I'm Fraser Coull, currently training at the BBC on their production talent pool to become a production management assistant. It's my goal to become a writer and producer for television. I've had several years experience writing, directing and producing a web series, short films, a pilot for a TV show and a feature film about a superhero in Scotland. I'm confident in research, production management, and pulling together a project.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013! It's been an incredible year, working on music videos, our pilot for our supernatural TV series, Bloodline, two short films, the 48 hour film challenge, our new podcast to help people get into the TV and film industry AND our networking nights. Thank you to all of our supporters. 2013 will see more shorts, our own film festival, our podcast and networking events will continue and we will be pitching Bloodline for television. And all going well my web series which I started back in 2006, "Night is Day", will have it's very last episode finished and online for all to see! 13 episodes, 2 seasons, lots of demon fighting! Exciting times!
(a completely made up film, Mexican, Mexican, Mexican, for the purposes of our short!)
In October this year I took part in the 48 hour film project in Glasgow for the 2nd time running. After working on "Late Nights" with Mr. Mark Harvey, my long-term collaborator (7 years and counting!) we teamed up again to work on the new film project.
The rules? On Friday night you pick your genre, this year it was a case of picking a music single case, opening it up and finding out what genre was yours. Our genre was mockumentary. The character that had to be included was Captain Ray or Ramona Lewis, and the line of dialogue was "It's our little secret".
Straight away we knew we'd be giving the line to the brilliant Nicola Wellburn who played our character Norma Mackenzie in our first 48 hour film. We also made her Captain Ramona Lewis straight away too.
The prop that had to be used was a map.
We then had until Sunday at 7pm to hand in our film. Scott Forrest, Mark and myself headed home. Our first idea was a mockumentary about a failed actor. However Mark wasn't keen so instead we decided to make him a legendary actor, and a bit of a fool too.
Mark and I got to the flat and started writing. Half way through Simon Weir (River City, Take the Highroad, Spanking in Paradise) called me to say he had a brilliant idea and wanted to play a Michael Cane rip off. So we added that in.
With the script finished an hour later we tried to get some sleep. We got up nice and early and headed off to Scott's flat, which was our base for the day. Everybody arrived at 9.30am as we asked them. Hair and makeup by Sharon Clark and Claire Louise Dell started about 30 minutes later and our camera person Julie Dunn was on her way to setting up the shots and the lights.
Our mockumentary had very few locations, which is ideal when you only have 48 hours. We filmed the football movie scenes "Handball: A True Story" at the football pitch where Third Lanark football club play, and thanks to their coach, and our actor Simon Weir, the entire team agreed to appear in the film.
We filmed Cameron's "Christian Bale"-style breakdown at the park near the base, and it took around 30 minutes to film. We did it again and again, throwing in more stuff, adlibbing it to see what worked. Mark just got more energetic and angrier and angrier. Matt Robertson and Jamie Forrest who played his fellow cast were amazing at going along with it. Thankfully, the police were not called.
Filming wrapped, with over 2 hours of footage shot, with an hour of that being totally improvised, as after we started filming each interview I had the fear of not having enough footage. Again, kudos to Jamie for coming up with some brilliant questions with our cast staying totally in character to make it happen.
Our brilliant editor Anne (who works for STV) worked with us to edit the film down and together we brutally cut things out until we got it down to 7 minutes. Calum, our sound designer on the film, appeared later and worked all through the night until the film was finished.
We got it on to DVD, tested it, and then we headed off to the drop off point. We arrived at 4pm and we were the first to hand our film in. An amazing achievement.
Sadly we won absolutely heehaw on the night of the awards. To be honest it was a little bit heart breaking, but at the end of the day we got to work with some amazing people and we had a great time doing it, plus we are all so proud of our film. My partner Sara told me that they should be worried if we were ever given a drama to do, as she suspects we'd knock it out of the park.
Critics from Flicker magazine were on hand to review the films and they were very kind about Cameron Stone:
"Overall, I really expected the two of us to have different tastes and see a really distinct differential in choices. Even our film education is different and we often differ on opinions of mainstream features, so to see such correlation between us really shows us that there were clear stand outs. Linda and I also agreed on what we thought was the best all-around short. We both chose a film that made us laugh a lot. Cleverly put together, keeping it simple and safe. From Group A it was 'Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor'. So Linda I'll let you take the lead for our winner."
