Script Frenzy 2010. Are you In ?
Published Date:
10/03/2010
Modified Date:
10/03/2010
Published Date:
10/03/2010
Modified Date:
10/03/2010
2nd day away...
2nd day of my holiday away, but not very far (about 10 feet as it happens), and I'm feeling good.
I got up Monday about 8:30, and was at the desk, tapping away at the
keyboard by 9. With the odd break or two, working the majority of the
day until about 4, when I peeled myself away from a 98% completed 'The
Adventures Of Stephen Brown' script, and went and had a bath.
What a skank, I hear you say. Soddit.
Anyhow. Even the curve ball that was thrown my way, which was that two
of the principle guest characters in this story can't make any filming
days together had been catered for. I just needed to throw in some
reference to what was going to be happening in the next story, and I
was done. I just didn't want it to look like I had just 'thrown it in'.
Helen came round Monday evening, and after what seems to have become
the customary takeaway (last week was Pizza, this week was curry) -
both of us stuffed to the gills with Korma (despite ordering Passanda -
but that's another story entirely) we got to being creative. We came up
with loads of ideas. Some we could film, some we could not. We gave up
waiting for anyone else to arrive... we are a filming group of two at
the moment. Which is intimate, and rather nice, as Helen and I get on
so well together, but the idea of a club is that there is, well, some
people in it. Anyway.
We threw our artistic sensibilities out of the window, and filmed me
eating a poppadom, and then edited it to show... well, oh just watch
the film it'd be easier...
www.youtube.com/m27online
We got that edited and uploaded, as well as making some progress in
getting last week's effort edited. I've noticed that the last few
things have seen me in front of the camera, which had actually been
some time. It's nice, for me to 'act' (or is that 'act up' ?). Helen is
really good on the camera, and is so much the better of the two of us
at 'going handheld'.
Chris came down today to work on our script for 'The 9th Man'. We were
a little disheartened at first that we had not got further than we had
previously. We spent the time reminding ourselves what we had talked
about before, and fleshing that out into a scene by scene, just
breaking the synopsis down into Excel and putting some more detail in.
Looks like there's going to be some really interesting drama in those
episodes, if only we can get the time to sit down and write the damn
thing. I'm sure in this age of technology (Celtx being the preferred
script writing software of choice) progress can be made, even when we
can't be in the same room together.
By far though, the thing that really put me in a very good mood, was
utterly unexpected. The best things always are. When I went to bed
(just after arriving at my holiday residence on Sunday night), I wrote
a blog entry, and then after that I checked up on my twitter page. It
was at that point that I discovered that my daughter had, at some point
during the day craftily updated my status a couple of times. One of the
things she wrote was 'my dad is awesome, in a utterly weird kind of
way'. That did bring a tear to my eye (and not because of the
grammatical errors). It was so nice of her, and so unexpected. It
doesn't matter what else the world throws at me. My daughter thinks I'm
awesome (in an utterly weird kind of way). It's I think the greatest
compliment I've ever received.
Today, after 4 failed attempts, my merchandising purchases from 'Script
Frenzy' arrived. Two travel coffee mugs, with Script Frenzy iconography
and 'Stop watching. Start writing. Script Frenzy. April' on them. So
appropriate I thought, as it is the TV that sucks me in and swallows
all my time in a manner a kin to the appetite of a black hole. I also
brought a book 'No plot ? No problem !' - by Chris Baty.
Write here. Write now !! Do it !!! Sounds like a motivational speech
given by Peggy Butcher. (get out of my pub, you're - the - bard).
1 script submitted. 1 film shot, edited and uploaded. Other projects
moving forward. I should be on holiday more often. I'd get more done.
Published Date:
10/03/2010
Modified Date:
10/03/2010
Have typewriter WONT travel.
After spending the first day of my holiday, not being on holiday (by
going into work) and having my daughter to stay overnight Saturday, I
guess I now start my holiday proper.
Everyone I speak to, that I tell that I'm going on holiday, will ask me,
'are you going anywhere'. No. I reply. I'm going to stay at home.
Sometimes I elaborate a little. Sometimes I don't. See the thing is, I
tell myself that the reason why I don't do as much writing as I would
like, is because I'm too stressed out from work to sit down and look at
a computer. Which we all know is rubbish, because anyone that knows me
will tell you that I spend my evenings with the computer, sometimes more
than one computer on. Just not doing anything useful with it.
