The Dark Side of the Earth: October 28th, 2008

Things are happening thick and fast now. To begin with, I finally finished draft six of the screenplay. Amazingly, looking back at last year’s journal, I notice it’s exactly a year since I announced that I had started draft six. There have been some major changes and, though some of the new sequences are necessarily not quite as polished as the long-standing material, I believe the whole story has been lifted and strengthened.
Ian is now working full time on the production design, visiting prop houses, liasing with painters and sculptors and so on. The mysterious R.A.C.T.A.B.E. insignia and Swordsman spare parts are amongst the items currently taking shape. As for set dressing, Ian can barely get into his room without falling over all the stuff he’s gathered.
Yesterday morning the two of us plus a van driver and his son moved all the scrounged wood into a lock-up on the other side of the Pinewood lot, where it will await its calling on November 10th, the day set construction begins. And today we visited the workshop at FBFX, where Grant and his team have assembled the basic elements of Max’s bio-suit (podcast coming soon). So far the suit consists of two layers, between which compressed air is inserted. Many straps, mechanisms and pouches are then worn on top, only a few of which have been made yet. Kev, who modelled the suit for us, told us it’s nice and cool inside thanks to the escaping air.
Last but definitely not least, we’re running auditions at the end of this week for the parts of Isabelle (formerly Kara) and Max. We have some very talented people lined up and we can’t wait to put them through their paces.

The Dark Side of the Earth: October 28th, 2008