A.S.K. Announcement!

Just got back from Cannes, where director Dan Turner and I have been drinking for a few days, avec une side order of meeting film industry people. While there, we decided to ostentatiously announce the title of our feature-film project, codenamed ASK, with this video. Watch, and see conclusive proof of why I'm a writer, not a talker...

Doctor Who, Unicorns, Wasps & Roberts

Last night, I had the pleasure of watching Doctor Who in the company of the episode's author, Gareth Roberts. This lovely man threw a viewing bash, see, at splendid Soho bar The Enclave, for friends and associates. There was a large plasma-type TV and the bar served special Unicorn & Wasp cocktails, which were red and really quite potent.

As the episode began, we all cheered and clapped as Gareth's name appeared in the opening time vortex. Then laughed a lot, as you do when something's as funny as this fine episode. It struck me that this surely has to be the kind of moment which makes being a writer not so much worthwhile as dangerously addictive. After all that toil and trouble, you get to drink booze with your mates, watch as the fruit of your mind-loins is broadcast to millions, and have a bask. Just a little one. Where's the harm? Then back to work...

I have a feature on The Unicorn & The Wasp in the next issue of Doctor Who Magazine, out on May 29. It's based on set-visits I made last July, which were really very pleasant. See Lady Eddison's garden party? Well, that's what it really looked like - all sunny and delightful. This issue will also feature the second and final part of my coverage of the Sontaran two-parter, plus a preview of the upcoming episode eleven, Turn Left.

Right. Now, then. As Phill Barron helpfully reminded me, I really should think about going to Cannes. Dan and I leave tomorrow, and no-one will be safe! Furthermore, the mystery of what our film title ASK stands for, will finally be revealed...

Well, Bless My Soul...

... if I don't have a film playing in London this very evening.

God, that sounds great. And in a very real sense, it is.

Look At Me, my and director Dan Turner's short, is the opening film at tonight's Candid Projection Room - a screening/networking event thrown by the Candid Arts Trust. If you haven't had a chance to see the film yet, then why not trundle along, hmm?


In festival news, the film has been nominated for an award at next month's Heart Of England Film Festival, and has been selected by the Winnipeg International Film Festival. Hopefully, more selections and perhaps nominations will follow as the year progresses.

Dan and I are off to Cannes next week, to have meetings about our next project, the feature-film ASK, while showcasing Look At Me. It's a tremendously exciting prospect. While I'm mindful of the insane amount of nonsense which is legendarily uttered at Cannes by industry folk, it feels significant to be attending as a screenwriter, rather than as a journalist. We shall drink too much, talk too much and generally be too much.

Calm After The Storm

It's all been mad, lately. In a good way. No, make that a great way.

First things first: Look At Me, the short film collaboration between director Dan Turner and I (and of course a top-notch cast and crew) is finished. I've seen it and am really happy. It looks gorgeous in High Definition and I couldn't hope for a better first production credit. We're going to show it to people in a Soho, London screening room soon, which is simultaneously exciting and scary. Mostly exciting.

I've also just handed Dan the second draft of our feature film screenplay ASK (a code-name acronym, as opposed to a biopic about the rise and rise of the popular pizza restaurant chain), which I really feel is heading in the right direction. There'll inevitably be further drafts as we strive for perfection, but hopefully we now have the foundations in place. Oh, and over on his blog, Dan is offering a prize (possibly a Hot Chip album, or maybe just a hot chip) to anyone who can guess what ASK stands for. Naturally, bloggers who I may have told while drunk, are exempt from entering.

The last couple of weeks have also seen me toiling over a colossal feature for Doctor Who Magazine, titled The 100 Greatest Death Scenes of Doctor Who. When I came up with the idea, for some reason my brain didn't quite register how long 100 mini-articles would take to write and compile. But I've loved doing it, and hopefully the end result, in next month's issue, should be entertaining.

Throw in the fact that I'm still Acting Reviews Ed at heat magazine, and the past 14 days have just seemed to be 100% work, literally from start to finish. This weekend, incredibly, I don't seem to have any work to do. Or at least, I've made sure I don't. So it's all gonna be about relaxation and fun stuff. Time to fish a Corona out of the fridge, I'm saying...

Crazy Pencil Action... Busy Busy... Exciting Stuff...

Just sent boxes of pencils to six US movie studio moguls, courtesy of this here blog, with thanks to that port-swilling fool Piers for flagging it up. It's a symbolic type thang, to show them that writers would kinda like to be paid for online content in future. Not much to ask, you'd imagine. It's also amusing to picture their bemused expressions, and frantic calls to assistants to do something about the shedload of pencils in their lobby. It's really easy to do, as the site uses PayPal as their engine. Nice.

