PRODUCTION NOTES - part 3

I challenge anyone who thinks that making films is easy to undertake the challenge that we have. The past few days have been stressful. I myself undertook a 5 hour journey, meeting and pre-planning location photograph session and an extra 2 hour of journey time (plus twenty minutes on the underground playing musical stations) on only an hours sleep. I apologise to the people of Chatham, Strood, Rochester, Rainham and Gillingham for whose stations I slept through at 10:30 on Tuesday night.

On top of that on the day of shooting I walked out of the location and saw.... snow! Noooo!! It can't snow we have exterior shots to film. Luckily it subsided, apart from the cold and the wind chill which turned quite a few hands blue.

And our poor actress, by poor I mean suffering because in terms of the quality we received this was high end stuff. If the previous actor we worked with is anything to go by she can expect to have leading roles in commercials very soon. Oh how we punished her, having her in a negligee opening a door to sub zero temperatures and still being seductive, that is ACTING!

I don't know what I expected, as my last experience of filming was very much based on patchwork, multiple locations multiple days spread over months of filming. The pressure to get it right, to stay on schedule this time was immense, over running wasn't an option all night filming if necessary. We have to complete, there was no way it could be another week, everything was planned to the tiniest detail, writing week 1, pre production week 2, filming week 3, editing week 4, final edit and upload week 5. Maybe we have to apologise for being so pushy that people feel put out, but sometimes we have no option. The best thing about the day, was that nobody stepped out of line, everybody had a role and everybody stuck to their task.

Everybody appreciates good, hard work. When you're good, you're good and I find myself in a great position in that due to possibly more luck than anything else I can surround myself with people who are not only good, but great. Let's take for example my followers on Twitter, I needed faces for a fake social network site, and out of all the people I asked ( I will refrain from naming those who didn't respond) I had a majority yes from them all. It's frankly a weird world where someone you hardly know asks for your picture and you say yes.

I sometimes in these situations feel like a fake, a bit like that TV show whose name escapes me where someone pretends to be in a job they know nothing about. When the lovely Elinor Perry-Smith (Nun With A Gun Productions and co-producer of ForeverTogether) treated us to a lunch break I found myself surrounded by people with degrees and proper training, they've had their talents honed and developed to be the best they can be. Here was I , the untrained Northerner, somehow I'd gatecrashed a group of people with degrees and certificates and awards and yet I was an equal. It goes to prove one thing, if you have the talent then it comes to the surface. I had the priviledge of working with extremely talented people and they were just as complimentary to me as they were to each other. I still feel a fraud, but I'm not going to dwell on it because I'm a very good fraud.

Taking time to reflect on the day, I don't think it's an understatement to say that with another crew I wouldn't be as confident that we would have succeeded. I could put my faith in them and go there you are, location, actress, script. Do your thing. While I just faffed about in the background moving furniture and offering minor suggestions and collecting minor props that had slipped our mind.

[A test, anyone who can find the last minute prop that masqueraded as something else entirely will win a box of chocolate fingers]

So where do we go next? A very good question as the journey is far from over. We still need music, we still need an edit, we need to keep our fingers crossed that the thirty people we're thanking don't count towards our crew count. (I wouldn't have thought so) We need to upload it, we need to find tuxedo's, we need to discover if I and Danny Boyle have shared memories of the hills and dales of Bolton's countryside, we need to know how to get to the O2 arena to pick up our prize.... In terms of fantasies it's not a bad one. You have to try and you have to believe, as Teesha proved, if you try; you succeed. You cannot wipe the smile away from someone who has beaten the odds to be somewhere they only imagined. She may be one of a thousand dancers at the opening ceremony of the Olympic games, but she will have one of the biggest smiles.

So, here we go. Win Sundance, Adib and Adeel get their shot at a million dollar budget movie, Vanessa becomes lead role in Downton Abbey as Hugh Bonneville's long lost daughter, Scott gets to write the next Jason Statham action flick, Elinor is the most talked about new writer in the art movie world and I get a phone call from Toby Whithouse that says "I'm taking over Doctor Who.... let's talk."

We can dream.........

PRODUCTION NOTES - part 2

Four weeks of the Five Week Film Project to go.

