Written by Kianna Best on Oct 17, 2022. Posted in Production News

Exploring the waters of The Essex Serpent: An interview with Jonjo Stickland of Marine Department

With serpentine lakes and daunting rivers, Apple TV's The Essex Serpent is not for the thalassophobic. Leading the way to tackle the waterscapes of Maldon's Blackwater river and beyond, Marine Department leant its logistics and training experience to the production. The Location Guide spoke to marine coordinator Jonjo Stickland to find out a bit more.

What is the Marine Department?

Marine Department is a company that specialises in all aspects of filming on, under or around water, whether it’s a hot tub or open ocean. We take care of the risk management, providing the specialist equipment and knowledge for productions to do what they do best and get the shots they need, on, under or around water.

What have you been working on recently?

We recently finished Luther, a Netflix feature based on the BBC series. It was pretty stunt heavy with some complex underwater sequences; it was challenging but great fun!

What specialist pieces of gear/technologies do you offer productions?

I have been working on the water in film and tv for 13 years, I set Marine Department up around for 5 years ago, so have built quite a collection of equipment, all made with filming in mind. We have various camera boats for both open water and inland water; electric outboard motors with sound in mind; underwater wireless communication, and witness camera equipment. We also have a full suite of safety and medical equipment, specifically designed for the maritime environment. It’s important to me that we own everything, so not only that are we’re always ready to travel to any location, but also that I’m confident that the equipment we work with is the best.

What did you get up to while working on The Essex Serpent?

Cleaning mud off equipment springs to mind!! Essex Serpent was technically challenging for many reasons, mainly due to the tide and the mud – it was good fun though and I’m proud of what we achieved. We provided 24hr boat access to a location that is normally only accessible during certain times of the day. So, all crew, cast, equipment and even animals were shipped in and out by boat transfer. Also, our access had to be quickly moveable for certain camera angles, so we had to be pretty agile!

We worked alongside the fabulous Alice Normington and provided a variety of working picture boats. We also helped art and props work on the mud flats safely, proving access and crew to install and strike sets.

What creative solutions did you offer while on location with The Essex Serpent?

We’re here to help the production achieve their vision, and we want to do that safely and proactively. We take the creative vision and make it workable, on Essex Serpent it was namely working to ensure that there was accessibility to otherwise utterly inaccessible locations.

What would you recommend to filmmakers who are considering working at sea/on rivers etc?

Call us! In all seriousness, find a company that knows both filming and the water. Water can be daunting, but we work to create a safe working environment for the crew and provide our combined knowledge of film and maritime expertise. I’ve been working on the water for 20+ years and everyday I learn something new.

Where is the wildest/most extreme location you have worked?

Gee whiz, Essex has to be up there! Bristol Channel has the second largest tidal range in the world - that’s challenging. Austria, frozen lakes and 3 ft of snow, remote parts of China, North Sea?! We have been lucky enough to work in some amazing places and have some technically challenging locations, but I believe anything is achievable with the right prep, skills, knowledge and kit.

What is your favourite bit of kit to use?

MD-02, first boat we bought. She is a 5m flat bottomed tub, designed for the military. I bought her from e-Bay at 2am having set an alarm for the end of the auction. She’s not pretty, but my goodness, in 8 years I have not found a better inland jib arm platform. She’s light, manoeuvrable, unsinkable, has well thought out fixing points and takes a large payload. Grips love her, operators love her, we love her, I love her.

What are you working on next?

We are currently on our way to Thailand with a Paramount + series featuring a 90ft sail yacht. Lots of logistics, remote locations and a couple of obstacles to overcome but sailing is my passion and it’s how I got into the industry - so it always makes me happy when a sail boat is scripted especially a classic yacht! I can’t complain about the location either.

Find our more at the Mud, Sweat and Tides- The Essex Serpent location case study session at this year's FOCUS event on 7 December