"'Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor' by Silly Wee Films, had me laughing from start to finish. I think its use of genre was excellent, the narration was first class and the acting was very versatile. It managed to build up the characters quickly and was consistently funny throughout. I loved the use of parody with characters like Michael Bane, Pear Stone and Captain Ramona Lewis with her contradictory line "It's our little secret" and then selling her story in a book deal. All the characters fit in well with the theme of Hollywood mockery. The dialogue seemed genuinely improvised and this blended well with the genre. The Q&A at the end had me in stiches; it was a true 'Hollywood Insider' moment. It was disappointing at the awards. I expected a few awards to come by the way of this excellent short movie. It is well worth a watch and a share on Facebook or Twitter.
Alan what were your thoughts on Cameron Stone?
For me this was such a simple idea for a Mockumentary. Really well executed, the narration builds the characters very quickly and I think most of us can relate to thinking upon actors like Cameron Stone. This was edited well, the line and character were used effectively and a few good bits of acting. On the night of the showing we even got an excellent little improvisation with the gentleman who played Stone and the host, which was also very funny. This definitely gets the Flicker Magazine stamp of approval so congrats to the team at Silly Wee Films on putting a good effort together. A great shame it didn't take the overall award."
In all likely hood I'll take part in the 48 hour film project again. With "Bloodline" being our main priority this year, as well as putting out our advice podcasts, running our networking nights and producing several short films, there is plenty to keep me busy in 2013.
And hopefully I'll be one step closer to running my own TV show...
Here is first episode of our Creative Talent Connections Podcast, featuring Chewin' the Fat and Still Game co-writer and star Greg Hemphill along with Burnistoun and River City actress Kirsty Strain. Our two guests talk about how their career started, offering advice to new actors and writers, as well as anecdotes from the TV and film industry.
The goal of our CTC Podcasts is to invite special guests who are established in the industry to offer their stories and advice to people just starting out, in the hope that we encourage more creative programmes and content in Scotland and the UK.
To co-incide with our podcasts we are continuing our bi-monthly CTC Networking events downstairs in Blackfriars, Merchant City, in Glasgow, where much like the podcasts, we are lining up special guests to talk and answer questions that people might have. We're also launching the CTC Film Challenge in January, inviting teams to sign up and work together to make films to be screened in March and judged by our special guests that month.
Tuesday 22nd of January at 7.30pm is our next networking event and our next podcast will be recorded on the 24th of January for a February release.
All information will be at https://www.facebook.com/groups/455217211171140/
Please spread the word and come along to our networking nights and help Scotland be creative!
* Note * - As I write this blog I am listening to Thomas Newman's score to "Skyfall", as I've not listened to it before and the writers of "Skyfall" were talking on the brilliant Empire Magazine's Podcast, so now I'm in a very James Bond style mood... apologies. End of Note.
Creative Talent Connections is officially off and running! Thanks to Scott Middleton, visual effects guru who worked on the "Bloodline" pilot for us, was kind enough to create our CTC logo which you can see above.
So what is Creative Talent Connections? Well, not unlike The Avengers, when Nick Fury had an idea to bring together earth's mightiest heroes to form a team to stop bad ass aliens, world threatening destruction and other crazy stuff, Scott Forrest, Claire Maguire and myself decided that the Scottish TV and film industry, certainly at our level, where are not quite at a broadcast setting (we're working on changing that...), was becoming a bit muddled, too many people were holding their contacts, equipment, etc, to themselves, when really we should be helping each other out and encouraging each other to create more content in Scotland, using primarily a Scottish cast and crew.
After our meeting at BBC Scotland Directs networking evening in February, the three of us decided to keep the networking going in order to find other like minded individuals so we can help each other out, whether it be just to talk about the industry or ideas for projects, to work on each other's projects, lend equipment and generally produce more content. The theory being that if we make enough noise, someone will hear us and hopefully a conversation between people at our level and those who have more experience, who have access to money, or to contacts, can start talking and mentor creative talent in Scotland.
There is a wealth of talent in this country for TV, radio, theatre and film, and if we start making more content either for broadcast on TV, or on the internet, radio, on the stage, and on the proposed Scottish digital channel, then there will be more opportunities for those who want to work in the creative industry. Or we'll need to look outside of Scotland in order to make a living in our chosen career, which isn't an ideal situation (okay, so it's really cold here 9 months out of 12, but we're tough! We can handle it!)
Primarily CTC is a group who will be developing ideas for new TV programmes, dramas, comedies, horror, fantasy, game shows, documentaries, you name it, so we can take them to production companies and get more content produced. We have several projects on going, with most of our attention on our supernatural drama series, "Bloodline", which, thanks to CTC, we got all of our crew, cast and resources and shot a 45 minute pilot for less than £2,000.
