This week I’ve been making revisions to the latest script draft, based on Quay’s notes. When you have spent this long working on a screenplay, you can’t see the wood for the trees, and I can’t tell you how great it is to have someone else give you a list of the things that need changing, rather than having to figure it out for yourself.
Lately I’ve been reflecting a lot on how dramatically the script has changed since I wrote the first draft in 2005 (between lighting set-ups while I was DPing a student film). Some of the things in it which were then very important to me have been eroded and in some cases removed altogether.
But the things that are important to me as a person have changed in the last six years too. I’ve got married, which inevitably alters my attitude towards the romantic elements in the script. It also makes my portrayal of women in the story more realistic, since I have one on hand to consult. And Katie’s period working for the Union of Concerned Scientists has opened my eyes to environmental issues, which have found their way thematically into the script. And of course I’ve shot the pilot, giving me the kind of insight into how it all works on camera that is normally only afforded to TV writers.
Whilst out searching for furniture bargains yesterday (ah, married life!) Katie helped me to work through a problem with Old Father Time’s motivation. What was great is that we were able to bring it back to one of the most common ideas of this character in mythology: the image of an old man who transforms into a baby on New Year’s Eve. Carl often says that in a fantasy film, it helps to tie your made-up world to existing made-up worlds, i.e. well-known mythology, and when you can figure something out like that it really strengthens the story.
So the script has evolved – for the better. Today it has a stronger, more logical plot, more defined characters and a richer – but not exclusionary – subtext of themes, literary references and mythological roots than it ever has done. Not to mention the fact that I’ve finally figured out what the sequel would be about, and let’s just say: Pink Floyd may sue.

When Aidan and Joe were working on the FX for the pilot, John Galloway gave them many excellent pieces of advice, but one in particular sticks in my mind because it’s equally relevant to writing. Make a list of everything that needs doing, and stick to that list. Don’t digress. Don’t start questioning how the list item you’re currently executing will affect another part of the job – just make the changes, cross them off the list and get to the end. Then you can look back and reflect on the whole. But if you try to do that as you go along, you’ll never get anything done. I think I’ve finally learnt to follow that advice when I’m writing.
I’ll probably regret saying this, but this draft seems to be going swimmingly. I feel disciplined. And it really helps to have a producer, a script editor and a novelist to turn to when you hit a snag. Thanks, guys.
Last week we had an interesting meeting with Film Education, a charity that supplies teaching resources about films. It seems there may be an exciting opportunity for the extensive behind-the-scenes material to reach a wider audience and spread the knowledge.
This meeting was in London, of course, and unusually I travelled by National Express. I have always preferred trains and didn’t even bother trying coaches until late last year, when I was surprised to find the leg room was superior and generally it wasn’t too unpleasant at all – which, coupled with the considerably lower price, threatened to knock train travel into a cocked hat. This time, however, the experience was less convivial. Partly this was due to my failure to take travel sickness pills, but mainly it was because the drivers were grumpy old farts who treated us like naughty schoolkids. Looks like it’s back to trains.

Well, we’re another year closer to hoverboards and flying cars. The self-lacing Nikes are already in development. It’s only a matter of time before they abolish all lawyers and ties become see-through.
Amongst the bounty Santa delivered this year was a t-shirt from my sister, bearing the legend: “COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE. WE HAVE COOKIES.” Today I have indeed come over to the Dark Side again, having restarted work on the script, after a really, really, really nice two month break from it.
Another of my gifts, this time from my brother-in-law, was a Wii. With the odd exception (notably Ghostbuster: The Video Game, which I spent most of last Christmas in the States playing), I haven’t really played computer games since I was about 18. And whilst the main purpose of the Wii was to get Katie and I some exercise (we got the Wii Fit bundle), it’s also great research for the inevitable The Dark Side of the Earth tie-in game – yes, I have already made some notes.
Movie research is also easy to do at Christmas, as the TV schedules are packed with ’em, with no shortage of family fantasy films this year. I tried to watch as many as possible, but what did I learn from them?
1.There is an inverse relationship between the entertainment value of a battle scene and the number of digital extras in it. (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
2. Eighties fantasy movies are the best – even the ones with awful synth-based scores. (Ladyhawke)
3. I can’t hold enough characters’ names in my head to follow a Julian Fellowes film. (From Time to Time)
4. Cute kids who can act can really make a movie. (Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium)
5. There is a bizarre trend in superhero movies to aim acts one and two at adults, but act three at small children. (The Incredible Hulk – see also Iron Man)
6. A strong theme, in this case war and the call of duty, can lift a genre film above the crowd. (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
7. I can’t understand why this franchise isn’t making more money. (Prince Caspian)
8. Seriously. (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) And the other thing I can’t understand is why anyone would want to watch it in 3D with all those shaky fight scenes. We made the trip to Malvern especially to see it in 2D, as part of my boycott of 3D movies, as I don’t want to see the format take over.

