Birdeatsbaby album launch...

Went to the Birdeatsbaby album launch at the Marlborough in Brighton last night - as expected it was ace. Both times I've seen them now they've had really great support acts. Last night it was Bitter Ruin and Charlie Khan and both were really excellent and different and cool - check out their websites for more.

There were loads of people crammed into the Marlborough (a venue that badly needs air conditioning or a window or a hole in the wall as it gets crazy hot when there's like more than two people in there) and a really fantastic atmosphere throughout. Birdeatsbaby played their set dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland (awesome) and gave a really excellent performance. On the one hand it's great to see really accomplished musicians playing really well, but the real appeal, as with the support bands too, is seeing a band that's refreshingly different and willing to take a few chances. I picked up the album last night and have been listening this morning - it's really good, go buy it here.

But make sure you buy Ten Dead Men first, obviously.

And go read the first part of my short story here - that one you can get for free.

Here's their latest video:

Birdeatsbaby - MISERABLE from Philippa Bloomfield on Vimeo.

Okay, I'm done plugging stuff for now. With the Cannes diary and the rest of my short story, plus whatever else comes up, I'm aiming to post a new blog every day this week so be sure to check back regularly. Enjoy the rest of your weekend...

The Day They Tore The Dark Room Down - Part 1 of 3

Just to make things extra confusing with the Cannes diary and the Ten Dead Men release and everything else, I finally finished a short story I've been writing since January and have posted the first part in it's own special blog. It is finished - this isn't one of those things where I post the first part and never finish it - I'm just breaking it up so people can read it in chunks as it's rather long.

I'll provide a full explanation at some point, probably when I've posted the whole thing. All you need to know for now is that it's a spin off from a script I wrote and the first ten pages of that script have also been posted on the blog. Might be worth reading that first just to get an idea of the characters and stuff.

I've disabled the comments on that blog but feel free to comment here or send me an e-mail if you feel inclined to do so. And I've set up a mailing list to notify people of new stories, which seems to work okay.

For now you can read part one of The Day They Tore The Dark Room Down here.

Checking in...

So the Ten Dead Men DVD release has been going really well. Thanks for all the lovely messages - I appreciate the support and hope the film lives up to expectations! The big news is we're currently No. 8 in the Asda DVD chart. See, I took a screen print to prove it in case it didn't last, but it hasn't changed yet:


I haven't had any feedback on the film or the DVD yet, although personally I'm really impressed with the presentation and the special features that have been included. We have had one imdb review since the release and although the rating isn't great it's a balanced and quite fair review that points out the good as well as the bad. This supports my theory that people are more likely to take the time to review a film fairly when they've paid money to see it.

Had a busy week and as such not really caught up with real life following Cannes and the DVD release. I will finish writing up my Cannes diary, but thought I'd just check in briefly for now as it's kind of low on my list of priorities at the moment. I'm mainly busy with fun stuff rather than work - went to see Andrew Collins and Richard Herring record their podcast live at the Duke of York's cinema in Brighton last night. That was a lot of fun and having never met anyone who listens to the podcast before it was nice to be sitting in a packed out cinema full of fans. Going to see Star Trek tonight as me and Brother Pete are the only people in the whole world who haven't seen it yet, and then going to a gig tomorrow - so this not having any time to do any work is kind of self-inflicted at the moment.

TEN DEAD MEN UK DVD RELEASE!!!

After months of me going on about it, the UK DVD of Ten Dead Men has finally been released today. I picked up my copy from HMV this afternoon:

You can get it from Amazon, Play, HMV, Asda and Sainsbury's, or rent it from LoveFilm. If you haven't already seen the film please e-mail me or leave a comment letting me know what you think. And if you have the time to write a review on Amazon, Play, LoveFilm or IMDB that would be much appreciated. Also, if you know anyone else who might be interested in the film please do recommend it.

Hope you enjoy the film.

Here's the official press release:

TEN DEAD MEN is Unleashed on DVD today!

Independent British action film TEN DEAD MEN is unleashed on DVD on Monday 25th May 2009 from Britfilms.Tv.

Ryan thought he’d left behind his life of violence, but a visit from an old colleague leads him down a bloody path of revenge and redemption. Ten Men took away his life. Now Ten Men will pay.

Ten Dead Men is an independently produced British action film that plays like a cross between Man On Fire & Get Carter. Featuring the UK’s hottest acting and action talent working alongside the UK’s leading parkour, mixed martial arts and pro-wrestling talent to create what is truly the last word in independent action films… but don’t just take our word for it:

"...quite the stylish exercise in violence and brutality!", Film Critics United

“It is an imaginative, well-crafted British gangster film”, MJ Simpson

“Grisly, funny, and extremely well made, Ten Dead Men exceeds expectations” DVD Verdict

You can pick up a copy of the special edition DVD (packed with hours of extras as well as an exclusive FREE 28 page comic book) from TODAY at HMV, ASDA & Sainsburys stores.

Alternatively you can order online from Amazon.co.uk or Play.com priced from £5.99.

Ten Dead Men is also available to rent from EasyCinema, LoveFilm and Blockbuster.co.uk.

And as a SPECIAL Freebie to celebrate the release you can EXCLUSIVELY download a copy of our first film Left for Dead for FREE at http://L4download.britfilms.tv/

Support British film.