Sometimes you do things that make you feel like a right bastard, I've been reading 'The Writers Tale' finally got round to picking it up again. He talks a lot of sense, it's real insight and almost like finding a kindrid spirit with a similar work ethic. Although I'm not for one second kidding myself that Russell T. Davies and I would ever be friends.

If you find a project that you believe in, you will push whatever you can to get it made. Sometimes you have to take charge and walk over people. I hate that thought, steamrollering your way through people to make a change and a difference, but in hindsight that's the only way small people get started. Believe in yourself and make others believe in you too.

When I contacted the directors the first question was "can you make a short film in 5 weeks." his answer ended with "Nothing is possible, I always believe :)"

In reality there was a lot of pressure on that question. Without the right answer things could've been different, storylining and scripting would probably still be ongoing, I'd be sitting back and writing and fretting about my day (or night as it is at the moment) job. Because he believed it could be done, I believed it could be done. I became obsessed and almost possessed. E-mailing people and sending messages when I got home at 5:30 in the morning. Hunting down locations I knew would be possible and practical, really wanting to get as much sorted as soon as possible.

It is now 4 weeks until deadline day.

We have a script,

We have a location

We have a schedule

We have a shooting script

We have directors

If we can get an actress within the next three days then start to film next week. That leaves 2 weeks for editing and post production. At this point I have to put things in the hands of talented people, but I have faith that they will come through.

The second point that has dawned on me, is that I am for all intents and purpose this is partly mine. I can take it away, claim ownership, take all kinds of praise... Or be the punchbag if things fail. My dad has always tried to protect me from failure, but his way has always been to tell me to step back and not get too deeply involved. I hope that with this he can understand that it's ok for me to take these risks and get deeply and passionately involved.

I feel more relaxed, because I know that if for whatever reason we fail to make Sundance:London. Then the project doesn't stop or die or fade away. It still gets made, it enters other festivals, because I and the execs will all have a piece of this and have the power to push it wherever we like as hard as we can.

PRODUCTION NOTES - part 1

Today I discovered how Jerry Bruckheimer feels every day of his life. Man it's stressful. But exciting.

The main things needed to make a film, director, writer, actor.

Out of those three we currently have writers and directors. Waiting for an actress. I hardly slept last night. It's like a nervous excitement because the deadline is so tight, if one thing falls apart then the whole thing may crash.

Luckily, we have a tentative yes from the location for filming and we may hopefully get a discount, which is great for a no budget movie. :)

The script is on its 5th revision, and I've had to put my foot down and say enough is enough. One last edit each. But I know I'll be editing it once more when it comes to location filming, pushing a scene from interior to exterior.

A list of things to buy, black cloth, silver gel pen, candles, incense sticks, photo paper, sexy nightie. Ok, maybe the actress will have her own... But will it be in my size???!!!

The main thing is to have back up and luckily the other guys all know an actress who may be available.

Creating the schedule is daunting, I need to know if the location is available so we can book a filming block, the location wants to know a date for the filming block so it can tell us if it's available. Have I done the right thing by saying I'd try for a 12 hour window between Monday and Thursday without consultation with the Directors? Probably not, but if I hadn't we could lose the location...

So far so good. Written, cast and location booked all within a week. Which would give us 4 weeks to film and final edit. It sounds easy doesn't it?

I hope so......

Waiting To Sundance

Everyone likes a countdown, to name a few well know ones there were

Channel 4's gameshow with Carol Vorderman.

The wait until Charlotte Church was legal.

The Millennium

The end of the world

New Year's Eve

The Channel X free-view 5 minutes

Please feel free to remind me of any I may have missed, :)

The Sundance London film festival, has a closing date of 28th Feb 17:00hrs. So, in true reckless fashion steps are afoot to write, cast, direct, edit and enter a short movie in 5 weeks, 1 day.

I will try to keep you abreast (or a*insertbodypart*) of the situation. Good or bad.

2011 - Review Of The Year?

Seems to me that every man and his dog is at the moment putting together a review of 2011. Well, I thought I might as well join in because to be honest I don't think anyone is going to read this if any of my other blogs are to go by.

So what do we learn from 2011?

1- The Arab Spring,

Where apparently facebookers brought down the corrupt Tyrants in charge of Middle Eastern countries. Quite ironic considering they got Rage Against the Machine to number 1 a few years ago. In fact I remember it was a good friend @RatedR1882 who told me of their political leanings in their songwriting.