Things are mad at present. When I look at my calendar for the rest of the year, it makes my brow furrow. Started as heat's Acting Reviews Editor on Tuesday, which is tremendous fun but lots to get my head around. I'm simultaneously preparing to swoop into the second draft of the feature-length ASK script. Director Dan had very nice things indeed to say about the first draft, which was incredibly encouraging. Now it's just a matter of stepping it up a level. Then another. And, indeed, another.

In other exciting news, Dan showed me rough chunks of the short Look At Me, which was seriously thrilling. I kept getting him to rewind one scene in particular, and especially can't wait to see the finished version of that, with music, grading and all that crazy technical stuff. Not to mention the CGI content (yes, it's got CG and everything!) which will be developed over coming weeks. Marvellous stuff.

In yet more exciting news, I interviewed former Doctor Who Peter Davison this afternoon, for Doctor Who Magazine. That'll be an ambition realised, then. Not only is he the first pre-millennium Doctor I've interviewed, but he and Tom Baker were always 'my' Doctors in the 70s and early 80s. Thankfully, Peter was a lovely, laidback, funny bloke. He was also sporting an incongruous beard, what with still performing in the West End's Spamalot by night. And I didn't call him Doctor once, or indeed ask for a quick spin in the TARDIS. Phew.

Could This Be A... Holiday?

I'm here! 'Here' being San Sebastian, the wonderful city on Spain's north coast. It all feels damn good. Having said that, today has been mainly taken up by attempts to find a wireless connection, so I can finish my work and start properly enjoying myself.

I'm here for the city's 18th Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, which is a yearly delight. While I'm covering it for a magazine, though, this appears to be my one chance at a holiday in 2007. Me being me, of course, I'm already looking at the list of guests and wondering if I can interview any of them for UK magazines. One of these days, I'm due a long sit down with myself, to discuss why I seem to live to work, as opposed to the other way around. Hmmmm.

Last night, I saw a really clever Spanish film called Time Crimes. As the title suggests, it's about time travel, but deals with the subject in a truly mind-bending fashion. Some seriously clever scripting and plotting here, as time bends in on itself. A really confident debut from young director Nacho Vigalondo, who I was happy to congratulate afterwards. Local distribution is bizarrely eluding the film, although it's apparently been picked up for America.

After Time Crimes, the festival's opening party took place in the usual beach disco. I'm here on my own until my friend Jay Slater arrives tomorrow, so it was nice to meet director Marco Besas, who I first got to know at Porto's Fantasporto event last year. There was food, booze and blokes dressed as asylum inmates, running around shrieking like chimps.

Tonight, the main attraction is George Romero's fifth zombie film, Diary Of The Dead. Looking forward to that, and also a post-midnight screening of the ultra-nasty Guinea Pig: Flowers Of Flesh & Blood, if I can prop my eyes open that long.

In script news, I handed over the first draft of the feature-length ASK to director Dan Turner. 102 pages in 26 days! No wonder I feel a tad run-down. And filming is complete on the short Look At Me. See below for another on-set still from it, in which the scary Lionel (right) says something lascivious in a disturbed Shaun's ear. Can't wait to see the finished product, once editing and all the other post-shoot malarkey takes place. Right now, Dan's also on holiday. Talking of which, I'm going to stop blogging and start beering. It's holiday time!

Very Special DWM Issue... ASK update... Sharon O Caption Challenge...

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, out now in all good newsagents near you, is a very special piece of work. Not only because it has two of my features in it (the Sarah Jane Adventures cover story, and a piece celebrating robot dog K9's 30th birthday), but because it includes a contribution from a very helpful young man. Lucy's son Alf was kind enough to grant me a quote about how much he likes K9! What a star. He even opens the article, too...

This weekend, I'm feeling relieved. Decided to take a break from the ASK script over the last few days - not that I really had much choice, what with various bits of freelance work and heat mag temping to contend with. Anyway, as I printed out the rough draft last night, I was nervous that I would re-read it and weep. But thankfully, I like it. By the time I've finished with it this week, it will hopefully be a good, solid first draft. Then drafts two, three, six and indeed 27 will turn it into a right ol' diamond.

The highlight of this week was undoubtedly hanging around with Sharon Osbourne, backstage at Parkinson. By popular demand (well, Piers demanded it, and he's popular), here's a pic of me and Mrs O, walking down some stairs. If anyone would like to come up with a caption, or indeed try to guess the number of chins I have on display, then go right ahead...

