| Phil Hobden | |
|---|---|
Hobden in 2008 |
|
| Born | Phillip Leslie Hobden August 14, 1976 Lewes, England |
| Occupation | Producer/Director |
| Years active | 1994 - present |
| Awards | Best Writing, Blue Eyes (Red tape festival, 1998) |
| Website | |
| http://www.mod-life.net/ | |
Phil Hobden (born. 14 August 1976 in Lewes, England) is a filmmaker based in the South of England. He is also notable as a screenwriter, film producer, journalist and media campaigner. Hobden is the co-founder of Independent production company Modern Life? and has been responsible for the DVD release of numerous films through his distribution sales company Pulp Movies.
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Hobden, the youngest of three children, was born in Lewes, a small county town just outside of Brighton. Educated between 1992-1995 at the respected Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC) in Brighton, Hobden was responsible for producing and directing over 30 short films and documentaries, including an interview with a pre-Shallow Grave Danny Boyle.
Hobden continued his studies in 1995 with a media production degree at university, the acclaimed Cumbria Institute of the Arts (CIA)[1] (latterly The University of Cumbria[2]), which boasts such noted alumni as Rikki Chamberlain, Charlie Hunnam (actor), Helen Skelton (TV presenter, Blue Peter) & Keith Tyson, (2002 Turner Prize winner).
Hobden's first film role was on the 1993 Indie British film Project:Assassin (aka New Blood), directed by Mike Hurst and Andy Hurst.
From 1993 - 2001, Hobden with partner Ross Boyask was involved in the production of almost 40 short films.
1993 saw Hobden's first short film The Gauntlet completed. Starring Glenn Salvage and Tom Hay, the film was sent by the filmmakers to Jackie Chan. Chan wrote back commenting... "Good try. Keep going...".
1995 saw short film Boyz Gone Bad win Best Short film at the Brighton Short Film Festival.[3]
In 1998 short film Lone Wolf was screened, in an edited version, On Channel 4 in the UK.[3]
In 1998/9 he saw his first feature film in development, the darkly comic 'Brighton Born, Brighton Dead' which sat with Miramax UK for over 2 years. Eventually the relationship broke down and the screenplay was lost into development hell. It remains unproduced to this day.
In 1999 Hobden won awards for Best Editing and Best Writing for his short film Blue Eyes at the RedTape festival.
In 2000/2001 Hobden was offered the chance to work on the Dave Courtney gangster action film Hell To Pay alongside its original director Ross Boyask but turned it down, instead focusing on setting up his own business, the media production company Modern Life?
In 2001 Short film Pure Vengeance, starring Scott Adkins (Bourne Ultimatum, Sheppard), Brendan Carr (Love Struck, Ten dead men) and Gordon Alexander (Accidental Spy, The Purifiers) was screened on the Jonathan Ross BBC2 show Stop Kung Fu.
in 2009 Hobden was credited as Associate Producer on UK action film Unarmed But Dangerous aka Kung Fu Flid which starred Mat Fraser and Faye Tozer
In 2010 Hobden was credited as Associate Producer on UK horror film Cut featuring Gremlins 2 star Zach Galligan and UK model Danielle Lloyd
In 2002 Hobden started work on his first feature film, the low-budget martial arts action feature Left for Dead (2004 film).[4]
Starring Glenn Salvage & newcomer Andy Prior, the film features cameos by Joey Ansah (Bourne Ultimatum), Brendan Carr, Cecily faye & Cage Rage fighter Jeremy Bailey. Finished in late 2004, the film was shot for under £10k UKP and has been released in over 15 countries to date, including the UK,[5] Canada, US,[6] Thailand and others. The film was Released in the US to positive reviews in September 2005 and then eventually in the UK in March 2007.
Left for Dead was acquired for broadcast on Sky channel Movies4Men in late 2007. However Movies4Men sesequently decided the film was too violent and opted NOT to screen the movie.
Hobden’s second film was the action thriller Ten Dead Men.[7] Again directed by Boyask the film stars Brendan Carr, Pooja Shah, former Steps singer Lee Latchford-Evans, JC Mac, Silvio Simac, Doug Bradley, Terry Stone and more.
Ten dead men sees Brendan Carr star as Ryan, a former killer gone straight who is dragged violently back into the life he left behind... with brutal and bloody consequences.
