First of all...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
So here it is, 2013, a brand new year, endless possibilities, opportunities and fun times ahead! A lot of progress was made last year, and I plan on building on the foundations laid and move forward in a positive, opportunistic manner.
Here's what's happening for me, my company Silly Wee Films, and Creative Talent Connections...
BLOODLINE
Initially a 3-part, 15 minute supernatural fantasy web series as an excuse to let me do something low-key involving swords, Bloodline took off faster than expected after a chat with my co-writer Scott Forrest. Once we met producer Claire Mcguire at the BBC Scotland Directs networking night, the ball was rolling.
"Bloodline" follows The Three, a pre-destined trio with the abilities of strength, agility and spiritual enlightenment, the team research and battle ancient Scottish mythological creatures, protecting the innocent people of Scotland (and maybe beyond!) while finding a way to close the cracks from the spiritual world once and for all. As the cunning business-minded Victoria Campbell follows her family's destiny, Charlie, Kate and Adam struggle to balance their lives fighting monsters and living a normal life.
We've got a 45 minute pilot finished, mapped out the series arc for 8 episodes, while researching all sorts of mythical creatures and stories from Scotland and at the start of January we'll be filming an additional scene to help us with our pitch, then it'll be on to pitching in the hope we can get the show on TV. Fingers crossed, eh?
THE CTC PODCASTS & NETWORKING NIGHTS
While developing Bloodline, Claire, Scott and myself agreed that we should create our own networking events on a bi-monthly basis, allowing people who are either just starting out in the TV, film, theatre, radio industry, or those who are already established and managing to carve out a career doing what they love. The hope is that we can get like-minded people into the same room, have a drink or two and swap contact details and advice.
We had 3 successful nights before re-vamping the night slightly, by introducing established special guests to give an hour-long talk about their experiences and offering advice. Tam Toye (Night is Day, Infiltrated) and Simon Weir (High Road, Spanking in Paradise, River City) were our first guests and gave informative talk about their careers.
Our next night will be on the 22nd of January, 7pm, downstairs in Blackfriars, Merchant City, Glasgow, where our special guests are to be confirmed.
We also launched our first ever podcast, which, in the vein of the networking nights, invites special guests to tell their stories and offer advice to those wanting to follow in their footsteps. Greg Hemphill, co-writer and star of Still Game and Chewin' the Fat joined Kirsty Strain, best known from the comedy sketch show Burnistoun and her dramatic turn in River City, and gave a brilliant talk about their time in the industry. Episode 2 is being recorded on the 24th of January and will be released in February.
Thank you to Cue and Review for supporting our podcasts and allowing us to record in their studios!
SHORT FILMS
In 2012 I produced "Chaos and Curlers", a short comedy film about the day in the life of a hair salon, where anything that can go wrong, does go wrong! This was written and directed by Claire Mcguire and will be finished shortly.
I also took part in the 48 hour film project for the 2nd time, producing mockumentary "Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor", using the majority of the Bloodline team to make it.
This year we will be producing a few more shorts, with Scott Forrest's spoof "MacDuff!" and my supernatural rom-com "One Year Later..." to follow after that. We may also be producing a comedy short film with Simon Wier too...
NIGHT IS DAY
Back in 2005 I was just finishing college, started Silly Wee Films, and was run down by a car and broke my leg and arm... from there I came up with the idea for a Scottish superhero web series. Enter Jason Mackenzie, played brilliantly by Scot's actor Chris Summers. Jason would fight gangsters, demons from another world while trying to keep student reporter Amy (Shian Denovan) safe from the corrupt businessman Mr. Philips and evading the police duo, Sloan and Mullan.
13 episodes of the web series was shot between 2006 and 2009 with cameos from Martin Compston (Red Road, Line of Duty) and Colin McCredie (Taggart, River City, Wooly and the Tig). As with all unpaid, unfunded projects, those in charge of post-production had to prioritise paid work, but thankfully the sound mix for episode 7 of series 2 is now being completed and all episodes will soon be online free to watch!
NIGHT IS DAY... THE MOVIE!
In 2010 I wanted to finish the story of Night is Day... it had been with me since 2005 and I felt a good send of would be to make a big screen version of it. So I wrote a stand-alone story, pitting Jason against an ancient mythological creature, The Caillech (the resulting research would turn my eye to more research, resulting in Bloodline being born!), with the help of secret police, F-Division, led by Sloan and aided by Mullan and rookie Inspector Rebecca Munro, the team fight the Caillech and the evil Mr. Philips who has been reunited with his insane assassin, Frank Stone!
Shot on a budget of £5,000 with the cast and crew working for a percentage of any sale we make on the film, filming took around 20 days over the summer and the long, arduous process of post-production began with 6 visual effects artists, re-recording dialogue and sound effects and the film being scored.
Twice we attended Glasgow's Collectormania sci-fi and TV event in Braehead Arena, with our own stall, selling merchandise, previewing the movie and giving a talk amongst sci-fi stars such as Craig Barrie, Danny John-Jules, Sylvester McCoy, etc. It was a truly memorable experience and I'll never forget it. Especially after Mark Harvey's singing of The Lord of The Rings Musical and The Ultimate Showdown...
In 2011 I took the film to the American Film Market after members of the cast and crew raised money to walk from the Falkirk Wheel to Glasgow City Centre (and donating proceeds to children's charity, CHAS), where we met with distributors to discuss the film. With it now completed we have sent it to the distributors that were interested and sales talks have begun to continue, so watch this space...
So, that's what 2013 has in store for me... and goodness knows what else.
Here's to a year of opportunity, hard work and adventure, and another step closer to running my own TV show...
"You Will Always Have a Hero" the official song from Night is Day The Movie, by Philip Martin
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