Pulling Everything Inwards

So, its been four months since the last blog. Get ready to be blown... away.

Heard some funny news today. Ben Wheatley, the current flavour of the month in terms of British indie film talent will be directing two episodes of Doctor Who. To those who aren't familiar with Ben's body of recent work then the mention of his name will be held in the same esteem as Graham Harper and Euros Lynn, just another name working on the TV show. However, for those who have seen films such as Kill List and this years A Field In England, the fact that Ben is directing episodes of a BBC produced television show is big news indeed.

So, why is this good news?

Because it gives an immense sense that "if that guy can get there, then so can I"

Last year after the completion of 2012's thriller ForeverTogether (Which has been invited to screen in French Polynesia by the way) I made a bold prediction about the fate of its three writers and where they would ultimately end up. Scott would be the man responsible for the new Jason Statham action movie Carcrash Transporter Cellphone Bandit. Elinor would be wooing the West End with her art house classic theatrical event Bird On The Toilet and I myself would be sat in a BBC kitchen in Roath Locke discussing storylines for series ten of Doctor Who with Toby Whithouse, "It involves these caves and a trapped baby robot elephant...."  Now, nearly 2 years on do I feel any different to that initial prediction?

Well, yes and no.

It was with a very giant leap of faith that I decided to found PixieFairie Media and start to play by the rules. In 2012 I just spent money on projects and planned projects without any regard for income or cost. By July I'd three projects completed, but the entire budget of 2013 had been blown. Something happened on the approach of 2013 that I don't always admit to, an outbreak of common sense. I've never been sharp enough or practical enough to be able to deal with dailies. It is my good friend @RatedR1882 who has an A Level in Business Studies. But, I had to learn to be disciplined and to do things professionally and properly. So 2013's budget had to include festival entry fees, capital expenditure and project budgets. Which unfortunately has a knock on effect in terms of actual productions, because instead of drinking from the well, the well is now capped.

So here's the thing, 2013 hasn't been as big as 2012 in terms of quantity of productions. But, just as 2012 was a case of learning about how to mount productions, 2013 has been about marketing them. (See previous blogs)

So what happens in 2014?

More of the same, I think. Capital expenditure slows down because sound gear, lighting gear and various props have all been bought this year. Camera equipment is the first order for next year, then I would say that all the basic components are there. I have fingers crossed for the next instalment of the Roulette Of Horror story to go in front of the cameras, Scott Baker has a lovely idea in development that's part Hannibal, part When Harry Met Sally. Elinor's 12 Days Christmas Tale and my own The Christmas Guest, not to mention the possibility of seeing Jenn Bee's animation, and the music video for a song by folk group Roholio. I'm even toying with the idea of pushing together a last minute Broken Nation short film before Rick McCleod's Celtic Storm Films starts on principle photography. If in January you'd have told me that Keith Duffy and Bill Maynard would be reading words that I had written in front of a camera I would have laughed at you. But that's another part of my life.

A few weeks ago I had a coffee with my dear friend (the aforementioned RatedR) and he told me about PMA, the power of positive thinking. Self belief and self confidence are incredibly fragile things, even people who are working with you can work against you without them knowing it. I think that maybe I'm starting to learn that now, that the only person you can rely on is yourself, but surround yourself with good talented and above all supportive people and with hard work and a wicked sense of fun, one day you could be responsible for a couple of indie films and be working on Doctor Who...







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PixieFairie Media & Shoot Immortals present.... The Christmas Guest
Starring Emma Beaver, Francesca Totti and Robin Booth.

Steak And Trumpet Blowing Day (Part 2)

Ok, so times have moved on a little since the last blog post. But finally, here's the concluding part. 

MISFITS AUDIO
STAR RABBIT TRACKS: WHERE NOTHING HAS GONE BEFORE

http://misfitsaudio.com/comments/archives/737

I accidentally stumbled into the world of Star Rabbit Tracks when Cap'n John Tadrzak advertised for artists. I thought he wanted writers, he did and he offered me Star Rabbit Tracks. After a couple of episodes in which I was finding my feet and the characters. This is an episode that I managed to put the words that I wanted, the tone that I wanted and the jokes that I wanted into the whole package.

