Stand-up, comic books, acting, script-writing and now film-making – it seems there’s very little Josie Long hasn’t turned her hand to.

But there is one artistic world which she admits is closed to her.

“I have no musical talent,” she says, as she prepares to bring a double bill of short films she has penned and starred in to Brighton’s oldest working cinema.

“My mum wanted me and my sister to be musical and got us to learn piano. I was so bad.

“When I did acting and comedy it was like suddenly realising, ‘This is what having fun with something is, this is how to be creative’.

“I’m incredibly good at karaoke though. I always do Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O’Connor.”

Film-making was something Long had wanted to try for a long time, partly because of the ephemeral nature of stand-up.

“After ten years it felt like I had nothing permanent to show for the work I had done,” she says. “My stand-up is so informal and in the moment, it’s never quite captured on film.

“I had been thinking about a film and waiting for a good idea.”

The idea for the first of her two short films, Let’s Go Swimming, came after she had been through something of a personal crisis.

“I had left someone I really cared for but had changed my mind about,” she says. “I didn’t know what I was doing, I didn’t trust myself or know what was going on, but I had something to write about.”

Let’s Go Swimming follows a character played by Long as she decides to abandon her life in London to start again in Glasgow – a city Long loves but doesn’t want to move to in case reality lets her down.

“She thinks she’s going to fall into a new life, be in an indie band playing all this music she loves and wants it all to be magical,” says Long, who convinced a few Scottish indie luminaries including Belle And Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch and Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat to make cameos.

“But she’s too scared to start and doesn’t know how to make connections with people. It’s a lot about being alone, but it’s fun, it’s a comedy, there are jokes. It’s quite sad but we’ve tried to keep lots of lightness and laughing at sadness.”

As she came up with the idea two years ago, Long met director Doug King at Newcastle’s Wunderbar festival and felt a connection.

“We went for dinner and had a chat about ideas and projects,” says Long. “It all started developing from there. It’s chemical or something – I’ve only had two or three people in my life I’ve been able to artistically collaborate with.”

While Let’s Go Swimming was born out of a catharsis, its follow-up, Romance And Adventure, was informed by Long’s growing friendship with King and her co-star Darren Osborne.

“It’s the same characters from the first film but not quite the same, and it’s set 18 months on,” says Long.

“The characters are friends and live in the same house, and are getting angry about their friends who are beginning to grow up – buying houses, having kids and settling down. “Neither of them want to do that and their friendship sees them rebelling against growing up and what that means.

“There’s a feeling of not knowing how to deal with your problems as an adult, not really being able to get a handle on things. “There’s this myth that becoming an adult is something that will come easily to you.”

Long and King will not only introduce both films but also take questions from the audience after the two 20-minute shorts are screened.

Long enjoyed the experience of writing for herself so much that there is now a no-budget feature film in development.

“You need so much stamina, energy and focus to be there in every scene,” she says, talking about her experiences as an actor. “I’m learning all the time and getting better as I’m doing it.

“Watching both films back-to-back I was very conscious of what I was doing in the first film. I’ve definitely come on as an actor since. “The second film was a lot more relaxed – it was a wonderful experience. It’s amazing the more you realise what you can do, the more you want to do and the more ambitious you become.”

  • JOSIE LONG: LET’S GO ADVENTURE showing at Duke Of York’s Picturehouse, Preston Circus, Brighton on Monday, December 2.
  • Starts 9pm, tickets £15, call 0871 9025728

Josie Long also headlines the Comedy Sans Frontieres charity night in aid of humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres at The Quadrant, in Queens Road, Brighton, on Friday, December 13. Starts 8pm, tickets £7.50/£10. Visit www.wegottickets.com/event/244944