Acting legends Tam Toye and Simon Weir with Claire, myself and Scott
Our first official CTC Networking night took place on the 25th of November at Blackfriars in Merchant City. Special guests Tam Toye and Simon Weir were our special guests and did an hour long talk about their experiences in the industry, explaining how they got started, how the industry worked and their advice to the fellow actors in the room. It was a brilliant night and we're now booking guests, hopefully established directors and producers, for our CTC night in January, where we will also be launching our CTC Film Festival, a short, one night festival where 6 teams can enter and make a film to be shown in March, judged by our special guests on that evening.
All of the details for our networking nights are available on Facebook at this page.
We hope some of you will come along to our nights and learn valuable lessons about working in the creative industry.
Kirsty Strain and Greg Hemphill are our special guests in our first ever podcast!
To compliment our networking events we've also launched our CTC Podcasts, where we will invite special guests - actors, writers, directors, producers, etc - to come in and talk to us openly and honestly about their experiences in the industry. Again, the hope is that everybody will learn something new and be able to advance in their careers in the industry.
We were very grateful that comedy legend Greg Hemphill, best known for writing and starring in Chewin' The Fat and Still Game, and Kirsty Strain who is best known for her work in River City and Burnistoun, as well as Scottish BAFTA best film, "Up There", agreed to be our first guests.
Recorded at the Cue and Review Studios in Bishopbriggs (thanks Chris and the team!) we had a blast talking to the guys about their careers and their thoughts on the industry. Now we have the fun of cutting our 3 hour interview down to an hour, which is a nightmare as they were just so damn funny.
The podcast will be available to listen to online, on iTunes and will be broadcast on East Dunbartonshire Radio in the near future. We're working on securing future guests for the podcasts so stay tuned.
2012 is nearly over and our 48 hour film Glasgow entry, "Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor" has been chosen to be shown at the Raptor Filmz Festival on the 2nd of December from 6pm at the Grosvenor Cinema in Ashton Lane from 6pm. It's a great way to get our work showcased and we're very grateful to be chosen.
And 2013 is shaping up already, with several short films in development for film festivals, Bloodline being prepared for pitching to production companies and our networking events and podcasts taking shape, it's going to be a busy year for CTC!
The Three - charged with protecting humanity against ancient mythological creatures!
In February, myself, Claire Mcguire and Scott Forrest met at the BBC Scotland Directs networking event. At the time, after making my feature film "Night is Day" and taking a small break, I had came up with an outline for a 3 part mini-web series featuring one thing I had always wanted to direct - sword fights! Of course this is Scotland, where there isn't an awful lot of money going around for genre TV and film projects, but after putting together several short films and a feature film for not a lot of money, a hell of a lot of good will from very talented people, I figured I'd give it a shot.
I turned to my friend Scott while waiting in the lobby at the BBC in Pacific Quay and said to him "I've got this idea for a fantasy web series but I'm not sure of the middle..." and Scott then turned around and gave me a solution. He's good like that. So we started writing notes and while networking at the BBC we met Claire, a researcher with some producing experience, and we decided to keep the networking nights going, and from there Bloodline was born. With the working title "Forbidden Sun" we decided to write a pilot episode, an outline for 6 episodes (we've went up to 8!) and pitch it to producers and networks in the hope that there was room for our supernatural TV action series along with Doctor Who, Being Human, Merlin and MisFits!
Our ideas quickly grew and snowballed and before we knew it we had a cast, crew, money raised from brilliant supporters on Indiegogo and Sponsume, and we shot a pilot for the TV series! On the 8th of November we'll be showing the episode to the cast and crew and once the score is completed, we'll begin the process of trying to pitch it to the right people to get it on TV!
So what's basic premise for "Bloodline"? Ever since the Glencoe Massacre there has been a trio of supernaturally enhanced warriors charged with protecting humankind from ancient mythological creatures, funded by mysterious benefactors. There can only ever be three, and when a member is killed, the next chosen warrior in the bloodline will be called upon to join the fight. In 2012 we meet Markus, Kate and Adam - the bad ass team protecting us from "beasties" (according to Adam!) - embroiled in a case of a rouge shapeshifter, Tam Lin, a mysterious university student called Emily, and Charles, an MMA wrestler mourning the loss of his wife Amy.
Here are our teasers, trailers, pitch videos, behind the scenes and fight training footage from Hybrid Martial Arts - the team behind "Batman Begins" and "Mission: Impossible III".
"Bloodline" producers Claire Mcguire and Scott Forrest, as well as myself, have been putting on a few networking nights at Blackfriars in Merchant City, Glasgow, for people who are wanting to start out in either the TV, film, radio or theatre industry or for those already involved, to meet new people, help each other out and hopefully progress with the help of others.
