Collaboration

Inspiration, Dedication, and consistency. These are the things that get projects done. Get films made, shows put on, deals created and so forth.

As I venture further into producing projects as well as being an actor or facilitator, I realize how essential it is to have a supportive team around you. To have people you work with who are an inspiration to you and the project!

Several projects of mine have lagged, due to financial problems, lack of time and lack of resources. As much as I'd like to be a one man band it's difficult!!

So I'm looking for collaborators constantly, people to work with and get inspired by.

In the end isn't this why we do what we do?
So if this is you please get in touch! I'd love to work with you.

Gratefully creating

Tonight I was invited to the Lost Short film night held at LBi each month.
What a fantastic line up! Including previews of documentaries, most expensive music videos from partizan, a meditation on the integer between numbers 3 and 4 and French grad animations.

It was afterward in the pub that things really got started, and then influenced this blog post.
Chatting to Orlando Wood from Biscuit about his latest documentary Revisionaries (winner of Tribecca Film Fest).
http://www.therevisionariesmovie.com/

We were (as producers inevitably do) talking about funding and how shorts are a pain as harder than features. It's always a slog, long hard battle to get money, keep it, do you're tax on it...etc.

And incidentally we both realised we had previously been pretty bad at Maths!! He'd had an ex-classmate say to him "but you were terrible at maths!"
Glad I'm not the only math-phobic producer out there. (thank god for excel!)

But all this crowd finding and financing talk made me realise something on the long walk back to the station.
That no matter what, or how, no matter how you spin it, we in the film business are pretty privileged and lucky people.
We are surrounded by exciting creative energy and are supported by a whole leading cast.
I walked on realising that perhaps the homeless guy asking for cash was not or had never been in my position.

I come from a middle class family, went to a good school, had a good education, went to uni and although I never was crazy wealthy- I've definitely had lean months, hell, lean years!
But I've always been lucky enough to be surrounded by an amazing support group.

Even here in the UK, away from my best friends and family, I look around and see support from my partner, my boss, my colleagues, acting buddies and friends. It's this realization that makes me so grateful.
It's not how far I go in my career it's really about acknowledging and realizing these amazing people around me.
It made me thrice more grateful for my life, my job, my three careers and the numerous projects. Right now I'm involved in one project in pitching, one in post (sound) which needs to be in pitching, a new feature film role to learn, a long term script to rewrite, another script in development, a feature audition to tape, a newly developing feature, work shopping a cabaret, a novel and mini series to finish and other ongoing projects....hmm just realized how many different things that is!
But most importantly without my support network, doing coffees with me, helping out when I call unexpectedly and advising me in my life, I'd be nowhere.

So I want to take this time to say thank you. To be grateful to them.
Starting tomorrow. ; )

My question to you is :Who do you want to thank in your life?
Who's in your support team?

Til next time!
Xx




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On set in Jan 2012

Had a brilliant beginning to 2012 with some film work in the first 4 days!

We were filming in the New Wimbledon Studios - which used to be the home of The Bill. Downstairs is a massive hospital set that was just amazing. Real medical gear and an Intensive Care unit, even a Morgue in the basement.

Check out the videos below!



On Set

Masterclass with Ralph Fiennes

Ralph  Fiennes Master class

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend an acting ‘Masterclass’ with Ralph Fiennes.

It wasn’t so much a masterclass the usual terms(where you work with the tutor and they give you tips on technique etc) but it was really a talk.

It took place in the theatre where Ralph is currently performing The Tempest – which has an amazing set. Ralph was interviewed by the Head of Central School of Drama (I didn’t catch his name).

The interview was rather hilarious as though the Head of Central tried his best to create leading grandiose questions diving into the depths and mystery of acting, Ralph was quite blunt about his techniques (I don’t really know), and his method of getting into a character (I start by memorizing my lines)!

Here are a couple of great points he made that I wanted to share:

¨               Every project carries a different spirit of truth

¨               I don’t really know what my technique is. We were exposed to many things which was great and you just take what works for you.

