How's that for a fancy blog title, hmmm? Hello. I'm a freelance writer of articles, books and (in 2006) screenplays, as well as being the editor of Slasherama.com. My first published novel came out last year: Friday The 13th: Hate-Kill-Repeat. Delve into the blog below for my babblings on this and other topics...
Despite not drinking booze in January, I achieved very little in the way of writing. Which disturbed me greatly. I mean, I completed an 8000-word short-story and interviewed Jodie Marsh for heat, which is all great stuff. Yet I managed no screenplay-type action, despite the number of ideas circling my head like a pack of diseased dogs.
Imagine my joy then, today, when I finally sat down with a fairly loose outline to write a new screenplay. And the relief when it went well. And the delight when I wrote a remarkable 18 pages of my first draft, pretty quickly too. 18 pages! That's madness. And no, before anyone asks, I didn't use a huge font. 
So that's me feeling much happier. Now all I have to do is keep going. I love this one, too. Really love it. Not that I couldn't picture the first two being made, but I can definitely picture this one, loud and clear.
Why, I do believe I may celebrate with a glass of red wine. Live a little...
I had such high hopes for that month. Yet January zipped by like some kind of greased-up orangutan. Given that I came out of January 2006 with the first draft of my Panik script, my lack of achievement in January 2007 has disappointed me. Still, on a personal level I stayed off the booze and went some way to losing few of those inevitable Christmas pounds.
Fiction-wise, January was almost entirely taken up by writing a short story. Yep, a short story. You can tell, then, that my mind wasn't exactly on writing fiction. Still, I loved writing it and I think it turned out rather well, although there's pending feedback from the editor. The story in question is a Bernice Summerfield tale, for a forthcoming short story anthology entitled Missing Adventures. It's due for release through Big Finish in October 2007. Nice to get my first Big Finish commission: hopefully it will lead to other things for the company, as they also handle various audio adventures: Doctor Who and what-not...
A week or so ago, I interviewed Jodie Marsh for heat magazine, which was good fun. While not the warmest interviewee, she makes up for that with sheer entertainment value, slagging off all and sundry. Always a pleasure for the quote-hungry journalist.
Today, I had two really promising script ideas, both of which I want to write. Irritatingly, they're both based around current prevailing culture, so I need to write them fast. Then again, that's good motivation. One of the ideas is an update on a notion that's been bouncing around my head for months now, but never made it beyond outline form. I'm going to write that one first, I think: wrote the entire outline today and really fancy diving into it.
I also have a ton of writing to complete for Doctor Who Magazine - writing up all the set-visits and things I did for them last year. Needless to say, this rarely feels like work, as I love it so. Just as well, as it'll be deadline after deadline in weeks and months to come...
Time to roll up those writing sleeves... 
Here it is, 2007. Time to reflect back over 2006 and see what I managed to achieve. Then look ahead to this coming year and work out what I'd like to achieve. No, scratch that... what I will achieve, dammit!
In 2006 I...
In 2007 I will...
None of these goals are outrageous, exactly, although it does mean a lot of work. Quite frankly, I'm up for it. 2007 will be The Year. And no mistake...
Once again, much bloody water has passed under the bridge since my last posting. Let’s see, where to start… okay, here’s what happened since I last scribbled…
In October, I went to LA for two-and-a-half weeks. The visit took on the form of various stages, and was planned with unusual military-esque cunning. Had four days in West Hollywood, on the ‘La Cienega/House Of Blues/Hyatt Hotel’ stretch of Sunset Strip, which is my favourite part of LA. Did a bit of shopping and relaxation, while fighting off the jetlag. Also hit the Rainbow Bar & Grill with my good friend, actor Eric Spudic, and met my excellent lawyer Jeff Mackler for lunch and had a great time with him: the perfect combination of social fun and educational banter.