2 - Killing Osama Bin Laden.

He got shot, war against terror is now over? Not really, but you'd like to think it could be that easy.

3 - Royal Wedding.

Niggles me at times this one, people were quite happy to criticise the wedding, but were happy to take the paid holiday. People were quick to criticise the spending on security and tax payers money, but didn't understand that the Royal Wedding created billions of dollars of revenue for this country, if it wasn't for the swelling of coffers from tourists and royalists flocking to London then we'd be even more of a financial mess than we are now.

4 - The Middleton Sisters.

Kate and Pippa looked very hot. I hope dreaming of a sandwich isn't a beheading offence.

5 - Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri leaving Arsenal.

To be honest, I don't think Fab knew what was going on at times towards the back end of last season and he did become increasingly injury prone. Best of luck to him. Samir Nasri on the other hand reportedly said some disgracefully disrespectful things about the Arsenal team. That would be the arsenal team that supported him when he first came over from France and when he broke his leg and when he went MIA in the League Cup final against Stephen Carr. Well I'm sure Roberto Mancini won't regret it... Oh what was that I heard recently, "Nasri pull your socks up you're not good enough?" funny old game.

6 - Year Of Promise

When the year started I was on a high, my hopes and expectations were buoyant, what actually happened was that every avenue turned out to have a roadblock at the end of it. I hit four different filmmakers who just vanished on me after I'd started scripting for them and in November another folded. I consider 2012 to possibly be the time to go back to basics, to retreat to some old characters and scenarios. Back to short stories alongside existing audio commitments.

7 - The 'Real' Job.

I haven't been settled this year, have changed shift several times, have been the centre of issues because of depot closures and apparently should know better than to expect interdepartmental communication. I've started to go beyond detest to the actual 'hate' feeling towards getting up and going to work. I hope 2012 sees a fresh start in a new environment. I know for a fact that thins are going to be interesting for the next 3 months as I'll be out of the picture. Watch this space.

8 - Twitter and The Great Depression.

Possibly the greatest discover of 2011 is that Twitter and being in a foul, deep depression when everything seems to be against you do not mix. You really need a bit of good spirit and humour to help you out and sometimes your tweets are a veiled cry for help. getting no replies, no retweets and no mentions feels like a slap in the face. In 2012 I'm going to remove quite a lot of people I'm following, have a clear out. I followed a lot of writers expecting them to be great and full of useful tips and tbh they're quite boring buggers who have their own circles which I'm not and never likely to be part of.

My Favourite Christmas Songs

Imagine the scene, a cold Winter night in early December when up pops a tweet from the darling former Treasure Hunt vixen Wincey Willis. ( I kid you not dear reader) there is a man up North who would like to know about our favourite Christmas Songs and would we blog about it. Luckily for me I was one of (*I don't know how many exactly but to stroke my ego I'll say...) Hundreds of people who wanted to be a part of this.

That's the thing about Christmas, being a part of something...

Everyone copmplains about Christmas in one way or another; the gaudy decorations. the fact that December 25th gets earlier every year, the weather, the prices, the Mrs Santa costume that covers too much, the elf costume that doesn't cover enough...

But the one thing we can agree on is that everyone has a song, regardless of anything else. Every genre of music has at one time or another had a stab at being festive. Run DMC, Snoop Dogg, My Chemical Romance, Cliff Richard, The Darkness, Aled Jones, The Killers, The Cheeky Girls. That's barely scratching the surface. The two biggest Christmas songs on repeat belong to 70's Glam Rock and the second two belong to 80's pop. (In my opinion based on the radio station at work)

I am very grateful to @himupnorth for allowing a Lancastrian to invade his Yorkshire blog space and I hope he isn't disappointed with my choice of song...



AC/DC's Mistress For Christmas.

So what is it about the song that sums up the spirit of Christmas?

EVERYTHING!! Lets look at the boxes it ticks,

1) It has Sleigh Bells.
2) You can dance to it
3) It mentions Christmas, Reindeers, Santa, Jingle Bells, Presents.
4) It rocks!

