The Model Unit are about half way through making the Swordsman. Ian and I are going down there to see it on Monday.
Last weekend I was in Malvern so I got together with Ian and AJ, who’s choreographing the sword work, and we had a little chat about how the puppet will be controlled.

Soon I’ll be living off beans and rice again. But at least I will have a Wooden Swordsman before long; the Model Unit should begin work on it any day now. Yay! That was the plan mentioned a few entries back, by the way – pay the pros to do it properly. Not quite as cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford, but has moved on and is now Chairman of the International Committee for Cunning, but better than doing nothing.
To see the teaser trailer for the New York movie, See Saw, visit www.hamptonsmovie.com

What the hell is a Jigawatt? It’s a company, that’s watt. I mean what. Yes, Jigawatt Pictures Ltd. is now a real company incorporated in England & Wales under the Companies Act of – appropriately enough – 1985. (“I’m a time traveller from the future. I came here in a time machine that I invented and tomorrow I have to go back to the year 1985.” Slap.)
Now if I can just open a bank account for the company, work on the Swordsman can finally begin…

It was indeed a lot of fun. We got one day off – one day more than on Beyond Rec – the equipment was incredibly heavy and the weather was consistently very hot, but I had a great time.
Amongst the highlights were filming a foot chase in Times Square, shooting at Tavern on the Green (thinking “Oh my God, they shot Ghostbusters here!”) and grappling with an underwater camera housing to film Jaws-esque angles of Aimee’s drowning scene. Once again it was terrible to have to come home. Even the kettle felt wrong when I made my coffee this morning. I mean, this afternoon. (Still sleeping off the jetlag.)

I finished the new draft.
The guys who were meant to be building the Swordsman seem to have drifted away, but Ian and I have a Cunning Plan. Well, not that cunning. An Expensive Plan might be a more fitting description. I think it would be a good idea for me to just spend a big wodge of money on the pilot scene ASAP. Start the snowball rolling and see what happens.
Some of you may recall that, during the dark days of Development Hell on Soul Searcher (which preceded the dark days of pre-production, the darker days of production and the darker-than-dark-itself days of post-production), I served as DoP on a microbudget feature called Beyond Recognition, shot in upstate New York and the Italian Dolomites. Well, the Circle of Life has turned again and tomorrow I fly out to NYC for three weeks to DoP Tom Muschamp’s new feature, See Saw. If his last one was anything to go by, it should be a lot of fun.

I haven’t done anything more on the script, more for the want of spare time than anything. But the other day I heard back from the UK Film Council. Once again, I’ve been turned down for development funding because the script’s not good enough. I guess their dictionary doesn’t have the word “irony” in it.

I’ve nearly finished the new draft, but I’m not sure one of the biggest changes I’ve made is working. It feels a bit shoe-horned in. I’ve got to decide whether to take it back out or not. Thing is, it’s a change a lot of people have suggested I make.
I had a meeting this evening with a producer who really liked the script but thought I should get someone else to direct it. It’s kind of annoying that the most recent example of my directing abilities (Soul Searcher) is three and a half years old now. I’m sure I’d be much better at it now. Another reason why this pilot scene is needed.

The lovely folks at FX Home have posted a review of Soul Searcher and an interview with me on their website, including some of the artwork from this site and a competition to win a copy of SS.

I finished the new videomatic. It showcases my staggering vocal acting talents.

Anthony had a baby. Well, his partner did. So Phil Stevens – Anthony’s prop-making buddy – is going to be doing most of the work on the Swordsman for the time being. He has tested out some wood and brass finishes for Ian to look at.
A few weeks back I did a talk at Sci-Fi London 2007, a film festival at the swanky Apollo West End, on low budget lighting and special effects. It went very well – the FX bit at least – but unfortunately because it was moved back later in the day than planned, I didn’t get to meet certain useful producery and writery people who were giving a talk elsewhere. On the bright side, I was given some free software by some impressed programmers from FX Home.
In my quest to find a writer, I read some good scripts, but nothing that screamed out, “You need to work with this person!” So, painful as it was, I started draft five myself. After procrastinating for a few days over early scenes, I finally got moving late last week. At the moment I’m happy with how it’s going, but I might hate it when it’s finished.