The Heat Is On

It was announced in the heat office today, so I can now tell you: I'm going to be the magazine's Reviews Editor for a while. At least three months. Very cool indeed.

The main thrust of my career is still, needless to say, screenwriting. That won't change. But I was especially attracted to this opportunity because it will take me three days per week - and flexible days at that. A handy halfway house between the chaotic wilds of freelancing and the security/constraint of full-time office toil. Also, as I've blogged before, I love heat - the mag, the people, the everything. So hooray!

I start November 12. Between now and then, several other great things will happen...

(1) The Look At Me short will be filmed, between Oct 23 and 26. Good God, it starts a week today. Awesome.

(2) I'll finish the first draft of the ASK feature script by Oct 27. It's been sitting at 81 pages since Saturday. Rather than finish it in dribs and drabs, I've decided to take this week away from it, then go back to it refreshed this weekend and have another big pass over it, then add the ending. Nice. While I'm pleased with my 81 pages in 14 days, incidentally, take a look at Phill Barron's blog for a far more impressive example of speed scriptosity.

(3) I've been invited to San Sebastian's Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, for the fourth year running. It's a wonderful, sensibly-sized event in a gorgeous seaside town, full of really cool little bars and nice restaurants. Very hard to resist. So I think San Sebastian may well act as my holiday for this year, between Oct 27 and Nov 4. Sure, I'll be there in a journalistic capacity, writing about it for Metal Hammer or something, but eight days of watching films while simultaneously drinking beer isn't the hardest work I'll ever do.

Right, then. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to lounge around, feeling knackered but unsure of exactly what to do with myself.

Good day to you.

Development Heaven

Pre-production on Look At Me - the short I've written, based on a story by director Dan Turner - is going full steam ahead. The Elstree Studios offices of Magician Pictures are a-buzz. And somewhere amid all the logistical and financial preparation, Dan and I are finding time to fine-tune the script. There's nothing like knowing a screenplay is going to be filmed in 13 days' time to motivate you into making it just so.

Last few days, we've been talking about details via Skype (which might sound like a medieval disease but is an extremely useful portal for free computer-based phone chats, written chat and exchanging files). Everything from the bigger Devil's Advocate queries (is the ending enough?) to the XYZ co-ordinates of character behaviour (does Amy stand at one end of the sofa for too long, with nothing to do?). I'll go away and make tweaks, send the script back to Dan and we talk again. It's a wondrous process, greatly enhanced by the fact that (a) I've met the two lead actors and can now picture them while writing action and dialogue; (b) I can reference online location photos, to see where these scenes will be shot; and (c) I can take a sneak peek at Dan's storyboards.

I'm still writing the full-length ASK's first draft at the same time. Only three pages today so far, but there's life in this old goat yet. In other news, there's also been a non-script-related work development, but I can't blog about it 'til next week. Oh, and I've finally stopped smoking. Good day to you.

It's All Becoming Real

An exciting day, to say the least. At lunchtime, I met the two leading actors set for our short film, which will be shot this month. They were lovely people, and seem so right for the roles. One of them is also potentially in the frame for the feature-length ASK, which is nice to bear in mind while writing that script. I came home in the afternoon, all fired up, and hammered out some pages.

The short film is called Look At Me - a somewhat freaky tale of relationships, voyeurism and sex. Gotta love the sex. Locations are being sorted, and I'm stunned by how quickly it's all coming together. That'll be the relentless drive and enthusiasm of director Dan Turner at Magician Pictures, then. Can't wait to see LAM on screen.

This evening, I went to a screening of an exceedingly poor horror film called Shrooms, about some American students necking the titular drug while on holiday in Ireland. Featuring characters doing insanely stupid things and falling over every five minutes, it was partly commissioned by the Irish Film Board. If nothing else, it gave me hope, when stuff like this can get bankrolled. I was only too happy when the end-titles appeared, and I was able to hurtle from the screening rooms like some crazy champagne cork. I went along to the Development Pool - a monthly gathering of creative types who meet, drink booze and gossip. Much more fun.

October Rocks!

In fact, I'm going to start calling it Rocktober. Only in private, mind: no need to boycott this blog in protest. But it's only just struck me how downright cool October is, on a professional level. I'm writing the full-length ASK script, a short film will hopefully be made from another script of mine, and at the end of the month, I have a short story in a hardback collection to be published by Big Finish.

