Work Update

It's been a busy start to 2012 with a fair bit of work and activity going on.

In January, CiTV's new animation Fleabag Monkeyface (CiTV's first UK commission in five years) started, and a few of my episodes were broadcast (I wrote six in total). The series is bonkers gross-out fun (equally bonkers & fun to write!), and has done well viewing figure-wise, as far as I know. I wrote my scripts last year so they're still in production with the latter half of the show's 52 episode run.

To add to my New Year excitement, I was lucky to get a couple of commissions on the second series of the Octonauts for CBeebies, as well as develop a few children TV pilots for a variety of industry folk.

My new short film, After School Club (link to the production blog) went into post-production (after a day's shoot right before Christmas), and we finished that off this week, so it's ready to go. It's a 5' comedy written by Nell Denton, with only one word of dialogue. Really good fun! Last year, I wrote a short film for director Adrian Tanner called Trading Licks  - starring Roger Allam & Justin Edwards -  and that's just started to hit the festival circuit; London Short Film Festival, Bradford & Newport so far, I think.

Tim Clague and I continue to do the monthly UK Scriptwriters podcast and we came 2nd in the European Podcast Award in March (UK Personality section), which we were really thrilled about! Even more amazing, Origin, my supernatural short, won Best Horror Short at this year's London Independent Film Festival, wahey!

I did a few talks and workshops (at schools and universities) but most notably at Prequel to Cannes, Southern Script Fest and Mannin Shorts in the Isle of Man. The Red Planet Prize went into full swing, and we're now down to the third round (I help coordinate the competition, for those who don't know).

In addition, I've been doing my usual script reading/editing on various independent projects. However, my script reading tray is looking fairly clear at the moment, so if anyone would like professional feedback on their scripts, then drop me an email. Full rates/experience here.

It's funny (funny weird, not funny haha): the busier you get, the more slack you feel in certain downtimes. 2012 has whizzed by so far but there's so much that I want to do, and think I should be doing. Bring it on!

(F)ailing Wintergreen Resort Rescued By Magnate Who Paid Top $ For Albemarle Acreage, and Rescued WV's Greenbrier Resort

Jim Justice is rescuing the 11,000 acre resort in Nelson County, which has been slammed by the Great Recession as well as by Mother Nature: lack of snow.  As The Hook reports,
Wintergreen Resort– stung by a pair of weak snowsports seasons, challenged by state officials over tax credits, and losing its credit line– has found salvation in the arms of one of the region's richest people, James C.

"It's A Far Better Time To Buy A House Than Any Time In the Past 8 Years"...But Your Micro-Market May Vary

Your micro-market (area, neighborhood, subdivision, block), and micro-existence (job, finances, savings, obligations), may vary.  And "better," in any context, is highly subjective.   But this article by Cullen Roche, and the quoted Op-Eds by Gary Shilling (Don't Buy) and Eric Lascelles (Buy Now), are worth a look.

Related:
April 2012 Sales Show Prices of Sold Houses Declining, Again
Q1 2012

"April is the Cruelest Month" - Charlottesville Area Home Prices Edge Lower, Again

December 2011, and Jan-Febr-Mar 2012 saw freakishly warm weather in C'ville and across the Country, and the spring selling season was pulled forward, as reflected by April's decline in prices.  Sales declined in Albemarle, but rose in Charlottesville.  Much of what is coming on the market can't find buyers--even though inventory is lower.  But lower inventory is not necessarily a good sign: it

The NAR Had A "Rally For the American Dream" In D.C.: Member Participation Rate Was 2.7%, and It Was Ignored By the Media

Read this analysis of the May 17 debacle by a Realtor who is widely respected by his peers.  Realtors may not have "caused" the housing bubble and subsequent crash, but like many other entities they contributed to it.  But for buyers and sellers, Realtors are the face of the bubble and crisis.  And unfortunately for the good folk among them, the NAR, a salesmans' trade organization, is not

Bottom-Caller Linkfest

In March and April a bunch of folks came out calling for the "bottom."  It's too early for this, the forecasts have flawed reasoning, and they ignore the shadow inventory (millions of incomplete foreclosures, as well as underwater would-be sellers) as well as the actual condition of the economy and unemployment.  But hey, makes for good filler and headlines.
BI, House Prices Have Hit Bottom! 

Origin of Success

Prior to making Origin, I didn't really know what to do about making a short film. I had been involved with lots of productions as a runner/assistant (shorts, features and TV) but in terms of taking the lead and directing a professional filmmaking team, all I had was a general awareness of the production process.

