By Kirsty Topping
The film was lainched at last years’ Edinburgh International Film Festival
A FILM set in a Scottish sauna has been snapped up by an American distributer.
Low-budget flick A Spanking in Paradise tells the story of a law graduate who finds himself working in the seedy Paradise sauna over the holidays.
The award-winning story opened to rave reviews at last year’s Edinburgh international Film Festival and will not travel across the ponds – where American audiences will have subtitles to help them understand the plot.
New York-based IFC Films snapped up the rights to the film just hours after it scooped two awards at the film festival.
Writer and director Wayne Thallon, 35, who based the film around events in his own life, said:
“I don’t think they’ll struggle with the concept of brothels in saunas.
“They have Las Vegas and legalized brothels in the desert so I think they’ll
“get’ the Edinburgh brothel structure.
“There will be some subtitles though to help them with the accents.
“The hope is the film becomes popular, especially with Scots living in America. “
The IFC deal has just been confirmed and American audiences will be able to watch the film on pay-per-view tv or download it vie iTunes, online movie channel Netflix and Amazon.
Made with an initial budget of just 45,000, shooting took place across Edinburgh in January last year, meaning the crew had to battle snow and ice.
Glasgow-trained Andrew Hawley took the lead role in the film, which eventually cost 200,000, and the crew created a set for the fictional sauna in the city’s London Road.
Plans for a sequel are already in the pipeline and Wayne hopes to begin filming next year. He also hopes to have a big-named star attached to the project.
IFC has been behind a number of big hits in recent years, including My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Killer Inside Me.
If the film becomes an international success it will join other Scottish hits such as Shallow Grave, Hallam Foe and Trainspotting.
It’s incredible that our modest film has been picked up by arguably the best film distributer in the world,’ said Wayne.
“This is the first time a film made in Edinburgh by a mostly Edinburgh crew on this tiny budget has had a deal like this.
“It’s been a massive team effort and everyone involved is delighted. “
