From writer Alfie Scattergood (real name: Paul Knight), and director Sherice Griffiths (Hired Gun, A Tidy Robbery) comes Dakota Stone, a short film that takes us into the world of Dakota Stone (played by Nancy Xu in her screen debut), who we learn pretty quickly in this short film- she isn’t someone to be messed with.

Its always tricky to write articles or reviews about a short film as I never want to give too much of a plot summary for a film that lasts longer than it would take to read an article or write one but I do love a good short film and Dakota Stone was a blast to watch.  Yes it does feel like a lengthy clip of a longer film but in the 9 minutes the short film ran for (including end credits)- I already knew that I wanted to see more featuring this kick ass character wonderfully played by Nancy Xu  In the 9 minutes we spend with her on screen- we learn how dangerous she can be, how she isn’t someone to be messed with, and just how focused she is at completing her goal. Nancy Xu reminded me of the times I used to watch action films starring the likes of Maggie Q, and Cynthia Rothrock and I loved those films. 

Dakota Stone is also shot really well, great cinematography by Matt Gathercole, the lighting and feel to the film works really well in what I’m sure was a low budget film, the way its shot makes it look far more expensive than it was.   So if you love your short films, I definitely recommend you add Dakota Stone to your list. I know its often not easy to track down short films but Dakota Stone is worth tracking down (just careful you don’t end up on her list and Dakota Stone ends up tracking you down!)  Id also recommend keeping an eye on the IMDB page for Nancy Xu. Dakota Stone might be her screen debut, but hopefully more films will appear on her list soon. 

I caught up (virtually) with Dakota Stone’s writer Alfie Scattergood and fired over some questions just so I could learn more about the film. Here are those questions and answers.

Where did the idea for Dakota Stone come from?

I started writing again around lockdown and wanted a smart ass character that thought worked well as female lead and went through a lot of drafts as was 30 pages or more which was too long for short and too expensive.

How long did it take to write the first draft of the story?

I worked on it for two to three years and finally it was ready to go when Sherice came on board as director and was a big help. The main 3 cast were also new to acting and dived right in and were amazing the other two cast members Sherice knew and were great as well.

Will we see more of Dakota Stone?

The film has been submitted around the world in film festivals 17 so far up till September and is in the Sweden Action Film Festival (February 2025). We are looking to make an action scene with Nancy as Dakota this year and also do have the feature length script currently on a 3rd draft that Sherice has helped with and has interested parties in UK and USA so hopefully a feature will be made. Lets keep those fingers crossed.

What are you working on at the moment Alfie?

I have written 5 shorts so far Dakota Stone included, and looking at making a comedy short with Nancy and Mikee Introna (he plays Mike in Dakota Stone) with Sherice this year as well and working on another feature action script at the moment. 

I also caught up on Skype with Nancy and Alfie (Paul) and we had a good old chat about their careers, what its like to make an indie film and of course we chatted Dakota Stone (dont worry, NO spoilers)

Here is that chat