Scott Forrest and I produced a music video for upcoming Glasgow rapper, Del, to accompany is track "Invincible".
We'll be working with Del again this month on his next track, "The Greatest Trick".
Check out Del's video below.
Sunday, 6 January 2013
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Night is Day: 2006-2009
(Glasgow superhero Jason Mackenzie played by Chris Summers and Caitlyn Smith played by Anna Walseth)
When I first started out on the quest to run my own TV show (i.e. be an executive producer/show runner) I was lucky enough to be part of the BBC's E-Force training programme. From there I found a competition to make a trailer for a film that didn't exist yet. I decided that I wanted to step away from the normal Scottish films and tackle the superhero genre. Being a fan of Doctor Who, Spider-Man and the like, I created "Night is Day".
I made a short film version of it after I left college, which was a great learning experience, and then in 2005 I started writing "Night is Day" as a web series. With no money and a willing cast and crew I shot 6 episodes and put them online for people to see. Propeller TV on Sky showed all 6 episodes too, which was fantastic.
So what is "Night is Day"? It follows the adventures of Jason Mackenzie (Chris Summers) a down on his luck guy in his mid-twenties who is dumped by his girlfriend and on a night out drowning his sorrows, is knocked down by a car. While recuperating he decides to change his fortune for the better, there he is contacted by a mysterious man called Ames (Alan Maclean) who tells Jason that he can change his fortune. Jason is duped and a lightning-powered demon is transferred into Jason, given him the power of foresight. Now when Jason touches anybody he gets a mind-numbing vision of their fate and must set out to save them, only with the power of lightning by his side.
And that's the basic concept of Night is Day. 13 episodes were produced in total, split over 2 seasons which you can watch here and here. There's a spin-off feature film version too. Below are some special features from the two seasons.
I'm exceptionally proud of what we achieved with no funding and I certainly learned a lot about running a show, writing and working with different actors and crew! Hopefully this will all come handy with Bloodline...
Creative Talent Connections 22nd January 2012
Our next Creative Talent Connections Networking evening is on the 22nd of January, 7pm, downstairs in Blackfriars, Merchant City in Glasgow.
Freelancers, producers, directors, actors, writers, editors, sound people, camera people, everybody from TV, radio, theatre and film are invited to meet fellow creatives in a relaxed setting, get a drink and do some networking.
We’ll be inviting special guests from the industry to give a talk and answer any questions you might have.
You can find out more information at https://www.facebook.com/events/403478569726290/?suggestsessionid=1000002812074171357388797
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
What's going on in 2013...
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
Thursday, 20 December 2012
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!
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Year in Review: Cameron Stone - A Legendary Actor
(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."
The full article is available to read at http://www.flickermagazine.co.uk/events/48hourfilmglasgow2012.html
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...
Friday, 7 December 2012
Creative Talent Connections Podcast - Episode 1: Kirsty Strain and Greg Hemphill
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!
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