¨               I guess I just use my imagination.

¨               Script – learn the lines, and latch onto certain lines that are important to the character. These help unlock the charater.

¨               What is acting? What is truth? Ralph explained his year at RADA were exposed to everything, all different types of teachers from different disciplines.

¨               You need to find a way to effortlessly slide into the truth. Which is part of letting go of the work and forgetting it once you get into the audition or the show.

¨               On directing: “Its natural, youre involved in so many things creating the piece it just seems to be natural progression”

¨               On how you keep going and keep creating in this industry. “You form these bonds, these connections - its important and sometimes things happen.” I thought this was really pertinent to the various meetups and networking events especially UK Actors Tweetup. Its about meeting your fellow collaborators and working with/alongside them. It also helps you stay connected to your truth and “keeps the hunger going”.

¨               Working with Anthony Hopkins taught Ralph “he works in immediate truth. No big discussions on character, its all about right now.”

¨               We are all in a constant state of learning.

¨               Asked about watching/performing to different language shows. “It is about the skills of actors but Im interested in the spirit of actors. Especially with non English speaking audiences.”

¨               “A performance that happens on stage no on can edit”

¨               Asked about Doubt: “Every actors wrestles with doubt. Fear of failure or fear of self belief – but you can bounce off of it. I have it in my head. Everyone has doubts and fears and if they don’t they’re suspect. Use support of other actors to help you. You can be very lonely so doubt surfaces – so community is very important.”

¨               Asked about advice for young actors:
Keep the Energy Alive
Don’t Drop the Ball

So that's it - it was lovely to hear such a great actor still talking about imagination, fun and  just getting back to the basics.

Hope you enjoyed reading it too!

London Screenwriters Festival

London Screenwriters Festival

What a fantastic experience, I was asked to be on the Producer’s panel for the Speed pitching sessions on Friday 29/10/11.

I turned up early in the morning not knowing what to expect when I ran into Rav whom I’d met at a Raindance networking session earlier in the year.

We started chatting and on our way to the first session encountered Rob Grant from Sci Fi Film Festival.

We all sat in Kate Ley’s talk in the morning which was my highlight of Friday talks.

I’ll rewrite all the important notes I took in point form. Please forgive me but it would take too long to tell the speech bit by bit!

¨               The average screenplay and novel is getting shorter and shorter. A novel is normally 80,000 wheras a feature film is 10,000

¨               Writing a screenplay for a feature is very very complicated process and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

¨               Remember “Only if it is brilliant on the page can it be brilliant on screen”.

A motto I’ve always kept to as a producer and actor.

¨                Every feature needs a great HOOK.  A hook is the story reduced to its bare essentials – which should still make it sound exciting.

Hook = Spine of the story.

A hook is not a tagline (usually seen on posters for the film and dreamt up by marketing people), and its not a logline (which is literally what production companies use to log scripts by describing them.)

¨               You can check out people competing with others to write great hooks on imdb

¨               Themes. Your themes will and should come up in the script over and over again. It should recur every scene, character, even in the props that you use.

¨               The more of your theme you put in and feel like its obvious the more subtle & complex the film becomes wheras if you try for subtlety the audience knows it a mile off. Dramatise the idea all the way through the script.

¨               BIG CHARACTERS – this has a short addition after a great discussion with Bob Portal (producer of many feature films incl. Lord of War with Nick Cage). Rob qualifies it as BIG & COOL.

¨               Kate says whatever the characters traits, they are OVERTLY that trait. And must be clear, well definted and strong personalities (not necessarily dominant). The audience must recognize them

¨               Your character must WANT SOMETHING and then DO SOMETHING.

Woe betide if you have a passive character, it is very very difficult.

¨               The COOL bit is because the audience wants to be like them, because the character is SO that way, eg. Ms Jolie in Tomb Raider is SO kickass we want to be like her, or the lead in Thank you for Smoking is SUCH an ass we kinda want to be like that sometimes. To certain people in our lives!