Ryan has spent years putting his brutal past behind him. A different man now to the stone cold killer he was a lifetime ago. But when an old face from the past arrives on his doorstep, Ryan is called upon to repay a blood debt from years ago. But the price is too high. Betrayed, and with his life falling apart around him, Ryan goes on a murderous, bloody revenge spree against the Ten Men who took his life away from him. Ten men took away his life. Now Ten Men Will Pay. Ten Dead Men is a pulse pounding British action feature, brought to you by the team behind the cult international success 'Left For Dead'.
The action sequences were 2nd Unit directed by Jude Poyer (28 Weeks Later, Hitman starring Jet Li) and the film was executive produced by Audtralian producer David Hannay (of Stone and The Man From Hong Kong fame) and US sales agent/producer Anthony I Ginnane.
Ten dead men has been released in France, Indonisia, Japan, UK,[8] US UK[9] & Germany as well as other smaller releases.
Although he has been inactive for the most part for the past four years, Hobden's website has claimed that in 2012 he will return to filmmaking with an as yet untitled horror film.
Hobden has also been involved in several non filmmaking projects. These have included:
In 2008 Hobden, through an associated company called Pulp Movies, was responsible for the UK DVD releases of UK action films The Silencer & Infestation through collaboration with leading UK Independent DVD distributor Blackhorse Entertainment.
However in late 2008 Blackhorse Entertainment become insolvent and ceased trading. As part of the liquidation of assets, and in association with Cornerstone Media (a new company that consisted of several former Blackhorse employees), Pulp Movies acquired the distribution rights and remaining stock to both Infestation and The Silencer. Furthermore Pulp Movies obtained the rights to Hobden’s own film, Left for Dead, and that of James Eaves’ The Witches Hammer.
All four were released under the Cornerstone Media banner via retailers such as HMV and Zavvi.
In 2010 Hobden & Pulp Movies were responsible for the sale of UK independent horror film CUT to BritFilms.Tv, the distributor for Hobden’s own Ten Dead Men, which saw the film released on DVD in leading retailers such as Amazon, HMV, ASDA and Sainsbury on the 22nd February 2010[10]
| Year | Film | Director | Release Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Cut | Directed by Alexander Williams | UK DVD Release by BritFilms |
| 2008 | The Witches Hammer | Directed by James Eaves | UK DVD Release by Blackhorse & Cornerstone Media |
| 2008 | Left for Dead | Directed by Ross Boyask | UK DVD Release by Blackhorse & Cornerstone Media |
| 2008 | The Silencer | Directed by Steve Lawson | UK DVD Release by Blackhorse & Cornerstone Media |
| 2008 | Infestation | Directed by Ed Evers-Swindell | UK DVD Release by Blackhorse & Cornerstoen Media |
Modern Life? have numerous additional interests: From highly regarded[11] martial arts action comic book, Night Warrior (www.nw-comic.co.uk) which is based on a short film made by Modern Life? in 1994 to PulpMovies.co.uk in which Modern Life? has been responsible for releasing UK films Infestation and The Silencer, in partnership with UK studio Blackhorse Entertainment.
Phil Hobden is also working as a co-producer on the film Kung Fu Flid, being executive produced by Ten dead men actor & associate producer Terry Stone and featuring former Steps star Faye Tozer as well as UK film Cut
Hobden has been the Film News & Review Editor for Combat Magazine since 2007 where he regularly writes a column called ‘Combat Film’ that looks at Action film related topics. Such topics have included “The Top 10 Worst Named Martial Arts Movies”[12] & “Assassins, Mummy’s & Superheroes”[13]
Quotes from Combat Film have appeared on DVD covers for films such as Confucius,[14] Merantau Warrior,[15] Sinking Of Japan[16] & IP Man 2
From 2006 - 2011 Hobden has also written for Impact,[17] Vengeance, KungFuCinema.Com, Bloody-Disgusting.com,[18] FareastFilms.com[19] as well as his own film review site 'Phil’s Quick Capsule Review'.
Hobden has interviewed actors such as Dolph Lundgren, JeeJa Yanin, Stephen M.D. Chang, Danny Trejo, Sho Kosugi, Loren Avedon, Matthias Hues, Jeff Wincott, Darren Shahlavi as well up and coming stars such as Glenn Salavge and Brendan Carr.
Hobden has also interviewed behind the scenes talent such as Hollywood stunt co-ordinator Loren Janes (see Bullitt), director Michael Hurst (New Blood, House Of The Dead 2) stunt & fight coordinators such as Jeff Imada (They Live; Heroes) & Jude Poyer (28 Weeks Later; Ten dead men) as well as casting director Mike Leeder (Rush Hour 3) & award winning screenfight/martial arts photographer Mike Holdsworth.
