Departure: DELAYED

Hello! I hope you are well and keeping safe - it's a very strange time again isn't it - just as it looked as though the world had a handle on COVID-19, things are beginning to take a turn for the worst again. So, please do look after yourself.

As you can probably tell from the heading, we’ve (the Departure team) decided to delay the filming of Departure. We all decided that it's better to wait a little longer and make sure we can shoot Departure in a safe environment - we don't want to be putting any of the cast or crew in any undue danger. So, we're now looking at an early spring shoot - probably March or April 2021. Hopefully by then, the world will be a little bit safer.

We've spoken to all the cast and crew who we currently have onboard and they will all still be part of the project next year, which is wonderful as we've some great talent.

This will also give us time to look for some extra funding as we recently had the quotes in for insurance - it made our collective eyes water! We're going to look at various funding assistance schemes which will hopefully give us what we need for our admin costs.

It is disappointing not to be filming this year - but when you think about those who have been risking their health over the last few months and those who have sadly lost loved ones - it makes complete sense to postpone it - we need to make sure everyone is safe and well and to do our bit in not spreading the virus.

Myself and the team will of course keep updating and revealing more crew - so look out for that.

In the meantime, look after yourself!

Finally! I've updated my website

Hello all, I hope you’ve all been keeping okay in these tough and quite frankly, weird times - if we had an alien invasion on Christmas Day, I think most of us would just casually shrug and get back to our sherry and mince pies - nothing would surprise anymore.

It’s only taken me half a year, but I’ve finally updated my website - thank goodness. I’ve added a whole new area dedicated to Departure - which is finally back up and underway after this period of lockdown. I’ll be writing a separate piece on that soon, but for now, you can read all about it on the Departure page.

I’ve also updated the Exit 6 Festival page with all my latest interviews - including Sanjeev Bhaskar, Grady Hendrix, Christina Ochoa and many more. Don’t just read my interviews, head over to the Exit 6 Film Festival site for some amazing interviews with some big names in the film industry: www.exit6filmfestival.com.

I also have a short play being produced over in the US by the always brilliant Karen Kay - it’s called Brothers and it should be filmed, so as soon as I have the link, I’ll share it right here. Really looking forward to seeing that one.

And, finally I’m writing a short monologue about my experience in lockdown for the brilliant Mysolation Monolgue. Check out the great work on Facebook and Twitter.

Stay safe out there everyone.

Where does the money go?

As of writing, we’re 32% funded on Departure with two weeks to go (I’m not stressed at all! Help me!). We’re heading into the final straight to get this film off the ground, so I thought it would be useful to explain just where the money we raise goes. Those of you who have invested can see what we’re going to use your much welcomed pledge for, while those thinking about donating can see the potential of where it goes.

Location

Departure is set in a room at an airport hotel. While we haven’t been able to secure filming at an actual airport hotel, we have found a hotel willing to let us film. A large proportion of the budget will go to securing the room for 48 hours straight - this means that the rate is slightly higher than it would normally cost to stay in the hotel. The hotel has to factor in disruption, two days continuous use of the room and insurance.

Actors

We’re so lucky to have Katie Sheridan on board as Beth and we’re currently looking at casting Beth’s dad Robert - fingers crossed we get our first choice! Another large amount of the budget will go to paying the actors - they are professionals, it’s their career, so it’s only appropriate that we pay them their going fee. We also have to factor in their expenses - so if they have to travel a distance we’ll need to pay for that. If they need to stay over, we need to account for that as well. Plus, we have to feed them! Can’t let them go hungry.

Crew

You can’t make a good short movie without a good crew. Luckily, we have Andrew Harmer already on board as director and editor, but we still need to recruit a Director of Photography, sound, lights and make-up. Make-up would be duel role as we need someone to make the character of Robert look poorly, so make-up effects will be needed as well.

Music

An important part of any film, is the music. So once the film is roughly edited, we need to think about hiring a composer to take the film and lay down some tracks. Really important to get this right - it creates mood, tone and emotion - we need someone who has a great background in film scores. Alternatively we can use your pledges to buy the rights to certain tracks. But, I think we’ll be looking at getting a composer in.

Post production

Once everything is filmed and in the can (I know, old saying, but hugely enjoyable to say) the film needs to go into post. We need a budget in place to add in special effects, editing costs , titles and credits and grading.

Admin

Yep, can’t get away from it. Certain costs will go towards insurance, paying our brilliant crowd fund platform GreenLit and other little admin costs like expenses for cast and crew. Oh and catering - this is hugely important!

No doubt, I’ve forgotten a few things, but I hope this goes someway to showing you where your hugely appreciated pledges go to. If you want to pledge, please do in the knowledge that it’ll go some way in making the above a reality. Pledge here if you would like to.

