Hell Hall

One of the best pieces of advice I've been given whilst learning about the film business over the last few years is to always have other projects in the pipeline. So while my short Skunk and my budget feature idea Paper Aeroplane are my short term goals I've also been thinking about my original comedy horror idea Hell Hall.

I'm not a particular fan of horror movies - they scare me :-) - but I have an Aunt who owns a suitably creepy and impressive wing of a stateley home. She has given me permission to shoot there so it would be a shame not to. It helps that her son (and my cousin) Johnny happens to be an actor and film maker too. 40 minutes or so from Birmingham - its ideal for a horror shoot - impressive grounds, cellars, creaky corridors. perfect in every way

[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="This is based on a photo of the actual Hall."][/caption]

I've started a Facebook group (as usual!) for those who want to be involved but the synopsis is as follows:

"Hell Hall is a comedy horror feature film about Johnny - a student who inherits a stately home from the eccentric Aunt who raised him.

His girlfriend and friends are amazed at his good fortune unaware that the property is located over one of the entrances to Hell and all manner of spooks and monsters come and go whilst on their dastardly, murderous business.

When his friends insist on checking out the Hall for its party potential Johnny becomes engaged in increasingly desperate attempts to keep them all alive whilst at the same time trying not to reveal the terrible truth."

The idea is to spoof various horror conventions and stereotypes whilst also subverting them a bit.

In other news I'm working on a children's book that will go out on a specialist Iphone platform plus as an e-book. I'm talking to various illustrators about graphic novel projects. I'm doing a couple of new animation scripts for a talented Birmingham based Romanian animator to try and get on the Digishorts scheme and if that wan't enough daytime I'm writing a user manual for some open source software.

TAFN

B x

Hell Hall

One of the best pieces of advice I've been given whilst learning about the film business over the last few years is to always have other projects in the pipeline. So while my short Skunk and my budget feature idea Paper Aeroplane are my short term goals I've also been thinking about my original comedy horror idea Hell Hall.

I'm not a particular fan of horror movies - they scare me :-) - but I have an Aunt who owns a suitably creepy and impressive wing of a stateley home. She has given me permission to shoot there so it would be a shame not to. It helps that her son (and my cousin) Johnny happens to be an actor and film maker too. 40 minutes or so from Birmingham - its ideal for a horror shoot - impressive grounds, cellars, creaky corridors. perfect in every way

[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="This is based on a photo of the actual Hall."][/caption]

I've started a Facebook group (as usual!) for those who want to be involved but the synopsis is as follows:

"Hell Hall is a comedy horror feature film about Johnny - a student who inherits a stately home from the eccentric Aunt who raised him.

His girlfriend and friends are amazed at his good fortune unaware that the property is located over one of the entrances to Hell and all manner of spooks and monsters come and go whilst on their dastardly, murderous business.

When his friends insist on checking out the Hall for its party potential Johnny becomes engaged in increasingly desperate attempts to keep them all alive whilst at the same time trying not to reveal the terrible truth."

The idea is to spoof various horror conventions and stereotypes whilst also subverting them a bit.

In other news I'm working on a children's book that will go out on a specialist Iphone platform plus as an e-book. I'm talking to various illustrators about graphic novel projects. I'm doing a couple of new animation scripts for a talented Birmingham based Romanian animator to try and get on the Digishorts scheme and if that wan't enough daytime I'm writing a user manual for some open source software.

TAFN

B x

Good News!

I'm pleased to announce that 2 out of the 3 projects I submitted to Screen West Midlands Investment Fund have got through to the next full application stage.

One is my  feature idea Finders Keepers which has an established producer and script editor attached. The other is an exhibition project which I cant really say much more about it other than it too has a lot of talent attached.

I'm also currently rewriting the short another producer is interested in plus a few other top secret bits and pieces.

More as it happens!

Good News!

I'm pleased to announce that 2 out of the 3 projects I submitted to Screen West Midlands Investment Fund have got through to the next full application stage.

One is my  feature idea Finders Keepers which has an established producer and script editor attached. The other is an exhibition project which I cant really say much more about it other than it too has a lot of talent attached.

I'm also currently rewriting the short another producer is interested in plus a few other top secret bits and pieces.

More as it happens!

No news is good news?

Still waiting to hear on a number of bids and projects that are being looked at by various people both here and abroad.

As usual its a bit like watching paint dry.

Still no news on the rescheduled dates for Skunk but I know the producers are quite busy finishing off some other things so hopefully the momentum will pick up again soon.

In the meantime I've been converting my hacker/gamer/sci-fi idea kidZ: The Trident Inheritance from a longish treatment into an actual screenplay. I'm hoping to get it into a serviceable draft form in time for the Rocliffe new Writing Forum deadline on the 25th September but I want to keep up the momentum whatever.

The producer for my Anglo-Indian cop comedy idea Dirty Hari is going to have more time soon to develop that idea for a UKFC bid so I'm going to be shuffling quite a lot back and forth between projects.

I'm also hoping to do a play/musical idea around the turn of the year as well as chipping away at the Paper Aeroplane script in an effort to have that ready for shooting in April 2010.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="463" caption="Dont Blame It on the Wolf shoot"][/caption]

Had a lot of fun on a small shoot last week helping out Gillian Twaite who was my lead lady in Black Widow. My twin Gerard and I did our 4th outing on camera as heavies/bouncer types to help Gillian get some background visuals for a children's show she is producing called Dont Blame It on the Wolf.

The show is on at the Library Theater on the 16th and 17th of  october. More details on the Facebook page.

No news is good news?

Still waiting to hear on a number of bids and projects that are being looked at by various people both here and abroad.

As usual its a bit like watching paint dry.

Still no news on the rescheduled dates for Skunk but I know the producers are quite busy finishing off some other things so hopefully the momentum will pick up again soon.

In the meantime I've been converting my hacker/gamer/sci-fi idea kidZ: The Trident Inheritance from a longish treatment into an actual screenplay. I'm hoping to get it into a serviceable draft form in time for the Rocliffe new Writing Forum deadline on the 25th September but I want to keep up the momentum whatever.

The producer for my Anglo-Indian cop comedy idea Dirty Hari is going to have more time soon to develop that idea for a UKFC bid so I'm going to be shuffling quite a lot back and forth between projects.

I'm also hoping to do a play/musical idea around the turn of the year as well as chipping away at the Paper Aeroplane script in an effort to have that ready for shooting in April 2010.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="463" caption="Dont Blame It on the Wolf shoot"][/caption]

Had a lot of fun on a small shoot last week helping out Gillian Twaite who was my lead lady in Black Widow. My twin Gerard and I did our 4th outing on camera as heavies/bouncer types to help Gillian get some background visuals for a children's show she is producing called Dont Blame It on the Wolf.

The show is on at the Library Theater on the 16th and 17th of  october. More details on the Facebook page.

Skunk Shoot Postponed!

The Skunk shoot has had to be postponed until October due to problems with child licencing and insurance so apologies to everyone who was prepared to give up their Bank Holiday weekend in the name of zero  budget film making!

The good news is that the Archer family have kindly agreed to make the location available for the rescheduled shoot so we're planning to go again in October - probably in half term week.

The other bonus is that it gives me more time with the script and the producers more time in pre-production. This will hopefully result in a much better film that we can all be proud of.

Thats all for now.

PS. If you're in Brum this Friday and of an artistic bent then you could do worse than the Happy Artists Social Club at The Edge. Runs the last Friday of every month.