The best Christmas songs embody everything about the season, Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody features lyrics about illicit kisses and drunked behaviour, Mariah Carey has that cheeky look in her eye when asked what she wants for Christmas and you discover that it's you. Lets go even further back in time to Eartha Kitt purring seductively about what she wants her Santa Baby to slip her under the tree.

When you're a child you're taught that Christmas time is for being a little bit cheeky, (Think about it, "There's a guy you never met before tell him what you want for Christmas and he'll get it for you." How cheeky is that?) Sometime in all the hullabaloo you get lost in the commercialism and want and money grabbing that Bankers and Oil Tycoons get off on every day. When you're getting older embrace the fun, cheeky and festive side of Christmas.

You think that when Jesus was born they didn't have a party... Oh yeah, they did and everyone came, Kings, Shepherds, Cattle and Inn Keepers.

So what are my other 4?

Jethro Tull's Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow

Ian Anderson was a madcap as they came on Top Of The Pops, treating the necessity of miming with the disgust it deserved. But his Christmas songs always had that hint of Socialist about them, look beyond yourself to others.




Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton - Merry Christmas Baby

Sometimes to enjoy the season you need to see it through the images and the expectations instead of the reality. This song will forever make me think of New York, snowy streets, joy and Christmas Markets like the Hollywood films. I've never been to New York at Christmas, I hate to have my illusions shattered.



Cliff Richard - Little Town

Christmas memories are the best. Some are old some are new and this is one of my oldest, I always wondered why we never sang it this way at school.



Elvis Presley - Here Comes Santa Claus (Coming Down Santa Claus Lane)

Always finish on a classic. and this evokes the spirit of the 1950's just as much as Bing Crosby. Again the images in your mind are so clear it's as if you've always known Christmases like them, you have, except they've always been on the TV screen and not outside your window.




Check out the person who so kindly gave me the chance to go on about Christmas songs at his blog HIM UP NORTH - http://blogupnorth.wordpress.com/

Time Like Falling Leaves

Based on the characters created by Ben Reed for the forthcoming Audio Drama series 'In The Line Of Duty'

Jack Anders sat at the dining table, his usual seat. He looked up at the empty chair opposite him, Kira's chair. He was waiting for it to dry, the varnish usually took two to three hours. He looked at the clock, still another two hours to go. He knew deep down it was just a veneer, that he was using the varnish as a cover for what he was really waiting for. Thinking about the Varnish drying on Kira's chair was a distraction from thinking about the letter he knew it was time to write.

He had everything laid out in front of him with military precision, the pen perpendicular to the paper, every piece of paper aligned in its pile, not one centimetre out of place. The irony wasn't lost on Jack Anders that all the years in the army, all the times he's had to debrief his superiors with bad news, descriptions of failed missions, account for loss of life, yet he still couldn't bring himself to write letters to his wife.

His palms were cold and clammy, he tried to blame the cold weather but knew it was fear. The fear of not knowing what to write, knowing that every word would be from the heart, open and honest, the real Jack Anders. He looked at the chair again, wished really hard that the clock had somehow skipped a couple of hours. Maybe he should stand up and touch it, test its tackiness. he knew he was procrastinating, Kira wouldn't stand for it if she had been there with him.

Jack picked up the pen, looked at it, the black ink inside the clear plastic tube. It didn't move, it wasn't as if he expected it to, he pressed the nib to the paper and watched the words flow, simple and ineffective words that held no significance and meant absolutely nothing. He'd ripped the paper from in front of him and screwed it into a ball, the tight knot of paper in his hands acted like ball of hurt and sadness inside of him, he squeezed it tighter and tighter before launching it across the room with all the force his pent up frustration could muster. It lacked direction and purpose, Jack watched in disbelief as it bounced off the top of the chair opposite him. He knew it, deep down, it was evident in the light that cascaded across the varnish. He had bought himself another couple of hours, the section would have to be completely stripped back.

Jack Anders stood with eagerness and walked towards the kitchen, his white spirit and varnish still sitting by the sink waiting for him silently, welcoming him back. He looked at the clock and sighed, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he had to sit down at the table again, he couldn't let Kira down, not this year. Sighing again, deeper this time, Jack turned his back on the White Spirit and forced himself to sit down at the table again, he had to finish the letter and it had to be from the heart.

Holding the pen tightly he began to write.