I had a great London Screenwriters Festival, made some new friends and contacts and will blog about it here soon with all my thoughts.
If you're trying to contact me via email then please use brendan.j.oneill \AT/ gmail.com as my Stickleback Productions one is bouncing for some reason ;-(.
Small But Feisty Film Making
Monday, 1 November 2010
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Bollywood appearance & London Screenwriters Festival 2010 :-)
Well I entered all the competitions I was going to enter. Didn't win any of the ones announced so far though I did score quite highly in my readers assessment for the London Screenwriters Festival Short Script competition which is reassuring. I'm also getting regular likes and nice comments from the material I have put on Circalit which hosted its own LSWF competition.
I think maybe my "teacher goes berserk and everyone ends up deceased" short script Under Siege may have been a bit too strong for some tastes! Will try and do it myself now free from the constraints of only having 5 characters. Just need to find a secondary school that's willing to let me shoot a blood bath!
The very good news is that I am now going to the London Screenwriters Festival courtesy of Screen West Midlands who are sponsoring 10 West Midlands based writers to attend. The line up looks very comprehensive and fab and its a credit to the team behind it. Apparently all the speakers are giving their time for free to make it happen which is most excellent indeed.
In other competition news I have sent 3 out of the 4 genre entries allowed for The Big Idea competition which deadlines this Friday with just my teens Sci-Fi idea kidZ:The Trident Inheritance still to go. This has to to be whittled down from 5k+ words to just 700 before tomorrow when I head down to London.
November is going to be busy with prepping a trailer short for my feature idea Finders.Keepers. with my fantastic new producer/DoP team and also doing another full treatment for another "hot" project i.e. one with a producer already attached.
The bad news is that due to actor availability becoming something of a kitten herding exercise my 30 minute short Trouble At My Door has been pushed back to the New Year - hopefully February half-term. Congratulations though to precociously talented cast member Kia Pegg who has landed the part of Vicious Vicky in the 3D feature Horrid Henry.
I also need to decide if its worth having a bash at the Terry Pratchett prize for an 80 -150k novel that is set in any time but now and is physics-ly possible i.e. no ray guns etc. That deadlines 31/12 and has a publishing deal attached.
So busy, busy, busy and thats even before I've gone and networked like a mad thing at LSWF 2010. It'll be great to meet some of my Facebook writer friends for the first time.
Finally I had the chance to appear as an extra last weekend in Bollywood film Tezz which is shooting around Birmingham and stars Slumdog Millionaire's Anil Kapoor. Its an Indian version of Speed apparently.
It was really interesting to see a big production shooting on 35mm in operation. There was loads of preparation for lighting and rehearsals but few takes. Think I prefer shooting on HD/DV as you can get as many takes as you want without worrying about the cost of processing etc. It definitely gives you more scope to do a number of takes thus giving more for the editor to play with.
Big ups to Sindy Campbell the Filming Liaison Coordinator from Film Birmingham who was really busy and doing a great job making everything run smoothly for this really big (70 crew!) shoot.
Would like to see more big productions like this coming to Birmingham as its A GREAT PLACE to shoot films.
I'm in a few crowd scenes and am quite close to Anil Kapoor at times so it will be interesting to see if I make it to the big screen.
Anyway onwards and upwards!
TAFN B x
I think maybe my "teacher goes berserk and everyone ends up deceased" short script Under Siege may have been a bit too strong for some tastes! Will try and do it myself now free from the constraints of only having 5 characters. Just need to find a secondary school that's willing to let me shoot a blood bath!
The very good news is that I am now going to the London Screenwriters Festival courtesy of Screen West Midlands who are sponsoring 10 West Midlands based writers to attend. The line up looks very comprehensive and fab and its a credit to the team behind it. Apparently all the speakers are giving their time for free to make it happen which is most excellent indeed.
In other competition news I have sent 3 out of the 4 genre entries allowed for The Big Idea competition which deadlines this Friday with just my teens Sci-Fi idea kidZ:The Trident Inheritance still to go. This has to to be whittled down from 5k+ words to just 700 before tomorrow when I head down to London.
November is going to be busy with prepping a trailer short for my feature idea Finders.Keepers. with my fantastic new producer/DoP team and also doing another full treatment for another "hot" project i.e. one with a producer already attached.
