But now I'm back............................and boy, have I got news for you. Where do I start? At the beginning probably...........so here goes:
1) TRANSPARENCY - manga horror currently being assessed by Screen Yorkshire for a £16,000 short film budget as part of their 2009 initiatives. Planned shoot in Spring 2010 in London & Paris.
2) NO MORE ENCORES - adult animation slant on the "Jack the Ripper" story now being pre-produced together with Blue Locust in Exeter. 3 day shoot & lo-level budget being compiled.
3) MISSION XMASABLE - children's Christmas animation seeking development and production funding in collaboration with Blue Locust in Exeter - at £10k
4) CLARA & THE MANATEE - children's short animation film / feature teaser in continuing talks with Rutger Hauer to narrate and Exec Produce.
5) INFECTED - now with official interest/intent from both Alex Reid (The Descent) and Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers) to star. Budget estimated at £1.5m.
6) SECOND SKIN - now in script development
7) G.E.C.O - submitted by request to two Malaysian businessmen looking for £2m investment opportunity with Malaysia/Central America based script.
8) THE RASBENEK CHRONICLES - graphic novel picking up pace ahead of intended release on G1 and IPhone as first distribution outlets.
9) TIMELESS - written by Michael Bartlett & James Fisher, in discussions to Co-Produce this dark gritty feature alongside Michael, sometime in 2011.
So there you have it.....what I've been up to. Dang! I've been busy but it'll be worth it in the end cos one of these bay's has got to break for me sometime. Let's just hope that Hard Shoulder does the job, eh?
See you later.
Nick
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Seeing through TRANSPARENCY....
Things are moving nicely along with this short film, with the help of first-time producer Deborah Rees who is putting the project together in anticipation of principal photography later in the year.
With the concept firmly planted in a London shoot there are many things to organise, but logistics are confused somewhat by the need to journey to Paris to shoot additional footage. I'm hoping that the smooth transition from one country to the next with be aided by the need for only a limited crew - namely myself, Deborah, and our DoP, who, as luck might have it, has not been approached at this stage of development.
With the intention of shooting on RED ONE or possibly the Pansonic HVX200 this project is and needs to be very portable.
We already have some collaborators involved with us, supplying various equipment and facilities, so progress is good to date.
We'll keep you up to speed as things develop further.
Nick
With the concept firmly planted in a London shoot there are many things to organise, but logistics are confused somewhat by the need to journey to Paris to shoot additional footage. I'm hoping that the smooth transition from one country to the next with be aided by the need for only a limited crew - namely myself, Deborah, and our DoP, who, as luck might have it, has not been approached at this stage of development.
With the intention of shooting on RED ONE or possibly the Pansonic HVX200 this project is and needs to be very portable.
We already have some collaborators involved with us, supplying various equipment and facilities, so progress is good to date.
We'll keep you up to speed as things develop further.
Nick
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Ghost in the Machine.............
The cogs have been turning again this week - well actually this day. Cranked out another great little short script yesterday, about 18 pages worth, on a story I prepped the day before. Came to me in a flash (as do most things) as a supernatural, hyper-real ghost story about a man haunted by a presence he can't get rid of. Blah, blah, blah I hear you say.........but you have to read this baby to believe it. It really will take you for a ride and leave you reflecting on the imagery you've just had floating about in your head. That wasn't what I thought it was, was it?
Keep an eye out on the short film circuit in 2009/10 for this one - TRANSPARENCY.
Nick
Keep an eye out on the short film circuit in 2009/10 for this one - TRANSPARENCY.
Nick
Monday, 14 July 2008
And The Road Leads..............To Somewhere?
OMG what's going on? This last week has been a major "in the zone" week for writing and I've rattled off 95 pages of a new script in just over two weeks. That would ordinarily be brilliant but for two things:
1) I'm only just half way through the story!
2) I can't complete a 180 page script and hope to cut it down to 90 pages. That's impossible!
I know, I know, I can hear you all moaning..."But it can't be very good if you've done it in two weeks, can it?" The simple answer is "Possibly not....as it sits at the moment". The fact remains that at potentially 180 pages it's waaaaaaaay too long for a single feature despite the fact that the premise is very exciting, and I've just let the story flow out of my head onto the paper as it needs to.
