Night is Day - The End of an Era

(Simon Weir, Clare Sheppard, Steven McEwan and John Gaffney on the set of Night is Day: The Movie)

Today the final sound mix for the final ever episode of Night is Day, my Scottish superhero web series, was delivered. It was then exported and uploaded on to YouTube and added to the Night is Day web site.

I've talked a lot about Night is Day before so this isn't a long post. In 2004 I was training at the BBC in Glasgow and I saw an advert for a competition. They wanted you to create a trailer for a new movie. I decided to go for it, pitching the idea of a Scottish superhero who could touch you and get a vision of you in danger, or dying, therefore using his courage and strength to save the day.

9 years, 1 short film, 2 seasons, 13 episodes and a feature film later (and 4 or 5 one-off comic strips!) and Night is Day has come to an end. I never had any money to make it, we worked a lot of weekends, a lot of people came and left, a lot of people fell out a lot of people fell in.

Regardless, the goal was achieved. A web series with different characters fighting on the side of good and evil in Glasgow was finished. 

You can click here to watch every single episode of the web series and you can click here to watch the film.

Thank you for your support! 

The Short Film Collection...

(Simon Weir and Mark Harvey in "Late Nights")

I won't lie to you, there is a LOT going on with Creative Talent Connections right now. Not only are we putting the finishing touches to Bloodline, recording several new episodes of our podcast, finishing up post-production on Claire's comedy short film "Chaos and Curlers" while Scott lays down work on his spoof cop short film "Macduff!" but we're also continuing to organise our networking events, lining up top quality guests for talks and expanding the nights in order to improve on what we can offer to the television and film community in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

However, with that in mind, a few months ago an idea came to me one morning. An idea for a short film. I've done a few short films in my short career, a few of them are below, and I genuinely thought I was finished with them. However, with Claire's film nearly finished and the fun we had doing the last two 48 hour film projects, this little idea of mine grew, and after several drafts, I'm happy to move it into pre-production and try to shoot it in Spring and get it into festivals.

So, what is the film? It's called "One Year Later" and it starts with David meeting Katy at a speed dating night. Even though they say very little to one another, there's a spark and they smile. One year later (get it?) and David is preparing to pop the big question, nervous as hell, as Katy is THE one for him, smart, funny, slightly geeky and gorgeous. Thankfully David has his wise-cracking, trouble making older brother Steven to help him along, to support him and offer advice. The problem is that Steven is dead and may or may not be a ghost than only David can see.

That's the premise. It's a short film, probably clocking in at 10-15 minutes - ideally 10. We'll shoot it over a weekend with the crew that worked with me on Bloodline and Cameron Stone (our 2nd 48 hour film entry) and as usual I'll fill the majority of roles with my regulars, however I'd like to find 3 new people to play Steven, David and Katy. 

Now... here's where things get tricky. Up until Bloodline all of my projects were on a volunteering basis - apart from Night is Day the feature film, all the cast and crew have an agreement with the producers that when the film is sold they'll get a percentage of that - it's a completely separate entity and out of my hands as the film is in the hands of US distributors. Bloodline was different because we managed to crowd fund the money we needed to pay everybody's travelling expenses. Which, we did, and that was brilliant.

With that in mind I want to raise around £3000 for One Year Later, again, via crowd-funding and paying what I can with my own money (I'm a self-employed filmmaker who makes a living from corporate videos, so I'm not exactly rolling in it!). This way not only can I pay expenses but I'll be able to pay people for their time and skills. Everybody gets paid! The cinematographer, the sound guy, the composer, the visual effects animator, the actors, the lot! 

In all likelihood the plan is to get one or two relatively well known actors (i.e. Karen Gillan and Billy Boyd) to play Katy and Steven, launch a crowd-funding page, make a pitch video, offer perks (set visits, signed scripts, postcards, a cameo in the film, invite to the wrap party, official screening etc) raise the money, shoot the film, edit it and then put it into as many festivals as possible - Raindance, Edinburgh, Cardiff International Film Festival - get the film seen by as many people as we can - raise the profile of the cast and crew - get further support to make more films, documentaries, networking nights, TV shows, etc.

That's the plan anyway. And it all starts at getting those one or two well known actors to take a part in the film, then the ball starts rolling. That means finding the right actors to play the characters and convincing their agents that they want to let their client give up a day or two to participate in a Scottish short film. Joy. 

So why do I want to go through this, make another short film? Well to be honest it's a story I want to tell. It sort of echoes my relationship with my older brother (except he is alive and well!) and I think it's a story about relationships with siblings and your partner, and how to handle the balance of the two. Plus I love making projects like this, I get to work with the crew I love working with, telling a story, and I'll properly experience the film festival fun - entering it into competitions, meeting new people, seeing other films that are being produced, and hopefully all cast and crew will benefit from it. 

And I wonder why my girlfriend tells me I can't switch off.

RIGHT! So there we go, that's what's happening with One Year Later. The ball is rolling. The hunt for the well known actors begins! 

In the meantime, below are some short films I've already made through the years, starting with the most recent. Enjoy!

Late Nights - 48 Hour Project Short Film from Fraser Coull on Vimeo.

No Distraction from Artist Media Ltd on Vimeo.

Hush - Spy Short Film from Fraser Coull on Vimeo.

Creative Talent Connections - What Went On Last Night!

(From l-r: Sanjeev Kohli, Fraser Coull, Dave Anderson, Claire Mcguire, Tony Nellany and Scott Forrest)

Last night was our 2nd Creative Talent Connections networking evening (technically our 5th networking event, but we've since re-booted it under the CTC banner) and we were joined by actor and  writer Sanjeev Kohli, established musician and actor Dave Anderson and BBC documentary producer Tony Nellany.