We've now re-launched the night under the title "Creative Talent Connections" and our next night will be Sunday 25th of November at 7.30pm, downstairs in Blackfriars, Merchant City, Glasgow. Entry is free and everybody is welcome.
All the details are below if you'd like to come along.
Creative Talent Connection is a networking event aimed at anyone involved in or looking to get involved in the Scottish film/television industry. On the night you can expect lots of informal chatting, drinking and hopefully contact making. So far we have held three successful events and we plan to continue doing so every other month from now on. Our next event will feature special guest, actor Simon Weir with more guests TBC.
Date: Sunday 25th of November at 7.30pm Venue: Blackriars, Merchant City
Please send me an email if you'd like to come along: clairemcguire1@hotmail.co.uk
Hope to see you all there!
In addition to our bi-monthly nights, we are also putting together the Creative Talent Connection Podcast, interviewing industry professionals to get their insight and advice for those wanting to start out or just need a little help and guidance. Our first episode will be recorded on the 27th of November thanks to Cue and Review in Bishopbriggs. The free podcast will be available to download online from this blog, Facebook and Twitter.
Well it was that time of year again! The 48 Hour Film Project took place in Glasgow from the 5th to the 7th of October. I assembled the cast and crew from Bloodline, as well as Simon Weir, Mark Harvey and Nicola Wellburn who took part in my project from last year, "Late Nights"and we came up with the film above!
This year our genre was mockumentary, which I felt suited our style quite nicely. Mark and I wrote the script in a couple of hours and sent it out to the crew on the Friday and we arrived at Scott's, our 1st AD, flat at 9am on Saturday and filmed until around 6.30pm, while our editor Anne (who also stars in the film!) cut together the short. We then handed it in by 4.30pm on the Sunday, being the first team to hand in the movie.
It was yet another amazing experience, with the entire cast and crew getting on well, working together brilliantly and having a good laugh too.
Flicker Magazine wrote a really good write up of the two screening nights held to showcase the films, and here is what they had to say about "Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor" -
"Overall, I really expected the two of us to have different tastes and see a really distinct differential in choices. Even our film education is different and we often differ on opinions of mainstream features, so to see such correlation between us really shows us that there were clear stand outs. Linda and I also agreed on what we thought was the best all-around short. We both chose a film that made us laugh a lot. Cleverly put together, keeping it simple and safe. From Group A it was 'Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor'. So Linda I'll let you take the lead for our winner."
"'Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor' by Silly Wee Films, had me laughing from start to finish. I think its use of genre was excellent, the narration was first class and the acting was very versatile. It managed to build up the characters quickly and was consistently funny throughout. I loved the use of parody with characters like Michael Bane, Pear Stone and Captain Ramona Lewis with her contradictory line "It's our little secret" and then selling her story in a book deal. All the characters fit in well with the theme of Hollywood mockery. The dialogue seemed genuinely improvised and this blended well with the genre. The Q&A at the end had me in stitches it was a true 'Hollywood Insider' moment. It was disappointing at the awards. I expected a few awards to come by the way of this excellent short movie. It is well worth a watch and a share on Facebook or Twitter. "
"For me this was such a simple idea for a Mockumentary. Really well executed, the narration builds the characters very quickly and I think most of us can relate to thinking upon actors like Cameron Stone. This was edited well, the line and character were used effectively and a few good bits of acting. On the night of the showing we even got an excellent little improvisation with the gentleman who played Stone and the host, which was also very funny. This definitely gets the Flicker Magazine stamp of approval so congrats to the team at Silly Wee Films on putting a good effort together. A great shame it didn't take the overall award."
Thank you to Flicker for the great write up, it's much appreciated!
With the dust settled we are now moving on with wrapping up the pilot for our supernatural TV series, "Bloodline", which we hope to start pitching to producers, TV networks, etc, in the hope to get picked up for a full series. We also have two more short films in the works with Scott Forrest's "MacDuff", an action-packed spoof and Mark Harvey's "He Who Is Not There", a dark drama comedy. We hope to film them both in January/February and enter them into film festivals along with Cameron Stone.
This can be a rather tough and gruelling industry with very little pay off and recognition for your hard work, but with the right team of people around you, it's the most rewarding career you could have.
With more people following me on Twitter these days I figured it would be best to have a quick intro blog about myself.
I'm Fraser, and at the time of writing this I am 28 (and next year I'll be 29, surprisingly enough!). My goal in life is to become a TV producer (or a showrunner as they are known by in America and beyond!) just like Russell T Davis, Steven Moffat and Joss Whedon. I am shockingly geeky and my inspirations come from Doctor Who, Angel, MisFits, Being Human, Chuck etc.