The thing about my work at Misfits, was that I was forced, (not in the plank and cutless kind of way) to accept who I was, that everything on that page was mine, instead of hiding behind a pseudonym I had to take on the chin every inch of criticism and every inch of praise. Because of this I was quite shocked to find out that putting my name out there meant that when praise was given, it made me very very happy.



MISFITS AUDIO
STAR RABBIT TRACKS: RETURN OF THE DEADEYE

http://misfitsaudio.com/comments/archives/1049

Sometimes you get a perfect combination of script, performance and production. This episode is exactly that. H Keith Lyons was hand picked to play the role of Deadeye, a grizzled old space Fagin and he is magnificent. Every comedy beat is hit with perfection by H Keith and David Maciver, the great lost double act of internet radio.

Also hidden away in the subplot of this episode was the start of a narrative thread which leads up to the season finale.


IN THE LINE OF DUTY: WINTER APPOINTMENT

http://vanguarddivision.libsyn.com/winter-appointment

Let me tell you a little something about the series "In The Line Of Duty", firstly and incredibly importantly, it was all his idea. His characters, his plotlines, his ideas and his plans. I'm just going to ride on his coat tails and take all the credit, Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

If only I could ;-). When I first offered my services to help, Ben Reed has his plans for a military tale, near future thriller. What I threw into the batter was a mix of fantastical and paranoia, a whole list of what ifs. What if the President isn't running the Government but his security chief is? What if the mysterious man responsible for hijacking a nuclear convoy was doing it as a rouse, a whim, a flex of technological muscle?   What if we rename that character Alistair Stewart in a veiled Doctor Who homage? Luckily, he believed me :-) and the series took shape and when first writing it together we hit upon a great dynamic, he'd write the all action explosive bits and I'd write the emotional, human angle bits.

What's the best thing you can do in Audio drama? Yes that's right an episode full of Sound effects and very little dialogue that only features on character talking to himself. Good thing that the character is voiced by David Ault, a highly thought of member of the audio drama community.


IN THE LINE OF DUTY: THE VANGUARD ARCHIVE

http://vanguarddivision.libsyn.com/the-vanguard-archive

So, here it is. Possibly the maddest audio drama episode I've ever done. It's so mad that it's about to become the accepted format for future episodes of In The Line Of Duty. This particular episode has everything you could wish for in a glimpse into damaged and dangerous souls and was produced with a mixture of existing recordings and new material. The intention was to complete everything that was outstanding because of the show going on hiatus. In a strange quirk, this closing of a chapter has inadvertently led to the opening of another and the In The Line Of Duty engine has started to chug.

So that's what I would consider my best bits... Maybe you think differently, maybe you don't. But one things for sure, there's more to come, bigger and hopefully better.

Steak And Trumpet Blowing Day

I had steak.


Recently work was completed on short film Eliza's Prize. I personally believe that it is one of my best works. So it got me to thinking this evening, what other works am I proudest of.

DARKER PROJECTS:
THE BYRON CHRONICLES: STARLIGHT DREAMS

http://darkerprojects.dreamhosters.com/audio/thebyronchronicles/0204A_The-Byron-Chronicles_Starlight_Dreams.mp3


It may only be 17 minutes long, but this little episode marks a number of things.

1. The first accepted script
2. First performance of one of my scripts
3. It's fantastical, surreal and beautiful. 
4. It was the first use of my pseudonym
5. It gave me the confidence to think that I could write and do it well. 

DARKER PROJECTS: 
THE BYRON CHRONICLES: THE HOUR OF PORTLAND 


http://darkerprojects.dreamhosters.com/audio/thebyronchronicles/0209-The-Byron-Chronicles-The-Hour-Of-Portland.mp3

I won't lie to you, when I first decided to do this as a blog post I only had two thoughts as to what I was going to choose from my association with Darker Projects, Starlight Dreams and this one. The problem I encountered was I actually discovered that Dead Time is a cracking script, riffing on Most Haunted Live expertly and quite freaky in places. I also discovered that Alistair and The Strange Case Of The Christmas Undead, an episode that Doctor Who fans like to call "Pseudo-Historical" because it features history and the supernatural.  If you like Sherlock Holmes, Zombies and Werewolves then please check out this episode. 