Easy for me to blame work, but as I am now on holiday, I don't have that
excuse do I ? I've had some good days lately, where I've been due to be
at work late, so wouldn't normally get up until 10am. I've actually
gotten up much earlier and given myself a couple of hours first thing in
the morning to get some writing done. This indeed has worked, and I did
manage to get some pages done. Also the other week when I had a day off
midweek, likewise I got up stupidly early, for what was my day off, and
told myself I was going to be writing from 9am. And I was. The 'I've got
to be in the office by...' mentality seems to work for me. If I do the
writing at the other end of the day, then I find it very very easy to
come in from work, and a) put the TV on. That evil, evil thing in the
corner of the room that sucks away all my time. or, b) I sit down, and
think, 'I'll just give myself half an hour and then I'll start'. Well
that half an hour turns into an hour, turns into two, turns into three,
and then I tell myself 'oh, it's too late to start anything now, I'll
have a look tomorrow'. Tomorrow never comes. There's much
procrastination in my head. I find it very easy to talk myself out of
doing things, and that I can do them later on. It's funny, because I'd
never behave that way at work. At work, I'm always much more focussed
and driven by the power of the moment, and the yearn to 'just get things
done'.
I get too comfortable. I laze about.
When I have 'good writing days' I just get up, and get on with it. There
is no other common denominator than that. I love to read how other
people that write, have their methods, have their 'rituals'. I'm looking
for that 'eureka' moment, that revelation that when put into practice
will create this stream of fantastic and wonderful prose that emanates
from my brain, travels down my arms, into my fingers, where it is
skilfully and rapidly converted into text.
That's all rubbish of course. (or crubbish, as my daughter would say). I
forget who it was that said that the only way to write is to put in the
desk time. I paraphrase, badly. I'm so lazy, I can't be bothered to fire
up firefox, and go have a google to find out who the quote came from,
and actually quote it correctly. My only defence is, that if I fire up
firefox, I will be drawn inexorably into facebook, or twitter, or some
such other distraction. How many times a day can I hit refresh on the
BBC news website. Surely the world isn't going to end without me knowing
about it ?
So. To try and break the pattern. I am not staying at home. I am not
going away. I am going on a writing holiday, but not one of those ones
that cost you loads of money to go sit in some beautiful countryside
with a load of other people that also don't know how to write. (I have
no idea that's what those things are like, I've never been on one..
perhaps I should... but I'm too tight to do it. Too tight, and too
cynical. I digress). I mean I am going on holiday into the spare room.
I type this from my bed, and like the bed you sleep in on holiday, it's
unfamiliar to me. I've never slept in it before. I don't use this room a
lot, and infact, have never stayed in it. Even though, I am still in the
same flat, everything sounds different. The amount of darkness outside
the window is different. It's strange enough to me to not be
comfortable.
It's just that its cheaper than actually going away for the week. I have
my trusty netbook, my office chair (I wouldn't normally take that on
holiday somewhere with me, that would be wildly impractical). Wow, I'm
using up my whole years' quota of parenthesis in this entry. And I only
wanted to say a few short words. I don't know how many words this is,
because I'm on my netbook, and there is a limit to what it can be called
upon to do.
I am actually going to still get up in the mornings, just hopefully much
earlier than I have on previous 'stay at home' holidays. Sometimes I
haven't dragged myself out of bed much before midday.
This all does beg the question, how the hell do you continue to motivate
yourself to get up every day, if you, well, don't have a reason to get
up. If you're unemployed, or a kept woman, kept man for that matter. (I
live in hope). It must actually be hard to do that, and not descend into
an absolutely apathetically lazy, self serving ever decreasing spiral of
diminishing effort and returns.
After all, there's 'Jeremy Kyle' to get up for. I'd count that as a
reason to stay in bed until well after it's over. There's always 'Loose
Women'. I do love loose women, as much as the next man. You can take
that more than one way. A bit like the..... never mind.
Anyhoo. I will be, not hopefully, but am certain that I will be making a
difference this week.
Considering I want to write, I have a strange emotional attachment to
the idea of writing, and the elation that I get when I complete
something. The idea of starting something, when there's a blank page in
my pad, a blank screen on the computer and a blank head from whence the
ideas should flow to fill all the above is actually quite daunting. 'The
trick is, to stare at a blank piece of paper until your head bleeds' - I
believe is another badly remembered and uncredited quote. Uncredited
here. It is actually credited to someone. I just can't remember who.
When I'm actually in the throws of working out how to get a
character/story from plot/place/situation A to plot/place/situation B, I
don't think of the writing, I'm thinking of the problem at hand, which
is to get from A to B. Much in the same way you would think about
finding a route through a city you know, when you have the map memorised
in your head.
Like that, except, with this, you get to decide not just the route, but
also the layout of the city, the design of the buildings, the reason for
the journey and indeed the destination. Because there are so many
variables, and it's such an open field, its sometimes (I find) difficult
to know where to start.
Well, as Mary Poppins said, 'lets start at the very beginning, what a
very nice place to start'. Let's not confuse things by saying that when
writing you don't have to start at the beginning at all. That's just
going to get confusing, isn't it ? After all, even if you start at the
middle, it's still the start isn't it ?