The bad news is that due to actor availability becoming something of a kitten herding exercise my 30 minute short Trouble At My Door has been pushed back to the New Year - hopefully February half-term. Congratulations though to precociously talented cast member Kia Pegg who has landed the part of Vicious Vicky in the 3D feature Horrid Henry.
I also need to decide if its worth having a bash at the Terry Pratchett prize for an 80 -150k novel that is set in any time but now and is physics-ly possible i.e. no ray guns etc. That deadlines 31/12 and has a publishing deal attached.
So busy, busy, busy and thats even before I've gone and networked like a mad thing at LSWF 2010. It'll be great to meet some of my Facebook writer friends for the first time.
Finally I had the chance to appear as an extra last weekend in Bollywood film Tezz which is shooting around Birmingham and stars Slumdog Millionaire's Anil Kapoor. Its an Indian version of Speed apparently.
It was really interesting to see a big production shooting on 35mm in operation. There was loads of preparation for lighting and rehearsals but few takes. Think I prefer shooting on HD/DV as you can get as many takes as you want without worrying about the cost of processing etc. It definitely gives you more scope to do a number of takes thus giving more for the editor to play with.
Big ups to Sindy Campbell the Filming Liaison Coordinator from Film Birmingham who was really busy and doing a great job making everything run smoothly for this really big (70 crew!) shoot.
Would like to see more big productions like this coming to Birmingham as its A GREAT PLACE to shoot films.
I'm in a few crowd scenes and am quite close to Anil Kapoor at times so it will be interesting to see if I make it to the big screen.
Anyway onwards and upwards!
TAFN B x
Monday, 11 October 2010
Busy October!
I'm really busy this month with various competition entries that will also be dual purposed for other things.
Firstly I'm entering the various competitions that are being run to help launch the inaugural London Screenwriters Festival. One already packed and sent was for their short script competition which had to be set in a school/college with 2 adults and 3 students as characters. My entry Under Seige is a rather bleak but powerful drama about a teacher who finally snaps as a result of pupil bullying with tragic consequences.
The other official competition for this is the Inspired by Science award which is worth 5k to the winner. I'm dusting off my Fairyland project for this as its a perfect fit. They're asking for a 750 word treatment with a biomedical science theme so this Bhopal disaster related corporate wrongdoing story gives me perfect scope.
Over on free to join Circalit.com I've also posted an excerpt from Unix O'Mooney my novel about a young alien stranded in Ireland in 1969 which is gettting some good feedback from people. That's for another competition which gets ones novel "fast tracked into the hands of agents and publishers" and wins a professional novel manuscript assessment.
Circalit are also running an LSF related competition where you win a free consultation with a leading London literary agent and a free ticket to the festival so I'm tidying up Scampenstein for entering into that.
I'm also going to send the treatment for Scampenstein in as one of 4 genre entries for The Big Idea competition run by Shine Pictures which deadlines at the end of the month and is worth a whopping 25k development deal to the winner so well worth a shot. You can enter one each of Romantic Comedies, Action Adventures, Sci-Fi or Fantasy or Family Comedies.
I'm also writing up a treatment for a producer I have done some work with in the past and also sending him the treatment for my geek serial killer/kidnapper nano budget feature idea Panther that I'm looking to self shoot over the winter/spring period. I already have a new team for this and a great location already sorted as the Panther's Lair.
So busy, busy, busy and that's just this month!
Firstly I'm entering the various competitions that are being run to help launch the inaugural London Screenwriters Festival. One already packed and sent was for their short script competition which had to be set in a school/college with 2 adults and 3 students as characters. My entry Under Seige is a rather bleak but powerful drama about a teacher who finally snaps as a result of pupil bullying with tragic consequences.
The other official competition for this is the Inspired by Science award which is worth 5k to the winner. I'm dusting off my Fairyland project for this as its a perfect fit. They're asking for a 750 word treatment with a biomedical science theme so this Bhopal disaster related corporate wrongdoing story gives me perfect scope.
Over on free to join Circalit.com I've also posted an excerpt from Unix O'Mooney my novel about a young alien stranded in Ireland in 1969 which is gettting some good feedback from people. That's for another competition which gets ones novel "fast tracked into the hands of agents and publishers" and wins a professional novel manuscript assessment.
Circalit are also running an LSF related competition where you win a free consultation with a leading London literary agent and a free ticket to the festival so I'm tidying up Scampenstein for entering into that.
