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Vlog experiment

I’m trying a bit of an experiment over on my Raindance YouTube channel. This year I’m doing a short 1 minute vlog at the end of each teaching day, just going over what we covered that day.

I think it could be useful for my students to see what was covered and when; I think it will be a useful tool for my growth and development as a teacher; and it’s just useful to have a record of what we’re covering.

I don’t mind if no-one watches the videos, as they’re mainly for my development. Here’s the link to the channel if you want to check it out though.

AOTS Time

Tomorrow the November Action On The Side project starts.

We have a good group, and I’m looking forward to working with them. We have an 80% female team. It’s the first time I’ve had two of my students be my interns. It’s the first AOTS I’ve run since I started teaching full-time at Raindance.

What I know is that I haven’t had enough time and energy to promote the project, so things I should have done (regular email newsletters, attending networking events, posting in film groups, running script development workshops) have all fallen by the wayside. In future I’ll need to find more of a team to help in the lead-up, and I’ll have to rethink my workload.

Also we seem a bit short of scripts in the group, so I’m pitching three of my short film scripts — including one I’m writing tonight for the occasion.

Now to preparing for tomorrow…

Getting Ready for Cannes

Next week, the Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival and Sales Market) kicks off.

I’m heading to the Festival with two of my co-Producers, Andrew Montague and Kira Fitzpatrick of This Big Productions. We’ll be there Monday 18th to Friday 22nd.

New Business Cards
Ready for Cannes with my new Business Cards

If you’re at the event, check out Dead Letter in the Short Film Corner, and look me up.

If you’re not at the event, follow me on twitter and instagram for live updates.

Dead Letter – finished!

I am about to head off to the first Script Development meeting for November’s Action On The Side project, but would like to officially announce the completion of ‘Dead Letter‘. Now onto entering it into film festivals, submitting to IMDb, and getting the film out there

There were unfortunately severe delays with post-production. However, these things are always learning opportunities. Crew will be sent a link soon.

August Action On The Side

Hi guys,

We’re running Action On The Side again this August 2014. Sign-up at http://www.actionontheside.tv
This time around though, we are developing some scripts in July. The scripts will be pitched to the group to select for production. This should lead to stronger scripts and more pre-production time.
So, if you have a script idea that you want to develop and that could be made in August, sign-up or contact the Action On The Side twitter page or Facebook group.

Guerilla Filmmakers Masterclass

I spent yesterday at Regent’s College, sitting in a lecture theatre, being inspired about filmmaking by Chris Jones, scribbling pages and pages of notes. It was the Guerilla Filmmakers Masterclass. I tried to tweet tidbits during the presentations, but my phone decided I can’t connect to the internet with it (gee, thanks, phone).

I can thoroughly recommend Chris’ workshops and his blog chrisjonesblog.com. I had previously attended a Producing Masterclass with Chris two years ago, when I had first arrived in London. He is a great speaker and comes from a position of expertise and humility.

One of the best parts of the course today was outlining the five stages of a filmmaking career. At the Producing Masterclass two years ago, the five stages of a Producer’s career were outlined as well. I can safely say that I am a Stage Two Producer. Great tips for this stage and how to advance to the next.

Chris also posited that, within the industry, there is no longer the dichotomy between Amateur and Professional, but there is now a third category: the non-professional expert. These are the filmmakers who have a day job and make films in their spare time. That’s me! It was great to look into that model and affirm that it works – albeit with years of hard work – and to recognise it as a part of the industry.

It has been great networking with fellow filmmakers. I have already made some useful connections with people with whom I would like to collaborate in future. 

I wrote pages and pages of notes. I’m looking forward to the second half of the masterclass today. Maybe I’ll even be able to tweet?

Adelaide Screenwriter – new interview

Adelaide Screenwriter – new interview

Henry at Adelaide Screenwriter has uploaded a new interview with me, an update from our interview last year. Check it out. And, while you’re there, check out the rest of his site too. There are interviews and tips and shorts (oh my!)

Scriptwriting – a lesson

I’m supervising an Independent Study at the moment, on Scriptwriting. The student has a novel that he is adapting to screen. We spent an hour today talking about compulsion and goals, propelling the audience, forward momentum and the three-act structure, and more conversations on the differences between writing novels and writing for screen.

It was awesome.

I might have said that he can wax lyrical for 10 pages about a leaf in a novel, but not in a screenplay. 

Unless you’re Tarkovsky.

Tarkovsky can wax lyrical on film for as long as he wants. That is beautiful.