Everyone Does It

If you had the power of time travel at your disposal, what would you do? While the classic answer might be stopping Hitler, what if time travel was more of a casual getaway – letting you hop back a few years for a weekend trip? In Craig Ainsley’s sci-fi comedy Everybody Does It, a trio of time tourists set off on such an adventure, only to face the fallout of breaking their one golden rule: “Don’t f*ck about with timelines!”

“I love sci-fi and wanted to make something in that genre that was really grounded and colloquial”

Although Ainsley’s nine-minute film explores intriguing time travel theories through its comedic narrative, that was never his primary goal when creating Everybody Does It. Instead, he simply envisioned time travel as a recreational activity. Rather than delving into those complex theories, he aimed to craft something “really grounded and colloquial,” focusing not on answering big questions but on presenting “time tourism as a possibility.”

With a high-concept premise set in an everyday environment, the comedy in Everybody Does It emerges naturally through performances and dialogue. Ainsley took a relaxed approach to filming, explaining, “To make the whole thing feel real, we wanted it to be chaotic.” He kept camera blocking loose and encouraged improvisation, allowing the actors to lead the scene while the camera simply kept up with them.

A time traveller from the future!

While this chaotic approach was intentional, talking to Ainsley about the production makes it clear that it was also a necessity – driven by limited time, space, and budget. For anyone who imagines filmmaking as a glamorous endeavour, Ainsley’s experience offers a reality check – much of his day was spent watching a monitor from inside a tiny ensuite toilet. Resourcefulness also played a huge role in Everybody Does It, with Ainsley and his team finding clever, low-budget solutions to bring their vision to life.

“The scene where Joel’s eyes open is actually just our DP moving his fingers in front of the lens,” Ainsley reveals. “And when Jennifer looks through the crack in the door, she’s actually looking through two sheets of paper. It got dark, and lighting paper was just easier. Fun DIY filmmaking.”

With Ainsley a regular commercials director, Everybody Does It is the filmmaker’s latest comedy short to make it on to Short of the Week after we featured Whenever You’re Ready, back in 2018.