avenue. If I'm able to have any choices to make on that then I'll be very lucky.

What did you learn from your experiences of being 1s Assistant on an award winning short like Dammi Il La?

That was an experience on so many levels. It was a great opportunity to work with some people I'd met at Film School in Australia, as well as other technicians on a scale that I hadn't experienced before. We were shooting in Italy at a variety of locations, and a couple of days in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, so including some final prep work it was a three week or so period of extremely long days and very little sleep. Knackering! But, like everything it was also so much of a learning experience. Just seeing how things can be achieved, problems overcome etc. We had a great group of people working on the shoot who were able to think on their toes, and that helps no end. Sometimes being the 1st AD means you aren't everyone's best friend, but you're taking the responsibility of moving the shoot along to get the scheduled shots. We had problems with scheduling (the whole project was very ambitious) and that is probably one of the biggest learning experiences I got from the project, but in the end it was shot, it looked beautiful, it's a lovely story – well cut, and has done well at the festivals. I wouldn't advise on having a 1st AD who doesn't speak the same language as the majority of the crew though – that was interesting.
 
How did studying at APA International Film School in Sydney come about, and would you recommend it to other prospective filmmakers?

I was basically looking for a film school to get the practical training I needed. I had a look at some of the big schools here in the UK – and I applied a couple of years ago to the NFTS in Beaconsfield. For that course, at the time at least – I don't know if it's still the case, you had to specialise from the word go, so I applied to the Editing element. I didn't get in, and so thought of other schools. The fact of the matter is that the big schools – the LIFS, NFTS etc are really very expensive. I've no doubt you get a great training and certainly the prestige of coming out of those schools, with their alumni etc is great – it's like an Actor coming out of RADA or LAMDA I guess. Anyway – the long and the short of it was that I was never going to be able to afford those courses, or the prestigious American ones. I'd have loved a European school, but obviously I'd need knowledge of another language that I don't have. So I did a bit of research and found out about this course in Sydney. I'd never been out there before, and so it was a great opportunity to get the training I wanted and live in this amazing city. I applied – managed to get in, and was made up. It was much more reasonable in cost, and I really liked the strong practical element and the fact that it wasn't necessary to specialise from the word go. I mean – if you're new to the industry how are you going to know that you definitely want to edit, or be a DOP unless you've had a chance to try it. There you had the chance to learn all the disciplines and get an all round understanding of all the crew roles, which is such an important thing, and must make you a better filmmaker. Would I recommend it? – I'd say yes – but do your research. It's a very vocational course – it's not an arty European film school – you won't be going into analysis of shot structure, working with actors, screenwriting in any great detail. But you will get a good broad understanding of the kit. It's run by an ex-pat couple who've been out there for years as well, and I think they like to see a few Brits there. That's the other thing that is good about the school – about half the students were Australians, the other half from all around the world. American, Brits, Colombians, Swedes, South Africans, Italians etc. And you're stuck in Sydney – which is no bad thing!

You've recently made test commercials – is that quite a different skill to learn? And how successful so far have they proved in attracting attention?
 
I'm not sure how much of a different skill they are. You're producing something for a very condensed time, and promoting a product, which is a discipline. I've only done one test commercial basically. I directed a comedic commercial when at school, and I wanted to build a bit of variety in my reel, so when I was arranging to shoot Colin..., I thought it would be a good idea to try and shoot a test commercial as well while we had the kit, very different in tone and style. I haven't actually pushed that work in particular so it's not exactly attracting attention – I think I probably need to get something else shot – perhaps another type of commercial.

What films – features and shorts – have most influenced you?
 
That's too difficult – you see stuff all the time that has some kind of influence, both features and shorts, it's tough to pin it down. I have to say something like the Cinema 16 DVD's of shorts from established directors, often some of their earliest work, are really good.

Saying that – I have pretty much decided on recent viewing that The Karate Kid is probably the best damn film in the world. No doubt. Blows the bollocks of Citizen Kane.

What's next? And what are your long-term plans?

Well – I'm trying to get another short (this time with more than a 1 day shoot!) off the ground with a couple of producers, and there are others that I'd like to do as well – bigger in scale. Obviously it's about getting money together and so on, but hopefully something can happen.  Long term I'd obviously like to be involved in some really good British features, but I think we're so lucky in Britain to have such good quality TV Drama's as well, so I'd love to have the opportunity to Direct some of those in the future, as well as, perhaps, commercials. Basically any opportunity to work with some of the brilliant actors we've got here in films or TV that is inventive and interesting and I'd be happy. It would be nice to get paid for it as well at some point!