Frances Byrd

Recently, I was asked to talk about my day job by Collective Voices as part of their series on Daily Routines. Just a brief clip, but some people may find themselves on a little postcard in the background above my desk. :)

Routines Part 6 A diverse range of people based in Scotland detail their daily routines, describing their labour and leisure time on a typical or average day.We are delighte...

Just before I caught the Rona, my friend Széles Sylas Szabolcs came by and we had a lovely chat about art, life, and being immigrants to this country. Check it out if you're sick of Netflix! ^^

Another Job Bites The Dust #2 with Frances Byrd Interview starts at 1:27This week's immigrant artists living in the UK is another dear friend, Frances Byrd. She is an actor, director, musician, translator,...

Last year, I was part of a wonderful team making a surreal freeform documentary. If you want to see something that may seem freaking weird at first glance but has a message for all of us hidden underneath it, watch Mr. Litter by https://collectivevoicesproductions.co.uk/mr-litter/
Mr. Litter is a surreal freeform mockumentary feature about a man who claims to have dropped most of the litter in Glasgow, the woman who claims to love him, the boy he claims to be his rival, and the victory they all want to claim.
Mr. Litter boasts an incredible international cast and a mixture of urban, suburban, and natural scenery.
Disclaimer: This film contains explicit language and adult themes.

It was great fun to shoot and Collective Voices are doing a ton of meaningful work in and around Glasgow, so definitely check them out!!!
(and you will never know if that was real dog p**p in those bags. Lara Fullerton and I will never tell...)

Quick Update on Mr. Litter!
Unfortunately we have run into a few minor technical issues, which means we won’t be able to release the film this weekend as originally planned.

Instead, we are aiming for midweek, ideally Tuesday, and keeping our fingers crossed that there will be no more issues!

While we are disappointed by this slight delay, we hope it will prove worth the wait!

Thanks for your patience to everyone involved in our mockumentary!
Alasdair Ferguson, Alastair Rennie, Cirila Zorenč, Conor Ferns, Frances Byrd, Guyelle Anderson, John L Colee, Kiera Gemmell-McQuade, Lara Fullerton, Luca de' Pazzi / Paxxo, Marco Piva, Megan Gemmell McQuade, Michael Cortes, Robyn Gemmell McQuade, Sam Alcroft, Sara Hamilton, Susan Sims, Zane Mihailova

Follow us for all the latest updates!

It's been great fun working with these peeps and I genuinely have NO idea what the finished product will look like. But you can bet I'm excited!!! 😂

Love working with these people! Even though I can't feel my toesies bcs it's so cold outside these days. No suffering= no art, as they say (which is a very harmful stereotype, and should not be taken seriously). :P Stay tuned for on set photos and updates ;)

Introducing: Frances Byrd

We are excited to introduce another cast member of our upcoming mockumentary Mr. Litter!
Frances Byrd is an actor, director, and musician who was born in Germany. While getting her Master's degree in English and Music, she co-founded Maiden Thought Theatre, a company doing Elizabethan theatre. As their artistic director, she directed their sold out debut production and starred in and composed music for their second play to high critical acclaim.

Moving to Glasgow in 2018, she graduated from Acting Coach Scotland's Full-Time Professional Diploma in 2019, completing a full Edinburgh Fringe run of two plays. Since then, she has appeared in several short films and audio plays and just finished some exciting things that will be out next year.

Frances keeps her storytelling and voice acting skills in shape by playing TTRPGs (tabletop role-playing games) and has worked as a Game Master during the pandemic.

You will see Frances soon in our freeform mockumentary Mr. Litter which we plan to release by the end of November! Mr. Litter revolves around a man who claims to be responsible for dropping most of the litter in Glasgow, the woman who claims to love him, the boy he claims to be his rival, and the victory they all want to claim...

We enjoy filming with Frances and hope to work with her again!

Time to go back on set tomorrow (weather permitting) with these cool creatives! And appropriately for the start of COP26, we're tackling littering in a mockumentary about a...well...self-proclaimed Superhero called "Mr. Litter".
I'm excited! Pick up your trash!