For more on the film check out www.tendeadmen.co.uk or www.mod-life.net

Cannes Day 1

I'm going to post these one at a time over the course of the next few days to break it up a bit, interspersed with Ten Dead Men news - I think I may have mentioned that it's released in the UK on Monday? There were ads on TV last night which should be playing all weekend.

Anyway, I managed to keep a diary the whole time I was in Cannes so this is a transcription of that diary. The first couple of entries are really quite dull, but I promise it gets better.

Just a quick summary of the characters - we were staying with the staff of the Stealth Media Group who had sorted out our accommodation and stuff so any reference to Stealth people is referring to them, not random French ninjas. I was also staying with Ten Dead Men director Ross Boyask and organiser of the Phantasmagoria film festival Justin Richards, so any reference to 'we' is probably referring to them and not my multiple personalities.

15/05/09 01:00AM

Arrived late last night into Nice airport. Waited for the rest of the Stealth team then realised they were coming into another terminal so got a bus. Met the others then took a taxi from Nice to Cannes. I'm happy that my phone works but wary of over-using it. I keep writing a tentative tweet then deleting it for fear of sounding like an arse. 'Arrived in Cannes - super excited!!!' or something - I can put myself in the place of someone reading that and thinking 'What an arse!' Anyway, it works so I can stay in touch with Andrea and text celebrity sightings to mum.

Also, I'm strangely not super-excited yet. I still have no idea what it's going to be like and it kind of feels like going on holiday at the moment. The apartment we're staying in is really nice - huge too. We went for a walk in search of a shop and bought supplies. So far the only French I've used is 'Merci' which seemed to work. Am now waiting for everyone to go to bed as I feel tomorrow may be a bit mad.

Back home...

Got back late last night after spending just over a week in Cannes. Made some good contacts, saw a few famous faces and watched a lot of films. I managed to keep a diary so I'll type up a full report when I get chance.

Until then, guess what? Ten Dead Men is released in the UK on Monday! You can pre-order it here. Looks like the press we've been getting is starting to pay off - we're now at 1,437 in the amazon.co.uk dvd chart (I know that doesn't sound very impressive but considering we were at around 30,000 at one point it's a huge improvement) and we're #49 in the horror chart. Okay, it's not technically a horror film but I'm not complaining.

Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered the DVD so far - hope you enjoy the film!

Cannes...

Going to Cannes, hence no posts for a while and there are not likely to be any until the end of next week. If my phone works abroad I may send updates to twitter, and I'm going to keep an old fashioned diary to write up when I get back. See you next week...

DEVO...

Had an excellent week so far - it was Moviebar on Tuesday and we came second in the quiz which isn't bad. I practiced my networking skills by getting very drunk and rambling at people a lot. Then last night Brother Pete and I went to see Devo which was awesome. I was going to write a massive blog and post videos and stuff, but Brother Pete has detailed the evening much better than I ever could here. Plus I'm too busy for blogging - it's exactly a week until I'm going to Cannes...

LiVid...

One of the first major writing projects I ever worked on was the script for a comic that my friend Steve was going to illustrate. Only the script turned into a bit of a monster spanning three 'books' that were each epic in themselves, plus I didn't know anything about page layout and panel breakdowns so it was pretty indecipherable. I think I was about 14 or 15 when this was going on.

Anyway, after that I started to focus more on writing short stories and a novel I never finished before moving into script-writing. Meanwhile, Steve focused more on music and started a band called LiVid in which he played guitar. It was around this time that I abandoned Stoke-on-Trent for Norwich and though we stayed in touch it was a good few years before I got to see Livid play live. By that time they were so accomplished musically and so full of energy onstage it wasn't like seeing a mate's band play - they were real, genuine rock stars.

I did manage to stay up to date with their ups and downs, achievements and setbacks over the years and am still amazed that they managed to persevere and stay together for so long. And now it's finally paid off - their first full-length album is released tomorrow and you can get it here, and here. I recommend you check them out, if only to support music that's been crafted through hard work and experience rather than churned out overnight and played through a pretty face. Their website is here.

Script Format Fascists...

So far I've had two feedbacks on my short script and as usual I seem to have divided my audience. I've also left feedback for a few other scripts which is how I came across the Script Format fascists and found myself getting rather angry at 12.30am after several beers. I want to point out that it's not reading feedback on my script that provoked this reaction - I haven't had a format Nazi yet but it's surely only a matter of time.

Seriously - does it really matter if someone uses (CONT'D) when dialogue goes over a page? Did a memo go round saying not to do that only no one told Final Draft (which does it automatically)? I know I've only had one film made, but I've read scripts online, I've been given scripts to read by actual production companies and the fact is everyone writes differently. But in the end, it's a blueprint, it's not a finished product; it's there as a basic design for the finished product. And if someone rejects a script because you wrote (V.O.) instead of (O.S.), or your margins are 0.1pt out or you use a passive voice once in a while, then you're probably better off not getting your film made by that person. The reason people point out that stuff so much in script feedback (and I'm guilty of this too, occasionally) is that it's easy. If you know the rules it's easy to spot someone breaking them. It doesn't mean it's a bad script. And once you're in production script formatting is the least of your worries.

So use Final Draft or Celtx or something that makes things easy on you, but don't agonise over the formatting - I guarantee that if you get feedback from someone who only picks up on the formatting that person has never had a film made.

Rant over - here's an ace Nina Hagen video: