The profession of acting must be one of the most underestimated jobs in the world. Who hasn’t watched a film or TV series and thought to themselves…’I could do that’. But acting isn’t just dressing up and remembering lines, there’s a reason many of the best performers go through years of training and a plethora of roles before they get noticed. Director Tom Nicoll employs a mockumentary lens to explore how far one actor will go to progress up the career ladder, in his gripping comedy short Lighting Tests.

“I know a few actors and you hear about the hoops they have to jump through all the time”

Told through a series of mostly static shots in which we see struggling actor Malky trying to impress an off-screen director who’s using him for the titular lighting tests, Nicoll’s 10-minute short is a character-based comedy with “a point to make about the industry’s tendency toward exploitation”. Eager to work with lead actor Liam Harkins again, the filmmaker created a short that focused on his specific talents, while also delivering that key message.

“The idea emerged from me thinking about power and how it relates to the film industry”, Nicoll explains as we discuss his inspiration for Lighting Tests. “I know a few actors and you hear about the hoops they have to jump through all the time. I thought as a premise there was good comedic and dramatic potential, and it had something to say about the way power imbalances can be exploited. I wanted to look at that, using comedy to draw you into the character but then (hopefully!) giving you something to think about at the end of the film”.

As we witness Malky trying to impress in front of the camera, as our off-screen director pushes him to his limits with comments about his mouth, insults about his Russian accent or just totally framing him out of shot, it’s utterly gripping to watch the gradual deterioration of their relationship. The premise of these lighting tests gives the film an authentic and voyeuristic feel, like we’re allowed a glimpse into something we’re not supposed to be seeing and that undoubtedly works in the film’s favour. It’s cringe comedy at its finest, you’re caught in a weird limbo between truly feeling for Malky’s situation and laughing at the often hurtful, but hilarious situations he finds himself in.

This isn’t just a short made for the giggles though, as Nicoll alluded to earlier, the climax of Lighting Tests leaves you with plenty to think about. With a series of title cards informing us this process occurred over a number of months, you really want Malky to have his moment at the end of this ordeal and though his rant to camera is deeply cathartic, the director’s response and that sudden cut-to-black means we don’t really know where he goes from here. “I’m just trying to get things going for myself”, he passionately explains when he finally snaps and despite claiming he’s “never working with people like you anymore”, you have to wonder if the offer of a “really, really good part” will draw him back in.

Shot over a couple of days in January 2020, I saw Lighting Tests on the festival circuit in 2021 and instantly wanted it for Short of the Week. Impactful, memorable comedy is so difficult to achieve, but Nicoll nails it in this short and now with another short film in post-production and a feature film in funded development (with Screen Scotland), we’re eager to see if he returns to comedy with these next projects or serves up something totally different.