My career started later than most I suppose, when I was 21 having found myself on the E-Force training programme at the BBC in Glasgow, where I came up with the idea for a Scottish superhero, as to my knowledge we hadn't had our own superhero on the small or big screen. After the training programme I went to James Watt College to study HND Television Operations and Productions for two years. Upon leaving I started up my own corporate company Silly Wee Films. I've been running that ever since - producing music videos, corporate promos, actors showreels etc, all to keep myself financially afloat to work on my creative projects.
The Scottish superhero idea turned into "Night is Day"originally as a short film, and then 13 episodes, split over 2 seasons. 12 episodes are available to watch at the link above and the final episode, which was a mammoth project with more visual effects than any sensible person would put into a show that had an actual budget (we didn't!) will eventually be completed as we are genuinely just waiting on the final sound mix.
In between the web series I wrote and directed several short films included "Bottle", "I Heart You", "Hush", "Two and a Half Minutes" and "No Distractions". You can see them all at this page here.
I entered into the 48 hour film project last year with Mark Harvey and Simon Weir, as well as other talented actors and a great production team. You can see our effort below:
I've also directed a feature film, "Night is Day" based on the web series, with some returning cast and a whole new crew and brilliant producers. The film stars Scottish legends Simon Weir, Colin McCredie, Elaine C Smith and Tiger Tim Stevens MBE in cameo roles. We premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in February 2012 and the film is close to being picked up for distribution by an American production company so hopefully the film will be released world wide within the year.
Having wrote the pilot episode for a new supernatural TV series, "Bloodline", I'm now working on finishing the pilot so I can pitch it to TV executives with the producers, Claire Mcguire and Scott Forrest, so we can make a full series.
I have several other projects in the pipe-line. I'll keep going, learning, improving and hopefully one day I'll be a TV show runner/producer.
(Emily, Jamie and Mhairi on the Bloodline Pilot set)
Time for a brief, yet important update.
Since teaming up with Scott Forrest, of Forrestfire Productions, I've been involved in a lot more projects, and it looks to be continuing. We worked with Claire Mcguire on her short film "Chaos and Curlers" as well as the pilot episode of "Bloodline" and we've successfully put on several TV/film/theatre networking nights in Glasgow.
In December time we should be working together on another short for Mark Harvey which is all very exciting and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. We're also finishing the Bloodline pilot in order to pitch it to TV execs. in the hope we'll get a full series commission (after all, we've wrote out the plan for 7 more episodes, and if I do say so myself, they are freakin' awesome and a little bit geeky too!).
We're also branching out into two more areas - Scott and I have been keen to join the podcast race and so we are developing that project at the moment. The idea behind is that we'll review TV shows, new film releases and DVD releases while interviewing industry professionals in film and TV to give their advice to budding directors, producers, actors, and other crew, hopefully in a fun, light hearted informative way. I'll post updates as we go but progress is being made.
Our film/tv/theatre networking events will also be going under a slight transformation with the hope of showing some short films and bringing in special guests to do a talk, again, hopefully to give advice to those who want it and inspire people to keep going.
It's so crucial to gain experience in the industry, meet people, talk to them, help them, work with them, work as a community, rather than a rival. We're all in it together, trying to make a living and advance in our careers so let's help one another.
And with that in mind, I'm off to get excited about tomorrow night's episode of Doctor Who...
So... this is a tough industry. A really tough industry. Just like most of them really. For about 6 years now I've been trying to learn from what I do, get better, improve my skills and find out what works for me and what doesn't. I've never had any proper funding to do so, therefore I rely on the kindess of other filmmakers, crew, actors, etc, to give up their time and skills to support me. For this I am always thankful and do my best to get projects finished on time, get them up on the internet for showcasing purposes, and where appropriate, try to sell the projects - the web series I created, sadly it never happened, the feature film we did is now close to distribution, which is fantastic, and my current project, Bloodline, is having a pilot episode edited so we can pitch a full 6-8 part series to TV executives (i.e. BBC, STV, Channel 4 and indie networks) in the hope we can get picked up and contribute to the creative output Scotland has to offer. Failing that, I'll move to Canada or the States, at least there I might get a tan.
I don't think my approach and tactics are too different from anyone else at this level trying to get their work out there, their name out there, to have what talents they have recognised. Hopefully somewhere along the way people start to benefit from working on these projects. A casting director might like the look of an actor, or the camera skills might get the DOP a job on another shoot, etc.
