Et tu, Jester…

30 01 2010

I hate the fucking Mourners.

It’s become something of a chip on my shoulder has that script. It sits there, taunting me, and wants to be written, but up until recently I have just not wanted to write it. I’ve opened the draft, looked at it, and closed it again so many times that I’ve almost lost count. Now here I sit having written 12 pages of it in the space of two nights. No-one said this shit was easy.

I must admit to now and then wondering why I want to be a writer and how I have come to this point in my life, being at University and studying for a craft that will probably consume my livelihood as well as, eventually, my life. I look at those around me and see people far more deserving of the label of ‘writer’ or ’screenwriter’, and look at my own work and wonder how long it will be before I am discovered as a complete sham and fraud and outed as nothing more than some aimless twit looking for a place in this world to call my own. Most of the time it feels like denial when sitting there in front of the keyboard with a script in progress on the screen and thinking “you know what, I can actually do this”. Ah well. Find out we shall, one way or another.

As for news, not much is happening. Finalising a new house, swimming in DVD’s and stressing over the little things in life. All good fun.





2010…

8 01 2010

I say, it has been a while. Much has occurred.

Well, no it hasn’t actually, but I thought I’d try.

Anyway, sit here I do, after spending in excess of 3 hours trekking to and attending a hospital in the snow due to a coursemate slipping over and screwing up his wrist. I’d love to see where he slipped and see the inevitable dent in the concrete, for concrete does not break Will Sale, Will Sale breaks concrete. The walk through the Graveyard at gone 1am was something special though. I dare say some ideas for shots in future films were coursing through my brain at some point.

Assignments are slowly beginning to trickle in, most of them however put back considering the bastard weather. Much as I love snow, this perpetual ice has not exactly taken a shine to me nor I to it. On more than one occasion I have found myself having to grip onto some sort of railing in order to not become a projectile. Me, sliding down a hill? Not a good idea.

Speaking of assignments, Magnus still eludes me. The Christmas period does love to throw all sense of creativity up in the air and leave you with a dull carpet of nibbles, gift wrap and an Xbox 360. I think, once this weekends work is out of the way, it will be time to go a bit nuts with the writing.

So, with that said, I’m off to go and kill the Carphone Warehouse.





Rage Against the Machine…

17 12 2009

Ok, it’s a debate thats been, for want of a less pun-filled word, raging over the past couple of weeks. So, time to have a wade into the argument with a couple of verbal butterfly strokes.

Here are things as I see them. When you look at things at face value, Simon Cowell may be a complete twat (and he is) but he is perhaps the most honest of the complete twats that inhabit that thing that calls itself a primetime TV show (X-Factor). He is in the business to make money. That’s the way it’s always been for him, and thats the way it always will be. I applaud that kind of honesty.

What annoys me is the farcical sideshow that has built up around an audition process. I’ll bet anything that auditions for feature films have suffered because potential candidates are scared to death to apply in case they get laughed off stage by complete pillocks like Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and that Aussie bint with the famous sister.

It is well documented that X-Factor is owned/run/pedalled/pushed by Simon Cowell and his seemingly limitless fortune, which brings me to the race to have the Christmas Number One in the charts. Seriously, who gives a damn anymore? The last time I even noticed who was top of the charts was the time I walked all the 15 miles home from school – probably should have stayed, considering the quality of Daytime TV. Simon Cowell will be pushing the X-Factor winner’s single, whatever and whoever the hell it is, to try to be the Christmas number one (i.e. the number one on the last Sunday before Christmas Day). This is calculated by album sales. Now, in the modern world where LEGAL downloading is still very much alive, I’d say that figures of sales are fairly inaccurate when calculating how good a song is, so this more or less makes the ‘charts’ redundant. Like they weren’t anyway.

Which brings us to ‘Killing in the Name’ by Rage Against the Machine. In itself, a catchy if not slightly annoying song in terms of repetitiveness. Now its quite obvious that the reason this song is being pushed by certain sections of the general public (i.e. anyone who can’t stand X-Factor and wants to show it) is not because of the song, but because of the name of the band. The song is almost meaningless, aside from it being the most memorable song RATM ever did. So why them? Because they symbolised the exact same thing back then as the re-use of their song now. A country (or a section of it, in this case Primetime TV) under the thumb of a more influential power flexing its muscle a bit too far. Back then it was Republican policies under Bush Sr. Now, in this particular circumstance, its a music ‘mogul’ having his way with the popular airwaves so music he’s funded gets played before anything good and worth listening to. Simon Cowell has been doing this stuff for years and finally people seem to be waking up to it. The problem was (and still is) that the general public will happily sit down and watch anything in front of them as long as it takes their minds off of daily life, which unless you have a creative profession I’d venture to say is pretty dull. They just have nothing better to do.

I am not a massive fan of RATM, but its got to be a better notion than turning the radio off because some bastard with a barrel full of Simon Cowell’s cash is singing a cover of a cover of a cover of a song that was original back in the 1960’s. Either put on the original, put on Killing in the Name, or shoot Cowell and ask questions later.

Right, I am ranted out. Time to go get a cup of coffee before a certain someone and I be off to see if Avatar is as good as Mr Sale deems it to be. Damn well better be, I don’t get into the cinema for free you know – I have to get out of bed to go there.

A





Time to Up the Game…

14 12 2009

Call me a perfectionist (it wouldn’t be the first time, and to be honest I agree with it) but getting a low grade just doesn’t sit well with me. It’s like, for want of a more literary description, a sucker punch in the middle of a fight. Things are going well, and then a fist in the form of a low grade enters the stomach vicinity and just makes life uncomfortable.

The problem is, Year 2 is where it all starts to count. So, I am left with one course. Up my game. I have chosen, for the second of our Horror/Sci-Fi module, to focus on a screenplay that shows a change in sympathies towards a character. That would be Lockdown. It’s a quick story, man interrogates woman following discovery of body, only to find that woman has a darker secret than he could imagine, so hopefully by the time we get back after Christmas I should have been through at least 3 drafts and it might resemble something good. Need lots of people to read through this stuff.

Christmas be just around the corner, and I have so little to buy. This is a good thing, moving swiftly on.

Speaking of improving things, I think I will have a bit of a clearout of this house in a few days. Kitchen needs a good once over, as does my room. Cleaning moods are such glorious fun.

Oh, and I’m going to need a new phone AGAIN. Ruddy LG.





Any Way the Wind Blows…

7 12 2009

Anyone reading this blog who doesn’t know the song that the title is from, there will be…trouble.

Ok, I’m here. In bed. Still. About ten in the morning. Normally this is a very bad thing, but I don’t have Uni until 4 today, so I’m going to enjoy it some more.

So, where do things stand right now. Compartment 9 has another reader for feedback purposes, and I’m hoping she’ll be brutal :-D I certainly need as much feedback on that one as I can get. It’s sitting at first draft and cracking on is definitely necessary.

Al and I had a look at a possible filming location for Lockdown the other day, and I’ve been thinking about that somewhat. I don’t think I want to put a set together, but the room itself may hold some promise – tis a drama studio. I’ll think about it some more as I write the script, still got a good 17 pages to go.

I have decided to hold off all work on Gentlemen from Hell until April. It’s my ScriptFrenzy piece, so I want to save thinking about it for then.

I might revive Secrets of the Machine soon. Maybe under a different title, it sounds far too tacky for my taste as it stands.

Right, I think soon I shall get up and…do stuff. Writing and editing being the more likely at this point.