Yesterday I went to a Shooting People screening of Diary of a Bad Lad – remember Mike and John from my Cannes diary? They of the Journal Cross-over. Anyway, their film was excellent. The most convincing fake documentary I’ve ever seen. A good script and fantastic performances. Mike said not to worry that Soul Searcher hasn’t been picked up – he’s met loads of people who’ve made films in the same kind of budget range and can’t seem to get a distribution deal for love nor money.

Mmmm, depth perception. Soul Searcher has not been selected for the Raindance Film Festival. It’s also been rejected by Toronto and Telluride in the last week or two.

Arrrr! Greetings, landlubbers! I be wearing an eye patch due to an operation I had on my eyelids this afternoon, hence my piratical turn of phrase (and probable multitude of typos).

Shiver me timbers if good old George down in Marin County ain’t granted me free clearance to use the Star Wars toys in the scenes in Joe’s flat.

Cows be wily animals. Never trust a cow.

Okay, so I just found out that the major Hollywood studio mentioned in June 21st’s entry has passed on Soul Searcher. Hardly surprising. They still love my work though, so there might be an inroad for my next project. The saga continuums.

Three years ago: just got back from New York and trying to decide whether to go ahead with the film on a microbudget since James had dropped out. Two years ago: looking for a costume maker. One year ago: recording sound effects and dodging druids on Dinedoor Hill. Today: just got back from two weeks of shooting nights on a horror film, having finished the first draft screenplay of The Dark Side of the Earth in my spare time – the doorway to a whole new world of pain – and wondering if Soul Searcher is ever going to get sold. Check out the press page for details of a couple more articles that have gone up on the web about Soul Searcher this month, particularly a glowing review on Only Foreign Film.

Just a reminder that the August issue of Impact is now out with more gushing praise for Soul Searcher, Hong Kong editor Mike Leeder going so far as to say that George Lucas could learn a thing or two from this “ground breaking digital film-making”. Personally, as the Spielberg of Hereford, I’m excited to be just one page-turn away from the Spielberg of… erm, well, just Spielberg. In fact, if you tore one page out it would look like I was filming him. It would look like I was directing and shooting the world’s most famous film-maker. It would look like he was my bitch. I haven’t done that. I’m just saying.

Also, the BBC Hereford & Worcester website has an interview up along with a stills gallery and the trailer.

I finished paying off the Soul Searcher debt last week, MUCH sooner than I ever thought I would. Just now I had a call from Pathe (they of the yellow chicken logo and the wartime news reels) who said they couldn’t take Soul Searcher because it doesn’t fit into what they’re doing right now, but nonetheless they really liked the story, the action and the acting and were impressed at how little it had been made for. They said they are looking for genre stuff to develop so I’m going to send them Nightland.

No news on distribution. As I was compiling the deleted scenes today I started thinking about deleting other scenes. I may snip another 30 seconds out of the movie. James and I could really have done with putting the script through another two or three drafts before we shot it, but hey-ho, you live and learn. I don’t disagree with The Birmingham Post’s assessment that the film is narratively undisciplined.

And talking of disorder, the July issue of (wait for it) Disorder is now out, featuring Angry Dave’s article about me and Soul Searcher. Don’t worry, he’s not angry at me or the film. He’s just angry in general – possibly because a promising career as a Justin Timberlake impersonator was cut short when the hip-hopper had his curly barnet chopped. According to their website, Disorder is “available in all good newsagents, Waterstones, Borders and Virgin Megastores + Rough Trade, Cargo and RD Franks.”

Last night’s screening in Birmingham went very well. A good turnout, laughs in all the right places, and a few people asked me for my autograph – normally only my mum’s friends do that. The cause was undoubtedly helped by the Midlands Today report, which ultimately went out yesterday, on the breakfast and lunchtime bulletins as well as the evening programme. The Birmingham Post ran a big article and a review – the worst one so far, but it still gave the film three stars.

A friend of AJ’s gave a copy of Soul Searcher to Jonathan Ross the other day. The Sharply-Suited One had already heard of the film.

By the way, Herefordians – don’t try to buy Impact from that newsagent on Commerical Road; they don’t stock it any more.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been shooting the cast and crew interviews for the Going To Hell documentary. Tonight I did Chris Hatherall’s. When we’d fiinished I turned my mobile back on and discovered that Aimee had called me from New York. I knew immediately it had to be good news because we normally only communicate by e-mail. Unlike Richard Herring, my expectations were not confounded. Aimee was calling to tell me that a lady in Acqusitions at a major Hollywood Studio (I’m not saying which one for now) totally loved Soul Searcher. Apparently she spent half an hour telling Aimee how much she loved the script, the acting, the cinematography – everything. She read the press kit twice, cover to cover. She wanted to know all about me, who represents me, where I’m based, what I’d done before. (I’m sending her a copy of The Beacon…. not really, of course.) The upshot is, she’s going to pass the film on up the chain to the Acquisitions Manager.

On a slightly less fantastic level, Soul Searcher‘s going to be on BBC Midlands Today on Thursday night.