The first weekend, I relocated to a hotel near Hollywood Boulevard, to be within walking distance of the Screamfest event, which I’d enjoyed so much last year. Saw some good movies and – as with any festivals – some bad. The festival opened with the world premiere of The Tripper, a slasher movie from the stable of Coquette, the production company founded by Scream pair David Arquette and Courteney Cox Arquette. It was a pleasant surprise to see the couple coming out with a fairly gory movie: David clearly has a genuine love of horror movies – he turned up to his premiere in a white suit splashed with red blood effects. Among the other worthwhile movies I caught at Screamfest were Slither (bizarrely, I hadn’t seen it before – and met stars Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion afterwards), The Lost (a nasty Jack Ketchum adaptation with a fine central performance from young actor Marc Senter) and a disturbing road-trip slasher named Rest Stop. Then there was the terrible virtual reality low-budgeter The Phobic, the duller-than-its-title-sounds Beach Party At The Threshold Of Hell and the over-rated but fun zero-budget zombie flick Automaton Transfusion.
During my five days at the event (I had to leave before the end, sadly), I met up with film-maker Robert Sexton, who had his Legion short there last year. We had many a beer and a laugh – especially when I became so inebriated that I referred to the cinema screen as a triangle. Oh dear…
I left a Hollywood a few days’ short of Screamfest’s close, shifting to the LAX Marriott: one of the hotels where the annual Screenwriting Expo was taking place. This was a tremendous event for me, stuffed full of classes, talks, social opportunities and most potentially exciting of all, pitch-fests, in which you get five minutes to sell your script/script idea to someone from a prodco/agency/management company. I did eleven different pitches of my second script – a teen sci-fi affair – and ended up really enjoying the pitch process. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I became addicted. It’s a rush, walking up to a complete stranger at a table, then getting them excited about your script in a short space of time. This didn’t always happen, of course, but two of the 11 company reps actually took my script, which is apparently very unusual and therefore a pretty good sign. We’ll see what happens, of course. The best class I attended at the Expo saw two current screenwriters shooting the breeze: the Saw trilogy’s Leigh Whanell and The Grudge movies’ Stephen Susco. I taped the chat and will try to post some on Slasherama soon.
At the end of my trip I had two more nights back on the Sunset Strip, where I finally met up with the producers who want to make my Panik script a living, breathing piece of celluloid. They're great guys, so I'm optimistic. On the last night, I introduced Messrs Spudic and Sexton, at the cool Residuals bar, up in Burbank (I think!). I also met Ken Hall, co-writer of the 1989 movie Puppet Master, which was nice.
After LA, it was back home for a quick breather, then off to San Sebastian a few days later for the 17th Horror & Fantasy Film Festival. This event is always a pleasure – this was the third year I had attended – and while 2006 proved a little quieter than usual, it was still a considerable delight. For one thing, the town of San Sebastian itself is GREAT fun – a labyrinth of cool little bars and restaurants – and my writer pal Jay Slater is always great company and highly entertaining. We had a splendid time as usual, even though I had a chest-cold which is STILL clinging to me three weeks later. In our favourite Chinese restaurant we were shocked to be presented with a bottle of liquor containing two green lizards. Then, of course, we tried a shot each. Then Mr Slater tried several more and spent the rest of the day helpless in the slimy grasp of Mr Lizard...
Saw some fun films during the week. Let’s see: there was End Of The Line, handled by Maurice Deveraux, the Canadian writer/director behind the likes of $lasher$. Set in an underground tube network, EOTL sees religious freaks going on a murderous rampage. Then there was the French movie Them, which successfully scared me in a Blair Witchy way – at least until the final revelation, which was undeniably an original twist. Anything else? Hmmm. How about a movie which you’ll probably have already seen, but I managed to miss out on until San Seb – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning? I saw this at roughly 2am with a big cup of beer in my hand, and had a rollicking good time with it. Gory, nasty, intense… all that good stuff.
