Experiencing Interruptions?

Couple Goals

A struggling journalist tries to make a high-brow documentary with a very low-brow couple.

  • Tom Bridger
    Director
  • Jonny Gillard
    Director
  • Tom Bridger
    Writer
  • Jonny Gillard
    Writer
  • Sean Joseph Young
    Producer
  • Della Thielamay
    Key Cast
    "Alayla"
  • Bethany Slater
    Key Cast
    "Carol"
  • Tom Bridger
    Key Cast
    "Dean"
  • Stevie Hurst
    Key Cast
    "Robot Wars Announcer"
  • Liam Gilroy
    Director of Photography and Digital Colourist
  • Elliot Fox
    Assistant Director
  • Leo Culley
    Sound Recordist
  • Oliver Helm
    Hair and Make-Up
  • Steven Haddock
    Set Photographer
  • Amy Gillard
    Data Wrangler and Food Stylist
  • Tom Bridger
    Editor
  • Em Webb
    Sound Editor
  • Ross Goffe
    Sound Editor
  • Jonny Gillard
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Satire, Dark Comedy, Mockumentary
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 48 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    2,745 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Indie Short Fest
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Semi-Finalist (December 2024) - Best Comedy Short
Director Biography - Tom Bridger, Jonny Gillard

Creator/Director/Writer - Tom Bridger
Tom Bridger has worked as an actor/writer/director for over a decade. He won Best Unproduced Screenplay at the British Independent Film Festival in 2018, and went on to win numerous awards at multiple festivals across 2020-2022 for his work as co-writer/director on comedy web series ‘Self-Help’ in categories such as Best Web Series, Best Comedy, and Best Script.

Creator/Director/Writer - Jonny Gillard
Jonny Gillard currently works as a full time portrait artist and musician. He is a critically acclaimed composer, having written numerous scores for theatrical and film productions. He is also an award winning portrait artist, owners of his work including Ron Perlman and Jeffrey Nordling. His band Deadhead released their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Bad Dog’ in 2022.

Together they created, wrote and directed comedy web series ‘How to Be Like a Man’, which ran from 2020-2021 and gained attention from Unrestricted View Film Festival and London Lift-Off Film Festival.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

With ‘Couple Goals’, our intention was to explore the effects of influencer culture - specifically, our heightened awareness of what idea of ourselves we are projecting, how inflexible these ideas can become, and the pain some will endure to constantly align themselves with them, embodied here by Carol and Dean.

The mockumentary format feeds directly into this theme, with a significant difference being the host character, Alayla. Through her, we hoped to interrogate the complicity of audiences who may consider themselves above those they watch (and arguably, exploit) on social media feeds and reality shows. Having Alayla as an active participant was also an opportunity to bring something fresh to the format, in contrast to the ‘passive observer’ camera crews in other mockumentaries.

As two people who have lived in Lincoln for a long time, an important aspect of the production for us was supporting talent from the local area - Assistant Director Elliot Fox, Sound Engineer Leo Culley and makeup artist Oliver Helm are all based in the area, with Director of Photography Liam Gilroy hailing from South Yorkshire. In addition to this, we shot on location in Lincoln.