We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Edward Halstead. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Edward below.

Alright, Edward thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Together Alone (releasing September 2023) a short, West Flies the Raven (releasing 2024) a short now being redeveloped into a feature/series,
Transplanted (in development) a dramedy series,
S*X, Drugs, Rock’n’Roll and F*cking Video Games (in development) a feature,
Caretakers (in development) a sitcom series.

Edward, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I first started as an actor. At times, I connected more with the stage than the outside world, seizing every opportunity I could to play these larger-than-life characters, everything from Shakespeare to The Crucible to His Dark Materials, from an early age. I was part of something where the goal was to make the audience believe that a simple stage setup is a fantasy world or some point in history. I loved it. I took what was an initial interest and made it my life, studying and travelling around the world, I gravitated from acting to focus on writing eventually… I was told a line from a tutor in university that has stuck with me through my journey: “The script, the script, the script.” The great Alfred Hitchcock. Everything I loved about acting came from the admiration of the script, I became obsessed with building worlds, stretching my imagination but still maintaining that one key factor that started my journey: making the audience (now the reader) believe.

I find the greatest quality a writer can have, at all times, is perseverance with a little sprinkle of patience; perseverance to understand that your first draft isn’t going to be precisely what you had in mind and definitely isn’t an Oscar winner, but you persevere draft after draft. Patience is a two-way street: patience with yourself and the team of people you have around on any one project. If something isn’t gelling, a reader isn’t getting what you’re trying to say, or a scene feels out of place, it can all come together with a bit of patience and understanding. Once I found that these two words worked for me, I felt like I could maintain control of any situation or problem that could occur while writing a script. I find preparation always helps, again for myself and the team around me, a first draft can have the potential of something great if there’s a clear understanding of your characters and the world they inhabit for some, something as simple as treatment helps but I found for me what works is a treatment, a pre-vis (through concept art or a look book), character breakdowns, a story breakdown, and even finding the time to create a playlist – all of this not only helps me stay on track it helps my readers connect more to the story.

What makes me proud are the moments I get to be on set. Sometimes, I produce the projects I write and like to be on hand for quick, on-the-day script edits I want to oversee. But sometimes I get to watch everything come to life, the actors becoming the characters and the fantastic work from all the departments: the set decor, the location, the costume, I like to see my scripts as blueprints and as the script progresses through pre-production-production and post-production the people hired to come on board get the chance to add to it, leave a lasting touch so that they can say “I helped make this a reality.”

My most recent memory of this is with West Flies the Raven, what started as a historical Viking epic found a better home, becoming a history-inspired fantasy epic, and I couldn’t be more proud of what it became and what it’s currently becoming. With the help of the Mockingbird Film Company, in two to three weeks, we had the forest location for the incredible fight scenes, as well as armour, an entire stunt crew (shoutout to the guys and gals at Stagefight), a supremely talented cast and so much more.
I love Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, and with this project, I got just a taste of what it’s like to be part of a project like that, and now I want more, and hopefully, with some fingers crossed, there may be more story to tell.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being creative is seeing a project completed. I mentioned this earlier, but I feel like I can go into more detail here. Every script starts with an idea, and it evolves into this untamable beast, but with the people you bring on, the better the chance you have of taming it. It’s a struggle, and it’s weird to mention, but Moneyball explains it so well: “It’s a process, a process, a process.” The journey of learning from project to project is never over. Perfection may never be achieved, but the more you keep going and the more you keep chiselling, the closer you can get, and I find that remarkably rewarding. I recently revisited the treatment for a project that I helped write a few years ago, and I was shocked, shocked at how far I had come I could look at it, and it was almost like staring back at myself, and now the treatment is stronger than ever. Time is a valuable thing, more often than not, I think it’s against me, but there are rewarding moments where I can embrace ecstasy and say, “time well spent.” This project was a struggle, but it’s completed now, and I can’t wait to take what I learned from it onwards to the next project and the one after that.
Embrace the struggle because you never know what you may learn from it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As I continue my journey, it feels almost interesting to attempt to answer this question now and revisit it in five years to see if my answer changes. I know myself well enough to know in my early twenties, when I was studying and travelling, meeting new people and going from project to project like a hermit crab changing shells, my answer would have been “to entertain.” I was a bit of a good time seeker, and this was reflected in the TV shows and movies I watched, I was surrounded by peers, finding the more profound meaning to their scripts/films was perfectly acceptable, and I helped wherever I could. In contrast, my scripts did have a message they I went about it was through comedy and fast pacing, that was my staple, and it worked for the time.
But I’m older now… You can guess, I won’t tell! Whilst this question is a challenge, my answer is this: my goal, my mission in my creative journey, is to be true to myself, the difference between this answer and my old answer is that I used to people please, I would give them what I thought they wanted. Now I realise my creative journey is my own, and sometimes my films will reach a million views, sometimes they won’t, sometimes my films will get into many festivals, and sometimes they won’t, but as long as I stay true myself, give every project the very best I can give it then I’ll know I’m still on my journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://imdb.me/edwardhalstead
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edhalstead/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/edward-halstead-7970b4156
• Other: Watch my latest film, Together Alone here: https://www.youtube.com/@KitchenFilms

Image Credits
Reis Bruce, Sean Bould, Ross Syner