So that’s been my month-or-so. In terms of that Panik script, the option agreement is indeed going ahead, so there is much reason to rejoice. Even if nothing further comes of this, someone in Hollywood believed in my screenplay enough to try and get the elements together in order to make it into a movie. How damn cool is that, I ask you?
Good God, a fair bit has happened since my last post here. My script Panik reached the finals of the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, but didn't make the Top Three. Nevertheless, someone associated with the competition loved the script and wants to make it into a movie. Let me repeat that, for my own benefit as much as anything else: wants to make it into a movie.
So I now find myself with an option agreement to look over. Well, I'm not looking over it personally - I'm hiring a Hollywood attorney who once took care of business for Christopher Reeve. Yes folks, I have Superman's lawyer! It's all gone a little bit strange... and a whole lot of wonderful. Of course, I'm well aware that the odds are still against Panik actually being made, but whatever happens, this is a good confidence lift. Someone believes in the script to the extent that they want to turn it into a 'reality'. Unbelievable stuff...
Next Sunday, I'm going to LA to meet up with a few people, attend the Screamfest event, and all that good stuff. Can't wait!
It's taken me a while to work it out, while watching my Panik screenplay survive a few stages of the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. But one script - shock, horror - isn't enough. The first question a prospective Hollywood agent is going to ask - well, maybe the second or third, admittedly - is, "Okay, one screenplay's great. What else ya got?".
So that's what I'm working on now. Have decided to make it different, too. Not horror, but probably still in the Slasherama reader's general ball-park: a teen-oriented sci-fi invasion flick with horror elements. Am loving writing it, which is just as well as I've set September aside for mostly writing work. Which is a great luxury to have. I'm currently doing my 'bread and butter' work at weekends, devoting week-days to scripting. Let's see how it pans out...
The other weekend, had a great time at fellow writer and good friend Jay Slater's 68th birthday bash (just a bit of fun there - he doesn't look a day over 66). A splendid BBQ (he hates that term, for some reason) at his palatial South London mansion, it was a fine day, given free production values by the funfair which had set up a mere five minutes stroll away from the house. Shame I'm terrifed of the vast majority of fairground rides - even the Dodgems scare me. What a frickin' wuss. Met some fine people at Jay's event - some I already knew, like writer/director Sean Hogan (psychological horror-flick Lie Still), but also new faces like lovely actress Sophia Ellis, who appears in Kevin Gates' forthcoming Brit undead thriller The Zombie Diaries. And boy, does she look cute holding a large gun. See here for the full and frank evidence. Oh, and I also learnt how to play croquet and fire a pellet gun. Happy days!
If you're one of the poor, twisted souls who have been following this blog, you'll know what I'm talking about when I shriek, "I FUCKING DID IT! I MADE THE FINALS!". Ahem...
My horror screenplay, Panik, is an entry in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards 2006. I've been following its progress, month to month, through quarter and semi finals. Then last Tuesday I discovered that it had made the Top 10 of the Horror category. 'Delight' doesn't begin to cover what I was feeling that night, as I spoiled myself with a large glass of red wine in the bar of Cardiff's Park Plaza hotel. Unfortunately, I was alone that night, but thanks to the miracles of wireless connections, laptops and the world wide interwebnet, I could shamelessly boast about my achievement to some pals.
So here's the situation: on September 15 I'll find out if I've made the competition's Gold, Silver or Bronze final placements. The great thing is, however, that even this Top 10 placement may be likely to draw interest from agents (I need an agent, for sure, being based in the UK) and producers. At least they'll possibly be interested in reading it, whether they ultimately like it or not...
What I should be doing right now, of course, is finishing off my second script, so that when an agent says, "So what else have you got?" I can send 'em my other script. I don't have one, as yet, but have plenty of ideas. So that will have to do for now...
I'm also doing plenty of work for Doctor Who Magazine at present (hence the Cardiff visit), which is great fun for me. Amazing to be working on a magazine, which I can remember being brought home by my mother when I was five in 1977... It's all good at the moment. And before I start thinking of anything which isn't good, I'll sign off here, on a supremely positive note... Later!