But, I still stick by my decision, technically this isn't all my own work as the framework and basic structure of this episode was already in place by Eric Busby when he asked me (due to personal reasons on his part) to help him out by co-writing and finishing the episode off. I'm quite happy that at least 60% of what you hear after the first twenty minutes was mine.

My personal favourite parts include

1. The encounter on the bridge between Byron and Slate.
2. The death of Chris Sparrow
3. The line "I believe this belongs to you, we found it on the shoulders of someone called Branlaven. He begged for his life and told us how to find you." "Then we killed him."

Also, my personal memories include a 5* review from Leviathan Dances. (See below)
http://leviathandances.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/the-byron-chronicles-season-2-finale-aka-can-i-start-crying-now/#comments

Again, some fantastic acting from David Ault and Laura Post carry this episode hitting every emotional beat perfectly. 


SPIRITBLADE UNDERGROUND ALLIANCE:
SEARCH THE NIGHT. 

http://www.archive.org/download/OfTheNightEpisode2SearchTheNight/OfTheNightEp2_SearchTheNight_SBUA.mp3

Technically, this episode is labelled as Episode 2 on the website.  However, it is episode 1 of the series, because episode 1 was the pilot. (Are you confused yet?) I think that it's because this is episode 1 of the series that it holds a special place. I remember writing some of it on a train, in a happy place. Not that you'd know from listening to it because there's a lot going on, some extremely careful planning and set-up.

Paeter Frandsen who produced this series was an incredibly good editor. He asked a lot of questions and was very honest about where the story suffered.

In a very strange co-incidence, this also features the first appearance of Graeme Cook, who would later resurface in the short film "A Relaxing Day In The Country". Now I'm unsure at this point whether the two worlds are connected, is this Graeme the same one who orders his underlings to sort it out? Maybe Justine will turn up on the streets of Nunwood, bored with life in Greater Phoenix. So much potential. Lets hope that Spiritblade will one day release the last two episodes and complete the series. There's a fantastic finale, just waiting to be heard.

Working Away Through The Talent

This time last year I was gearing up for my first production with BakerNunPixie. It was a fantastic balls to the floor achievement given I was working nights, had never produced anything before and had five weeks to write, shoot, edit and enter the short film into the competition. With a good team around us this proved to be a good experience and I think ForeverTogether stands up quite well in terms of quality productions. There are a lot worse and more shabbily mounted films out there.

So what do we have this year? we have a piece inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey,  Steven Moffat and The Shining. A prequel short to a feature film that combines Dog Soldiers, Jaws and Rab C Nesbitt. Perhaps a little bit more of Eliza (oh how I love that character) and her playthings from Roulette of Horror. We have a new crew under our wing. We have in house editing. We have our returning star actress, and possibly star actors. In a lot of ways we're approaching this year as something new, but with the experience of last year behind us. Which then leads onto more questions, specifically what do we want and where are we going? So in that vein here is a list of actors and actresses I would one day like to meet on set, reading my lines in one of my productions.

1 - Winona Ryder



I've always had a soft spot for Miss Ryder. In fact it was the thought of one day meeting her on set that switched on the flame of feature screenwriting inside of me.

2 - Nicole deBoer


Again, there are ulterior motives for this choice. One of my first major crushes, I've always harboured a desire to meet her in the flesh. But, beyond just physical attraction her performance in the first few episodes of Deep Space Nine Series 7 as Ezri Dax was amazing. More character development and emotional range than was shown in the previous 6 years. 

3 - Catherine Tate




Immediately, eyebrows get raised. However, anyone who saw her turn as Donna Noble in series 4 of Doctor Who will be less surprised. At first the loud mouthed bolshy persona would turn people away, but as it developed so did the character, reaching a peak in the episode  'Turn Left' with a tour de force performance of anger, sadness, confusion and fear.
 
4 - Vanessa Mayfield

Ok, technically this is a cheat because I have actually been on set and heard her reading my lines. But, as the Gov' Elinor Perry-Smith says. "She is our muse" so I look forward to working with her again and again and hopefully again. 

5 - Sylvester McCoy




Ok, I'll admit it. Sylvester McCoy was MY Doctor. Hero worship plays a big part in productions. quite a few films have been made just so they can cast their acting heroes in a part. The loveliest and strangest thing I've seen in the past few years is Sylvester in a multi-million dollar movie from an Academy Award winning director. And he's brilliant.