Titled Bernice Summerfield: The Missing Adventures (Bernice is a kind of feisty, female Indiana Jones invented by Paul Cornell, if you haven't had the pleasure of her company), the book is a special 15th anniversary tome and it's a real honour to be in the company of writers like Andrew Cartmel and Ben Aaronovitch - men who toiled over late 80s Doctor Who. What's more, it was edited by Rebecca Levene, the experienced writer/editor/genius who once oversaw Doctor Who's Virgin Books range. My story's called Prime Five and sees Bernice becoming the very unwilling subject of a new military experiment, unleashing much mayhem. Rebecca wanted a somewhat slasher movie-esque tale, and I was only too happy to try and deliver just that, although it also ended up reminiscent of The Terminator in some ways.

Oh, and thanks to the Script Factory I've won a ticket for Steve Buscemi's masterclass on October 19 as part of the London Film Festival. If you fancy it (and let's face it, the man's a legend), the ticket hotline is 020 7928 3232. See this link for full booking details.

Tell you another reason why it's so good that October rocks - helps keep my mind off the impending Red Planet Prize results. Keep busy, people: busy is good...

31 Days

That's how long I now have to write my first draft for the motion picture presently known as ASK. To say I'm excited is an understatement. Director Dan and I have settled on the right treatment: now it's just a matter of writing the script. As long as I write at least three pages a day, I'll be fine. And could you possibly have a cooler deadline than Halloween, I ask you?

Progress, Sweet Progress

Had a grand evening with director Dan. After sensibly discussing treatment tweaks - largely centring on changing the function of one character and keeping our original idea intact - we got down to some booze in an old-school Elstree hotel bar, which was lent even more personality by a passionate posse of German card players.

So now, I need to update the treatment, ready to spend October writing the script. And before that, there's a short script to work on, which Dan's planning to film fairly soon. Oh yes, it's all happening...

Had the pleasure of bumping into Paul Campbell at the train station this morning - he and a colleague were arriving for another day at the BBC's Writing Academy, which is now in its second week. As he says in his latest post, it's "bloody hard work", but in an immensely positive way. Which kinda sums up writing as a whole, doesn't it?

Disclaimer: Any card players pictured on Jason Arnopp's blog may not necessarily be the ones he encountered in real life, during his wacky adventures.

The Next Step... Third BSSC Round Announced

I've written the first draft of the treatment for the film project known as ASK, and handed it over to director Dan at Magician Pictures. And here's where some folk, myself included, might be nervous: will he hate it? Love it? Regard it with screaming indifference?

Of course, the reality is none of the above. He likes it a lot, but has issues with certain elements which we need to discuss. Maybe the odd story element we originally conceived has become overshadowed, or overly cluttered with Other Stuff. Or maybe it's still there in my head, but just not clear enough in the treatment.

This kind of collaboration with directors or whoever can seem intimidating. What if the vision gets diluted, changed or burnt so badly it can only be identified by dental records? But here's the way I see it: the last person you want to work with is someone who takes the 'That'll do' approach. Dan isn't like that - he's passionate about making ASK the best treatment, script and film it can possibly be. And that's what you need. Frankly, if I'd handed over this first draft and he was overjoyed with every damn word and scene, I'd be a little suspicious. Is that perverse? Maybe. But it makes sense, to me at least. Besides, we worked so well together on the basic plot, that I know we're thinking along very similar lines. I'm confident that he's not suddenly about to call me at 3am and bellow, "I know what it needs! A leopard! On page 75! With a fucking machete!".

So tomorrow, Dan and I will meet up and hammer out an agreement on how the finished treatment needs to run. We will then drink vats of booze and get ourselves arrested after engaging in violent combat in our hotel's gardens, naked as the days we were born. Of course, it might not be like that at all: I'm just speculating.

The third round of the British Short Screenplay Competition has been announced. Happily, a few members of our beloved Scribosphere are still sitting pretty among the qualifiers! So a big 'word up' to Dom, Andrew G, Martin-Two-Scripts and other people who I'll add when I discover who they are!

Hooray, and indeed, yahoo!

I just signed the contract for my First Ever Paid Script Commission, and posted it off to Magician Pictures.

Just had to stop and re-read that sentence, there, and it felt as good to absorb as it did to write. I've spent this week writing a 10-page treatment for the feature-length project, which is currently known as ASK, and then I've got five weeks to deliver the first draft. Director Dan Turner and I have developed the idea, and Dan will direct. We're also working on a short, which will hopefully be filmed beforehand. Marvellous! See those fireworks? They're happening inside my brain.