¨               Kates next tidbit of advice about character is that a lot of great films are about the ‘awkwardness’ characters feel. Mirroring our own journey – the “I know I should do something else but I don’t want to or I don’t know how” type characters.

¨               Stakes MUST BE HIGH. The stakes must matter. Even if to the world they are small.  A young boy prizes his toy trucks above everything in his life, they matter to him, but when a bulldozer drives over and smashes them his world is shattered and we the audience are affected by this.

¨               CONFLICT. If for any reason your script is not working 9/10 times its because its not enough conflict. Kate believes there is no middle act problem its just a lull because there is not enough conflict.

¨               Characters show their true colours under extreme life/death circumstances – just like us. We need to make more trouble to see this.
“Film stories eat trouble”

¨               EXERCISE: WRITE 50 THINGS TO CREATE MORE CONFLICT
No excuses come up with 50. You’ll see after about 30 some great ideas come up. This gives you a great resource of conflict and layers to use.

¨               Conflict shows us the character but also shows us what the character needs.

¨               Make sure the conflict is real and you cant think of a way out, because if you can so can the character. Write yourself into a brick wall and then the audience will love seeing how you get out. That’s exciting.

¨               Plot – this does not drive a story. What drives a story is what really matters.

¨               Rules for rewriting: Nothing is Sacred. Be prepared to let it all go.

¨               EXERCISE: Simple blocking out of story

¨               EXERCISE: Tell the story out loud

¨               Best advice is here are a few questions and if you are having trouble writing your script try answering these:

Who’s story is it?

What do they want?

How do they get it?

What do they need?

Why haven’t they got it?

Remember story starts on page 1. Don’t do exposition, we’ll pick up the world as we go along.

Q: Is my story too long? A: YES !

¨           Q: Is my story too long? A: YES !

¨           Microbudget scripts these days are around 83-84 pages long (shooting time=£).

¨           The end of your story is where you say what you’re going to say.

¨           EXERCISE: Hot seat. Take your central character and a smaller character from your script, then remove them from the world. Get them to say things they’d never say to eachother in the script. Let rip. And some interesting things will come out.

¨           Remember: Whatever is wrong with your central character has always been wrong throughout their lives. It just comes to a head in this story. Deep down – what is really really wrong?

¨           Keep asking why. She is sad, but why? Because she’s lonely.

Why?

Because no one ever looked after her

Why?

Her father was busy trying to look after others and she got left out

Why?

Because she had no place in his world.

Why does she feel like this?

She has to prove to him she does.

Wonderful session – truly inspiring!

After this I had  the pitching panel which was amazing and exciting, the writers had such varied ideas and ways of pitching. My advice on the speed pitch is hold someone’s attention by sticking to the story, no waffling, and sell the story on your passion for it.

One writer did this and I could see the film unfold before me, it was lovely. I never expected to like his story it was not my area at all but the way he pitched it I was entranced.

All up the London Screenwriters festival was a great experience and it was lovely to be surrounded by such great creativity!

Thank you to Vanessa Mayfield for inviting me, and to the organizers of the event. Thank you to Kate Ley’s for her inspiring talk and to Bob Portal for the discussions.

Breakfast With Stuart Murphy Director of Sky1 & Head of Commissions

Meet the Commissioners
Friday 29th July 2011

Breakfast with Stuart Murphy
Director of Sky 1 and Head of Commissions

**This blog is for anyone interested in tv, pitching to Sky.**
I was lucky enough to come across a stray ticket (kindly given by a fellow actor Mo) to the Rushes Soho Breakfast at Bafta with Stuart Murphy.
I went along yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. Im not entirely sure about Sky but I have to say that Stuart Murphy is an amazing man.
Like Sky or not, this man has great visions for Sky, and british tv in general. I came away enlightened and excited by what he might commission, although a bit sad about the sci-fi (I'll get to that).