Published Date:
08/03/2010
Modified Date:
08/03/2010
underage facebook use, chinese takeaway, pet gayer
Have I really only been back at work a week ?
Yes
Can I have another week off now ?
No.
Dammit !
Actually, this week hasn't been too bad, it's certainly been no picnic
(the weather was wrong and the dips were spoiled), but I do feel like I
have done a good job. Others may not, but I'm setting my own standards
now aren't I.
There's drama in the drama world tonight. The lead for the new Beacon
series 'The 9th Man' has disappeared off the face of the planet. Aside
from not responding to any attempts at contact from anyone, he also
hasn't apparently done anything about the episode he's meant to be
writing for the forthcoming series. Not to mention, failed to contribute
his share toward the upkeep of the club.
Steve, who is the head of all things Beacon, has made the courageous
decision not to allow him to take part in any productions unless he
settles up. There have been many times in the past when I have been
confronted with a similar issue when bringing shows to stage in amateur
theatre, and despite my statements to that effect, not always had the
strength to take the hard (and I think right) line on it.
It's a club for crying out loud, and in this instance, we are talking
about £12. It's exceptionally good value for being involved in something
that keeps you busy all year round. Shame on you !
I've had what can only be described as a lazy-ish Saturday. I've done
the shopping, done half the cleaning, done some washing.. what's a guy
to do on a Saturday off with so many things on his to-do list ? Waste
half the day watching Star Trek Voyager is what.
Last night, I was excited to have got to the end of the week, that I was
going to celebrate with a McDonald's. Alone. Ahhhh. Big sad face.
As I was standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus home (why else
would I stand at a bus stop, I wonder ?), and I received a string of
text messages, but the identity of the sender was not known to my lovely
BlackBerry. This conversation evolved and continued... there was the
initial hope that my mystery texter would turn out to be someone
fascinating, exciting, and who was about to sweep me off my feet and
'rock my world'.
It was my friend, and exflatmate Kelly. She was at a lose end (which is
not like her on a Friday night) and fancied a Chinese (takeaway as in,
she knows I am English). It doesn't take a lot to tempt me, and the idea
of unexpected joyful company, and a chinese was more tan I could turn
down. I also got a free lift home into the bargain.
Just as I was about to get into the car, I received a call from my
ex-wife to let me know that our 10 year old daughter has been
deceptively going on the internet, and has in fact signed up for a
facebook account. Knowing that we have both told her she is too young
for this (and she is, their minimum age is 13) and that she is not to. I
guess all kids rebel against their parents, and push their luck doing
things that they have been told that they are not allowed to do. The
thing that worried me was the ease with which she lied to the pair of
us. She isn't even into secondary school yet, and she's hiding and lying
and doing things behind our backs.
It is good that her Mother and I are singing off the same hymn sheet
with this one, it has not always been the case, but in the last couple
of years we've been able to talk better about how we approach
introducing the world to our daughter. It's only fair we warn them.
Switching back conversations, when Kelly came round for the takeaway,
she listed her facebook status as 'I'm having a chinese tonight, with my
gay'. So I'm like a pet now ?
One of the guys at work on Friday said that he thought I'd lost a lot of
weight lately. I thought that was a nice thing for him to say. I
haven't, as it happens, (and after last night's gastronomic indulgences,
I'm headed in the other direction weight wise) perhaps its because I've
been wearing some slightly different clothes lately.
Really, does my backside look better in these brown jeans ?
Published Date:
07/02/2010
Modified Date:
07/02/2010
don't look back in anger..
It's been a tough, but rewarding week at work so far, or at least
toughly rewarding. I've got up early today, so I can take my daughter's
bike to the repair shop to get it fixed (why else would I take it
there ?). On my way back, after stopping off to get some milk and some
chocolate (all things begin, and end with chocolate - those that don't,
begin and end with vodka). I passed this man in the street, and
completely out of the blue, he tells me 'don't look back in anger'.
If random Oasis song quotes is your thing then I guess that's cool, but
I'm more used to 'hello' or 'good morning' - but this being Portsmouth
it's more likely to be a cursory grunt if you get any acknowledgement at
all. Just count yourself lucky it's not a smack in the face.
Now to prove that while I wait for my lift into work, I've not turned
into a curtain twitcher 'angered from Portsmouth', the post man has just
been along, bless him, and moved one of my neighbours' recycling wheelie
bin, but moved it so that it blocks the path out of where I live. Grand
isn't it ? Shall I a) pick up the phone and moan at the council for not
training the wheelie bin men to leave things in the place they got them
from, or b) call the post office, to have a go at them, that their guy
(and it was a guy, I'm not generalising - either a guy or a very
unfortunate looking woman) has 'created a hazard' - or, now here's the
killer question for 10 points... c) go out there and just move the
bloody thing.
