I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting anything useful to come of advertising for a producer, so I was pleasantly surprised to receive half a dozen pretty solid applications. Some of them have even read the script and not freaked out. Will wonders never cease?
Soul Searcher: June 7th 2006
The Curse lives on. In the wee hours of November 20th 2003, at H. Weston Cider in Much Marcle, Lara Greenway came a cropper running down a slope. At the time, as this journal will testify, it was treated with much jest amongst the cast and crew, particularly the immortal line uttered by the poor woman as she lay prone on the ground: “Did we get the take?” But she’s still suffering from the injury today, still seeing a chiropractor. By giving just UKP2 a month, you can help Lara… Just kidding. But it’s all true, and now we’re trying to make a claim on the insurance policy I took out for the shoot. This involves filling in forms about things that happened two and a half years ago, which is quite difficult. Names and addresses of all witnesses? I wish I had Jason’s address – he’s still got two of my DVDs…
The Dark Side of the Earth: June 5th, 2006
I’ve grown frustrated with the lack of progress on this project. I need to make it happen. I was on the bus back from Muswell Hill as ideas swirled around my noggin – visions of VAT returns, and Welsh quarries, and a Scooby Gang. What does it all mean? I’d rather not say yet.
But I have decided to do a number of things that have been at the back of my mind for about two years, but which I had always ruled out. One of these things was advertising for a producer. If the applicants don’t all absquatulate after reading the script – after all, everything in the entire world is destroyed on page three – I’ll eat my hat, and my daft spiky hair with it. However, I wouldn’t want my epitaph to read, “He couldn’t be arsed,” would I?
Another one of those hitherto forbidden activities (because it would mean I was – I am…. producing, horror of horrors) was the generation of a budget. It’s not finished yet, but in order to draft a budget, I needed to work out how many days to shoot. 55. Which, by a remarkable coincidence, is how old I will be when enough money has been raised to begin shooting.
More soon.
Soul Searcher: May 25th 2006
Had a disagreement with Wysiwyg over the DVD cover. I didn’t think it was strong enough. Tom said the wholesalers like it, the buyers in Cannes liked it, and people browsing the shops will like it. Since he’s in the business of selling films and I’m not, I have to assume he’s right and I’m wrong.
Soul Searcher: May 24th 2006
Yes, the release date has finally been set for AUGUST 14th. Within a couple of weeks, you should be able to pre-order the DVD at play.com.
The Wysiwyg boys got back from Cannes late last night, having won the 24 hour film challenge in just three hours – jammy gits – and handed out several SS screeners. As always with Cannes, the follow-up is the important part, so fingers crossed for some positive results.
The Dark Side of the Earth: May 20th, 2006
Well done to Mike Tucker, who won the Bafta for Visual Effects yesterday along with Red Vision and Gareth Edwards for their work on the BBC 1 documentary Hiroshima.
Soul Searcher: May 18th 2006
The Cannes Film Festival started yesterday. I’m not going this year, but Wysiwyg are out there, flying the flag for Soul Searcher and their other movies. Check out their Cannes Video Diaries, presented by their publicist Jonathan Rhodes, at www.wysiwygfilms.com. And let’s hope they come back with a few territories sold for us.
Soul Searcher: May 17th 2006
Today I’m 26, but my film is 12. Rated 12 by the British Board of Film Classification, that is. “Contains one use of moderate language [‘bollocks’] and fantasy violence” is the advice to consumers. Thanks to Simon Wyndham for discovering Soul Searcher’s page on the BBFC website, since Wysiwyg hadn’t told me. After all those years of putting fake BBFC logos at the start of my amateur films, how strange it is to finally have the real thing.
The Dark Side of the Earth: May 9th, 2006
I finished the third draft of the script yesterday. I believe the film’s main flaw has now been solved, though I suspect there may be complications I haven’t spotted yet. In the end I kept the whole thing as similar as possible to the previous draft, except for the first act. There are other, smaller issues that need dealing with, but it’s taken a big step in the right direction, I feel.
Soul Searcher: May 4th 2006
I received a draft version of the DVD cover last week. It uses the same image that’s on the front page of this site, plus other photos montaged in the background. It needs some work, but it’s cool to see the proper BBFC, DVD and Dolby logos on there, even though they’re just placeholders at the moment. (If you believe the draft cover, the film’s an 18 and the sound’s in mono.)