Today is the 15th anniversary of the first day of shooting on The Dark Side of the Earth – the original amateur version. “Today made a very bad start to principal photography,” I wrote in my journal in 1995, as half the actors forgot about the filming and didn’t turn up.
It’s also been over five years since this blog started. So what do I have to show for these five years, other than a blogroll of rambling nonsense? I have a lovely 35mm pilot of which I’m very proud, certainly. I also have almost two hours’ worth of behind-the-scenes podcasts and documentaries, and I wonder if there’s a way for these to reach a wider audience. In the new year we have a meeting with Film Education, a charity that provides schools with learning resources based around major films. It would be great for other people to be able to benefit from the trials and errors of the Dark Side. Aside from Media Studies, there are plenty of other areas of the curriculum that Dark Side could tie into – science, (e.g. the principles of lighter-than-air craft), geography (extreme climates), history (the Victorian era), English (archaic language, Victorian literature), art (production design), drama studies, even maths and technology.
And on that thought I shall leave you. Have a very happy Noel (Christmas, not Edmonds). I hope you can get wherever you want to go for Christmas through all the snow, since there are literally millimetres of the stuff all around…

David Cameron told me to. That’s my excuse.
On Thursday I attended the premiere of Coming Home. Coming Home is a short film that Col and I worked on, about a group of soldiers tracking down a rogue major. Unaccustomed as the director is to public speaking, he asked me to give a talk instead. The aim was to attract more filmmakers to the screening, as well as the business types who normally attend Light Films’ events. I gave a whistle-stop history of my filmmaking experiences in 45 minutes, mainly focusing on Soul Searcher, but also covering Dark Side. Although the audience took a while to warm to me, by the end they all seemed really interested. A few people said afterwards that the talk had inspired them, which was nice to hear.

This morning I uploaded The Dark Side Guide to Shooting on Film. Again, there wasn’t room to include everything; I’m really not joking when I say that aspect ratio could fill its own feature-length documentary. I’m sure there’ll be some people who will take umbrage at my use of the term 2.35:1, when in many cases the true ratio of anamorphic is 2.39:1, but such subtleties were beyond the scope of the podcast. And I hope that the costs outlined don’t put people off, as 16mm can be shot for a good deal cheaper – you could shoot a ten minute short for UKP10,000 (total budget) if you kept your shooting ratio tight and hired a DOP with their own kit.
The partner podcast, The Dark Side Guide to Digital Intermediate, will be coming in January or February, and will navigate the torturous pathways of film post-production.
Aside from a couple of funding applications in progress, things are now winding down for Dark Side until the new year, but don’t worry – I’m sure I’ll still find random things to blog about.

