Jack sold hot tubs to put him on the road to making star-studded films

Members of the cast on set (Image: Supplied)

JACK Spring raised the money to fund his first feature film by renting out hot tubs.

“I needed to find £150,000. I found an office in York, where I lived at the time, bought an inflatable hot tub and rented it out. A year later when he sold the business, he had 184 hot tubs and was renting them from eight cities across the UK.”

“The experience taught me a lot. I made some mistakes and did some good things. It helped me with budgeting for a movie, and with business in general.”

Jack went ahead and made his film Destination: Dewsbury, about four middle-aged men getting together after decades apart, for a road trip to see their dying friend one last time.

He went on to make Three Day Millionaire, about a crew of trawlermen in Grimsby who are roped into carrying out a heist on their company headquarters to save the docks from closure.

Fast-forward eight years and Jack is busy with media interviews in the lead-up to the nationwide release of his third feature film Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint, with a cast including Celia Imrie, Richard E Grant, Sophia Di Martino, Adjoa Andoh, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Karl Pilkington, and Jim Broadbent

It is quite something, for the West Yorkshire-based film director, who is just 30 years old.

"It's a gorgeous, heartwarming and beautiful film, Jack says of the feelgood festive comedy, which is set in York.

“In my lifetime I’ve never known the world to be as divided as it is - this film is about the power of love and connection, about being human. It brings with it a powerful message, especially at Christmas.”

Played by actor John Bradley, Aubrey Flint hates the festive season. He doesn’t like people either and, struggling with grief after the death of his mother at Christmas, he’s become a bit of a recluse.

But all that is about to change; following a minor altercation in a shop, over a snow globe, he is saddled with community service in an ailing retirement home.

Aubrey finds himself taking on a role that is the antithesis of what he’s all about. He reluctantly agrees to direct the residents' production of A Christmas Carol.

John Bradley plays Aubrey

Jack, left, with John in York

Keill Smith-Bynoe and Sophia Di Martino

The cast list still seems to take Jack by surprise. “I cannot believe the cast we have got for a film with our budget,” he says. “The amount of time put into this project - it was more than six years before casting; you have dreams about who would end up cast being in the movie, and not in 1000 years did I think it would end up with the best of British.”

Jack's interest in film began at an early age. Growing up in Sutton, south London he and his dad made motion picture animations using characters created out of sticks collected from the garden.

“Aged 12 my parents bought a DSLR camera and every weekend up to the age of 18 I would write, shoot and edit a short film. The first one was David and Goliath in step animation.

“I feel blessed that, at such a young age, I was exposed to a craft that I knew I wanted to do in life. I have been pretty single-minded.”

His first award came aged 16, when he received the Best Drama award for his film Doors Opening at the 47th Co-operative Film Festival, held in partnership with Bradford’s National Media Museum, where the event took place.

“It was a 60-second movie, and every second was a different shot,” he says.

Jack moved to Yorkshire to begin a degree in film and television at the University of York, dropping out after a year, deciding it wasn’t for him.

Soon after he worked on a British independent film Scott and Sid, a coming-of-age movie filmed across Yorkshire, including locations in York, Leeds and Bradford. The producer and director gave him advice on how to raise funds and, with bucketloads of drive and determination, he set out to make films.

Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint has been long in the making. Jack first had the idea in 2018. “I was living for a time in America and would watch BBC news videos - one was a short film about a drama teacher who visited an old people’s home to put on shows, which brought the residents back to life.”

Setting the film in York was seen as a positive not only for its appeal to audiences in the UK, but for its success in the US market where, says Jack, “either Royal Britain or Harry Potter Britain” ticks boxes.

“It’s a lovely place - I loved the years I spent there, and it is the perfect place for a Christmas movie.”

John Bradley, left, filming a scene for Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint. Image: Charley Atkins/SWNS

Jack looks over the script with Celia Imrie

Aubrey steps into the role of Father Christmas

Jack, who lives in Leeds, also has a special affection for Grimsby - his dad is from the town. As a child he often visited family there, and still makes regular trips from Leeds to watch Grimsby Town FC.

He loves life in the North. “People are friendly - everyone says ‘hello’ in the morning - everything is cheaper, it’s two hours to London on the train, it’s the best of everything, what’s not to like?”

It is important to him that his new film, written by Chris Boyle-McQuarry, moves away from the stereotypical view of an old people’s home.

“So many films based in care or retirement home settings depict groups of old people as one homogenous group, says Jack, not as individual characters. Older people should not be seen in this way. My grandparents are teenagers in old people’s bodies. A shared TV room in a retirement home should be like a sixth form common room, full of camaraderie.”

The interior scenes were filmed in a former care home in North London. “It was just the shell of it, but it still felt like a care home. Filming there came with challenges - there was no running water."

Jack’s family are extremely proud of what he has achieved. “I showed my dad rough cuts of the movie and he cried twice. We had a preview with the cast and crew in London which my family attended and were very proud.”

As for the hot tub rental company he left behind - it’s still going strong.

*Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint is released on November 6.