Working on these projects allow you to meet other filmmakers, actors, crew, network, learn from other people and hopefully improve your skills, trade, etc. At least, this is the hope. 6 years on and I'm not rich and famous, I'm not even well off. I'm barely comfortable. But that's not important. I am working in the industry I want to work with. I am self-employed and my bills are paid by working on corporate videos, music videos, and even converting videos to DVD. Anything I can do to survive, and allow me to continue working on my creative projects so that one day, if I work hard enough, I'll sell a series and be able to step up another rung on the ladder, closer to being established in the industry of TV and film.
What's the point of this post I hear you ask (if you're still here)? Well, basically it's to remind you that if you are wanting to get into TV and/or film, or you're already in it but having a tough time, it's just to encourage you, to let you know that you're not alone and it's part of the business. Some people will like you and what you do, support you as much as you can, and you have to appreciate these people, make sure they know they are thanked, thank them as much as you can. If you find more opportunities for them, let them know. However, and I cannot stress this enough, you will not be able to please everybody and you'll pick up a few not-so-positive people along the way. It'll get you down, make you want to quit and stay in bed under the covers and hide. That's okay too.
Just remember you got into this industry for a reason in the first place and the best thing you can do is keep your head high, learn from your mistakes, bite your tongue, be a pleasant pest, and work your ass off and cross your fingers your hard work will pay off.
And on that note, here are some videos that I've done recently...
*Reader's Discretion - this is a looooooong ass post*
Okay, so I've not done a post in a while... whoops! Life, as always, got in the way. I ended a long-term relationship, moved out of my house, and "stepped down" from the whole movie-making business after my first feature film, "Night is Day" premièred at the Glasgow Film Festival in February to a sold out audience, after spending two years of my life making it.
During the process of making the film I learned a lot - who to work with, how to work with different people, get the best out of them, being creative with no money (in our case our budget was £4,500, which is considered no budget as around £50,000 is labelled "Low Budget") and trying to promote and sell a film. I even went to the American Film Market in LA to meet with distributors and that was a massive eye opener.
(the poster for the film version of Night is Day)
Without access to a Mac (that's a long story) I was unable to make necessary changes to the film, thankfully that's resolved and over the next couple of months I'll be sending copies of the re-edited movie to distributors world wide again, to try and get the film sold - whether it be online, DVD, cinema, TV etc, as well as taking the film on a tour of independent cinemas in Scotland.
"Night is Day", which started as a web series in 2006, centred on Jason Mackenzie (played relentlessly by the talented Chris Summers) a vigilante superhero who was gifted with the power of lightning and foresight by a peace keeping demon, and saw him learn to use his powers to fight the evil Mr. Philips (the legend that is Tam Toye) and a series of demons and monsters. This culminated in the movie in 2010, with mostly a new cast of wonderful actors and a stand-alone story, Serenity style, to wrap up Jason's story once and for all.
(Jason taking care of some gangsters using his powers, in episode 6)
I realise as I write this post, I am not keeping to a linear structure, and what was supposed to be a "Hey guys! I'm making this really cool TV show about a group of people fighting ancient Scottish mythological creatures!" is turning into a retrospective of my six year career, and why I want to run my own TV show one day. I'll understand if you want to bail out at this point, but maybe there's a budding filmmaker, writer, director, geek, or just a really bored person who is remotely interested in my path so far and what I have to say. I'm not going to rant or bitch, even though with the amount of internet "abuse" I've suffered over the years, I could fill an entire blog, I'm instead going to focus on my positive.
Where was I? Oh yes... the difficult second album, erm, movie. After Night is Day was finished, or finished enough, I wanted to move on and make a film called "Get Funded", which is a comedy about three young filmmakers who go through hell to make their first film, even robbing people and getting mixed up with gangsters and exploiting family and friends, just to get their script to the screen. I wanted big stars - David Tennant, Karen Gillan, even the legend that is Michael Caine. Sadly after months of trying the film just wasn't getting anywhere, the script was lacking something, and I decided to put it on the shelf for the time being. Went through my break up and sneaked away from the business of film.
(Episode 1 of Night is Day: The Web Series, shot in 2006)
I then went and crashed on a friend's sofa while recovering and re-booting my life, in a non-Batman Begins, sort of way, and there I happened to dig out my old Night is Day DVD and we started watching series 1. While no means perfect (want proof? click the link above and watch 11 minutes of Scottish superhero action) I really enjoyed watching it again. There were a hundred things I wanted to go back and fix, things I would do differently, but a spark kicked off in my head. The plot bunnies were alive.
A few weeks passed and I started re-watching old Doctor Who episodes (the purists will say that "old" Doctor Who started in 1963, and yes, that's true, but there is a whole generation of people who consider Christopher Eccleston to be the first Doctor, when technically he's the 9th! But still...) and I remembered why I went to college in the first place. Back in 2004 (eek, that was 8 years ago, I'm fast approaching 30... that's a bit scary) I went to study HND Television Operations and Productions, where, with the clue in the title, you learn about how the operations work in Television Productions. Script, crew, cast, the lot. They even let you make your own short films... where I just went rogue, grabbed a camera and made up shorts on the spot, as that's how I roll.
