Everyone Does It
Who is this person? Where is she from? How did she get here?
Directed by Craig Ainsley
Writer-director Craig Ainsley’s latest short film, Everyone Does It, begins with a seemingly simple setup: a guy wakes up after a night with a girl from out of town and overhears something that makes his stomach drop. What follows is a tense, unsettling unraveling that plays out in a single location - with a surreal twist.
Known for embracing constraints and writing with production in mind, he crafts stories that feel immediate and full of implication. We caught up with him to talk about writing within limits, building a world that’s only half-understood, and how sometimes not knowing the rules makes for better stories.
There’s something about that moment when you wake up and realise things aren’t quite what they seem. What pulled you toward that kind of strange, in-between space as the launch point for this story?
I remember having the idea while lying beside my son’s cot at about 4 am, trying to get him back to sleep.
Maybe it has something to do with that. When you have young children, you exist in that in-between space a lot.
You’ve said you like writing within limitations, like keeping things in one room. Do you find that constraint can spark some of your best ideas?
I think so. It focuses your attention to a specific place and all the possibilities within that space. I also feel invigorated writing something I know I can shoot without waiting for money or anyone’s approval. Writing achievable films is energising, and energy is good for the ideas.
The whole “time tourism” idea is brilliant, especially how casually it’s treated by the characters. Did you spend time figuring out how that world works behind the scenes, or were you more focused on how it felt for the people visiting it?
I focused on the characters. Then, in the readthrough, the cast wanted to know how the world works, so we all figured it out together.
But the story is about the moment. It’s a tense moment. Realistically, no one would start explaining the world at that moment. And also, the characters don’t really understand how time travel works, like we don’t know how our phones work. They are just rich enough to enjoy it. But they are as dumb as the rest of us. They kind of know about it, but don’t understand it. The specifics are boring to them. They just want a fun weekend away in the past.
The sound design shapes how the tension creeps in. How did you collaborate with your team - Tom Joyce on sound design, Phil Bolland supervising, and original score from Ali Helnwein - to ensure sound could carry the tone?
I talked to Ali about composing the sound of Joel’s brain computing what the hell is going on. He did an amazing job of articulating with instruments the sound of the cogs of Joel’s mind turning and digesting weird information. There’s also a ticking clock quality to what Ali did—a panicked sense of trying to solve a problem fast—he knows they are leaving in 8 minutes.
We wake up with Joel and never know more than him. So Phil and Tom made the opening scene very immersive, creating a soundscape that bleeds through from sleeping to waking. I didn’t want Joel to snap awake. From the opening scene, everything is groggy and foggy.
The cast feels completely locked into the tone, part sci-fi, part awkward morning-after comedy. What was it like building that with them?
All the cast are also brilliant writers so it was a joy. The guiding thought was to play it straight, and that we, the audience, know only as much as Joel. So it was like, how would it actually feel if someone was having this experience?
And what will Joel say to his friends later that day? Does he really believe what happened? Will he tell anyone? He’d sound insane. It would actually be fun to write the scene where he tries to tell a mate.
“Writing achievable films is energising, and energy is good for the ideas.”
You’ve talked about wanting the shoot to feel a bit chaotic — letting the actors take the lead and having the camera just keep up. Was that energy something you planned from the start, or did it grow out of the time and space limits you were working with?
The script felt like it should be like that. It started as a whispered argument happening in a race against time. Then, I did a readthrough with the cast, and I really liked it when the lines spilled over each other. There was a genuine sense of confusion. That messiness felt authentic and funny in the context of a story with a high concept.
What's next for you? Are you tempted to push further into sci-fi?
Coincidentally, I just handed in a draft of a time travel comedy feature, so I guess I am pushing further into sci-fi.
Joel - Steve Whiteley
Heather - Florence Keith
Roach Jennifer - Mariam Haque
Chloe - Michelle Fahrenheim
Production Company - Arts & Sciences
Managing Director - James Bland
1st AD - Daniel Precious
DOP - Matthew Emvin
Taylor Gaffer - Krunal Saadrani
1st AC - Jason Henwood
2nd AC - Fab Piolini
Production Manager - Esther Rich
Runner - Krutik Patel
Grip - Pete Olney
Electrician - Mark Haley, Dale Healy & Shaun Clarke
Production Designer - Byron Broadbent
Art Dept Stylist - Polly Davenport
Art Director - Hannah Schmidt
Costume - Zelda Sellers & Zoe Bradley
Hair & Make Up - Amy Whyard & Michelle Baylis
Dit - Mario Radinovic
Sound Recordist - Kyle MacLeod
Edit House - Stitch Editor - Max Windows
Post Sound - Sine Audio
Original Score - Ali Helnwein
Sound Supervisor - Phil Bolland
Sound Designer - Tom Joyce
Dialogue Editor - Michele Cove
Sound Producer - Beth Tomblin
Colourist - James Bamford
Colour Assist - Michael Pearce
Motion Graphics - Sian Effie
2D - John Thornton, Andrew ‘Barnsley’ Wood & Paul Wilmot
Post EP - Colin Oaten
Post AP - Archie McGuinness
Typography - Jonathan Harper
Location Manager - Mike Baldock