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THE TRESPASSER

Delighted to learn that there's to be a screening of this film, the second made from a screenplay of mine with Colin Gregg as director. Alan Bates and Pauline Moran in the lead roles. It's in a short season of TV drama around the theme of "fatal attraction." Come if you can. November 26th at 8.45 in NFT-2.

LECTURE

I'm pleased to be invited to give the 2015 lecture at the Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester, also in November, arising from my (as yet unfilmed) adaptation of Burgess's magnificent novel Earthly Powers.

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

It seems no chance of a shoot this year but staying hopeful for next.

WAITING FOR YOU

Charles Garrad is deep in the editing process! It seems it's coming together well, and I hope there's another chance to see the film soon.

TV PROJECT

I've found a producer who really likes my two-parter so the question will now be: can the producer in turn find a broadcaster?

 

WAITING FOR YOU

The shoot went well in France and the final few days, ending June 25th, were for the UK part of the film. We ended with a big scene that really took a day and found myself persuaded to do a cameo! Now looking forward to seeing at least a rough assembly of the whole film soon.

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

Rhône-Alpes are now on board and contributing to the budget but we're not there yet. Benoît and I have done some more work on the script before a final submission to Languedoc-Roussillon. Benoît still hopes to shoot this year, but October is the last month that's possible before conditions get too difficult in the Cévennes.

BEGINNING IN D

- is the new title. I've completed some good work with script editor Abigail Davies and I'm much happier with the script. I'm not booked into the market as such but I will be "hanging out" at the Galway Film Fleadh for a few days, meetings also planned in Dublin.

 

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

Great news. The TV channel France 3 wants to screen the film so that means a pre-sale and contributes to the budget. This is a crucial breakthrough as it will help the producer to raise finance from other sources.

LIFETIME IN D

I think this is a "working title" - the film has evolved so far from my short of the same title that I want to leave that title behind now. I'm also tweeking the script a bit, again...

WAITING FOR YOU

Both leads now cast: Colin Morgan and Fanny Ardant. Shooting in May. I’ll be going soon to the principal location in France with Charles Garrad, the director and co-writer, to see how the script might need refining to fit the particular house that’s been chosen, as opposed to the one we have imagined.

TV PROJECT

No takers yet for my two-parter but I remain hopeful.

RADIO

I'm pitching a project for that medium too - an adaptation. I've only written for radio once before, and a long time ago at that: BETWEEN THE GATES, but it went well and was well reviewed.

 

ARCHIVE!

Colin Gregg, the director I worked with on several films, has handed over a number of prints for consideration by the BFI Archive. This includes our first film BEGGING THE RING, which I don't have even in a pre-digital form. There's a real barrier to overcome for pre-digital work: broadcasters will supply a time-coded disk but charge a lot for a decent transfer. I now have some home-copied disks taken from VHS tapes of my six part drama THE BIG BATTALIONS which are surprisingly good, but not quite as I’d like them.

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

Now shortlisted for another funding award that could help it along: here's hoping the radically new draft can move the project forward.

TV AGAIN

Being so committed to the single film, I felt some years back that I needed to focus on cinema. With a film in production, this seems a good moment to try to return! It won’t be easy but I have a nice new project, a two-part adventure drama for TV, that should find interest.

ALCS

My six year stint as a director ended with the AGM in late November. I shall continue as a Patron of the Society of Audiovisual Authors - I’ll be meeting a number of MEPs in mid December when attending the LUX awards for European cinema.

 

WAITING FOR YOU

It looks like the shoot will, after all, be spring next year.

LIFETIME – IN D

Some good revisions now achieved with the help of script editor Abigail Davies. Looks like I may have a UK-based producer interested to partner Irish company Dark Window Media, which is what the project needs to reflect its Anglo-Irish content.

MOTHDUST

My second short film has been accepted into the Great Lakes Film Festival in the U.S.A. I submitted it into the Experimental section, I think that's where it belongs.

 

IKON

The exhibition drawn partly from work I showed there during my tenure as director opened July 2 and continues to August 31. It's called "As Exciting as We can Make it" - a quote from a letter summing up my ambition for the programme! ikon-gallery.org/whats-on/

WAITING FOR YOU

I'm hoping issues around actors' availability will be resolved soon – perhaps for a shoot this autumn, but it might be spring next year.

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

Great interest has been shown by a French TV channel and I was in France this month to work a little more on the script with director Benoît Razy.

LIFETIME IN D

I have now cast both the lead roles which feels great. With WAITING now the priority, I think Lifetime will need to be on the back burner for a while but I plan to give it my all next year.