That's where the idea for Night is Day kicked off! I wanted to make a series! A superhero in Scotland. It hadn't been done in TV form before (Before you say "Wrong boyo! What about Supergran?!", well, technically that was an English TV show... shot in England, etc - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Gran) and with my obsession with Marvel's Spider-Man, the cool, sarcastic, quick witted superhero, I wanted my own superhero in Scotland. 6 years later and it's had 13 episodes online (technically the last episode is in limbo as our sound designer has went MIA, but bare with me, we're fixing that too!) and a feature film.
(I appreciate this is a long post, so here is some David Tennant love for you)
Back when I was in high school, having watched a lot of Old School (circa 1980's) Doctor Who, The 5th Doctor, total legend, as well as Blake's 7, Sapphire and Steel, and a bucket load of Anime/Manga (mostly Guyver and Giant Robo) I started writing a series called "Space Defence", (all right, so I'm not great at titles, okay??) which was set thousands of years in the future, and in Space, and focused on the Defenders of The Realm (a short while later I'd find out that was the name of a Mortal Kombat cartoon series - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uZwA4Qu4bI) who were three men (or aliens I suppose) who each had special powers - lightning, agility, mind control, mind reading, could create force fields etc - and protected the entire universe.
With this in mind, my love of Doctor Who, and my total falling out of love for filmmaking (only for now, I'm still totally in love with Cinema, thank you Joss Whedon) I started writing out an idea for a three part web series, nothing use, 5 minutes each episode, about a group of people protecting the city. No magic powers, no superheroes, just three people, fighting crime. And it needed a sword fight. I've always, ALWAYS wanted a sword fight! So I got to work and wrote a LOT of notes.
(again, this post is quite long, so here, it's Amy Acker, as Fred, being a super cute vampire)
The story started out quite ambitious (it's the only way I know how to do things), I had some rough ideas of what I wanted to do, the story arc, what plot seeds to plant for later on, you know, try to be clever with it, like Joss Whedon did with Faith, or what Moffat and Gatiss did with Moriarty in Sherlock... except I'm not that clever yet... I'm getting there though.
My good friend Scott, who runs his new production company, Forrest Fire Productions, moved up to Glasgow a year ago and we've been sort of collaborating on projects. I went to Scott with my idea as there were a few things I couldn't figure out, and within moments he knew the solution. It was brilliant. Then the madness of turning my three part, 5 minute web series, grew huge, giant, long legs and the pilot for Bloodline was born.
(Scott, probably coming up with a genius idea for series 5 of Bloodline)
I will dedicate another blog post to Bloodline now, as this post has turned into a definite retrospective and for that I apologise. Kudos if you are still here, I really appreciate it.
Basically, the point of this post was to say that my heart belongs to TV. I loved making Night is Day into a film, really, it was so exciting to be able to make it and experience it. And maybe when I'm a bit more established, and funding is slightly easier to get for a film, I'll make another one. Goodness knows I've got a LOT of ideas, but for now I want to go back to television. I remember saying to someone in college years ago that I can do a lot more with 13 x 45 minute episodes, than a one off two hour film, and I intend to get back to that.
(some of the Bloodline pilot cast and crew)
Like Joss Whedon, Russell T Davis, Steven Moffat, three of my favourite show runners (or Executive Producers), I want to run a show, tell an exciting, dramatic, adventurous, mysterious show with interesting, fleshed out characters, strong people, in extraordinary situations, give an audience 45 minutes of excitement every week, something for them to talk about with their fellow geeks, fans, etc.
6 years later, a turn at the BBC learning the trade, 2 years at college and running my own company with 6 short films, two seasons of a web series, and a feature, I'm back to my first love. Writing and directing TV. Although soon I'd rather just exec produce and write, than direct. But it's my pilot, I need to helm it. Thankfully we've got an amazing cast, a brilliant crew and one hell of a fight team.
Here we go again....
P.S - since you've been lovely, I will reward you with this, as secretly, one day, I want to be in charge of Doctor Who. Not that I think I can do any better than the current runner, the guy is a goddamn genius, but I'd like to carry on the legacy and make brilliant television about the mad man and his blue magical box...