He started off by giving us the names of the heads of each department and their emails so we can send them pitches via email:
Entertainment: Duncan Gray
Head of Drama: Ann Mensah
Comedy: Lucy Lumsden
Head of Factual: Mark Sammon
And if in doubt or if it is for Sky 1 he said send an email to him.
(For email addresses please email me and I'd be happy to give them to you).
For Sky Atlantic - Elaine Pyke

The purpose of Sky 1 is that they are a family entertainment channel, they want broad shows that are family orientated, which give a 'premium service for free for Sky customers' (as in they dont have to pay extra for Sky1. They see themselves as younger/cooler/naughtier than ITV or BBC (main competitors).
Stuart brought a lot of this with him when he moved from the BBC years ago, he said even now, British tv is dated, outmoded and fairly bland. He wants to change all this.
He wants to commission more shows that are broad, but with a slight twist, yet not too far left of field (like The Mighty Boosh - which he confessed to liking).

Less Commissioning Shows

He explained that when he started at Sky it was a fairly blah service and they commissioned 20 shows with £100,000 budget each. Any producer worth their salt knows this is ridiculous and to get the quality you need to create a tv show you need a lot more than that. 

So he cut commissions by a third, instead of 20 they commission 4 with great big budgets, however that does mean they are less likely to take a punt on unknowns creating a project. As he said, they want to work with established companies that can deliver what they need. Therefore its better to team up with a production company who already work with Sky. Even so, last year they took on a completely unknown writer who is now writing for Strikeback.

A good question came up of what have they tried that did not work in the past, and they wouldnt try again?
Pets
Surrealist comedy (too surreal - ie Mighty Boosh).

Even though he loves surrealism don't bother.
However a few good things he likes are
Mockumentary
Comedy LOTS OF COMEDY.
But it needs to be comedy with heart, or as he termed it 'kind comedy', love, family, rural based.

Now coming up on Sky they've just announced their new shows which are airing soon and sound great fun,
The webseried now tv show 'Trollied'
http://www.youtube.com/user/skyonezone
This is Jinsey (not sure if that is correct spelling)
and
Spy (Looked hilarious!).
See bits of these here:
http://sky1.sky.com/comedy-fridays/sky1-hds-brand-new-comedy-teaser-trailer

Drama
He started by explaining drama is trickier than comedy,
1 Its more expensive
2 You cant keep repeating all the peaks, it peaks and thats it.
3 It is harder to get an audience for it.
However they still do commision drama,

"What I love is when you meet someone who is so excited about their project!"
And he genuinely meant that. He wasn't one of those crazy execs who speak business jargon to your face and have egos the size of small planets. He was down to earth and open about what Sky is looking for and how you can go about giving it to them.

New Drama:
Strikeback - Action
Pratchett & Treasure Island (looks amazing) - Kooky/Adventure - Although there is a gap here too, they are looking for more adventure drama
Lyrical Drama - there is a gap here for someones amazing project. He admitted to wanting a 'Darling buds of May' Reboot. If you have one send it to him asap!
Also if you have a drama, dont give him a depressing one, he said after BBC, he's seen them all and got depressed by them all. Instead of druggies, single mums and homelessness he wants to see people winning! However thats not to say that you cant make a documentary pitch about these (they are looking for a domestic violence doc), as their doc department is also looking for new things.

Saying all this if you have
1 A List Cast
2 Brilliant and established producers
3 Sense of Epic
4 Sense of Naughtiness
Then you might just have the next Sky Drama show!

Digital/Online/Games
They are not doing any online series or games and admits this might be an oversight. They are interested but not hugely at this point. Still I'd send it in just in case!

Finally make sure your show has more than one level, great shows have on its surface one idea and underneath its about something else entirely. Eg. Madmen is about corporate drama underneath its about men and women, feminism and rights.

Tips for pitching:

2 page document send to the HOD

but its not about the document its about YOU, the person behind it. 

Apparently the whole pitch interview for Trollied consisted of Stuart asking the writer all about her live, her interests, her family etc. Because just like a job they are interested in who you are, rather than just the content of your script. They need to see you are flexible, interesting, workable and able to work with them.

Happy pitching and Goodluck!