A Real Page Turner

For many up and coming authors and filmmakers in the Northwest, Ra Page has been their staunch ally over the last few years, thanks to his behind-the-scenes work producing books and films. “Short stories are not well published or well bought, so Comma Press will never turn into a moneyspinner, but it exists to support new writers,” says Ra.

Now his contribution to both publishing and filmmaking is being revealed by Northwest Vision and Media, who have named Comma as their Crew of the Month for January. Vision and Media works on behalf of the digital and creative industries in the Northwest to grow a world-class digital and creative economy within the region.

Ra runs Manchester-based Comma Press, which publishes short stories and poetry, and is also in charge of Comma Film, which produces short films based on poetry and short stories. He also looks after Literature Northwest, an Arts Council funded development network for the region’s publishers.

“There’s nothing cool about how busy I am, or how much I get done,” smiles Ra, of Old Trafford, modestly. “I’m just prepared to live like a pauper and juggle part-time jobs, sometimes four at a time, to get it all done. But of course it’s great for the work I do to be recognized in this way.”

Starting out as a freelance book reviewer for national newspapers and Manchester’s City Life magazine in 2002, Ra had the idea to start Comma Press.

“I interviewed lots of local writers for City Life, most of whom told me they wrote short stories on the side, but there were no publishing opportunities for short stories around,” says Ra. “So I persuaded my editor to produce a series of short story supplements with the magazine. I also took them to Penguin, who were keen to publish a book of Manchester short stories.

“Despite this initial success, I carried on working full-time. Comma Press was still a very small dream. I rose to Deputy Editor at City Life, but decided to leave in 2003. Then I held two part-time jobs at film festivals – exposures at the Cornerhouse, and the Commonwealth film festival, and grew Comma Press on the side.”

Eventually Comma Press was big enough to officially employ Ra, and he also carried on working with Literature Northwest, which provides professional development support for publishers via mentoring schemes, publishers markets, seminars and networking events with key industry players. The organization has around 40-50 members who are independent presses in the region.

Comma Press has grown immensely in the last few years, publishing books featuring local, national and international writers. 2008 was the busiest yet. “It’s been a busy year on that side of things!” says Ra. “We’ve just brought out seven books in two months, which has been manic, but worth it.”

Working with film production and book publishing has always happened side by side for Ra. As part of exposures he started running regular showcase evenings of local music videos and poetry-based films a couple of years ago.

“The first batch of films consisted of five or six poem-films, in 2006,” Ra explains. “I had lots of poems to use from the books published at Comma, and I then got filmmakers involved. Resources were tight, but they worked. In Manchester everyone knows someone who does something creative, so it wasn’t hard to find talent.

“We did it again in 2007, getting small funds to cover production expenses from local festivals including the Chorlton Arts Festival and the New Islington film festival. At the latter event we took over a marquee, and performed live poetry as well as showing the films, 30 acts in all.”

Since then, Comma Film has gone on to commission a number of films that have been shown in a variety of venues – including FACT cinema in Liverpool, Manchester libraries, and even a shipping container-turned-cinema. The latest group of films was shown at the Cornerhouse in October last year.

“I’m able to support Comma Film because it fits into my work with Comma Press easily,” says Ra. “I commission films, then come back a month later to a bunch of amazing shorts! It takes just a bit of time from me, and complete commitment from the filmmakers, often without pay. It’s tough, but they love it. It’s a great way to start a career.”

Ra’s filmmakers get busy, taking their films to festivals and entering into competitions. Ra recently supported local talent Kate Jessop on her short film Desires, which has won acclaim as a finalist in the Virgin Media Shorts competition. The short was judged by Kevin Spacey, and then shown in cinemas alongside feature films. Another project, Andrew Haigh’s adaptation of Sarah Tierney’s Five Miles Out has just been completed as part of the Channel Four’s Cinema Extreme initiative, and will premiere at Edinburgh Film Festival this summer.

Looking ahead, Ra’s ambitions for 2009 are simple. “Keep Comma alive,” he smiles. “We’ll always need support from agencies, and it would be great to get Regularly Funded Organisation status from the Arts Council, which means we won’t have to bid for funding every time we want to start a new project,” says Ra.

Comma Film’s future lies in the production of brand new films: commissioning and then showing them at festivals as a Comma Film showcase. “I’m hoping to get funding for more production. I have a passion for film producing and definitely want to carry on,” explains Ra. “I’m really looking forward to working on all my different projects over the next year, in both books and film.”

Here’s hoping Ra gets the funding support he needs to make things happen for even more aspiring authors and filmmakers across the Northwest in 2009.