We had around 50 attendees in total (I'm rubbish at counting so I might be wrong), and the basement of Blackfriars was full. Someone commented that on the way down to the basement they could hear how busy it was, so I'm taking that as a good thing.

The night started with the trailer for our new supernatural TV series, "Bloodline", which was edited by STV freelancer Anne Nicholson and scored by newcomer Samantha Pake. The response was extremely positive, especially from our panel. The new trailer is available for you to watch below!

We then showed our 48 hour film project, "Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor" before presenting a quick showreel highlighting the work of our special guests. As Dave Anderson, Sanjeev Kohli and Tony Nellany took the stage, Scott and myself asked about their careers, for their advice and their insights into the industry. The audience had some great questions too and it was a brilliant panel. The guests were kind enough to hang around and take photos with our attendees and pose for photos.

From there the networking took place and we offered the best networker a bottle of wine... Anne Nicholson turned out to be the best with 10 business cards collected on the night - she best make use of them!

The night came to an end at 11.30pm and I must say thank you to everybody who came and to my fellow organisers Claire Mcguire and Scott Forrest. Special thanks goes to Simon Slater for supporting us and helping us set up on the night, also thank you to Blackfriars for being so accommodating.

Our next networking night is likely to be in March (just in time for my birthday!) and we hope to bring more special guests, more short films and hopefully announce our CTC Film challenge. If anybody has any suggestions or recommendations for the nights please email me - frasercoull@gmail.com

As some of you might be new to my blog after last night you can find out all about me here!

Next up for CTC is the recording of our next podcast with special guests Sanjeev Kohli and Simon Weir. Our first two episodes are here for you to listen to!

Now we're off to complete Bloodline for the pitching process and start pre-production on our short film,  "One Year Later"and completing short comedy "Chaos and Curlers" and look into producing a couple of documentaries. 

Thanks for your continued support! 

Russell T Davies talks to Michael Grade

I'm currently reading "The Writer's Tale"by Russell T Davies, who, amongst many things, ran Doctor Who as head writer and executive producer when it came back from 2005 until 2010. It's an amazing book, with lots of brilliant insight into the mind of a brilliant writer, and it could help any aspiring writers a great deal - I'm certainly finding it very useful.

I could sit here and share a lot of quotes from the book, but this one jumped out at me:

"First of all, Michael Grade said some fascinating stuff at that lunch the other day. He said 'Do you know the difference between drama and melodrama? Melodrama is: I've got a gun, I'm pointing it at you, I hate you, I want to kill you, my finger is squeezing the trigger... and the gun jams. Drama is: I've got a gun, I'm pointing it at you, I hate you, my finger is squeezing the trigger... I can't do it.' I think that's brilliant. And he mimed all that, pointing his hand at me. In the Ivy! Funny thing is, it cropped up the very next day. Because the same difference applies to drama and science fiction. Gareth has written a Sarah Jane script where she meets her parents in 1951, but she knows she's got to get away. So, she drives out of the village, but the roads keep twisting back, space folding in on itself. She's caught in a loop. Every path she takes brings her back to where she started. She can't escape. But the drama version is: Sarah Jane knows that she's got to get away, and tries to drive out of the village.... but she can't. She knows that it's wrong, but she turns the car around, to go meet her destiny. Thank you, Mr Grade!"

So there's an important lesson in the difference between drama and melodrama.

Now, I'm off to give "Arrow" a try. Let's see if knows the difference.

Creative Talent Connections - 2nd Guest Confirmed - Dave Anderon

We're happy to announce that actor and regular participant in theatre and panto in Glasgow, Dave Anderson, has joined our next CTC Networking Event on the 22nd of January.

Click here to read Dave's IMDb Page

Dave has worked as an actor in TV and films since 1964 and is still acting today. We're extremely pleased that he's agreed to join our panel at our next networking night alongside Sanjeev Kohli. 

The talks kick off at 8pm on the 22nd of January so please make sure that you are there with plenty of time. We will also be offering prizes for the best networker on the night so bring plenty of business cards! 

All details can be found here - https://www.facebook.com/events/403478569726290/

We are still likely to be confirming a third guest to offer their insight and advice into the TV and film industry.

Creative Talent Connections - 1st Confirmed Guest! Sanjeev Kohli

Our next Creative Talent Connections networking evening has confirmed it's first guest of 2013!

Actor, writer and producer Sanjeev Kohli will be our first guest on our networking event on the 22nd of January.

Check out Sanjeev's IMBd Page Here!

Sanjeev's credits include Still Game, Fresh Meat, Gary's Tank Commander, and Hope Springs. He's also wrote for Chewin' the Fat, Goodness Gracious Me and The Big Breakfast. We are delighted to have Sanjeev give a talk on our night, sharing his experiences and advice to those wanting to get into the TV and film industry.

We're lucky that Sanjeev will also be our guest on our next special podcast, recording on the 24th of January, following from Greg Hemphill's and Kirsty Strain's episode that you can listen to here.

We'll have one or two more special guests confirmed for the networking night and the podcast before the 22nd

Our hope is to bring in established guests from all different fields in the industry to offer an insight, and hopefully encourage others to follow their dreams and ambitions in the world of TV, film and radio.

The networking night kicks off at 7pm, downstairs in Blackfriars in Merchant City, Glasgow, on Tuesday 22nd of January.

All the details are on the official Facebook page.

Del - The Invincible Music Video

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.