Reality! Who needs it?!

It felt like a slow week this week, but I suppose I got a fair bit done. On tuesday I met with Damien Donelly, a producer friend of mine, who produced a film called Winters End last year. I was looking for advice on how to begin the process of getting this feature script of ours into production. He gave me a lot of useful tips. Including suggesting I go to Cannes this year to meet with producers and see if I can drum up some interest that way.
Seems like a viable option, if not a daunting one! But it's something worth looking in to. I know you can pay for a producer's pass, it's 300euros, which allows you access to these areas that are set up specifically for meetings, but you have to be an acredited affiliated producer! Which of course I'm not! But I'll look into it, there's bound to be a way to blag it!

I got back onto the filmboard too. After they rejected my proposal for first draft funding for Nevermore I got a bit peeved and sent them an email telling them as much... as diplematicly as possible of course! But it didn't lead anywhere. So this time I was much more proactive and constructive at ask them for a meeting to discuss The Race, to my suprise Andrew Meehan, executive incharge of development funding mailed me back within the hour and we're meeting him next thursday. So that that one did work.
It's a day trip to Galway, 4 hours there, 4 hours back! So here's hoping something comes of it. But at least it will be an introduction, we'll all finally be able to put faces to names and emails and rejection letters!

I also appproached a couple of production companies about the possibility of producing this script with them, Working Title Films, Focus Films and CrossDay Productions.

Working Title is probably britans largest and most successful indepensent production company, having produced everything from Four Weddings and a Funeral to Elizibeth and Bridet Jones's Diary to the upcoming Attonment. They have a diverse range and a wide slate, not to mention a seven year distribution deal with Universal in America... so they would be ideal for us.

Focus is much smaller, their most successful film would probably have been The 51st State (Formula 51) with Samuel L Jackson. But they have financing availble to produce films for budget of between £5million and £25million, which would suit The Race and a smaller end produciton company called Chilla Production, for films with a budget of £5mil and under, which would suit Nevermore... so they would suit too.

I chose CrossDay because they are new and only have one film behind them, Shooting Dogs, so I thought new young fresh talent/new young Independent production company... might be a good match.

Anyway, we'll see what happens, hopefully we'll here back soon from them soon... offering us a huge million pound movie deal!!! We can but dream!

In other news... I've started storyboarding Nevermore, bought a new Moleskine notebook, so gonna get stuck into those. I haven't done the rewrites yet, but I'm going to do the two together so I can just get in there and begin to explore it visually as I reshape it. I find when storyboarding it changes anyway, it did with Emily's Song and it certainly did when we were doing The Anatomist all those years ago.
I think it's that it's a visual language and a different level of communication. What works on the page in prose may not translate visually. I find that action scenes are usualy the most effected. For me when drawing my mind goes to a different place as I use a different part of my brain and visual things change from what they were when I was writing them and using that part of the brain.

So keep an eye out for storyboards, I will be posting them here.

I'm also hoping to have the new Pale Stone website up and running in a few weeks and I'll certainly have storyboards up there. Meantime check out our myspace page for info on Emily's Song, you can also see the trailer for it there... as well as the video I did for Boss Volenti. It's not great to be honest, but it's a bit more exciting then the one they finally used I think. What an ordeal that experience was! But at least I learn a valuable lesson... never work with rock bands!

I guess I felt like it was a slow week because I was actually supposed to be in LA this week. I was invited to the LA premiere of Shooting Dogs and I was hoping to meet up with Maryann and all the friends I made at Heartland last year. I was also hoping to get a meeting or two in with some agents and producers. But alas it wasn't to be, the gas, electricity, rent and reality bills all came in at once and by pure coincidence all added up to exactly what a trip to Los Angeles would have cost!

Reality! Who needs it?!