Mr. Litter script!
As we approach the final two weeks (weather permitting) of production for our upcoming mockumentary Mr. Litter, we wanted to give you an insight into what to expect when it is ready for release.

We have made the script available to our patrons in our Strengthen the Collective Patreon tier and upwards!

If you enjoy our films and want to support us making more of these, please check out the tiers, each with access to a back catalogue of exclusive and bonus material, great perks, and new content added every two weeks:
https://www.patreon.com/collectivevoicesproductions

Mr. Litter is our mockumentary about a man who claims to have dropped most of the litter in Glasgow, the woman who claims to love him, the boy he claims to be his rival, and the victory they all want to claim…

We are very excited to resume production and work with our talented cast! Our work aims to raise awareness of the problem of littering whilst connecting it to wider environmental issues such as fracking and fossil fuel and pesticide usage. We present this within our loose mockumentary framework as we attempt to subvert the expectations and audience manipulation indulged in by big cinema and broadcasters.

Thanks for your support!

This morning I had the very susprising and extraordinary privilege to talk about the play this photo is from. (photo by Lukas Klose

After 12 hrs of clearing rubble and shouting in heels until 5:30 am and a very short two hour nap, I'm almost on my way back home to Glasgow. But oh it was all worth it ten times over. I am going to cherish this shoot forever and I can't wait to tell you all about it when it comes out!!!
Back on set for the next project on Wednesday. I feel like the luckiest, happiest, most tiredest person right now!
Here's a complimentary photo of my shoes and stockings. Post shoot.

What a fun little project it was! Congratulations to Siobhán Murphy on this captivating bit of writing and to the lovely cast! 🥳🥳🥳

Archive 24 - D A short science fiction play about the discovery of a way to communicate with the dead for the first 24 hours after they die.

Very excited to announce that I'm going to be a part of this brilliant production and team!!! Stay tuned ;) this month is full of creative things and I couldn't be happier and prouder! 🤗

If you've seen me on stage over the past six years, chances are you've seen me in this dress. I've played three of my most challenging and wonderful leading roles in it. So when I filmed a selftape for a small part in a big thing last week, my gut told me to wear it. And guess what?! I GOT THE PART!!! I'm overjoyed and can't quite believe that I'll be filming again next month!!! Juli, you truly have the genius of Dr. Frankenstein when it comes to costuming. 🥰
Thank you Sylas for being my favourite selftape buddy! And thank you to my agent Fiona for all your hard work.

Finally back in action and working with this wonderful team of people! Stay tuned ;)

Introducing to you all our Super Sketchy team! 🎬

We were finally able to shoot our first sketch this weekend!

With way too much time in our hands during lockdown, we wrote down countless nonsense sketch ideas and we can’t wait to share them all with you!

(We have all been tested/vaccinated)

Okay, after a long winter break I've got something super special for you all today!
I'm finally putting my acting, storytelling, and table top RPG skills together and DMing a Dungeons& Dragons one shot for a group of wonderful women organised by The Natural Ones, a super cool actual play group from the US! It's in honour of Women's History Month and (!!!) it will be streamed LIVE on Twitch TONIGHT at 8:00 EDT!!!
I realise it's going to be a tad late for us Europeans, but you can watch it at a less night owl-y time as vod or on youtube some time later this week.
Whether you play D&D yourself or have never even heard about it and just want to see what my weird brain has come up with, tune in on https://www.twitch.tv/natural_ones_ , join us on an epic adventure and give (if you can) to a great cause. Yep, that's right, it's a charity event as well! We will be collecting and donating to the "I'm Ready Movement", which aims to strengthen the progressive political and social platforms of Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the US through the leadership of self-identified AAPI women and girls. Their goal is to challenge and help
end the intersections of violence against and within their communities.