A noted MMA Fan, Hobden has also interviewed Strikeforce & Pride Fighting Championships commentator Stephen Quadros[20] and WEC/UFC fighter Brad Pickett.[21]
In September 2011, Phil Hobden launched the Filmsploitaion Podcast - a film, news and reviews podcast co-hosted by Richard Blanchette. With alternating guest hosts, the podcast is seen by many as the successor to the phenomenally popular AMR Movie Show, also co-hosted by Richard Blanchette. [22]
The format includes news, run down of the UK Box office Top Ten, a feature Story, Reviews section, Cult Film (where the guest host (s) is required to pick a cult movie) and TV talk. The podcast has been avaialble on Itunes from Episode #1 and via the website at www.thefilmpodcast.co.uk
So far guest hosts have included filmmaker Ross Boyask, filmmaker & AMR Movie host Andrew MacKay, writer Chris Regan, Matt Duddy and Scolls Podcast members Phil Ambler & Dion Winton-Polak.
The podcast is produced every two weeks.
Phil Hobden, his company Modern Life? and his films (including Left for Dead and Ten Dead Men) on various news sources from the BBC[23] and recently on the 'BBC Film Network',[24] Sky TV, Combat & Impact Magazines and numerous local newspapers.
Hobden has not been a stranger to controversy in his career so far, with his films causing issues to both TV networks and distributors due to their hard edge violent content.
The initial DVD release of Ten Dead Men (aka 10 dead Men) was banned in Germany as the film was seen to be too violent in places. The film did eventually come out after many delays but with a Keine Jugendfreigabe (FSK 18): "no youth admitted", only adults, the highest possible rating.
Left for Dead was due to screen on UK Satellite channel Movies4Men after they paid for the rights for broadcast in 2007. However the TV station eventually decided to not show the movie as they could not edit an appropriate version for TV due to the films violent scenes and adult language.
Left for Dead has remained unscreened on UK TV.
In 2008 Phil Hobden was accused by The SWEAT Team/Watercooler of breaking NMW regulations in regards to a crew announcement on UK Forum Shooting People for UK action film Kung Fu Flid (aka Unarmed But Dangerous). These allegations lead to a very public three year war of words between Hobden and Watercooler member.
However In 2011 Hobden, alongside the SWEAT Team leadership, helped redefined the board’s agenda to ensure that filmmakers who were making genuinely collaborative films or films with robust profit share agreements in place would be approached differently from genuine exploiters and people looking for free labour for overtly commercial projects.
On the 9th July 2011 a message on the Modern Life web site a post entitled "And Now The End Is Here..." announced the retirement of Phil Hobden from filmmaking.[25]
Whilst he has stopped making films, Hobden stillw rites for Combat Magazine and produces the Filmsploitation Podcast.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Cut | Co-Producer | Directed by Alexander Williams |
| 2009 | Kung Fu Flid | Co-Producer | Directed by Xavier Leret |
| 2009 | Conversations With Dead Men | Producer | Uncredited Co-Director |
| 2008 | Ten dead men | Producer & Story | Uncredited Additional Direction |
| 2008 | Miracle - The Latch | Producer | Music Video for Lee Latchford-Evans |
| 2006 | Wilderness | Producer | Music Video for The Morrighan |
| 2006 | 10,000 Cigarettes | Producer & Director | making of Documentary for Left For Dead |
| 2006 | Sixth Form Poetry | Producer & Writer | Music Video for band Wherewithal |
| 2005 | Left for Dead | Producer | Uncredited Co-Director |
| 2005 | The Johnna Man | Associate Producer | Currently unreleased |
| 2004 | Lone Wolf 2 : Break Time | Producer | Short Film |
| 2002 | Pure Vengeance | Producer | Short Film |
| 1998 | Blue Eyes | Director & Producer | Best Writing 'RedTape Festival, 1998' |
| 1997 | And Penance More | Director & Producer | Short Film |
| 1996 | Fixing To Blow | Director & Producer | Short Film |
| 1995 | Butterfly Man | Fight Co-Ordinator | Short Film |
| 1998 | Lone Wolf | Co-Director & Producer | Short Film |
| 1994 | Boyz Gone Bad | Director & Producer | Short Film |
| 1993 | Project Assassin | Grip/Extra | Directed by Andy & Michael Hurst |
