Dog House

Absurd short about the rental crisis, starring Joz Norris

Joz Norris stars in a new absurd comedy short about the rental crisis, Dog House.

He plays Frank, who has finally found a solution to his problem finding somewhere to live. He’s moved in with Linda (Nat Luurtsema) and Brian (Tom Bell). There’s just one small catch…

Directed by Miranda Holm, the film also stars Anna Leong Brophy as Frank’s friend Sarah and features appearances from Nick Elleray, Lulu Popplewell and Christian Brighty.

Norris – who also wrote the short – said: ‘Miranda and I were exploring a surreal idea about a guy who has to pretend to be a dog because if he ever gets found out, he’ll be kicked out of the family unit.

‘At the same time, we’d recently moved house and as anyone who’s had to deal with the London rental market recently will know, it was a nightmare. We tied both ideas together into an absurdist exploration of how it feels to not belong anywhere.

‘I’m so proud of the strange, sad, ridiculous short we’ve made, and of the incredible team - cast and crew - who came together to make it. They’re all legends.’

Holms added: ‘I felt there was room to explore the premise of Dog House beyond the ridiculous nature of a man dressing up as a dog in order to beat the rental market.

‘I wanted to make sure the performances where kept grounded, so that it felt like we were part of Frank’s lived experience, whilst embracing the darker themes of the loss of identity and how easy it can be to fall through the gaps of society when something goes wrong in your life and you don’t have a safety net.

‘My aim was to introduce an uneasy feeling in the audience beneath the silliness, so that after laughing at the more ridiculous elements of Frank’s predicament they were left with a feeling of genuine concern.’

Dog House was shot by Matt Riley and has an original score by Andy Russell.