6 - Dylan Moran





Bernard Black is one of the great TV characters, permanently pissed or angry but most of the time both. Anyone who has seen Dylan Moran do stand up appreciates the subtle shifts in his act, quieter moments alongside his bombastic outbursts about the world. Sometimes shifts from stand up to acting doesn't always yield the results we desire, but sometimes it does and it does perfectly. 

7 - Matt Smith


Yes, he is the current leading man in Doctor Who and along with Sylvester McCoy my personal favourite. It's the madness and the sadness rolled into one. So based on that I'd love to work with him, on a project that requires melancholy from the soul. It would be amazing.

Black And Blue Orchids

So I'm going to start this post with a very strange account. For the first time in my life, on Tuesday February 5th at 16:04pm I had a blackout. Not just any blackout but the kind that includes people surrounding me telling me not to move, blood pouring from a head wound and shouts for a first aider.

Apparently from what I can piece together, a  coughing fit led to oxygen starvation and in turn led to me making the acquaintance of the concrete floor outside the managers office. Luckily, and I mean this sincerely, my glasses took the impact of the fall. I went head first onto concrete and don't have cracks, bruises or lumps. What I do have is a black eye and steristrips. Man do I look sexy!!!!! Yeah, actually I look like a chubby little guy who's walked into a lamp post.

The thing that interests me the most is the reactions and gossiping that takes place around me.

Half the building was very kind and took the opportunity to talk about what had happened to me and ask how I was feeling and even a couple of them took the opportunity to text or e-mail to ask how I was.

The other half didn't know or didn't care enough to ask.

It's quite a sobering thought to think that maybe you're so insignificant to people that when you collapse and bleed you're not worth a minute of people's time.

I recently decided to take a Twitter sabbatical because I found myself increasingly talking to myself more than interacting with followers. Nothing makes you feel more lonely than knowing 300 people want to hear what you have to say and not one of them are interested in replying to your questions. 

The best thing about this post is that some people will read it and go, that's sad. I feel a bit sorry for him. But from experience the majority will turn round and go, look at that selfish self centred attention seeker.

To be honest, it's true that i don't really give a fuck about what people say and think, I'm not a people person. I'm reclusive and withdrawn. I have interests and preferences that people don't connect with. But I have a small circle of friends and that's enough for me.

When The World Ends Call Amy Lee When I'm Sober For Me.

So, 2012 is nearly at an end. I have to say that even though it doesn't rank as the greatest year for me, (For those interested 2010 was that year) it will probably linger in the top four a bit like Arsenal. I will attempt to run down a few reasons why 2012 was a nice little year.

1 - www.pixiefairiecreative.co.uk

Hello, yes that's me that is. That's my very own website the features links to almost everything I've done. I feel very proud of it. It showcases my talent quite nicely and also features galleries from my film shoots. It has taken years but I now have a central hub. Of course some would say I've had a big fat hub for years....

The next step is to look at making PixieFairieCreative a fully functioning production company with accountants, accounts, incomes and expenses. Reasons for which will become clear in the next three years. (Oooh how mysterious do you want to be?)

2 - IMDB

Guess what you can do in 2012 that you couldn't do at any point in the past 30 years? Yes, you guessed correctly you can put Noel Rainford into the IMDB search bar and come up with credits. Have to admit that this is a very proud achievement and one that I share with Robin Booth and Max Byrne who both have virgin credits to their name. Hopefully that will change next year too.

3 - Being A Northerner

Hang on a minute, I can hear you all cry at once. What's so great about being a Northerner in 2012? Well I'll name you a few shall I?

• Danny Boyle - Creator of the greatest Olympic Games Opening Ceremony ever seen. [Highlight of which can be seen here... http://youtu.be/257EDRKfQFk
• Bradley Wiggins - Tour de France, Olympic Gold, Sports Personality Of The Year, Knight of the Realm
• Jason Kenny - Olympic Gold
• Paddy McGuinness - Just because.
• Manchester City - Premier League Champions
• Ian McKellan - Former Bolton School pupil

 So Mr Cameron if you could just fuck off back into number 10 and stop screwing with us it would be greatly appreciated.