I have been very conscious of brevity as I've been writing so it is a fast read for sure. However it is most certainly more suited, at its current length and that which I assume it will complete at, as a two part TV drama. The only problem with that is the story is very heavy - emotionally - and deals with issues that, without putting too fine a point on it, signal the end of mankind. And all in a way that is very real, and worringly, very possible.
There is so much to this story, and so much more I have had to leave untouched, that I am tempted to reconfigure the story to be a three or four part narrative, which then becomes much more suitable for serialisation. The hero is someone very identifiable, in an all action way, but clearly flawed by personality and experience. Supporting characters could be further fleshed out to provide alternative insight to the backstory surrounding the main premise.
It's a fascinating opportunity to really go beyond what I would normally do in a feature script, simply because it carries with it elements of political conspiracy and the hot topic of the Middle East, subjects that are constantly changing, and being debated the world over. I'm not quite sure how to pitch it, or if to pitch it to executives looking for the next serialised drama. I'd love to finish it first but that might mean 5 or 6 '60 minute' odd scripts for producers to wade through.
Perhaps I should do a good 'Part One', and then plan out the rest of the story in smaller treatments. In that way it could be seen as the realists 'Cloverfield' were it to be interpreted in a 'handy-cam' sort of way. That in itself is very exciting for sure.
Anyway watch this space. When I've made a decision you'll be the first to know. Nick
1) I'm only just half way through the story!
2) I can't complete a 180 page script and hope to cut it down to 90 pages. That's impossible!
I know, I know, I can hear you all moaning..."But it can't be very good if you've done it in two weeks, can it?" The simple answer is "Possibly not....as it sits at the moment". The fact remains that at potentially 180 pages it's waaaaaaaay too long for a single feature despite the fact that the premise is very exciting, and I've just let the story flow out of my head onto the paper as it needs to.
I have been very conscious of brevity as I've been writing so it is a fast read for sure. However it is most certainly more suited, at its current length and that which I assume it will complete at, as a two part TV drama. The only problem with that is the story is very heavy - emotionally - and deals with issues that, without putting too fine a point on it, signal the end of mankind. And all in a way that is very real, and worringly, very possible.
There is so much to this story, and so much more I have had to leave untouched, that I am tempted to reconfigure the story to be a three or four part narrative, which then becomes much more suitable for serialisation. The hero is someone very identifiable, in an all action way, but clearly flawed by personality and experience. Supporting characters could be further fleshed out to provide alternative insight to the backstory surrounding the main premise.
It's a fascinating opportunity to really go beyond what I would normally do in a feature script, simply because it carries with it elements of political conspiracy and the hot topic of the Middle East, subjects that are constantly changing, and being debated the world over. I'm not quite sure how to pitch it, or if to pitch it to executives looking for the next serialised drama. I'd love to finish it first but that might mean 5 or 6 '60 minute' odd scripts for producers to wade through.
Perhaps I should do a good 'Part One', and then plan out the rest of the story in smaller treatments. In that way it could be seen as the realists 'Cloverfield' were it to be interpreted in a 'handy-cam' sort of way. That in itself is very exciting for sure.
Anyway watch this space. When I've made a decision you'll be the first to know. Nick
Saturday, 5 July 2008
TRC - The Journey Has Begun........
Today my journey into the land of the graphic novel began in ernest. The Rasbenek Chronicles took shape in the first of many shot lists that both Steve Simmons and I will be working on in our development of a new and exciting character-led vampiric graphic novel. The script from which this novel is taken began life in 1999 and though it has sat, completed, for a number of years, has had dust shaken from its covers in an effort to graphically present its filmic potential to all.
Please follow the journey in the creation of The Rasbenek Chronicles on my other blog.
Nick
Please follow the journey in the creation of The Rasbenek Chronicles on my other blog.
Nick
Monday, 30 June 2008
The Men in White Coats.......
Another day, another idea springs forth from the well that seems to know no drought. In seventy-two hours a one page overview (and several pages of idea notes) has been transformed into the first 42 pages of my latest narrative creation - CONTAGION.
