Cemetery Junction

I saw Cemetery Junction last night; what a disappointment. The plot trudges it’s way through without anything ever really happening, subplots that you never fully care about and Christian Cooke unable to salvage anything from his poorly written and boring main character.

The script seems to halt mid-way through, we slowly see the characters develop and learn about their issues with living in Cemetery Junction (which is pretty clean and spotless despite the characters insistence that it’s actually a dump) and then they suddenly change. Freddie out-of-the-blue decides that he wants to leave, despite being so certain that he wanted a white-collar job to make a success of himself. There’s no sense that he has been battling between this decision throughout the film, it just happens behind an orgy of 70s music.

The film could have been saved if more emphasis was placed on Bruce Pearson, the rebel without a cause James Dean wannabe. Tom Hughes plays the character well as an angst-ridden, fist-fighting, leather jacketed youth. To me he was the obvious choice as lead; a character needs to have character!

People will surely question how long Gervais and Merchant can survive on the same formula. All the films comedy characters sound like re-hashes of their podcasts and gags from Extras. I don’t believe in the characters, instead I feel as if I’m watching Ricky Gervais in costume bellowing racist or homophobic jokes just for the sake of it. I find them funny, but they have set such high standards that I just want a little more!

It’s easy for me to criticise but I’m sure that their script is damn better than anything that I’ve written so far!

It's been a while

I haven't written for a while, I've been busy working on a radio drama which is now completed and has been sent out. Overall I'm happy with the script, it has elements of dark comedy and the humour adds to the menace. Some of the scenes are probably an acquired taste and won't suit everyone, but you never can.

After watching the new epsiode of Doctor Who I firmly believe that Steven Moffatt is the best screenwriter in the country. To introduce a new Doctor, new companion, new TARDIS and completely overhaul the series and then keep an engaging story underneath all of that takes some skill. It didn't feel as limp as first episodes sometimes can, I didn't know the new Doctor going in, but it only took a few minutes for me to feel comfortable with him. He is a great, great writer and Matt Smith looks promising as the Doctor.

I have now started on a new radio drama, in fact I've started on three! I am going to focus on one in particular, it's extremely dark and is actually quite difficult to write, nevertheless I think it makes a good point, especially concerning how difficult it is to get a career going at the moment.

By the time I start my Masters in September I should have a really strong portfolio of work, I'm almost glad I was forced to take a year out; my writing has really improved already in six months.

Bringing the radio back

I've just sent off a script to Big Finish, the company who release Doctor Who audio adventures. They were running an 'opportunity' for new writers to pitch ideas with the possibility of developing the script and maybe even being offered a shot at working as a writer. I had to have a go really!

Anyway, I'm really pleased with what I sent. I tried to avoid the cliched science fiction stories which resort to big, bad aliens. Instead I made a monster out of nature which I think makes a darker story. Apparently it'll take a month until we find out if any ideas are being taken forward, we shall see.

I'd never written for radio before, I always had an impression that it would limit what I could do, that it was a dying medium. Especially with blockbuster 3D movies like Avatar, how can radio possibly keep up? But the work has made me realised that it's actually a really exciting medium, it forces you to think of original ways to tell a story, you can't just shove a pretty image in the face of the audience - you have to work harder to involve them. It shows how talented Orson Welles was considering the reaction to War of the Worlds. Hopefully soon we will see a film is as visually striking as Avatar but which also has an original and well-written narrative.

I'm going to write more radio plays now. There's a greater chance of getting a break as a writer, and who says that radio plays can't return to the mainstream? That's my challenge.

Yearly goals

I've decided that setting myself goals for 2010 is a wise move and will hopefully motivate me more to keep writing...

The obvious one is beginning my Masters in September, that means I can devote a lot more time to the job, make some important contacts and hopefully improve what I do.

The other key goal is to get an agent, well firstly to get some scripts which are good enough to send away, be rejected a few times and then finally get accepted. Hopefully I can crack on with the scripts and get them in good shape for around February time.

The one script I'm banking on is proving quite difficult though. It's a very dark romantic comedy which is completely out of my comfort zone, I'm having to watch and read a lot of similar work to get a grip with it. It's going to need a lot of drafting and feedback but I'm confident in the idea.

I've realised how I write which is quite interesting. I usually have a final shot or sequence and then the main key plot points for Act 1 and 2. From there I just need to fill in the blanks, sounds easy but it can be difficult to maintain the flow of the story. Everything you read in books to teach you these techniques goes out the window when you are actually writing it. I think it is best to write in a way that feels naturally, rather than trying to push it all together into a formula which has worked for other people.

I need to get another 20 pages written in the next week ideally...

We shall see...

Time flying

Wow it's been a month, that's pretty terrible work on my behalf, I should probably improve on that.

My writing masterplan is behind schedule, it's a little shocking, any notion of having finished drafts for Christmas is unlikely. Might as well try though.

I have had several new brainwaves, which is irritating as it just puts pressure on everything else I do. One is a script and the idea is actually brilliant, I won't lie. At least it sounds brilliant now, it has no form or shape or context or control but it is brilliant. It just needs those elements to make it acceptable, as well as brilliant of course.

I met a film maker the other day who is incredibly talented, I was very jealous and it put me firmly in my place. He has a few years on me and he has done a lot more, hopefully my next few years will be similar, maybe better. The fact he has asked for me to edit several of his scripts is at least a positive though! I'm hoping that this will force me to keep writing and finishing my many projects.

Anyway, I needed to update, I will do it more regularly...

And the ship sails on.

Patience...

So all the scripts are complete, polished, ready to shoot! That's happening in the next two days so we will see completed sketches in time for Christmas. I hope they look good on the screen!

As the first step of this project finishes I have become ill, which is probably the best possible timing. It gives me a few days rest - albeit coughing, sneezing and weeping - to then prepare for my pre-Christmas rush of ideas. Two projects need to be polished off, my short and my feature. I set myself a deadline of Boxing Day to complete a few more drafts and make each script readable to outsiders. An ambitious plan? Never.

My nitpicking has led me to become irritated by yet another tiny writing trait. I've been brought up to double-space after a sentence, keeping with traditional print journalism ideas. However it seems with the age of the computer people are less keen on it. I think it looks far cleaner, professional and readable. Perhaps I have issues with my eyesight? Or maybe I'm living in the past. Nevertheless I shall not change!

Making the time

I've been slow updating lately, been very busy but that's still a poor excuse.

Writing is going well, shooting for scripts starts next week so we've been polishing off and deciding what works. I'm hopeful the scripts will look good on film, we'll have to wait and see!

I'm really interested in seeing Harry Brown, it looks like a modern British western which could make an interesting social comment. Let's hope it delivers!

There's a few good films coming up in the new year, anything is a step up on the recent spate of wholly unoriginal and uninspiring releases. I'm not keen on this obsession with comedy at the moment, I wouldn't mind if it was in some way original, and it's even worse when they use the same actors in the same roles. Michael Cera, this is aimed at you!

Anyway, just wanted to update really. This lacked any real point, oh well!