APRIL 2013
MOTH
Just back from a ten day stay in Sligo – final preparations followed by a shoot – two and a half very long days. Roughly edited already.
MARCH 2013
NEW PROJECT
Good work session in Paris with director Benoît Razy. Development funds still being sought...
MOTH
Successful recce in Sligo and both locations found – one exterior, one interior. For the interior a brilliant find: a large room (currently an unused commercial space) where alterations can be done with no problem. Two actors cast and the music worked out.
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE
Hurry! There's a second copy on sale at Amazon for £90.
EARTHLY POWERS
I've reworked the scripts a little and made large numbers of small trims. It's now five parts rather than eight and I'm now seeking one or two reactions. The possibility of a feature still at the back of my mind but a series seems the first route to go down.
JAN 2013
EARTHLY POWERS
At last, the boring bit has been done. The scripts now exist in a digital form.
MOTH
The working title for a new idea for a short film. Nothing to say about it yet.
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE
Wonders of the internet: someone wrote to me from Minnesota, USA, having viewed the film from her local DVD library. It's unavailable to buy – which is scandalous.
NOV 2012
NEW PROJECT
An application has been put in by producer Jérémie Chevret to the CNC for further development funds.
EARTHLY POWERS
I've embarked on the onerous but necessary task of converting the original hard copy scripts into Final Draft so that I can revise and tighten them. Continuing to keep open both possibilities: a feature or a mini-series. Given options are time-limited, I'm focusing on this for a while as my priority.
OCT 2012
NOT SHUT UP
It's been a difficult decision but I'm standing down from the role of Managing Editor. I've been involved from the inception over ten years ago and been editor since 2007. I hope I'm leaving it in the best shape I can, but time to pass the project on to someone new – Marek Kazmierski – who can bring renewed energy and ideas and hopefully take it forward successfully into a second decade!
SEPT 2012
NEW PROJECT
After holidaying in Brittany, I travelled further south in France, to do some research on a new project. Good trip, working alongside the director, Benoît Razy.
WAITING FOR YOU
Coincidentally, director Charles Garrad was also in France location scouting for this project. The script we have co-written is set mainly there (in 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq).
JULY 2012
LIFETIME
Attended the Galway Film Market, mainly to pitch the feature, aided by a promo shot with the help of Sligeach Films in Sligo who assembled a wonderful bunch of people ready to help as cast and crew – including Peter Marinker who came over from England to reprise the role he played in the short.
EARTHLY POWERS
I've secured an option to try to revive this project that I worked on in the late 1980's. I was also able to pitch this at Galway.
MAY 2012
LIFETIME
Fastnet Short Film Festival in Ireland May 24-27
APRIL 2012
REWIND
There’s an event during CATFORD BLOCKBUSTER (www.platform-7.com) when Julian Jacobson and I will be in conversation about the music he has written for my films and the ongoing collaboration in my most recent project – LIFETIME (the feature.)
7.45 Thursday 12th April
THE OLD BLOCKBUSTERS VIDEO STORE
95 Rushey Green, Catford , SE6 4AF
View map here
Visit the Blog here
FEB 2012
LIFETIME
A trip to Sligo in the autumn helped a lot with the feature script. With huge help from Mike and Niall (www.sligeachfilms.ie) we found some great locations. I love to write with real places in my mind. There’s now a developed screenplay ready to send out.
Meanwhile, the short film is an Official Selection in the Byron Bay film festival, Australia, in March (www.bbff.com.au). News awaited from a few other festivals. It has served its purpose anyway, wonderfully, to help me towards the feature.
REMEMBRANCE...
remembered! Just sent out a DVD to someone who tracked me down via the internet. He has memories of this film, shot entirely on location in a part of Plymouth that barely exists now, he tells me. As I said, I like to write with places in mind where I can – the script for Remembrance involved a lot of mooching around that city. Gary Oldman’s first film, I think – good to see him getting the recognition he deserves for Tinker Tailor...
MANCHESTER
My annual talk for MA creative writing students will be on Feb 21 at 6pm, courtesy of the Writing School, Manchester Metropolitan University.
NOT SHUT UP
The Autumn issue featured some of the writing and art that received awards from the Koestler Trust. The new issue, Spring 2012, celebrates the Writers In Prison Network and has just gone out to prisons and secure hospitals throughout the country this month. Buy your sub from the Not Shut Up website!
SEPT 2011
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE
There's a festival dedicated to the work of Virginia Woolf in Cambridge, and so there's a rare chance to see my adaptation of Woolf's famous novel, to be screened at the Arts Picture House. I'll be there for a Q & A. It's on Sunday October 2nd at 3pm.
For more information visit: http://tothelighthousecambridgeshire.co.uk/?page_id=70
Tickets go on sale a week before. http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Arts_Picturehouse_Cambridge
or phone: 0871 902 5720
July 2011
LIFETIME
Due to be shown in the Galway Film Fleadh on Friday July 8th, the third outing following the two film festivals in the U.S – Chicago Movies & Music and the Bodega Bay Short Film Festival.
NOT SHUT UP
The summer issue is out – take a look at the website, as we've slashed the cost of a subscription.
May 2011
LIFETIME
Where did April go? Pleased to say LIFETIME was successfully screened in Chicago and I'm now about to take it to the Short Film Corner in the Cannes Film Festival to try my luck there.
WE THINK THE WORLD OF YOU
Now out. MY DOG TULIP, the non-fiction version of Ackerley's profound relationship with his dog, is in a few cinemas now as well and might lead to a revival of interest in him.
March 2011
LIFETIME
This has been selected for the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival. Should you be there – it's on Saturday April 16 at 6pm! www.cimmfest.org I shall be showing this also for my annual lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University. I'll also be showing a clip from WE THINK THE WORLD OF YOU and talking about that film.
February 2011
WAITING FOR YOU
This feature script, co-written with Charles Garrad who will direct it, has reached the stage where we have a producer in the UK and another in France (where most of the film is set) and the task now is to attract the right cast.
LIFETIME
This short film is now finally complete with a dubbing mix by Mark Ayres and is being submitted to various festivals. There is a feature script I've been working on since we shot LIFETIME last summer that is closely linked to it. This now has the working title SELLING THE CELLO.
WE THINK THE WORLD OF YOU
Due to be released on DVD by Guerilla Films on April 4
NOT SHUT UP
The Spring issue is now out. Subscribe or donate! – www.notshutup.org