OK, it's been a while since I scribbled here - mainly because I've been busy with 'regular' magazine work. But I have been making some progress in the wacky world of scripting. A week ago, I was told that my horror screenplay Panik had made it to the quarter finals of the 2006 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. Which was good stuff, to say the least.
Yesterday, the semi-finalists were announced, which means the Top 25 in each category (mine being horror/thriller, naturally!). It took me a while to click on that link, but I was glad I mustered the nerve: I made it! See this link.
There's a cash prize for the winner, but that really isn't the main reason for entering. The point is, hopefully, to muster interest among film producers and agents. Half the battle is getting someone to read what you've written and I'm hoping that - even if I go no further in the competition - people will be more willing to take a look at Panik now. So I'm a happy man!
The finalists will be announced on August 15. If you have any spare fingers, do feel free to cross 'em for me....
PS I now have two blogs, as if the universe needed even one. Anyways, it's for more random, personal(ish) stuff and it's on my MySpace page. Check it out, good sir/madam!
Well, he didn't really (that fooled you, eh? Oh yes, hook, line and sinker). I was just a tad gutted. See, about a week ago Tom made his 'final, final public appearance' at the Stamp Centre on London's Strand. I've never met the great man, despite him being a childhood and ongoing hero of mine. So I thought I'd finally make the effort and head on down there.
Tom's DVD-signing spot began at 11am and ended at 3pm. For some bizarre reason, I was rather blase about it all and arrived at 1pm. I mean, I didn't expect the man to be sitting there twiddling his thumbs, but neither did I anticipate the queue which snaked along the Strand, then round a corner. To make matters worse, mere minutes after I arrived with my friend Ray Zell (there for immoral support), one of the Stamp Centre guys came along the queue, warning us that it was unlikely we'd get to meet Tom. See, while the big fella normally stays later than billed, on this day of all days he really HAD to leave at 3pm, in order to get his train/plane/automobile back to France.
While the horror began to dawn, I decided to be stubborn and wait. So we stood there for another hour-and-a-half, like proper fans and everything. Then it got to 2.50pm and we'd moved roughly six feet. I can only assume that people were either abusing their time with Mr Baker and asking things like, 'What did you make of the cliffhanger to episode five of The Armageddon Factor?', or Tom was abusing his time with them, rambling on being adored and gravestones. Either way, we gave up and went down the pub. Bizarrely, despite us staying out 'til closing time, visiting five different drinking establishments AND consuming red wine, beer and Jack Daniels, I felt relatively fine the next day. That's the magic of Doctor Who for you... even when it lets you down.
In a way, I don't mind the disappointment. See, in my head, Tom Baker doesn't really exist in this dimension. To see him in the flesh might be downright strange. Perhaps the universe might implode. Still, one of the Stamp Centre guys did say that he'll probably do a 'final, final, final public appearance'. Next time, I'm camping out from 6am onwards.
Does anyone else find it bizarre that the Post Office are attempting to sell us everything apart from stamps and stuff? I was in the Camden branch today, in a huge queue (Tom Baker flashbacks ensued). On the way through this queue I saw films on DVD, CDs, toys, games, PC CD-ROMS, stationery (fair enough, admittedly) and loads more non-post-centric items. It's almost as if the Post Office has decided that there isn't enough money in post-centric behaviour and branched out in completely arbitrary directions. Still, you'd wonder how much Camden is making, flogging terrible-looking DVD movies for 49p, that even I - the guardian of rubbish action/horror flicks - couldn't bring myself to hand over a palm-full of change for...
This evening, I used a website called Scriptblaster.com to send details of my horror screenplay to around 200 Hollywood agents and managers. Who knows what will happen, hmmmm? Seems like a good service in principle: depends on the results. Of course, Scriptblaster.com can't ensure that Hollywood agents and managers will like your logline and synopsis enough to request a read through the full screenplay...
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