Cleaning up a crime scene

Cleaning up a crime scene can be really fun on the set of George Saad’s first foray into the world of filmmaking.

What does it take to do the right thing? This is the question Egyptian native George Saad wanted to answer when he came up with the idea for his first short film How to Clean a Crime Scene, called Jabbar in Arabic.

Saad chose to do a dark comedy in Arabic about a man who kills someone he doesn’t know even while “trying to do the right thing.”

“I’ve done a few short films on my own with no budget – literally, AED10 spent on school projects – so I had the basics of filmmaking and storytelling,” Saad says. “So I wrote a script about a man who tries to do the right thing but ends up getting involved in crimes.”

The 24-year-old Abu Dhabi resident handed the ‘treatment,’ which is a written proposal of the film, to creative lab to see if they were interested. Saad had heard about creative lab through word of mouth as well as the online creative community. “I had written scripts for school before, but this was the first time I wrote a script knowing that there would be a much bigger budget and a crew to work with. I had real freedom to let loose with my imagination.”

After studying radio and television at the American University of Dubai, with a focus on digital production and storytelling, Saad felt confident that he was ready to try his hand at professionally working on a short film of his creation. The script took him three weeks to write once creative lab gave him the green light, including brainstorming sessions.

Once the script was approved in February, Saad was given a crew to work with and began setting up auditions. His main role on the film would be as director which was his choice. “I was really impressed with the casting,” he says.  “We did a casting call and actors came in and I was actually able to say yes, that’s exactly the right person for the role.”

The plot summary given begins with the main character, Saif, who is “a 30-something loser.” After years of working in the same, telemarketing job, selling a liquid detergent no one seems to want, he one day finds himself fired. After picking up a call on his co-worker’s phone, he finds a prospect to score some cash: kill somebody named Rabi.

But Saif has never killed a man and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a very messy crime scene that he has to clean up.

“The most difficult character to find was the gangster brother; I had a specific idea in mind for him and I hope I made the right choice with the person we ultimately cast,” he says. Shooting the film took place in a villa in Abu Dhabi, as well as twofour54’s offices. 

“creative lab handled the budget, which I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own,” says Saad. “If I felt lost or stressed out or out of my element because it was my first production of this size, there was someone around to guide me. I really needed that kind of support.”

His favorite scene to film was the death scene in the living room of the villa, where “everything came together and the actor was screaming, covered in blood that he had to clean up himself.”  They had to reapply the fake blood with every take. A groggy cat was supposed to be in the scene, but the anesthetic given to the acting cat didn’t seem to work. “The cat was out of control; we had to cut her role out,” Saad laughed.

“The idea for [How to Clean a Crime Scene] was a dark comedy about a guy killing someone he doesn’t know, without meaning to,” he explains. “In film school, all of the students took themselves too seriously, including myself, so I wanted to have a bit of fun with this.”

If you’re an aspiring filmmaker, or have an idea that you believe deserves to be translated to the screen, creative lab can help. Take a look at some of our projects, and read stories about Ghafet Osha, Jirfah and others on how we’ve helped turn concepts into finished productions. Take some time to flesh out your idea and in the meantime connect with filmmakers, producers, directors and creative individuals within the community, who can offer valuable feedback and advice. The creative lab team is committed to funding and developing ideas that can enrich community discourse and present a diversity of views. Get in touch and see if your idea makes the cut.

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• Jirfah
• Ghafet Osha
• 5 Egyptian Pounds