Awaydays

It’s so gratifying to see a film that you worked on (put heart and soul into, spent many long hours, day and night away from family and friends) NOT go straight to DVD, and, if the reviews coming out of the London Film Festival are anything to go by, Awaydays may just have the legs to carry itself a little bit further. Needless to say, I am very proud of my Liverpudlian effort although I haven’t yet seen it myself! Again, I think I may have been proved correct with reference to my theory (come on, keep up!) that those projects where the effort of every cast and crew member is supplemented by some extraordinary good feeling and all round faith in whatever it is, will eventually come out in the wash and show in the final telling. Let’s see. All those projects that have been spoiled in one way or another through the production process….believe me there are way too many ways to achieve this…..have mostly turned out to be flawed in the final cut. Here’s a link…   http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/awaydays and here’s a pic…        

neglect is no excuse for bad manners……

I have neglected my blog and feel the worse for it I can assure you. Ralph Lauren and his merry band of men have had me running around in ever tighter circles for far too long now and the light is still a mere pin prick away. This has little to do with the film industry but then, if you’ve followed my missives up to now, you will gather the connection without too much trouble. I would much to prefer to talk about other stuff that frankly, crams every other minute of my day as it often seems more relevant. The industry has always (to my spouse’s consternation and bewilderment) been central to my existence and I’m sure this is common to other bloggers. The art is in striking the balance. There is a fine line between feeding the family and feeding your own ambition and ego. After my first son came along, this suddenly dawned on me and I sincerely wish it would dawn on others BEFORE they embark on family life. There is little point, in my mind, in having children if you can’t spend reasonable time with them. Unfortunately I have to travel pretty well constantly in my game, but those long (scary) quiet times are well spent totally engrossed in the far more energetic and tiring pursuit of kid-dom. This new American regime we are experiencing ( ie. early school starts and earlier home times) encompasses a whole new assortment of juggling skills, especially as my missus is still In Croatia finishing off a huge Kohler commercial for Therapy films. Speaking of which, her experience with the art dept. there has not been quite as wonderful as mine was several years ago. I can see why too. It reminds me of my first experences shooting in Prague in the early nineties. There was no doubting the breadth of experience of the personnel working the industry there, especially under the umbrella of the brilliant Stillking films. When it came to working with period or fantasy, the resources of modelmakers, poly-sculptors and various other craftsmen were, and still are, second to none. Nevertheless, throw in a high end, high tech, high finish, modern day or futuristic piece requiring very modern props and dressings and the whole process started to fall gently but surely, apart. The same thing is happening in Croatia. Unless you have the bucks or resources to ship em in, you ain’t got a hope. I clearly remember racing around Prague with an irate taxi-driver and a yellow pages, a fist full of Crowns and an unlimited budget searching desperately for enough shiny props to do justice to my wonderfully built state of the art bathroom set, whilst the grumpy old prop men scratched their chins, swigged back their breakfast schnapps (substitute) and declared the English art director a wanker and his mission hopeless. I somehow managed but I feel for my wife who has also experienced the Prague knock back but is now going through it all over again in another far flung former eastern block country. Needless to say, Prague no longer has that problem. Along with some amazing restaurants, shops and boutique hotels, the few of us who still travel there to work have pretty much all we can ask for in every department.I hope this splurge makes up for my recent neglect.