You have to admire the balls of the 30-odd producers, agents and commissioners who spoke at the London Screenwriters’ Festival this weekend. The event was packed with hundreds of writers, every one of whom wanted to pitch their script to these speakers. You could see the terror in their eyes sometimes – like an animal ready to bolt from a predator at the first sign of a logline.
So I wondered if this brand new festival, brainchild of Guerilla Filmmaker (TM) Chris Jones, was fundamentally flawed. But unlike Cannes, this was not a festival about doing deals. I think what it was really about, was allowing the members of a lonely profession to connect with their professional community. I actually met several other writers who work in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, to my great surprise.
The highlight of the festival for me was a talk misleadingly entitled “How to Write for Hollywood”. One of the two speakers was Michael Bassett (not England manager), who directed a UKP20 million fantasy movie called Solomon Kane, without any of the finance coming from Hollywood. Admittedly I had never heard of the film, but it goes to show that it can be done, and the advice that he gave in the round-table Q&A afterwards was really thought-out and practical.
Elsewhere I was able to connect with several other Screen-West-Midlands-funded delegates, a writer of The Sarah Janes Adventures and a video game producer. I also took part in the fun of Speed Pitching, which is like speed dating but less embarrassing. Five minutes with an agent, then a honk of the comedy horn, then five minutes with a producer, then another honk, and onto another producer (who Carl and I had actually pitched Dark Side to several months ago), then honk again and it was all over. None of the pitchees were seriously looking for acquisitions, but it was good practice.
The build-up to the festival last week encouraged me to have a play around with some new poster art for Dark Side, since the existing image (based on the first photo you see on this site’s gallery page) was likened to a publicity still for a Swedish TV show by someone we met in Cannes. If you fancy some new desktop wallpaper, you can see what I came up with here.

This weekend sees the London Screenwriters’ Festival hitting Regent’s Park. The event brings together hundreds of writers and filmmakers for three days of seminars, workshops, speed-pitching and talking the toot. A couple of weeks ago, I saw that Screen West Midlands were running a scheme under which they would cover the cost of a festival pass for a number of regional writers. Since the passes cost UKP299, this was not to be sniffed at. I applied, with no expectations, but found out this week that I was successful. So that should be fun – read all about it next week on this blog.
This morning Katie discovered that Col is not the only crew member who’s been busy making a game. If you go to Ian Tomlinson’s marvellous website and click the little spaceship in the bottom left corner, you can play his version of Space Invaders, and very smart it is too.

Last time I posted, I didn’t get around to mentioning Ghostbusters night, which was the Friday before last. The Courtyard claimed to have got hold of an original 1984 print to screen, though on the day they ended up showing it digitally for whatever reason. Although this was mildly disappointing, it could not detract from the joy of seeing this classic on the big screen again. In true Hereford-is-tiny style, the film was introduced by Mike Jackson, an old colleague from my Rural Media days. His link to Ghostbusters was his direction of a nineties behind-the-scenes documentary on the second movie and animated series for ITV and Columbia Pictures.
After the film, Ian and Col came back to our place, where Katie had made an angel food cake with “slime” icing and I’d bodged together a marshmallow man out of actual marshmallows. In fact, this is a good opportunity for a shameless advertisement of Katie’s new website, a must for any allergy-suffering cooks.
But we weren’t the only people who had been busy. Col seemed very keen that we all play a “special” board game. He proceeded to unveil a heavily customised Monopoly set: Soul Searcher Monopoly. Each square on the board had become a location from the shoot – everywhere from the romney huts (Dante’s lair) through James’s house (Heather’s house) to The Crystal Rooms, each with its own property card, perfectly mimicking the Monopoly card designs. The traditional top hat, motorcar and so on were usurped by the Mustang, Vic’s car, the Hades Express, the hire van and the generator. Dante’s Chest replaced Community Chest, and all the cards in this and the Chance pack were themed around the shoot. “The police are called while you are filming a swordfight at the multistorey. Lose UKP20.” / “Screen West Midlands turn down your funding application. Lose UKP10.” / “Go directly to Castle Cliff [jail]. Do not pass go. Do not collect your travel expenses.” So authentic was this painstaking creation of Col’s that the game even ended with me being heavily in debt.
Ah, memories. Misty, water-coloured memories. Today, of course, is Soul Searcher day – the seventh anniversary of the start of principal photography. Traditional celebrations include cursing malfunctioning cameras, worshipping leaf blowers and burning effigies of David Dukes.