A group of adults with learning difficulties has made a challenging new video which focuses on how people with disabilities should be treated in society.
The group from the Old Rectory Community Resource Centre in Bideford came up with an idea loosely based on the 80s TV series 'The A Team'.
The film, 'The Valuing People Team', takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the 'Valuing People' White Paper - a new piece of legislation which addresses the rights of people with disabilities. Their main aim was to make the issues covered in the White Paper more accessible to other people with learning disabilities. And not only that - they wanted to make it entertaining!
 | | A scene from the Perfect Day finale. |
The film was shot in the summer of 2003, but after spending several months editing and putting the finishing touches to the production they hit a major stumbling block. Before the film could be publicly screened and distributed, they needed to be sure they weren't in breach of copyright for the film's musical finale. Peter Harris from Wolf and Water Arts Company - who directed the film - takes up the story. "We wanted a song that everyone who'd taken part could be involved to finish the film with, and someone suggested 'Perfect Day' - which I thought would be great. "Before the shoot last summer we contacted the Mechanical Rights Society who didn't think there would be a problem about using it and said they'd be back to us.  | | Members of the cast from the Old Rectory Centre. . |
"It was only after the shoot when we contacted them again they rather shamefacedly told us that they'd got it wrong and didn't even have control over the rights to Perfect Day at all, that EMI did. "When we phoned EMI to ask permission they turned us down flat.
"It was an awful moment because obviously we'd shot the whole sequence and suddenly it looked as if the end of our film had been whisked from under our feet by some faceless London music executive. It wasn't a perfect day, that day," added Peter. The film had been shot and was just about ready for public screening. Still frustrated by copyright problems, Wolf and Water decided to continue and keep their collective fingers crossed. "We showed it at a couple of private viewings and people all talked about the "Perfect Day" bit."
"It was stunning, really funny, really moving, really special.  | | Lou Reed watched the film and thought it was great |
Buoyed by the film's good reception, Harris decided to go straight to the source and contact the man himself. "We sent a video and a covering letter off to Lou Reed's agent in London - just explaining the situation.
"To be honest I didn't have much hope of getting a response. "Three weeks later I got an e-mail saying that Lou had seen it, thought it was great and had given us his blessing to use it," Peter said. "It really was fantastic news and obviously the group were delighted by it. I e-mailed back and said that if he was ever in Devon we'd buy him a pint!". | 
