Quick Off The Mark Productions was a film & television production company operating in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

from 9 October 2009 to 7 June 2016. It was possibly best known for the films '' In Search of La Che'' and '' The Greyness of Autumn''.

History

Quick Off The Mark Productions was formed on 9 October 2009 by Mark D. Ferguson and Chris Quick. Its first main project was ''Butter Side Down'' a claymation series about a man's campaign to save the traditional light bulb from extinction. In 2010 work began on their first feature film '' In Search of La Che'', a mockumentary which followed John Tavish (Played by

Duncan Airlie James Duncan Airlie James (born Duncan Campbell; 23 May 1961) is a Scottish retired Kickboxing, kickboxer and actor best known for his roles in ''Tomb Raider (film), Tomb Raider'' and ''ID2: Shadwell Army''. He was the first Scottish fighter to win a ...

) and his quest to track down fictional rock star Roxy La Che. The film premiered at the

Glasgow Film Theatre The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is an independent cinema in the city centre of Glasgow. It occupies a purpose-built cinema building, first opened in 1939, and now protected as a category B listed building. History and architecture Predecesso ...

on 9 November 2011 and was later selected to appear at the 2014 American Online Film Awards. In 2013, the company made the headlines on CNN following the death of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

. The news channel, which was discussing portrayals of the former Prime Minister in film, spoke of

Steve Nallon Steve Nallon (born 8 November 1960) is a British actor, writer, voice artist and impressionist. Nallon began his career as a stand-up performer on the northern club circuit in the 1970s. He is known for his work as a voice artist on the satir ...

's performance from '' In Search Of La Che'', in which Thatcher plays a part in the life story of fictional rock star, Roxy La Che. The company was involved in the filming of a wide variety of live kickboxing, wrestling and MMA shows in and around Glasgow. In particular, Quick Off The Mark Productions was responsible for the coverage of every show of the Katana Fighting Series which was run by

. The shows which ran from 2010 to 2013 were often refereed by John Blackledge and attracted guest appearances from former fighters including

Ernesto Hoost Ernesto Frits Hoost (born 11 July 1965) is a Dutch retired professional kickboxer. A four-time K-1 World Champion, Hoost is considered to be one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Debuting in 1993 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 1993, where h ...

In 2012, the company produced a behind the scenes documentary in association with the Burns Museum in Ayr about the services run by the local charity Recovery Ayr and its upcoming custom pantomime ''Tam O'Shanter: The Mornin Eftir''. In the same year, Quick Off The Mark Productions released the short film '' The Greyness of Autumn'' which went on to feature in a number of festivals including the

Portobello Film Festival The Portobello Film Festival is an independent international film festival based in London, which annually premiers over 700 new films, including feature films, features, short films, shorts, documentaries, music films, and animation. Additionall ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and the People of Passion Film Festival in Australia where the film picked up the Best Short Comedy accolade. In 2014, the company, in association with Futurist Film Ltd produced the short family film ''Minion Vs Minion'' for

Vue Cinemas Vue International ( , like "view"), is a multinational cinema holding company headquartered in London, England, and registered in St Helier, Jersey. It operates in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark as Vue, with international operations in ...

. On 12 December 2014 the company's website confirmed that writing had begun on a possible sequel to '' The Greyness of Autumn'' entitled ''

Autumn Never Dies ''Autumn Never Dies'' is a 2020 short comedy film directed by Chris Quick. It stars Duncan Airlie James and Nicollete McKeown and is the sequel to 2012 short film '' The Greyness of Autumn''. The film was written and produced by Andy S. McEwan an ...

''. A crowd funding campaign was launched on Kickstarter on 17 August 2015 to raise funds for the production and lasted for 30 days. The campaign successfully raised £1,505 from 44 backers including former ''

Gamesmaster ''GamesMaster'' was a British television programme which originally aired on Channel 4 from 1992 to 1998. In 2021, it returned for a new series on YouTube and E4. It was the first UK television programme dedicated to video games. Dominik Di ...

'' host

Dominik Diamond Dominik Paul Diamond (born 31 December 1969) is a Scottish television, radio presenter and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the original presenter of Channel 4's video gaming programme ''GamesMaster'', as host of ''The Dominik Diamond B ...

Closure

On 14 October 2015, Quick Off The Mark Productions announced that director Mark D. Ferguson was moving to Canada and that the company would be disbanded in the new year. Filming responsibilities for ''

'' were handed over to Pentagram Productions UK and Suited Caribou Media. After 6 years, 4 months and 10 days, the company ceased trading on 19 February 2016 and was formally dissolved by Companies House on 7 June 2016.Companies House File: Company Dissolved
/ref> The company's logo was changed on the final day to the running man relaxing in a chair with a glass of wine with his film reel lying on the floor. Underneath the logo it read:

Filmography

Awards

Other Productions

External links

Quick Off The Mark Productions WebsiteCompany IMDB Profile

References

{{reflist, 30em Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom Film production companies of the United Kingdom Television production companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Scotland Companies based in Glasgow Mass media companies established in 2009 Mass media companies disestablished in 2016 2009 establishments in Scotland 2016 disestablishments in Scotland British companies disestablished in 2016 British companies established in 2009