So I turned to Chris Jones's short film webinar about creating and making a world-class short film (based on his experience with his Oscar shortlisted film, Gone Fishing). It's an inspiring and informative online course, packed full of helpful detail and insight. It really focused my ambitions for Origin, and all the necessary prep that was ahead.

As Origin won Best SciFi/Horror Short at the London Independent Film Festival recently, Chris asked me if I'd do a guest blog over at his place about my experience. You can read it here (it's got some stuff that I haven't mentioned or blogged about before). Here's a flavour:

In an effort to convince the industry that Origin was indeed a kick-ass idea, I decided to make a short film version that would showcase the tone, characters and emotion involved. I knew that if I handed my script over to another director, it would become THEIR story, so I decided I’d direct myself (it was also high time I gave directing a full and proper go).

A bit of cross-blog pollination for you but here's the link again to the guest post. Read it, or Jack Blumenau (above, as Freddy in the film) is coming to get you.

Will America Ever Recover From the Housing Crisis? Infographic

The end is on the horizon...the distant horizon.

Over: The Decades-Long Belief That A House is An Asset

A house is a consumable, just like shoes or apples.  Useful, but not a money-maker or "savings plan."   There is a 15 second ad before the video begins.  See related article.

Frolleagues Films!

Time to celebrate upcoming (or existing) stuff from friends and colleagues.

First up is Dan Turner's feature film The Man Inside. It's a thriller centered on a young boxer trying to distance himself from his father's gangster past and the relationship with his trainer. It stars Michelle Ryan, Peter Mullan, Bashy and David Harewood. TRAILER!

I'm pleased to say I was involved in the early script development process of The Man Inside (Screen East hiring me as script editor), and it was great to work with Dan on the script as he's very receptive to notes and isn't afraid to challenge himself and the story to get the best results (see what he had to say about us working together here, plus a nice testimonial for my consultancy page here). The film went on to be script edited by the one and only Jason Arnopp, and I can't wait to see the finished product. Check out Dan's blog for his ongoing breakdown of how he developed the film, from script to screen. Well worth checking out.

In some breaking news, Dan's teamed up with the mighty warlord James Moran to set up a series of hands-on workshops to share their experiences and to help budding creatives improve their skills. It's called Studio 5, based in Elstree Studios. FULL DETAILS HERE.

Elsewhere, one of my old (young) writing students from Leeds Film School, Peter Handford, has made a horror film with fellow Leeds alumni, Bethany Clift. It's called Heretic. LOGLINE! 'After he refuses to accept responsibility for the death of a teenage girl a Catholic Priest is trapped and terrorised in a house haunted by those he should have saved.' TRAILER!

For more details, check out the website.

Now, have you heard of The Amazing Guerrier Brothers? Non? You will. Simon & Tom Guerrier. They're brothers. They're amazing. I nabbed them to work on Origin (*cough* the AWARD-WINNING Origin *cough*) a couple of years ago and since then, they've made their own films. Their most recent one was for the Sci-Fi 48 Hour challenge. They finished the film but missed the deadline. Simon's blogged about how they planned & made the film, and what went terribly wrong. Some great bits of insight and info there. Read that, then watch the film here.


What else, what else? You p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ may remember from the very first Frolleague update that Lara Greenway and Lucy Hay were busy making feature film, Deviation, with writer/director JK Amalou, and starring Danny Dyer. It had a recent cinema release but if you missed it, fear not, as you can buy the DVD here. TRAILER!


Brett Snelgrove is making an animated sci-fi web series (as you do). It's called New Eden, and it looks frakkin' awesome.

My podcast frolleague, Tim Clague, is busy in pre-production on his debut feature film, Friend Request. It's a unique story told entirely from the character's POV (literally). This approach poses some technical challenges so Tim went out and shot a short film test of his new POVcam, and you can follow his progress on the Facebook page. Here's Tim's introduction to the POVcam.


I bring you back to that original Frolleague update for the point of these posts: "...keep busy, keep active and keep working. Get your inspiration from wherever you can. Don't get sucked into a rut or knocked sideways by a rejection. Take it on yourself to do something or change something about your profile. What are you doing to stand out? There's more to writing than just writing, although ultimately that's what it all comes down to, so don't let it fall by the wayside either. Don't let online or other networking activities become the centrepiece of your profile. Let it inform and inspire, but stay focused on what really matters."