It's Been A While

You may note it's been a while since my last post. The reason for this is that we, we being myself and my Producer, decided to completely rewrite the script. I went through about 5 different versions before I finally figured out what I was supposed to be writing and now although most of the characters are the same and the basic plot is the same the film is completely different. A new lead character, a new focus and theme. It's slicker and more streamlined and just all round better than before.

My previous post entitled "what's it about then" is still bang on the money, interestingly enough, bar the final synopsis. Which should now read...

"Jen and her friends are tired of being used and abused by the men in their lives - it's time to ask for supernatural help. But when you call up the Goddess of Vengeance you better mean it, because she doesn't like it when you change your mind."

I've restarted storyboarding and am hoping to shoot the first scene in March and the rest of the film in May. But time and other people will tell whether that comes together then or not!

Desperately seeking an organised and outgoing Production Manager to deal with the logistics while I deal with the artistic!

So, What's It About Then?

One of the first things people ask you when you're an actor is, "What have you done?" By which they mean what have you done that I might have seen and have you met Russell Crowe/Scarlett Johanssen (actually I have).

One of the first things people ask you when you tell them you're making a film is, "What's it about then?"

And then I do my deer in the headlights expression. How do you describe a film in which you are intimately immersed? I tell people it's a supernatural action thriller - because it is. I tell them it's going to be awesome, because I believe it is and because it's always good to be positive. I flounder at that point.

Hell Hath No Fury is about women, that much I'm fairly sure of. It's about women because it was written by women and that's what we know. If we understood men I expect we'd be off having families with them instead of making films about how annoying men are. Oh yes, it's also kind of about how men are crap. Or at least how they can be crap and how easy it is to be taken advantage of and how angry and frustrated and helpless that makes you feel.

So what if something were to come along and even up the score? What if all of a sudden that man that used you and then dumped you, leaving you feeling hollow and cheap and betrayed, got exactly what you'd been wishing he'd get. Would that make it all better?

It's also a little bit about how people do bad things not because they're bad people but because people are stupid and careless and damaged. About how you get hurt not because someone set out to hurt you, but because they just weren't really thinking about what their actions might lead to. And about the fact that women can be just as bad as men.

And it's about forgiving people, if you can.

I suppose I ought to have a synopsis for general usefulness.

"Detective Sergeant Laura Hollings is having disturbing dreams. Dreams in which men are accused, attacked and murdered by mysterious women dressed in black and red. And in the real world, those men are dying. Laura is determined to stop the deaths, but how do you stop an enemy who can be any woman, even you?"

Don't You Know Who I Am?

So, who the hell am I and what do I think I'm doing trying to make a feature film when I haven't even been to film school.

I've got nothing against film schools, but I already spent 4 years at Glasgow University and a couple of part time years at CityLit in Covent Garden and even a few months doing teacher training and I've had my fill of being educated. I'd rather teach myself. It's less expensive and more efficient, if a bit frustrating at times.

I studied Developmental Biology at Uni, it had it's ups and downs, but the best I can really say for it as a life choice as it allows me to pull rank on all you media students. I did an -ology, therefore I have a real degree and you are all a bunch of chancers who got to write your thesis on Star Trek or whatever. Or so the intellectual prejudice goes. Personally I wish I'd gone to drama school, but what the hell do you know when you're 17. Besides they'd have eaten me alive and spat out my skinny little bones.

My acting career in a way started when I was in primary school with my first audition and rejection, a scar I bear to this day. But I didn't really do anything till I joined a number of related opera societies in my teens performing in numerous Gilbert & Sullivan's and the odd proper opera too (Eugene Onegin, The Magic Flute). All as chorus or very minor parts, barring my one starring role as Nero in the children's operetta Nero when I was about 13 or 14. Alas it was none of it to be, for as a teenager you could barely hear my voice past the second row.

And so these things fell by the wayside until I moved to London in 2002. I had been a web designer and a systems admin, spent a lot of time doing nothing, tried to move to the US and failed, and I took a job with an internet company in South London for lack of anything better to do. I lasted a year there before I left to become a teacher. I lasted about four months in teacher training before I left in the firm knowledge that "the system" was not for me. What now? For no particular reason that I can recall I decided I would be an actor.

The great thing about being an actor, unlike many other professions, is that you just decide you are one and voila - you are.

My very first proper audition was for Forest of the Damned, it was also my first film role over the summer of 2004. I have since appeared in quite a lot of feature and short films including Colour From The Dark, Blood + Roses and even The Other Boleyn Girl (you can see me over the credits at the beginning, we actually improvised an entire scene, but all the dialogue got cut).

