Here's how I did...

Needless to say I didn’t managed to get everything done that I was supposed to over the weekend. I did however spend the whole of Monday evening and tonight working and have just about finished, so I got there in the end. To summarise the Ten Dead Men synopsis wasn’t too hard – I’ve put so much work into that film over the last year and a half I can practically recite the script from memory so summing up the story was easy enough. The only problem is that at 700 words it may be a bit too long for an official synopsis, but after fiddling with it for a couple of hours I ended up adding more rather than taking anything out. The reason I’m concerned about this is that the synopsis is going to the sales agent for approval – hopefully it will be okay, but I expect I’ll be asked to cut it down and maybe to make some changes. For now at least it’s done and off the list.

The two short horror films I mentioned are both developing well – I wrote a script for one which I’m in the process of redrafting and I’ve exchanged some ideas with the producer John about the other one and I think we’ve settled on what to do.

The biggest job of the last few days has been the treatment for Hit the Big Time. I find writing a feature treatment hard work at the best of times, but writing one from scratch with only a few basic ideas of where it’s going to go was quite daunting. I think it worked out okay in the end; certainly the process of writing it was fine and actually a lot of fun, but whether it’s actually any good is another matter. Regardless of how good the ideas and set pieces in the treatment are I am quite happy with the structure and the basic story. It feels less like an extended short and more like a feature now so I’ve definitely made some progress on that front.

The exiting news is that I’ve been given a copy of Ten Dead Men to watch! The reason for this is I need to write a shooting script that reflects the finished film – essentially a transcription of exactly what’s on screen. More work, I know, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the film a couple of months before the premiere. It’s not the finished version – the sound hasn’t been finished and it hasn’t been graded yet, but it is the final cut and the voiceover and the majority of the dialogue are all there so it’s fairly close. So a year and a half after writing the first draft I finally get to see my first fully produced feature, and despite the fact that it’s five-past midnight and I’ve got work in the morning I can’t wait much longer. I’ll post my thoughts on the finished film as soon as I get chance.