I mean, honestly? It's the whole package. D&D, storytelling, adventure, feminism, good deeds, bad puns, 3D sets,...
I absolutely cannot wait to see you all in the chat or in the comment sections :P

natural_ones_ - Twitch Weekly Dungeons and Dragons show streaming every Wednesday at 8pm EST.

https://youtu.be/Ds0EsvlKSUw

Talent Belongs to the Beautiful - How Media Manipulates your Tastes | Salari Media is extremely effective at influencing our tastes in people, products, music and more. It's also effective at making us believe who should be talented, ...

We miss it 😭

If you, like me, are feeling anxious and in dire need of distraction today, let me recommend this video about the other one of my great artistic passions, presented by the great Marin Alsop. Also, my conducting professor from uni retired recently and I am eternally grateful to her!
https://youtu.be/c2z9zFBcZKU

Conductor Breaks Down Orchestra Scenes From Movies & TV | WIRED Conductor Marin Alsop examines some band and orchestra scenes from popular movies and television shows and determines how accurate they really are. Does the ...

The Tories have blasted a whopping £12 billion on their privatised shambles of a Test and Trace system, that's based on a hopelessly botched, outdated version of Excel, which is fantastic news for the corporate spivs running it ... but they're allowing the creative industries to die off, and telling actors, artists and musicians to "adapt to the new reality" by getting jobs outside of the creative industries.

The creative industries aren't just a frivolous luxury to the UK economy, they're worth over £100 billion per year, and it's one of the few sectors in which the UK is still an indisputable world leader.

Also, where on earth are the victims of this Tory indifference to the creative industries going to find new jobs, given the scale of mass unemployment across virtually all the other economic sectors too?

😍😍😍😍😍

Coming 2021 a new chapter in the on

http://transportgroup.org/project/am-i-a-hammer-or-just-a-tool/

Wise words all actors and artists and audiences should take to heart. We can only change society together, we all have our parts to play in the process. The key is openness, empathy, tolerance, and getting our heads out of our behinds.

Am I a Hammer or Just a Tool Am I a Hammer or Just a Tool

Just another day as a voice actor...

Had an amazing creative day testing out the new ACS recording studio with the incomparable Kat Harrison. 100% in the zone at all times we got two voicereels done for me, one English *and* one German! This year's PDs are in for a treat! I can't wait for the finished product to get some work doing what I love 🤗❤️💪

We're so close to reaching our goal now!!!! Please help if you can, there are some brilliant rewards in it for you!

Detachment: The Series Let's make a series that is set in the near future and every human is in a fight for survival. | Check out 'Detachment: The Series' on Indiegogo.

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I'll be a part of Series 2 of this brilliant project! For all you Prime users, you can watch the first series of Detachment right there. What will you be doing when the apocalypse hits us properly? ;-)
(also if you've got some pennies to spare, please donate to our crowdfunding campaign to guarantee our survival and your entertainment

Detachment: The Series Let's make a series that is set in the near future and every human is in a fight for survival. | Check out 'Detachment: The Series' on Indiegogo.

To all professionals in the film, television, theatre, entertainment, and arts world, join the challenge to post a photo of you in your job. Just a picture, no description. The goal is to flood social media with our profession. Copy the text and post a pic.

This video finally expressed my thoughts on that film...and reveals a couple of things about the industry, too. Quite interesting! Also something to break up the string of rallying cries and complaints about what's happening at the moment...
https://youtu.be/1ikqU6G6Xgs

Why the Music in Les Misérables (2012) is Worse than you Thought Do you hear the people sing? Me neither Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sideways440 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sideways440 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/S...

The arts need more rights, more security, more protection. Or they won't survive. It is lamentable. Even when we're all stuck in our homes and reading books, watching Netflix, listening to podcasts and music all day, we don't realise who we should be thanking and supporting for our mental health (as well as the essential workers and medical workers for our physical health of course!!!) :(

THEATRE and SOCIAL DISTANCE - NEWS

The Berliner Ensemble opens its house for the next season. And this is how it looks like.

It is very unlikely that we will experience the same in London.
Social distance won't be a solution for West End theatres, producers have said.

Read more here:

www.londontheatrereviews.co.uk/post.cfm?p=3277