How Screen South Ignored a Profitable Idea
When I arrived in Brighton in 2004, I presented Screen South with a project and a professional script that I had already tested on my target audience. It was designed to generate high profits from a low‑budget feature film using emerging digital distribution channels. The bureaucrats at Screen South told me they already had “great talent” to support and no money to waste on projects like mine. During nearly two years in Southern UK, I did not find much of that talent they spoke about — only a few overworked professionals charging excessive fees.
My First Encounter with “Fish Tank”
In 2009 I went to the Cannes Film Festival. One of the heavily marketed projects was “Fish Tank”, created by people who had received significant public funding from Screen South and the BBC. I took a quick look at it, but there were far more interesting things to do in Cannes, so I did not bother watching it fully at the time.
Trying to Understand the Hype
After reading many glowing reviews — perhaps paid for — I decided to watch the film again in Paris. In a good movie, actors should deliver the story in a way that makes the audience believe it is real. Instead, this film felt like Anneli Jarvis’s performance amplified by Andrea Arnold’s desire to show she had been a good student at the London Film School.
The Only Audience Member Who Understood the Joke
The only other person in the cinema was a twenty‑year‑old law student who had brought her single mother along. She asked her mother, “You’ve seen me act. Should you have spent your life savings sending me to film school instead?”
Why Call This a Masterpiece?
How can this film be considered a masterpiece?
BBC’s Disinterest in Real Cultures
At the same time, I had offered the BBC several interesting documentary projects that could have been executed on budgets between 10–15K. One of them was about Setoland — a nation on the Russian‑Estonian border with its own language, flag, hymn and even an elected king. Their economy relied on cross‑border contraband and producing strong homemade spirits over 75% alcohol. The BBC told me this topic would not interest their audience, even though most British people I met said the opposite: they would love to learn about cultures they knew nothing about.
The Punk Culture of Northern Ireland
While in Northern Ireland, I was surprised to see how many young people had turned to punk culture. Usually punks are over fifty, always drunk and living on social benefits. So I proposed a documentary to the BBC exploring whether modern punk culture in Northern Ireland was a silent protest or an attempt to preserve cultural heritage. It would have covered the history of punk, how it was born in Northern Ireland, how it helped make Richard Branson one of the richest men in England, and why it still survives there.
BBC’s Silence and Deleted Emails
The BBC never responded. During my court process against them, it became clear that some employees simply delete emails that do not fit their career plans. How can a public organisation operate like that?
Working with Professionals Who Still Know Cinematography
Both of my proposed projects had professional directors attached — people who still understand what cinematography is about.
The Absurdity of IPSOS‑MORI’s Judgments
Between 2006 and 2008 in Belfast, I tried to apply for honest work as a market researcher for IPSOS‑MORI. During training, the instructor could not even connect his laptop to the screen to show a slideshow. Later he began avoiding me, using the same strategy once used by a bureaucrat in Tartu who held the title “Cultural Integration Officer between Estonia and the EU”. She did not speak any European languages and had never visited a foreign country. The IPSOS‑MORI office left a note claiming I was “incompetent” to conduct questionnaires in Northern Ireland, even though I was the best in the group — first to finish and with all questionnaires completed properly. Why do incompetent people deny professionalism?
What People Really Thought
The next day I went to the streets of Belfast and interviewed over a hundred people within a few hours, based on IPSOS‑MORI’s definitions of “social classes”. Most of them agreed with me on several points:
• IPSOS‑MORI manipulates results for the benefit of their clients.
• Sending a BBC employee to Kabul resembled historical political occupations, and the BBC should consider the consequences.
• Learning about cultures on the EU–Russia border would interest British audiences far more than the BBC assumes.
• Showing endless antique auctions and “Homes Under the Hammer” during an economic recession causes stress and anxiety.
• There should be full accountability for how much public money BBC and Screen South invested in Anneli Jarvis and Andrea Arnold, and why this film is considered a classic.
Being Labelled “Mentally Ill”
I want to know why, despite everything, a judge in Belfast Magistrates Court could declare me “mentally ill”.
How “Mental Illness” Became a Convenient Label
People were also called “mentally ill” during Estonia’s EU accession process if they questioned whether we should first enjoy our independence, develop our economy and culture, and build a unique selling point before joining another union. Some who had secured high‑salary positions in EU institutions claimed that rejecting EU “prosperity” was madness. Others questioned whether declaring war in Afghanistan and Iraq should be done by Parliament and the President, not by a bureaucrat. The answer was that NATO would not like it otherwise.
The Narrow Vote That Changed Everything
Estonia joined the EU with 52% “Yes” votes in an election where less than half the population participated.
When Recounts Change History
Maybe one day those votes will be recounted, just like in Florida, where a recount revealed that the actual outcome was not what people believed at first.
The Damage Already Done
But now the damage is done. Estonia’s economy has collapsed, corruption has taken hold, and much of the population has migrated to the last beaches of New Zealand and Australia — as shown in a four‑hour Hallmark Channel film. Meanwhile, I am stuck in a corrupted EU, watching an organisation I once admired destroy values that were once called professionalism, and I cannot do anything about it.
