Logline: An unfulfilled litter picker, searching for the meaning that his life has always seemed to lack, grows concerned at a volatile domestic situation in the neighbouring flat.
Mick, the protagonist of "Bluebird", is an amalgamation of various male figures who've played a part in my life growing up in a small, working-class, Scottish town. There’re some aspects of Mick that have come from people I’ve known deeply, like my own dad and grandfather; but other characteristics have come from friend’s dads, uncles, brothers, and the multitude of local characters, wanderers, and strangers who day-to-day struggle quietly through hard, solitary lives in these kinds of places—living as forgotten people.
The film was shot on location in Wishaw, and the setting is very much a character. Three generations of my family have lived in Gowkthrapple, the soon-to-be demolished area in which the protagonist lives. I hope that "Bluebird" can, at least in some small way, immortalise a place that has been an important part of my life.