In other words I've been on a lot of sets over the last five years. Everything from mega-budget Hollywood features to the studenty-est of student short films. I've also worked as a casting director and a 1st AD on occasion. So what makes me want to make my own feature film, or even think I'm capable of such a feat? For a start I've seen all sorts of people make feature films, and I know I can do better than some of the people I've seen do it. I'm under no illusion it's easy, but I like a challenge. In fact I generally work at my best when doing something very difficult that I've never done before. I know I can do this. I've not made it easy for myself, I could have written a script with a handful of characters and a couple of easy indoor locations and no FX shots. But really, where would the fun be in that?

I am primarily an actor, but acting is a hard world in a very different way from directing. I'm tired of having no control over my life - only people like Angelina Jolie get to do what they want as an actor, and even she probably doesn't get to do everything she wants. I can choose to turn things down, but no matter how hard I chase and how much I want it I will never get a job the casting director and director and producer don't think I'm right for and most of the juicy jobs out there I'll never even see the casting breakdowns for. As a director I can make anything I want, I may not be able to throw a lot of money at it, but that doesn't mean I can't do it. I am also tired of having to worry about not looking like the other girls on tv. I am tired of feeling doomed because I have a spot or a lump or my feet look funny or my breasts aren't big enough or my head is a funny shape or all the three million physical insecurities that become overblown by being regularly judged on your appearance and having to compare yourself to the flawless beauty constantly paraded across the tv. I am not particularly vain, but this business does this to you. As a director I can look however I f*cking want, thank you very much.

I want to be free.

Why Do Something Easy When You Can Do Something Really Hard?

Welcome to the inaugural post in this blog about my directorial debut in the world of feature films. I have in the past directed a short film which I never quite finished (the drive was lacking to push it through post, short films just aren't where my interest lies) and a play (Hedda Gabler, which ran successfully for a handful of nights this summer). Now I turn to what I really want to do, to create something that will both be seen by the general public and last long after it's creation.

I have been looking for the right film project for a year or two now, had several script ideas I've thrown around and started writing, but when my friend Eugenia Low came to me with a short film she wanted to make I knew I had found what I was looking for. That short film became the first two scenes of Hell Hath No Fury, an idea spawned when our mutual friend Dita Tantang suggested making a film about us beating up a bunch of guys. Yes, it's true, women don't just talk about clothes and makeup, the secret is out. We also get really, really annoyed with the various guys in our lives and when you're inclined towards stage combat and martial arts it may even occasionally come about that you suggest kicking their asses would really improve your mood.

Eugenia and I, with a little help from Dita, turned her 10 minute short into a 90 page (or so) feature film rough draft. I started gathering cast and crew (and money) - a process all still ongoing. And on the 4th of November we had our first fight rehearsal. Because this is an action film, and there will be many large and flashy fight sequences. A big undertaking for a low budget first film, but you should play to what you have and what I have is a bunch of people who have been training for exactly this sort of thing.

Eugenia, Dita and I met through the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat (BASSC) at a class called Fighting For Film taught by Equity Fight Director Bret Yount. I took my basic test in unarmed and rapier & dagger fighting with Bret in the summer of 2006 and have been studying with them ever since. Our lead actress, Lauren Headley, is also a member of the BASSC, as is our Fight Director, Matt Gardner.

So where do things stand right now? I have a script, the start of a storyboard, and I'm gathering a cast and crew all ready to hopefully start shooting in December with a series of 1-3 day shoots culminating in the final scenes being shot around the end of April or the beginning of May. Why sucha long shooting period? Part of this is dictated by the number of complex fight scenes and part to the fact that most of my actors need to go to jobs that pay them actual money since I can't afford to do that yet. In order to make the most of the fights they will need an extensive rehearsal period and to be spaced out timewise. I expect the bulk of the filming to be completed by the end of March, but there is one particular outdoor fight scene I would like to hold off on until weather warms and daylight lengthens.

So that's it for now. Over the next few entries I'll give you an intimation of what the film is actually about, aside from men getting beaten up (we have greatly expanded on that idea and even introduced a whole lot of stuff that is not about men getting beaten up). I'll also introduce you slowly and more thoroughly to the other people working on the film and to myself. I'll probably also hit you up for money or try and persuade you to come work for me for free, but what do you expect, I am a low budget film maker after all!