NEW AGENT

A pleasure to be re-examining projects that have languished somewhat! Simon is eager to bring them to the attention of broadcasters and film companies, so that's all good.

 

WAITING FOR YOU

This is now in pre-production with a shoot hopefully in September / October – a few days in the UK and the remainder in France.

LIFETIME

The title is now LIFETIME IN D and an audition in Ireland was another useful step forward. I’m now aiming to pull in a bit of private investment and hope to secure the commitment of a Director of Photography. The hunt for the lead role also continues!

IKON

The content for the show and the catalogue text both close to being finalised now. The exhibition will be drawn from work shown 1978 - 89, when the gallery was led first by me then by Antonia Payne. It will include the recreation of an installation by Charles Garrad, who will be directing WAITING FOR YOU.

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

As ever with film, the hunt for funds takes time... Producer Jérémie Chevret has taken the project to Cannes along with another he is developing with his company Plus de Prod.

MOTH DUST

Struggling to find festival acceptances but I never had that in mind: I wanted to see how being sole director felt and explore film vocabulary. So it was useful.

 

NEW AGENT

I'm pleased to say I have an agent again: Simon Williamson. See my CONTACT page.

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

The revitalised version has now gone back to the CNC for consideration. Fingers crossed.

LIFETIME: the feature

Another useful trip to Ireland to hook up with Michael Parle of DarkWindowMedia and try to move the project along. Useful meeting too with Nick Dunning, who was in my film REMEMBRANCE a long time ago, who is interested in the film and I hope may take a role in it.

 

TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY

Another writer has been brought in – initially this felt like a knock! When this has happened occasionally in the past, it's basically meant me being dropped from the project. The fact is a script can get kind of stuck and what's been nice in this instance is that not only has new writer Xavier Maumejean has really helped to bring in some excellent new ideas, but he's been working closely with the director Benoît Razy, and they've been sending the script for my comments. So it's worked well.

WAITING FOR YOU

A few small changes now been made to the script, in the light of the producer's thoughts on it. Good ideas, helping to develop the central character a wee bit.

LIFETIME: the feature

Production company in Ireland enthused and a useful meeting in Dublin triggered some good revisions. This newest version just gone to an actor kindly willing to read with no money on the table!

MOTH DUST

A good screening in London in November of MOTH DUST, LIFETIME (the short) along with Janet Hodgson's film and the promo shot in Sligo.

IKON GALLERY

Director Jonathan Watkins tells me plans for the show coming together well.

 

NEW PROJECT

It's time to stop being coy: the project is a film based on "Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Now that additional development work has been completed and the script revised, it has gone back to the CNC in France for further consideration.

WAITING FOR YOU

Producer Chris Curling has taken on this project – which is good news.

LIFETIME: the feature

I recently completed a radically new script; currently being read by a producer

MOTH DUST

This is now being submitted to some film festivals.

 

NEW PROJECT

Going well: meetings planned next month re seeking UK interest – producer and director will be over for that.

WAITING FOR YOU

Charles Garrad took this to Galway Film Market, lots of good meetings there, so something might emerge after the summer's over.

IKON GALLERY

U.S. Artist Dennis Oppenheim created a piece for the Ikon – at my invitation but installed after I'd left. It is being re-created by the Henry Moore Institute and will be on view in their Leeds art gallery in November.

EARTHLY POWERS

My option is due for renewal. I had hoped for positive news during the first year but this is a big project and will need a lot of commitment from anyone seriously wanting to achieve it. We’ll see!

MOTH DUST

Getting the sound right has really held me up but nearly have this done. The film received an airing by invitation in a gallery in New York as part of an exhibition of sculpture by Paul Hazelton, whose work is featured in the film. Plans are afoot for screenings in the UK.

 

MOTH

The title is now MOTH DUST. It used to be believed that the powder from a moth's wings could cause blindness. In the film, blindness is metaphorical. The film just needs a tweak to the soundtrack and then I will be submitting it to festivals.

NEW PROJECT

The producer, Jérémie Chevret, has been awarded development funding by the CNC, the French equivalent of the BFI.

IKON GALLERY, BIRMINGHAM

Plans now being made for the "retrospective" show that will take place during the summer 2014, focusing on the 1980s, when I and then Antonia Payne held the post of director. With this in mind, I've been uploading some of my articles and reviews of contemporary art, to make a better connection with that world on this site.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

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).

 

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.

 

LIFETIME

Fastnet Short Film Festival in Ireland May 24-27

 

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

 

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!

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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