The Lurgi!

[caption id="attachment_339" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="UNCLE HANS-PETER PARTY at FLATPACK 24.03.10"][/caption]

Into my second week of horrible phasey 'flu that just comes and goes and seems particularly virulent at present. Its really impacting on making much progress with the play I'm supposed to have ready for 20th April for the Royal Court's Critical Mass scheme.

I had a very busy week last week as I attended the Engine Room Pitch documentary workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday which was excellent followed by 3 nights Front of House volunteering for the Flatpack Festival. Tuesday was also the last taught bit of the Royal Court's Critical Mass playwriting scheme I have been doing since January

The Doc workshop was given by Christine Burnett, Charlie Phillips and the wonderfully named Floury Crum from the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. It was really informative and useful and has encouraged me to think about making my own documentary.

Flatpack was its usual eclectic brilliance and I made some new friends. The highlight for me was the Uncle Hans Peter party event which is one of the strangest arts experiences I have ever had!

Finally last night there was an excellent debate on the future of  television drama in the region which I feel will hopefully lead to some cages being rattled at the BBC and other places.

Film Dash Result :-(

We came joint 3rd out of 24 entries which was disappointing but I'm probably not as disappointed as Robert Williams and his team who made a great film and didn't even place!

This is the winning entry.

This came second

and we were joint 3rd with the Junction Zero team who made a nice film.

This is what the judges said about Seconds Out.

Kate Leys said this: "Ambitious, and a great central idea, but with an ambitious story you do need a really strong ending.  Stories are all about their endings, and this one just wasn't very clear.  Very good central performance."

Catherine Bray said this: "For my third choice I would pick Seconds Out for setting out to tell a straightforward little narrative in a limited time and having done a bit of script work."

C'est la vie.

Positives to draw from the experience were working with actors Elexi Walker and Elli Middleton who I and a lot of other people thought were great. Real champion boxer Bertrand and sparring partner Hatim who were real sports and without whose help and first time acting we couldn't have made the film plus the ever reliable Steve Rylands who has the dubious distinction of being in very film I've ever made. Thanks to all the other folk who helped in some way too.

Last but not least it was nice to work with collaborator John Hill-Daniel again and also for the first time with DoP James Stoneley and Russell Hill whose technical skills and equipment bought so much to the overall quality of  the film - all underpinned by Matthew Cotterill's great score.

In other news my Haiti Fundraiser on Saturday went very well from an entertainment point of view but could have done with more customers though the door! The Flickr stream is here and a big thanks to all the film makers who let me show their films, Sandra and Lee at Friction for the venue and my small army of volunteers - Martina, Dominika, Joe, Ifti and Andy without whose help I couldn't have made it happen.

A busy past two weeks. Just have to write my play for the Royal Court theatre scheme now and I'm done for a bit!!!

TAFN

Brendan

"Seconds Out" Film Dash 2010

The latest film by Stickleback Productions is Seconds Out made for Film Dash 2010. I produced and wrote it but it was John Hill-Daniel's turn in the Director's chair ably assisted by James Stoneley (DoP) and Russell Smith (Sound).

Thanks to all the cast and other helpers but especially to Jon Pegg for helping us get the boxing sequences.

Fingers crossed for the moment of truth at the Electric on Thursday@7pm when the winner will be announced.

I'll also be showing the film and hopefully some other Film Dash films at my shorts night to raise money for Haiti on Saturday. There is a really strong line up plus Ken Loach has kindly donated an autographed copy of his classic film Kes as top prize in the raffle!

Fill your indie boots and then dance the night away 8 - late!!!!

Film Dash 2010

The frantic sleep depriving madness that is Film Dash is upon us again after a brief hiatus in 2009.

I have the nuts and bolts of a crew and some actors already but would be happy to hear from more actors and also people who know of good locations where we can shoot this Saturday 6th March i.e. Your Dad's office, your cousins launderette, the nice woman who owns a shop/store, hospital ward. Anything that adds visually to the story possibilities I could have in mind when I start responding to the 7pm Friday Film Dash brief.

So PLEASE if you know of anywhere then get in touch. I always give people a credit if they help the film and we'll try to squeeze them into the film as an extra or passer by if possible.

Thanks if you can help

TAFN

B

info AT sticklebackproductions.co.uk

Eat My Shorts: Haiti Fundraiser Saturday 13th March

I've formed a West Midlands Film Makers for Haiti Facebook group and put together a fund raising event for the 13th March.

The event will take place at Friction Arts - The Edge venue on Saturday 13th March from 8pm.

The plan is to have two hours of all sorts of shorts followed by a disco. The space and technical set-up and support has been kindly donated by Sandra Hall and Lee Griffiths of Friction Arts.

The Edge. 79 – 81 Cheapside, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0QH.  Map

£5 on door. £4 concessions. All proceeds to DEC Haiti appeal.

Cheap bar at venue. Each guest is also encouraged to bring Cake and/or Nibbles preferably Home-Made to share with fellow attendees.

If you want your short film, animation, pop promo, art film, feature trailer or excerpt to be shown then please get in touch.

Acoustic performers and comedians who want to do a turn are welcome too!

Highlights so far include

Momster - an excellent animated short by award winning director/animator Steven Spencer

A series of pop promos by the band Jackdaw with Crowbar

plus others to be confirmed.


info AT sticklebackproductions.co.uk / 0798 565 9997.

TAFN

Brendan

If you enlist then you must soldier!

Well I didn't get any further with my Screen West Midlands bid for Finders. Keepers. but have been encouraged to re-apply in the next round based on feedback.

Didn't get any of my 3 ideas shortlisted for the ifeatures scheme either but the odds were pretty high. At least I know now and can concentrate on other things.

The one good thing I'm doing at the moment is taking part in the Critical Mass playwriting scheme run by the Royal Court theatre. Its a regional scheme with groups based at the Belgrade theatre in Coventry and at the Drum here in Birmingham.

We have a really good tutor and its a great group with some really interesting and funny people so I'm very pleased about that. The course included going to see plays here and there so there's a social dimension too. The tough bit is coming up with a 1st draft of a play by week 8 of the course so that's going to be an ask but as my Pa is very fond of saying "if you enlist then you must soldier".

I'm going to rewrite Skunk in February and also do a treatment/1st draft of my Panther feature idea with a view to making it later in the year - nano budget of course which is in line with my Pragma 2010 Manifesto.

I was a bit surprised that more people haven't taken an interest in the Pragma idea. I suspect that the requirement to use open source software has freaked those people who feel they have to have expensive software and equipment in order to feel like they're really filmmakers!

Well the idea behind Pragma is that you dont so I'm just going to have to prove them wrong. I'm happy to say that I have an editor/co-producer volunteer so I'm hoping to shoot some scenes at Easter and slowly chip away at it over the year.

Still trying to get hold of a decent retro but pro camcorder to shoot on but have been offered a PD170 during the Easter and summer holidays so its very likely I'll be shooting at those times.

Thats all for now. Roll on Spring!

I'm a winner!

I've just been told that I'm THE winner of the A&C Black book pitch competition. I win a day at their Insider Guide To How to Get Published conference in March in London. My pitch was chosen from over 100 entries which is particularly satisfying!

This is super news as it will hopefully help me find an agent or publisher for my novel and/or the children stories I expect to have written by then.

That's all for now :-)

B x