A few people might be looking at this for the first time, or some of you have just forgotten who I am, and for this I forgive you. Regardless here's the quick skinny on me:
Fraser, 27, from Langbank now living in Glasgow, trained at the BBC on their E-Force Programme in 2004, studied TV Operations and Productions at James Watt College, Greenock, 2004-2005, started my own production company Silly Wee Films. Between 2005 and 2011 I have made 4 short films two seasons of a web series and I'm just about finished on my first ever feature film, "Night is Day", which is based on my 1st short film and my web series.
Here's a trailer for my movie, "Night is Day", which had a budget of £4,500 and 67 cast and crew all working on expenses and the hope of profit share for weekends in a warm summer in Glasgow in 2010.
Making a feature film in Scotland was extremely difficult, keeping in mind that it was my first feature, I had a competent cast and crew supporting me throughout the process as we hunted for the right locations, making the scenes work the best they could, finding a post production team to make things go zap, pow and most often, "BANG!" so that my vision of a Scottish superhero film could come true.
For the record I am so grateful for EVERYBODY who has every worked with me either on my short films, my web series and definitely on the feature film - THANK YOU. I am sorry if I was a complete pain in the ass to work with, but all I ever try and do is make a good, enjoyable project - web series, short film or feature film - I don't claim to be making high art or looking to sweep the board at the Oscars.
I've certainly learned from all of my experiences throughout trying to become a successful writer/director, and I hope that everybody who has worked with me has learned something useful too (and not just not to work with me again).
So despite our lack of proper funding, armed with a professional cast and crew of well known actors and people who are on their way up in the acting world, experienced filmmakers mashed with newbies cutting their teeth in the filmmaking world, we managed to not only shoot a feature film about a Glaswegian superhero with lightning powers who faces off against an ancient Scottish creature to save the world, BUT WE FINISHED IT!
No, seriously, right now it's transcoding into a blu-ray format so I can show it to the world and I'm proud of every minute of the 1hr 43 minute sci-fi adventure film.
The icing on the cake is that the Glasgow Film Festival, Yoda love them, has decided to premiere the film at the CCA on the 22nd of February at 6.30pm. This is fantastic news. My first film is being premiered in front of 150 people at one of the largest film festivals in the world. How lucky am I? Very! And I know this and I am very grateful.
However, when it was announced that my baby would be shown to the Glasgow world, an uproar (I say uproar, I mean a groan) came from a few people who hid behind a fake name and decided to go on to the ticket booking page (see it here in all it's glory) and have a pop at not only me, my filmmaking style ("it'll do" filmmaking apparently, which is what's wrong with the Scottish film making industry), my cast, my crew and my "half-baked" plot about a superhero in Scotland.
72 comments in total are sitting on there at the moment - 3 or 4 of them are people tearing apart the film based on trailers, a 10 minute sizzle reel and behind the scenes videos of how we made it - knocking me for not working with the same people who joined me in the beginning 6 years ago - and one individual even claimed that I took the money we raised for the film through fundraising nights, charity walks and beyond, and skipped off to Las Vegas with my girlfriend (would LOVE to see their proof of this).
I'm happy to say that the other 69 or so comments are those of support and admiration and I thank those lovely people who took the board and stuck up for me - thank you.
Yet I'm not about to go into it all again. All I've ever tried to do is make my feature film and I've had a great amount of support in doing so. We've got distributors in the States interested in putting the film out there (thanks to my trip to Los Angeles and The American Film Market) and all 150 tickets for the Glasgow Premiere sold out in 8 days!
I won't lie - the knocking and the non-constructive criticism did hit me hard and it did make me doubt my own skills.
Then it hit me - I'M NOT DONE YET! This is my first film - yes there will be mistakes in it, no not everybody is going to love it as much as I do and yes I have a LOT to learn about writing, directing and putting a movie together - but what I'm not doing is sitting on my ass waiting for it to happen.
Sure I've watched movie trailers and thought "Nah, that's not for me." but I've never went on to a public forum and torn it apart for the filmmaker to see - how totally disrespectful to everybody who has worked on it. Neither have I thought about emailing Steven Spielberg to tell him exactly WHY War of the Worlds didn't work for me (thankfully I love many of his other films).
Okay, this is getting a bit ranty even for me. In short not everybody will like me for my work, not everybody will like me for how I work, but I never go out of my way to offend or hurt anybody - I am not a bad guy - I wasn't raised to be an ass. I'm proud of my work and I intend to learn from everything I do so one day I will win an Oscar for my work. I CAN take constructive criticism and I will listen to what people have to say in hopes that it will help me improve my skills, and I thank those of you who give honest, constructive criticism on my body of work - but please remember, we're all still learning.
Thank you to everybody that has supported me through this crazy filmmaking obsession of mine. I am truly grateful for everybody's time, support and efforts.
