shameless

it is late and I am exhausted. The last few weeks have been magnificent and equally debilitating. I have been fortunate enough to be working with David Turnley, Pullitzer prize winning photo-journalist, on a commercial based in and around L.A. which he was directing out of Furlined. Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club) D.P’d and Scott Craig put the whole thing together. I look forward to seeing the end result as I feel D.T got some amazing performances from the cast, besides which I have to be proved right on my personal belief that a film stands or falls on the various energies determined by the crew, whatever the size or manner of the project. That is to say that films, t.v, commercials or promos that I have been attached to where the vibe on and off set has been the most enjoyable; where everyone is in tune with each other, with the script and with the environment, these are the projects that show up the best as the finished article. ‘Waking Ned’ which we prepped at Shepperton studios, England then shot in the Isle of Man under the wonderful direction of the amazing Kirk Jones, was one such example. Even with an amazing script there is no guarantee that you are going to get an amazing end product, so it is imperative that the director pulls everybody together to share in his enthusiasm and passion for the project. Kirk did this memorably. In fact he even called a meeting early upon our arrival in the Isle of Man, of all the residents of Cregneash, the ancient village we took over for some 10 weeks, to explain to them in detail what we, and the story, were about. This went down very well with cast, crew and vilagers alike and set the tone for the whole process. Consequently, I am certain that the extraordinary passion we all shared on that picture is palpable throughout. Likewise, I am sure the passion we all shared on the commercial will make it just that little bit special. Let’s wait and see. I have neglected my blog of late for which I apologise, but the several very different set of circumstances that have prompted my wife to suggest I take up yoga or meditation to alleviate the various strains on my mind and body, have almost become more than mere mortal should take. Needless to say, life here in L.A is nevertheless proving to be more than exciting and the subtle aroma of possibility constantly arouses my senses to a point where every day is anticipated with baited breath….! Unfortunately, I am far too exhausted to tell you about it. But I’ll try. Next up is a completely new venture for me and one I am eager to pursue. Some bright spark looking to re-create a certain paint finish on an old garage in Melrose avenue, currently being converted into the next Ralph Lauren Polo outlet in Hollywood, decide to take a look at one of my past films and as a consequence I am now designing the exterior of said building together with the wonderful vision of Dikayl who seems to be some sort of product designer or some such for PRL. This is a completely new string to my bow and, frankly, something that only happens to us mere mortals here in Hollywood, just like they said it would when I was just a spit of a lad sweeping the floors at Pinewood. Speaking of which, I met my new friend Barry Isaacson and his lovely family last Sunday down at the beach for some good old ex-pat R&R only to discover that we were both at Pinewood at the same time….1978/80 for gods sake!!!! He, as a runner or some such on the first Superman film, and myself working as a trainee Matte artist with the legendary Cliff Culley and subsequently as a trainee model maker with the even more legendary, Ray Harryhausen! Anyway, I’m hoping to get Barry….now a very successful film producer….interested in my District 6 project which has been on the drawing boards for over 5 years now and every day closer to becoming the masterpiece in my head. I know this will eventually make it to the big screen as I am now in Hollywood and this is where dreams do in fact come true…if you put in the hard graft that is. Living the dream…….. 

more adventures in lala land…old cock

I’m a bit lost for words this week, as well as being fashionably late with my blog. You may, however, be able to decipher my mood from my punctuation. When I am lacking in the literary department, you will often find me on the second floor, messing with my paragraphs, commas and full-stops…..periods to some of you, but I don’t see the relevance of that word when it comes to small dots that denote the end of a sentence, I really don’t. Periods were, and are of course, moments that occur on a monthly basis when the male of the species become reviled more so than usual by the female of the species and are unwittingly subjected to mostly, in my humble experience, vitriolic explosions of bile designed to shrink a mans sack at 20 paces. The female feels pretty shit too I’m told. Anyway, it’s my time of the month too, which is a coincidence, and to celebrate I’m going to have a virtual moan so as to make someone reading this feel a bit better about themselves. I cannot moan about the state of the industry because I have little to no idea what that might be right now. The reason for that is that I, as my two regular readers will tell you, have been diverted from the path of all that is Hollywood, to the more urgent task of keeping body and soul together trying to secure roof over head, vehicular mode of transport and self out of lunatic ward. So far, I have achieved two out of three. So, I can nevertheless report with not just a small amount of satisfaction, that I have still manged to fit in a couple of very productive meetings, both feature and commercial which may or may not bear fruit but on their own merits, in their own tiny little meaningless entities as ‘meetings’ go, they wholly succeeded in making me feel good about the world and, indeed, optimistic for the future. Bring it on, I shouted. Get me the meeting and I’ll get me the job, I intoned. Shortly after this is when I got arrested and, well, here I am.  I read a thing the other day that stayed with me for a while and it still stands up to argument I feel. I can’t remember who it was who came up with it but I remember admiring his arrogance in a determined statement that seemed to justify our place on the planet….’ I was lying in my hammock one clear night of late and I remember looking up at the carpet of stars that filled the night sky, and I thought to myself, ‘how insignificant they all seem…’  I still like it.  Sorry it’s short and irrelevant this week but I did warn you. If you’re looking for intrigue and adventure, you HAVE come to the right place it just hasn’t found me yet, but it will. Mark my words old cock.