I'm also going to send the treatment for Scampenstein in as one of 4 genre entries for The Big Idea competition run by Shine Pictures which deadlines at the end of the month and is worth a whopping 25k development deal to the winner so well worth a shot. You can enter one each of Romantic Comedies, Action Adventures, Sci-Fi or Fantasy or Family Comedies.
 |
| The Panther's Lair? |
I'm also writing up a treatment for a producer I have done some work with in the past and also sending him the treatment for my geek serial killer/kidnapper nano budget feature idea Panther that I'm looking to self shoot over the winter/spring period. I already have a new team for this and a great location already sorted as the Panther's Lair.
So busy, busy, busy and that's just this month!
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Postponed - Aaaaargh
I had to postpone the Trouble At My Door shoot due to some crewing difficulties which was a shame because the volunteer cast of 18 were rock solid and ready to go.
Fortunately the householder is happy for us to reschedule for mid November and I have now found a Director of Photography who wants to do not just this project but others too.
In other news my Panther project seems to be gaining some momentum so it looks like this is the one that is going to become my first feature.
Fortunately the householder is happy for us to reschedule for mid November and I have now found a Director of Photography who wants to do not just this project but others too.
In other news my Panther project seems to be gaining some momentum so it looks like this is the one that is going to become my first feature.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Script Locked!
I have just locked the script and am only expecting very minor revisions from now on in. I'll be scheduling and creating a shot list over the coming days ready to start shooting on Saturday week.
We have finished all the casting now and I think its a pretty strong ensemble which includes up and coming actress and model Chloe Farnworth who plays the part of Michelle, local lass Leila Antony who plays for fab local Birmingham band The Gundogs and even a brief appearance by Sky Sports and BBC boxing commentator and ex WBC super middleweight champion Richie Woodhall as a detective.
Yesterday evening we visited the nice ladies in the wonderful costume department at the Crescent Theatre to get Leila - who is playing the part of the wayward daughter Annie - fitted with a pregnancy bump. We also sorted out some of the woman police officer uniform that will be needed by lovely Walsall based actress Stacey Alpine. All names to watch!
Thats all for now but more as it happens until I switch over to a volunteer friend who is going to blog, Facebook, podcast, tweet and generally publicise the shoot live and in real time.
We have finished all the casting now and I think its a pretty strong ensemble which includes up and coming actress and model Chloe Farnworth who plays the part of Michelle, local lass Leila Antony who plays for fab local Birmingham band The Gundogs and even a brief appearance by Sky Sports and BBC boxing commentator and ex WBC super middleweight champion Richie Woodhall as a detective.
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| Leila Antony of The Gundogs |
Thats all for now but more as it happens until I switch over to a volunteer friend who is going to blog, Facebook, podcast, tweet and generally publicise the shoot live and in real time.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Good progress!
Pre-production on Trouble is going quite well. We're halfway through the auditions process and still have a number of people to see this week. Its been the first time I have done casting properly so something of a learning process in terms of experience and organisation but no major mishaps so far and we'll do it much better next time!
I am also pleased that we have added significantly to the crew. Experienced local photographer and film-maker Chris Keenan is on board as Director of Photography ably assisted by Sarah Jones as 1st Assistant Camera. We have also secured a Best Boy, a script supervisor and are considering a number of runner/production assistant applications.
I'm rewriting this week. Hoping to freeze the script Friday and then we start scheduling, storyboarding and so forth ready for the shoot.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Meetings, meetings, meetings!
Following a long meeting yesterday afternoon I'm pleased to welcome Seeyam Brijmohun on board as production manager/co-producer.
Seeyam has a strong background in film and theatre plus a background in that most useful of skills fundraising!. I will be handing over most of the production function to him over the next few days which will allow me to concentrate on the creative side like developing the script, casting, storyboarding etc.
Prior to that meeting we met with David Moore at Boxxed who has generously donated some time and space for auditions and rehearsals. A shining example of how we all have to stand together to help grow the arts in this city especially in these straitened times. After all "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" which is a Friedrich Nietzsche quote apparently. Bit early to be quoting Nietzsche I know!
Later in the evening we were both on the ground at the location in Moseley where we met our keen, young production design team of Samantha Cliff and Lisa Williams who will be covering the set design and costume briefs respectively. Also on hand was Joseph Harper who will be the man with the boom at the very least though everyone will be expected to multi-task.
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