Mark Herman was later entering the film industry; at 27 he was making
cartoons at art college before then getting involved in drama by studying
film at Leeds college. Then he trained as an animator at the National
Film School in London, where at his first lecture he found himself being
introduced to a nervous looking kid called Nick Park. Realising he could
never compete with such a genius Herman fortuitously moved away from
animation, and via writing lyrics for The Christians, entered into filmmaking.
Herman’s first feature-length project was Blame it on the Blame it Bellboy
(1992), a lamentable comedy of mistaken identity starring Dudley Moore.
Next, Herman wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Brassed
Off (1996), following the members of a colliery brass band - still
struggling to survive a decade after the miners' strike. Handsomely
shot, and well-performed by a cast of familiar faces, it remains Herman's
best film to date.
In Little Voice
(1998), adapted by Herman from Jim Cartwright's play 'The Rise and Fall
of Little Voice', he took over the director’s role from Sam Mendes who
had tired of Miramax and walked off; departing to direct American Beauty
– a good career move. Jane Horrocks reprises the title role of a harried
young woman whose only escape lies in the memory of her father and in
imitating the singers he admired. Purely
Belter (2000), adapted by Herman from Jim Tulluch's novel The Season
Ticket, is the clichéd story of two teenage boys trying to get together
enough money for a couple of Newcastle United season tickets.
