THE DOCUMENTARY
Roger Law. Evil Genius. Master of Mockery. Satirist for an era. For twelve years his Spitting Image television series was must-watch viewing for politicians and public alike throughout Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. But after the series ended, he all but disappeared. What happened to this creative genius? Our aim is to tell his inspiring story – of crisis, endurance, and having fun! As we discover, Roger Law is Still Spitting – and on the 30th anniversary of Spitting Image, he is poised to make a nuisance of himself again, this time with his entry into the art world.
Directed and produced by Michael Coulson, the documentary feature film tells the story of Roger's Law personal crisis after the hit TV show ended, and how he turned his life around and began a new artistic obsession - making gigantic porcelain pots covered in his drawings. He hopes the Big Pots will be a legacy to equal Spitting Image - a lasting statement to his eccentric genius, long after the hundreds of videotapes of Spitting Image stored in his archive have crumbled into tiny pieces.
The documentary, shot on high definition video in the UK, Australia and China, incorporates material from roger’s personal archive as well as archive behind the scenes footage of Fluck and Law and Spitting image. It features interviews with comedian and voice artist Harry Enfield, Spitting Image producer John Lloyd and with Roger’s wife, artist Deidre Amsden whose candid views on Roger’s character and motivation are peppered throughout the film.
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Roger’s creative journey begins as he gets off the boat in Sydney and takes off into the Australian Outback. In the wetlands of the “Coorong” he rediscovers his love of nature (first learnt from the his time growing up in the Fens in England) and starts to draw the landscape and its weird and wonderful creatures, seeing them as echoes of the caricatures he each week made for Spitting Image.
As he learns to draw again and use skills which he’d neglected throughout the years of Spitting Image, he reflects on his life before the TV show. he talks to us about how escaped from the family building firm aged 14 to go to Art school. There he met the famous satirist Peter Cook who was to act as big influence – pointing him in the direction of what was to become his future career. Later he teamed up with Peter Fluck and formed the partnership of Fluck and Law whose 3 dimensional political caricatures produced for newspapers and magazines throughout the world became notorious for giving the Establishment a good kick.
Fluck and Law’s 3 dimensional caricatures inevitably led on to the moving latex puppets of Spitting Image But what was once a labour of love - Roger felt proud of the high production values of the work he and Peter Fluck did for print – now felt like a chore as the artistic qualities of the work they produced work was were inevitably lost in the turmoil of weekly production as they tried to bring a craft process to the impossible medium of television.
In the film, Roger is seen to be conflicted – the show was a success and made him famous – although not rich he says – but he feels it turned him into a foreman shouting at people. He says he hates puppets and never liked the show but adds the caveat that he doesn’t like anything he does now – because it can never be what he imagines it will be. Roger wants to produce something permanent inspired by the work he’s been doing in Australia and decides he want to transfer the drawings on to ceramics.
He travels to the mecca of ceramic making – China, and in Jingdezhen the heart of the porcelain manufacturing world, he discovers, after many unsuccessful attempts, a way to make large ceramic “pots”. He allows us a close-up view of his creative process, all the time delivering a very personal and outspoken commentary about his time at Spitting image and how ironically he has now recreated a mirror image of that time - working long hours with young people in terrible working conditions. (At Spitting Image he ran a huge workshop in Docklands with young crafts people producing 20 puppets a week for the tv show). His skill and perserverance win the respect of the Chinese workers around him and he forges close relationships with his young translator and his master carver. But now he is 70 years old and the work takes it’s toll on his health. After months of work Roger must leave for the UK before the winter sets in. The large pots will be fired while he is away and then shipped to the UK. The last chapter of the film sees Roger waiting for the sea container with his pots to arrive at his brothers farm in the Fens. He opens the container door and hopes that the kiln gods have been kind to him.
ROGER LAW: BROADCASTER
Roger's series ‘Spitting Image’ was watched by over a quarter of Britain's adult population each Sunday night at the height of its 12-year run. Its spin-off records, books, comics and videos have sold in the millions and the show was franchised in many countries around the world. He has recently returned to broadcasting, with Mark Rickard, Still Spitting assistant producer, presenting several highly praised documentary series for BBC Radio 4 on subjects as wide ranging as the contemporary Chinese art scene, the English teapot, the ill fated ‘Spitting Image’ franchise in Russia and Satire in the 21st century. Roger contributed to the Comic Art show at the Tate opening in 2010.
ROGER LAW AND POTS
Roger Law is someone who makes things. In his long and industrious career he has been an illustrator, Fleet St art director, political caricaturist and TV mogul. Surprisingly, the big man - Roger is well over 6 foot with the build and salty dog appearance of an 18th century Buccaneer - has an eye for fine bone china. His love of 'pots' - as Roger calls them - was born when ‘Spitting Image’ was in full swing and Roger was looking to diversify. He was inspired by Victorian master potters, the Martin brothers – a duo like Fluck and Law – and worked with craftsmen in Stoke of Trent making teapots and coffee pots based on his caricatures of the politicians of the day with the hope he would make his fortune. Although a financial failure at the time, they are now an expensive collector’s item, and the exhilarating experience of working with one of Britain's great traditional craft industries never left him.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: MICHAEL COULSON
Michael Coulson is a award-winning director and producer whose groundbreaking work in television and digital media has earned him a reputation for excellence and innovation. Michael has produced and directed high-profile programs for British and American television and Cinema and for prestigious organizations such as the BBC, Channel Four, Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, The United Nations, National Geographic and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. In the course of his career he been recognised by his peers and been nominated for Grammy and BAFTA awards and won the prestigious Milia D’Or Grand Prize at Cannes for interactive media.
PRODUCER: MARK RICKARDS
Mark Rickards is a senior producer with 20 years experience at the BBC. He began his career as a film editor working with directors such as Desmond Wilcox and Norman Stone. At BBC Scotland he worked across all genres: comedy dramas by John Byrne and high profile thrillers such as The Justice Game, as well as documentaries in arts, music and current affairs. As a producer in radio Mark makes a wide range of feature documentary programmes for Radio Three, Radio Four and the World Service.
HOW CAN I HELP?
We can only finish this documentary with your help. You are as much a part of its creation as we are. So far over 63 people have given their suport via a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign. The more people who participate, the more ability we will have to get Roger’s story out to as many people as possible. So whether you are able to pledge a small amount to help us along the way, or fancy becoming a fully-fledged producer of the finished film, every penny matters.
All of the footage for the film is already shot – over 100 hours in all. We arev now composing the soundtrack and thenneed to produce a final edit, and sound mix so that everyone can see this fascinating tale.
If you would like to support the project, please click here:
FOLLOW THE PRODUCTION
We have set up a special Facebook page where anyone can follow our progress, and share our special footage, thoughts and news. Visit us at facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StillSpitting and share it with your friends.
Production Address:
Three Humans Inc 221 East 78th Street, Suite 3F New York, NY 10075-1217 USA
Telephone:
917 622 6103
Director/Producer
Michael Coulson
© 2013 Three Humans Inc. All Rights Reserved.