Lancashire director's film set in hometown out next month

Talking to Ghosts, directed by Blackpool filmmaker Ryan J Smith, was filmed across St Anne’s, Blackpool, and Thornton Cleveleys.

Filming took place in November 2022 for just once week and the dedicated post-production crew have been working on the final cut from December to April.

Talking to Ghosts is a drama-thriller that takes place after the protagonist, a young woman, experiences a personal tragedy and decided to take her future into her own hands but risks her life in an “arms deal gone wrong”.

Nina Holland-Smith filming Talking to Ghosts (Image: Ryan J Smith)

This is the 24-year-old director’s second feature film after his debut, Lottery which came out in 2022.

Ryan said: “Lottery costs £7,000 to make but this one (Talking to Ghosts) was even less but I do think it's miles better than Lottery. You just learn better way to film or edit things so, technically it's a better film and I'm sure that will continue on in the next projects I make and work on."

Sharing the highlights from the making of Talking to Ghosts, the Blackpool director shared that the filming process was a positive and uplifting experience for the cast and crew.

He said: “The very first day was preceded by Lottery’s first public screening which meant that reciews and press for that movie started coming in as we were filming, which boosted everyone’s morale each day.”

The film stars Nina Holland-Smith as the protagonist, Ciara, who also starred in Lottery.

The cast also consists of actors Grahame Edwards, Jake Waring, Neizan Fernandez, Hannah Miller, Danielle Speed, Harry McLafferty, Matt Andrews, as well as a voice cameo from filmmaker Lewis Willian Robinson and Ryan.

The cast shared how close everyone became during the filming process with Ryan stating how sad he was to be leaving as filming was wrapping up.

Filming Talking to Ghosts on digital and super 8mm film (Image: Ryan J Smith)

Speaking on the most memorable day of filming, Ryan said: “It was filming with Nina Holland-Smith and Harry McLafferty, where we filmed in multiple formats, digital and super 8mm film.

“It was a fun challenge to film my hometown on both old and new technologies in the same day.”

Ryan shared that Talking to Ghosts originally began as two separate scrips he had written a few years ago and the film was born when he “just sort of ‘Frankenstein-ed’ them together”.

Now in the marketing stage of the filmmaking process, Talking to Ghosts will be released on streaming platforms next month.

You can watch the trailer here.