I'll give you some time to think....
...
....
.....
Is that you're final answer ?
You're right, I went for C. I stopped short of actually putting the
thing back where it's meant to go. I'm not a complete pushover.
This as well as helping push start a car on the way home from work last
night. 'Oh it's a man !' said the woman when she saw me coming over, and
offering to help. I had to look round, just in case she didn't mean me.
You never can tell.
I'm not expecting my OBE any time soon, these are simple things that
normal people do, right ?
Normal being an entirely subjective term, which actually I hate to use,
and am normally (ha !) offended by being labelled as such.
Published Date:
04/02/2010
Modified Date:
04/02/2010
Insomnia is nothing to be scared of...
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...or so the (tired) joke goes.
First day back at work, I'd have to say felt like a success. Lots of
work to do, tough times ahead. Nothing that shocks or amazes me. None of
these are surprises. Nice to see that people around me are upbeat and
positive.
Spent most of the day lurching from one meeting to another, and feeling
a welcome sense of disconnection with everything that was going on. Made
sure that my attitude on return was that of someone that was going to
carry on and get things done regardless. That's exactly what I did.
If anyone was expecting fireworks, or toy throwing then they were sadly
disappointed.
Offices were created so that there was a place for office politics to
play out, without really effecting anyone with an undue sense of reality
or value.
Drama being good tonight, the second film attempted with 'Scientific
Simon & Dismal Dave'. A lot harder to get done than last weeks effort.
This took about 6 takes to get right, either there were problems with
the performances from the artists (me - Ian was great) or there were
issues with the lighting, the camera, the camera angles... etc etc.
Ironically, unlike last week, the issues about converting and uploading
the film did not arise. Thankfully. This week we were using the hard
disk camera, which does make such things marginally easier.
So why the hell, am I sitting here at this time of the morning, when I
should be asleep ? Well, because I can't sleep. I've tried, and no
cigar. Too many things rushing around in my head (sadly, all about
things I want to get done tomorrow - today - at work). After trying all
reasonable remedies known to man (well, ok. This man) I have given up,
and decided to 'capture my thoughts' as 't were.
That was them, if you've scrolled down this far without reading what's
above, you've missed 'em.
Published Date:
02/02/2010
Modified Date:
02/02/2010
Who cares for a wannabe Canadian model ?
Saturday, and the sun is out. What a lovely day it is. Ah...
Oh damn, return to work next week, which is the day after tomorrow,
and just like the film by the same name, it gives a feeling of impending
doom and misery and doom, and hardship, and doom.. did I mention the
doom ?
I guess we all have to earn a living somehow, and most people find that
tiresome, right ? It's not that I'd want to not have to work, it's more
that, well, I just want it to not be so....boring. Something
fundamentally soul destroying about it. Love the people. Well, most of
them. Ok. Some of them.
If you don't like where you live, and you work somewhere you're not
happy so that you can afford to live somewhere you're not happy...
well.... what's the point of that then ? Life being too short and all
that.
It's nearly the end of January. Yeah 2010. The year it all happens, and
somehow, without me noticing, 8.33 % of it is already gone !
Having left the TV on, after watching some Will & Grace, I'm too lazy to
turn off or over from 'Canada's Next Top Model'. (1st of all, sorry Rob,
but who cares about who the next top model is, let alone one in Canada).
There's all these scrawny wannabes, complaining about their 'anxiety
disorders'. Is it is disorder that you get nervous in unfamiliar
situations or places ? Wow. Never knew that before. I get absolutely
terrified when I go somewhere new, meet people I don't know that well.
But bizarrely, I'd never think of describing that as some sort of
disorder. It's not a medical thing, surely, it's just a quirk of my
personality, and my confidence (or lack of) in certain situations.
I bet they spent ages with Doctors, or psychologists, getting 'help' for
their 'problem'. Can you medicate confidence ?
Also, if you know that these things are hard for you, why would you
decide that modelling is the career for you ? I mean, great stuff, if
they are 'feeling the fear and doing it anyway' but, if that was the
case, why would you announce to everyone that's what you think, it's
like your making yourself an excuse. Which also tells another thing. If
you're telling everyone else 'I've got this problem..' is the unsaid
dialogue, '..so you should only expect crap' ? If you're saying that to
someone else.. what are you telling yourself ? Makes me feel sorry for
them actually, because it shows how painfully insecure they all are.
Irony is, of course, that perhaps they are too young to have realised
yet, that we are all painfully insecure, it's just that some people hide
it better than others. Some people are just better bullshitters.
Published Date:
30/01/2010
Modified Date:
30/01/2010