It’s tough being single and the wrong side of thirty in London. Sally is both. The Wasteland is the story of her search for love and the crazy things previously sane people do when they are left with nothing but a dating app for company.
First time writer director Dan Northcote-Smith was inspired to write The Wasteland after witnessing many of his friends traversing the exciting, difficult and occasionally treacherous world of dating in London.
The story opens on Sally as she absent mindedly flicks through potential dates on a dating app called ‘Matchr’ outside a cafe in North London. She connects with a handsome teacher called Elliot and as they begin to chat she notices, to her surprise, that they are sitting outside the same cafe. She spends the next few hours quietly trailing Elliot as he goes about his afternoon, completely unaware that he is being followed. As they get to know each other virtually she uses her voyeuristic advantage to seem like the perfect date. What will happen when they meet?
Northcote-Smith intends to capture some beautiful parts of North London including a scene in the oldest permanently running cinema, the Phoenix in East Finchley. He also plans to feature local independent businesses and the ‘People’s Palace’ – Alexandra Palace. Visually, the film will be inspired by French New Wave cinema and references the likes of Godard and Truffaut in his visual approach.
The project is currently at the funding stage on Kickstarter. Take a look and back a local project here.