I have just embarked on producing an independent film project, something I haven’t done since Stop/Eject in 2012.

I have just been looking through some of the many blog posts I wrote evaluating different aspects of making Stop/Eject, and it’s interesting to note some of the advice I left to my future self, like this from “T Minus 2 Days” (April 2012):

In all seriousness, I don’t think I’ll ever make another film… unless there’s money to pay everyone. It just isn’t worth the stress and hassle caused by having to re-cast and re-crew when people pull out.

My new project will definitely break at least two of the lessons I claimed to have learnt when looking back on Stop/Eject in “Back to the Future” (April 2013):

Pay people.

Don’t do multiple jobs, even if you have the necessary skills.

Get the script right before you shoot.

Directors shouldn’t edit their own films.

Don’t shoot without a 1st AD, or at least a script supervisor.

But the most telling comment is this one from “Stop/Eject: The Schedule” (May 2012):

… making unpaid short films will always be a messy, unpleasant business and if you’re at all rational you’d do well to avoid such shoots like the plague.

But where’s the fun in that?

I have been contemplating doing this new project for two years, so I’ve had plenty of time to weigh the pros and cons.

On the con side it will be extremely stressful and I will make no money from it.

On the pro side, as a younger man I might have claimed that it would help my career and perhaps even bring Hollywood a-knocking. Now in my early 40s with over 20 years in the business I know perfectly well that the odds of that happening are – to all intents and purposes – zero.

So why do it? The simplest answer is: for the love of it.

When I stopped writing, directing and producing in 2013 I believed that focusing on a cinematography career would make me most happy. I certainly love cinematography, and I have been lucky enough to do some amazing things over the last few years, like going to the States for 11 weeks to shoot The Little Mermaid, and working with Sir Ian McKellen on a feature adaptation of Hamlet.

But in the gaps when I’m not working, I get the itch to create something myself.

You may have noticed that I’ve missed a couple of weeks of posting on this blog, and indeed after this entry I plan to pause it altogether. However, information about my adventures will certainly be available in due course, and I’ll let you know where to look for that when the time comes.

Thanks for reading, and the best of luck following your own cinematic dreams.