Smashing UK Productions is a European award-winning film production company based in Worcester, United Kingdom Enquiries: [email protected]
Smashing UK Productions is a European award-winning film production company based in Worcester, United Kingdom. Formed in 2010 by aspiring filmmaker Calum Rhys, the company has since undertaken ongoing creative collaborations with some highly talented filmmakers from across the globe and has gone on to produce a variety of engaging films for online and festival audiences, as well as promotional vi
deos and internal communications material for professional clientele. The company is currently fronted by producers Calum Rhys and Rob Byrd.
Since formation we have produced a number of diverse productions across a variety of genres including a psychological drama ("THE SECRET EYE"), comedy-thriller ("WAYWARD SOULS") and World War II film ("OUR FATHER"), the latter of which premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival and went on to receive 14 award nominations and 3 wins during its festival run, as well as acclaim from both critics and the public.
Post-production on our 2020 World War I drama "DIVIDED WE STAND" is currently underway.
23/04/2025
15 years ago today, Smashing UK Productions was born in the heart of Worcestershire. What started as two mates with a camera has grown into a journey we never quite imagined.
Since then, we’ve told stories from the trenches of war, the heart of comedy, to the quiet ache of drama. We’ve stood at Cannes, earned BAFTA accreditation, clocked 22 million views on YouTube, and shared countless moments on set with friends who became family.
Whether you were a cast member, crew mate, subscriber, festival programmer, or simply hit “like” on a video, thank you. You’ve helped shape these 15 years.
Here’s to the next chapter. We’re just getting started!
Calum & Rob
Smashing UK Productions
20/05/2024
With pre-production back underway on BRIGADE, this weekend saw our team trekking across Snowdonia scouting out locations for the upcoming film shoot.
Smashing UK Productions is a European award-winning film production company based in Worcester, United Kingdom
23/04/2024
Today marks the 14th anniversary of Smashing UK Productions. The past few years have been nothing short of remarkable, but it's the future that truly excites us. As we delve into 2024 and 2025, we anticipate our busiest years yet, with a slew of films and media ventures on the horizon, including one of our biggest projects to date, alongside the commencement of pre-production for our inaugural feature film. Thank you to everyone who has supported us on this journey so far. Also, make sure to check back in May when we will be launching our brand new website and showreel.
Smashing UK Productions is a European award-winning film production company based in Worcester, United Kingdom
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Founded on 23 April 2010 by aspiring filmmaker Calum Rhys - who created his first film at the age of 11 - Smashing UK Productions was initially established as a YouTube channel, focussing on the creation of video blogs and comical sketches with his friends whilst studying at Sixth Form in Evesham, Worcestershire. Projects were generally unscripted and created on minimal to no budget, using the assistance of friends and family and employing amateur guerrilla filmmaking techniques.
In 2011, the majority of the channel's collaborators were in the process of leaving for universities across the UK, so Calum took the opportunity of the last few months of the summer before disbanding to get creative with a new, more ambitious project, and began producing his dystopian thriller web series "GRIDLOCK". Stepping away from comedy and moving more into drama territory, "GRIDLOCK" allowed the filmmakers to start experimenting with different filmmaking techniques and gave the company its first real taste of utilising action sequences and visual effects to create more elaborate set pieces. During subsequent summers during university breaks, the filmmakers continued to expand upon these projects, including their first festival screened project "THE CITY".
Whilst studying at university in York, Calum built connections with those with filmmaking interests and commenced collaborating on new projects, whilst also focussing on altering the direction of Smashing UK from YouTube content towards film production. The first award-nominated project from Smashing UK was the psychological drama "THE SECRET EYE", filmed on location in York by Calum and his housemates in December 2012. The film was nominated for 'Best Student Film' at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards and received positive press publicity throughout York.
During the last few months of university, Calum started prepping "OUR FATHER", the company's most challenging project to date that aimed to launch Smashing UK towards creating content for theatrical and festival distribution, veering away from the amateur YouTube videos they had spent so many years creating. Pre-production saw the producers raise £3,500 towards production - the first officially financed picture for Smashing UK - as well as casting professional talent from shows like "GAME OF THRONES". In August 2014, 3 months after finishing university, "OUR FATHER" began filming and continued for five days across Worcestershire. Rob Byrd, Ryan Eden and Morgan Rhys, who had continually collaborated with the company since its formation, came on board for the project, with Rob and Ryan joining Smashing UK full-time as producers for all forthcoming films.
In May 2016, over a year after filming completed, Smashing UK finally gained what it considered to be its first bout of professional success when "OUR FATHER" was accepted at the 69th Cannes Film Festival as part of the Court Metrage programme. Following Cannes, the film saw further success with screenings across Australia, the Cayman Islands, Croatia, France, Romania, the UK and the US, receiving 14 award nominations and winning 3. Smashing UK has since begun to branch off into corporate media and music videos, whilst continuing to pursue creative projects as their preferential focus. In 2017, the company created the side project "WAYWARD SOULS" to bide time whilst working on the pre-production for further films. In 2019, the company announced they had two short films and a debut feature in development for the early 2020s.
