If you publish this I will ruin you.

Big week this week as I hit page 30 of my first feature length script. According to lore that should mean roughly 30 minutes of screen time which means I'm a third of the way through. That makes me very happy and makes the whole project seem far more real. Which in turn has made me realise that if I want to hit my goal of having completed a film by the end of next year then I have a lot of work to do and may have to revise my estimates.

This week I've been concerned that the story I'm writing is in part inspired by real life events. I am highly fictionalising it with only the opening sequence being the same as a story ripped from the headlines. All the characters are fictional and what happens after Act 1 is totally made up. However, the opening would be clearly recognisable and I worry that this could cause problems. There's no way I can change it as its pivotal to the plot. Even if I were to state that the work is a fiction at the beginning of the film am I still leaving myself wide open to legal action?

Its not like I'm writing a political expose about david cameron smashing up frogs with a cricket bat to get his kicks. But how far can art imitate life these days?

I worry that it wouldn't stop the film being made but might stop potential distributors picking up the film lest they be sued. I've been scouring the internet but can't find a great deal on the subject. I've found some good advice and some bad. Anyway, I've not let it deter me and I'm ploughing on. I think maybe the important thing to do is to document exactly what steps I'm taking in the writing to distance it from the real story.

And to keep those photos of david cameron smashing up frogs in a safe somewhere.

Time to tweak the nuts of the elephant in the room

So, my girlfriend recently moved in with me. This has not happened before. There is no precedent, and there's trouble brewing.

The problem is this: I am an avid film fan in the true sense of the word. I am fanatical. I love watching films to a ridiculous degree. I could happily watch three films an evening and that would be a great night for me.

I have spent weekends doing nothing but watching films. I rarely watch television, I like a computer game but can drop them without too much dismay, I read on the commute, I'm not sporty. But films, films are my bread and butter. The chicken in my bucket. I own hundreds of DVDs and blu rays and can watch a film over and over again. I have even spent many a night firing up dozens of DVDs just to watch my favourite few scenes. Eject, bang in the next. In short, I gorge on film. I binge. I am nerdy and obsessive and I love it.

So here's the rub: my girlfriend can't stay awake through a film to save her life. I swear, to the extent that its almost some kind of super power. I thought it was dimming the lights but no. If a film was put on 20 mins after she woke up in the morning she would be back asleep again in half an hour.

This unnervingly puts my love for film under the microscope. One of my worst traits is that I tend to feel nervous about the things I enjoy in front of other people. I'm secretive and furtive. If someone walks in on me playing a computer game I feel ashamed and have to switch it off. I feel compelled to justify drinking a bit too much wine over and over in my head. And now my love of film is starting to seem a bit sordid. Confronted with this absolute ability to sleep during the best cinema has to offer I feel somehow like I'm in the wrong. Like I should be sleeping my way through this bullshit too. In short, I lack conviction in my own sense of pleasure.

What to do?

For the record. She has stayed awake through Drive, anything by Pixar and Moneyball, a three hour long film about baseball. How the hell did that happen?

Sabattical

So I've proved the rule that I'm terrible at this business by taking a brief hiatus almost as soon as I started this blog.

I've been absent for a little while as I've been finishing work on a drama-documentary about the Australian troops in the Vietnam war. It was someone else's baby, I just shot it and edited it and mighty fine its looking too I must say.

Here are some teaser stills.

It's out of my hands having a voiceover done for it at the moment but should be finished soon. I don't know what will end up happening to it but I'm just happy to have made it and got some invaluable experience. It did make me appreciate just how much easier it is to make something look beautiful when you don't have to worry about anything else happening on the set. 

The break has given me some time to think about my first project and backtrack a bit. I had decided to plough on with a film I knew I could make with no money and keep the one I care the most about, but will take some cash to make, in reserve for when I can raise some capital off the back of my first feature. 

However, I'm just too invested in the film that will take some money to make. So I've shelved the cheaper film while I write the script for the one I care most about. I think I've decided you should run with what you're most passionate about at the time. I still think I'll have to make the cheaper film first but I really want to have both scripts to play with. That way I can put the more expensive script out there while I work on the cheaper film. It means if the first film is successful there won't be a gap while I have to write the second. 

I hope that's a smart move. 

Anyway, the good news is the first ten minutes of the first script is complete and I'm writing it quickly. I don't want to discuss the plot in detail but its about a man who can play the piano. It seems to me that a good piano movie comes along every six or seven years and they always seem to do very well. The Piano, The Pianist, Shine. I'm hoping mine will be the next. The core themes are tragedy and loss and the redemptive power of music. 

I became aware of an incredibly talented young American pianist about a year ago and have approached him about doing the music. He really liked the story idea and seemed very enthusiastic. He released an EP last year that just astonished me and he's still in university undiscovered at the moment though he is bound to hit the limelight at some point so I hope I can get him before it happens. Maybe it will come from the back of this film.

I'm also friends on Facebook with a couple of actors who I really like and are rapidly rising through the up and coming ranks. One has asked me to send the script when its finished. But its early days yet and I don't want to jump the shark before its time. Its frustrating to have to bite your tongue when you have something you want to get people excited about but aren't ready to sell yet. How do you sow the seeds for something you may not accomplish for several years? 

My aim is to have a feature film under my belt by the end of next year but at the moment I don't know which film that will be. The temptation is to jump three steps at a time. I caught myself looking at locations for the more expensive film online the other night and bookmarking ones that I like. I have to run before I can walk and get these scripts finished and out there first. 

Lesson number one: Finish your script before you do anything.