A political-thriller-cum-horror-SciFi story with reflections of 28 Days Later, Outbreak, The Island of Dr Moreau, Escape from New York, and Dawn of the Dead. It's a heady mix of political intrigue, and festering blood-soaked horror that spins a degree of filmic familiarity with the horrors of current affairs in the Middle East.
To that end it is anything but derivative. It is a science-fact led fiction, set in a modern era, with modern landmarks, modern characters, and just a shade of political underhandedness. All things audiences can easily identify, and identify-with. In a heroic charcter, the likes of which have not been seen in mainstream cinema, audiences will take a soul-searching and heart-rending journey in the quest to rescue those who mean most in the threat of the apocalypse; family. Even that family from whom the hero in us has been forcibly estranged.
Contagion is set to be an explosive, fast-paced, scary thrill ride to the apocalypse - one, that in the modern age is all too possible. Just keep telling yourself........
"It's only a movie. Only a movie. Only a movie".
Nick
A political-thriller-cum-horror-SciFi story with reflections of 28 Days Later, Outbreak, The Island of Dr Moreau, Escape from New York, and Dawn of the Dead. It's a heady mix of political intrigue, and festering blood-soaked horror that spins a degree of filmic familiarity with the horrors of current affairs in the Middle East.
To that end it is anything but derivative. It is a science-fact led fiction, set in a modern era, with modern landmarks, modern characters, and just a shade of political underhandedness. All things audiences can easily identify, and identify-with. In a heroic charcter, the likes of which have not been seen in mainstream cinema, audiences will take a soul-searching and heart-rending journey in the quest to rescue those who mean most in the threat of the apocalypse; family. Even that family from whom the hero in us has been forcibly estranged.
Contagion is set to be an explosive, fast-paced, scary thrill ride to the apocalypse - one, that in the modern age is all too possible. Just keep telling yourself........
"It's only a movie. Only a movie. Only a movie".
Nick
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Must've Been Dreamin..........
Well HARD SHOULDER has been completed and what an intense journey that was. A psychological thriller unlike anything I've written before; more twists, more complex, and more involving a story than any of my other screenplays, and, for a change, a non-linear tale with an ending that will keep you guessing...........probably long after you've left the cinema (or reboxed the DVD). I'm well pleased with it to say the least. And my army of readers like it too, praise be.
Now to the process of rewrite to make sure that every little nuance, every clue, every setup, and every pay off fits seamlessly together, before I rip up the narrative and start to reassemble in the non-linear way that was always intended. Forgive my conceit if I say this is everything I had hoped in a 'thinking man's' Reservoir Dogs - except without the robbery, the smart suits, and the slick Tarantino signatures.
One aside, however, and in reference to this blogs title "Must've Been Dreamin'", relates to the intended budget. £10k? Who was I trying to kid? Nice idea but wholly unrealistic now I've had time to read the thing cover to cover. No chance. But certainly, now I've had opportunity to rethink, something in the region of £40-50k is most definitely possible.
And because I feel so strongly that the material is worth the attention of seasoned actors I'm going straight for the jugular and looking to Wil Johnson ("Waking the Dead") and the always magical Ray Winstone ("Vincent", "King Arthur") for the leads. Whether they respond to the material or not is another matter. But we can only try, right?
So watch this space for developments.
Nick
Now to the process of rewrite to make sure that every little nuance, every clue, every setup, and every pay off fits seamlessly together, before I rip up the narrative and start to reassemble in the non-linear way that was always intended. Forgive my conceit if I say this is everything I had hoped in a 'thinking man's' Reservoir Dogs - except without the robbery, the smart suits, and the slick Tarantino signatures.
One aside, however, and in reference to this blogs title "Must've Been Dreamin'", relates to the intended budget. £10k? Who was I trying to kid? Nice idea but wholly unrealistic now I've had time to read the thing cover to cover. No chance. But certainly, now I've had opportunity to rethink, something in the region of £40-50k is most definitely possible.
And because I feel so strongly that the material is worth the attention of seasoned actors I'm going straight for the jugular and looking to Wil Johnson ("Waking the Dead") and the always magical Ray Winstone ("Vincent", "King Arthur") for the leads. Whether they respond to the material or not is another matter. But we can only try, right?
So watch this space for developments.
Nick
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