4 - BakerNunPixie

BakerNunPixie  is my pet name for our little collective. Scott Baker, Elinor Perry-Smith and myself.  2012 has been a nice learning curve (as I mentioned in my last post) and I already have ideas in my head for where we can go in 2013, which have already been discussed with Mrs Perry-Smith.  Stand by for bigger announcements in the coming months, because 2013 will be the year of BakerNunPixie, you mark my words.

5 - Jubilee

Ok,I know that quite a lot of republicans out there will disagree with this. But let me just point something out here. The Jubilee weekend was a major moneyspinner for the Country as was the Olympics. Without a Royal Family who cost us about 70p per person a year (compared to the bailed out bankers who cost us £1,000 per person last year.) then we would be 300% more fucked as the economy falters. A lot of foreign travel comes into the country for our prestigious events pumping money into our economy, paying our inflated prices for crap beer and dodgy food. Standing in the rain, buying our knock off Jubilee Tat. That's what makes Britain Great, the fact that these idiots are willing to do all that just to say hello.

Hilary Swank And Chloe Sevigny Lesbian Sex

Forgive me for the sensationalist blog title. But, for those if you who are disappointed and will no doubt accuse me of using misleading and teasing headlines to get your attention and then not delivering. You can view it on Netflix or Love Film or buy it on DVD from somewhere that sells DVD's.

Hilary Swank won the ACADEMY AWARD (tm) for BEST ACTRESS in this film about a girl who pretends to be a boy.

Now some of you readers will no doubt by wondering what that intro was all about, and no doubt the rest of you are already on Daily Motion watching clips. But the point is one of  interest and readership. My last blog was read by 10 people. My Twitter page has 300 followers. so explain to me how that works. My Facebook page has 22 likes, yet I have over 50 friends. The issue is about rallying communities and activities. Spamming and cold boxing people who may or may not have an interest in your project.

Marketing is an increasingly important tool for independent filmmakers to attract attention and make their voice heard. But as always its about who you know more than what you know. Within my entourage of twitter friends I'm lucky to have two very supportive people, Damien Ahuir. who is based in Ireland and runs the website "Limited-release". He is very supportive and often retweets and follows my projects and project related postings. He even did me a great service with a lovely interview in 2011 when my first ever short film was released, which can be viewed here.  http://limited-release.com/noel-rainford-screenwriter/. This was way before I fell in with the lovely Mrs Perry-Smith and the ruggedly handsome Mr Baker to form Nun With A Gun Productions in association with PixieFairieCreative.co.uk in which we took Mother Superior's Nun With A Gun Productions and forced it into a small wooden Cell with my portfolio website to create that extremely long name for our working relationship.

The other name that has often been a source of support for me is the winner of  Mr Bolton Bulls himself (disclaimer: that competition never took place, it's just that you find his face on almost all of the Bolton Bulls promotional material) I present to you Mr Michael Galligan. [Please skip next paragraph if you do not like sentimentality]

I've been friends with Mr G for over ten years, we met a college and shared a similar twisted sense of humour that involved deep sarcasm, surrealism and the ability to laugh at others in an ironic kind of way. The thing that makes that last part so wonderful was that unlike a high number of people who did that we didn't bring the arrogance, because quite frankly we had nothing to be arrogant about. He will regale you with a story about our brush with Reality TV in an up and coming blog. (In case ur interested I've just been through 15 days of his twitter feed in the last 20 minutes looking for the link. Hopefully he'll repost this @RatedR1882 and he'll have a link for ya) Anyway, he's also been the greatest supporter and listener and friend anyone could wish for and I genuinely mean that. I can count my true, close real friends on a couple of fingers and he's definitely the thumb :).

In reality I need a bigger circle of people or I need other people to have a bigger circle to spread the word and increase interest in upcoming projects. (I will include the names Vanessa M. Ryan H. and Max B. who have been reposters and retweeters recently) But on the other side of the coin, 2012 has been an amazing learning curve for me in which I've thoroughly enjoyed embracing the role of producer and discovered I have little or no interest in being a film director. Even though the the three occasions of co-directing have been good, I can't see it being a full time move.

It's the run up to Christmas which means that there may very well be a review of 2012 blog post. all cheer hooray!! But before you get too happy about that there will also be a what's coming up in 2013 post too.

Merry Gothic Christmas. :)

http://youtu.be/uPGf12quies