Life got in the way

It’s been a while since I’ve done an update – I would like to say it’s because I got snapped up to write a new Netflix show, or to do a polish on the latest Marvel script. But no, it’s been the school holidays, I’ve moved to a new house, am changing jobs and doing general stuff – it’s called life.

However, I have been progressing Departure and it’s coming along slowly but surely. Andrew and I were delighted when we got a new producer attached – the brilliant Kristen Brookman, who also has her own project in production – Uninspired Moments.

We have also decided to use the exciting new film dedicated funding site GreenLit. I’m currently putting the page together so hopefully we’ll be ready to launch very soon. Andrew is putting together the promo video and it’s all looking good.

We also had the hugely talented Cong Nguyen produce some storyboard artwork – which is what you can see on this post. We have some others to release, but we’ll do that every now and then.

We’ve had a flicker of success with potential locations and an idea of the budget we’ll probably need. So, all being well, we’ll launch by the end of the month, beginning of September.

Personally, I picked up an old script from a few years ago that I worked on with QE Collective and am working my way through editing it to pieces. I had an idea to combine it with an old short I wrote, and it fits together nicely – well, I think it does. I’ve almost finished the draft and then it’s time to print and get the pen out – weirdly, this is one of my favourite parts of the process.

I was also lucky enough to interview the wonderful Christina Ochoa for Exit 6 Film Festival. Speaking of which, don’t forget to buy your tickets – the quality of the movies this year, look staggering. It gets better each year.

Right, that’s it – short and sweet. I’m off to do some wallpapering and by that I mean watching my dad do it properly rather than the slap dash work I’d do.

It's been a while, but Departure is back on track!

You know how it is, best made plans being swept aside by that little thing known as life. Personally, since the last update, I’ve been made redundant, got a new job and moved house. Tired? You bet! Not much writing has been done - a couple of script polishes, but that’s about it.

However, now all those life events have settled, I can now turn my attention to Departure. It’s been slowly bubbling away, but i’m delighted to say myself and Andrew (Harmer - director) are cranking up the gears. We are putting the crowd fund promotional material together and hope to launch within the next two months - hopefully sooner.

We also have a new member of the team - it’s my pleasure to welcome Kristen Brookman (@kristymint) on board. Kristen will be a great asset to the team. We’ll of course keep you up-to-date on all our other recruits as and when they join in the fun.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (@Departure2019) and Instagram (departurefilm2019).

Departure - what's it about?

So then, you may or may not be aware that I’m (along with our director and producer) about to start work on a short film project called Departure. I thought I’d let you in on what it’s all about.

Departure is about the loss of a loved one and the impact this has on the people left behind. It’s about the strong bond between a father and daughter set to an emotional and often humorous backdrop of a science fiction tale about alien intervention. It is a visual metaphor about losing someone close to you to illness.

Robert is convinced that he is about to be “taken” from the very specific location of an airport hotel room. His daughter, Beth has come along with him for moral support – she doesn’t think he’s going anywhere. Robert believes the same thing happened to his wife, Beth’s mother, and his departure will lead him back to her.

Beth tries to convince her dad that her mum wasn’t taken, but died. However, Robert won’t hear of it and continues his preparations for intergalactic travel leaving him emancipated and poorly.

As the night progresses, father and daughter reminisce and Beth gradually begins to accept her father’s reasons for believing he is about to go off world – heartbreak.

Then the lights go out…

She did it...

My last post was about my friend, Karen Kay, and her brand new play (Turned Tides) as writer and at the last minute, one of the actors. Well, I’m delighted to say it was a huge success - it played over several nights to a sold out crowd and the reviews were all extremely positive. Taking place at the Famous Pony Inn, it’s a classic who done it in the vein of the film, Clue. A round of applause for Karen and the rest of the team - can’t wait to see what’s next. Check out the Facebook page for more brilliant pictures.

Picture: Jim Dayton.

Turned Tides

Check this out. A great friend and brilliant writer, Karen Kay, is about to debut her new play as both writer and actor! I had a sneak peak at the script and it’s really good - very funny. If you like the film Clue, you’ll love this.

Keep your eye on the name, I’m pretty sure we’ll see many more plays (and films) from Karen in the future.

Slashers

So, after listening to all of the slasher episodes from the brilliant Evolution of Horror podcast (which I highly recommend you check out), I decided that I would have a bash at writing one myself. So I immersed myself in such movies as Blood Rage, The House on Sorority Row, Prom Night, Bay of Blood, Pieces, Dressed to Kill and Black Christmas. Needless to say I had to watch Coco and Inside Out after!

After the bloody movie marathon, I decided on a service station location for my slasher, set in the early 1990s. Emphasis is on a variety of different characters that I hope will subvert the somewhat cliched ones that appear in the majority of this genre - well, we’ll see. I’m only a few pages in!

Speaking of horror - good luck to everyone who submitted to the bloodlist - I believe the results are out soon.

Oh and if you are a horror fan, go check out the Faculty of Horror podcast as well.