FWOAN Selected for DMOFF...

More FWOAN news - we've been selected for the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival.

DMOFF is an International, Independent online event for Independent filmmakers, all Short, Documentary, Feature, Music Video and Web Series. The goal of DMOFF is to Provide homes to the group of young and vibrant film enthusiasts who are committed to creating spaces for independent cinema and devoted to spreading the knowledge of the modern visual art form to all interested. We at DMOFF aim at bringing out the best Short, Documentary, Feature, Music video and web series from around the globe and to present it all on one single platform which is our website.

Find out more info about the fest by visiting their website HERE.

Snuffles Script Selected for Boobs & Blood IFF 2018...

Groovy news, folks! My darkly comedic horror screenplay "How Mr Snuffles III and Others Met Their Maker" has been officially selected to be a part of the 2018 Boobs & Blood International Film Festival, which takes place October 5th - 6th in Los Angeles.

Sponsored by Final Draft and Wild Eye Releasing, the festival supports a range of breast cancer charities, with all online profits being donated to the Breast Cancer charity 'Feel Your Boobies', the festival also boasts an all-female judging panel this year.

It's not just the ladies who should feel their boobies, though, the guys too - yep, although it's much less common, chaps can get breast cancer as well (we've all got breast tissue) ... so next time you're having a check downstairs, mosey on upstairs and have a quick check there as well.

You can follow the B&B Facebook page HERE, and see the schedule of festival events HERE. The first issue of Boobs & Blood Magazine will also be released in October.

FWOAN - Interview with actor Clark Alexander...

Following on from interviews with Thomasin Lockwood (Mindi) and Lisa Opara (Sally), we've now got an interview with our lead actor Clark Alexander, who plays Marty in For Want Of A Nail.

What appeals to you about the character of Marty?
I really like the challenge of being able to play a character with OCD. I like how much Marty jokes and makes light of his OCD, yet the film has some dark and heavy themes so it's nice to find the light within that.

What has your most challenging role been so far?

Marty looks to be my most challenging role thus far, which is really exciting. But before this, it would have to be Trigorin in The Seagull by Anton Chekhov.

Skip on over to the official FWOAN website to read the full interview by clicking HERE.

Screenplay Sample Pages - How Mr Snuffles III and Others Met Their Maker...

How Mr Snuffles III and Others Met Their Maker is a dark comedy novella I wrote concerning the twisted exploits of Elnora, a pet therapist with a sideline in post-mortem pet portraiture, and Parker, a gifted taxidermist, who join forces to explore the limits of love, death, and psychopathy in the warped world of celebrityville. You can find out more info about it HERE.

I have since adapted it into a screenplay, which allowed me to expand on the characters and story first established in the novella - and now you can read some sample pages from the script.

These twenty-five pages are all taken from various points in the first half of the screenplay, giving you just enough of a taste without revealing too much. READ THEM HERE.

Snuffles: The Screenplay...

A while back I accidentally wrote a novella called "How Mr Snuffles III and Others Met Their Maker". I say accidentally because it had started out as a short story which then grew into a novella on-the-fly. I found myself hopping back and forth inserting new passages and ideas and it was one of the most 'free-wheeling' instances of writing that I have experienced thus far.

It is a black comedy about an orphaned pet therapist/serial killer aficionado who teams up with a gifted taxidermist to explore the limits of love, death, and psychopathy ... so yeah, the jettest of jet black comedies.

A nearly complete version of the layout/guide.

There's nothing quite like a good old corkboard with actual, physical index cards and pins.

Anyway, a while after writing the novella I had the idea of converting it into a script, but various other things I wanted to write slid in first until now, a couple of years down the line. I've returned to it for a little bit of creative writing fun to kick off 2018. With a fair bit of groundwork already done in writing the novella, I figured this would be a project I could hammer out efficiently...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue and also see a little sample...

For Want Of A Nail

I've alluded to a project called "For Want Of A Nail" for a while now on this blog, and finally I can say a bit more about it.

A year-and-a-bit ago I wrote a short screenplay (adapted from my short story), entered a competition, got short-listed, and ultimately my script was picked to be the one that was to be made into a short film by Oakhill Productions (one of their past projects is the award-winning short film All's Well, which most recently won the audience choice award at the Veteran's Film Festival for its portrayal of PTSD)...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

"For Want of a Nail" - a bit of news...

Just a quick post to say that "For Want of a Nail" - which started out as a short story, but which I then adapted into a short screenplay - has made the shortlist for a script competition. Lovely stuff!

For more information on the story itself go HERE and scroll down.

"A Sideline In Vengeance" update #5...

So, here we are, the best part of two months since the last update post on "A Sideline In Vengeance" - and the script is complete! It clocks in at 100 pages (ooh, what a lovely round number).

These last few weeks I have been going back and forth, skimming around the script tweaking specific scenes or characters, or elements of the plotting and overall story, as well as going through it from the first to last page seeking out little changes and improvements to make...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue reading...

"A Sideline In Vengeance" - update #4...

It's been a while since the last update (which was at the arse end of January), but here we are: another draft was completed towards the end of February, and now I'm cracking on with the next draft.

Just a few changes ... *ahem* ...

At this point it's all about small tweaks, nitty gritty details, and generally an awful lot of fettling and fiddling about. I love this point in the journey of writing - you've got a solid script a few drafts in and finally you can focus on all the small details that add extra layers and provide little details that flesh out the story, characters, and scenes even further...

Click "READ MORE" below to see the rest of this post...

Flavours of the Month: January 2016...

Hobbits, exploitation flicks, and a brand new screenplay - just a couple of this month's flavours...

Click "READ MORE" below for January 2016's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...

"A Sideline In Vengeance" - update #3...

A quick update: Today I reached the end of Act II - on page 72. It's currently at a 'Draft 1.5' stage, as I made a few ad hoc tweaks along the way as-and-when they popped into my head or I stumbled upon something in my notes I had forgotten about.

Next up I shall go through all of Act II and make some changes. It's also a good way to get several days worth of writing straightened out in your head within a much more compressed time frame in advance of starting work on the following act.

I'm happy to say that it's coming together nicely!

"A Sideline In Vengeance" is off to a good start...

A quick update on the screenwriting front: Four days into the process and already I've got the first act done - and tweaked into a third draft for good measure.

So things are off to a good start - hopefully this vibe continues! Thus far I'm pleased with how the scenes are coming out, I'm able to navigate (with the help of numbered record cards for clear reference) the myriad of hand-written pages of notes from December (which laid out all the characters, their journeys, and the overall plot), and I'm still feeling good about the whole endeavour.

Next week I'll be heading into the belly of the beast - Act II.

"A Sideline In Vengeance" is underway...

After getting the bulk of the planning done during December (and a little bit of last minute tinkering in the first few days of 2016), I've started writing my new screenplay called "A Sideline In Vengeance".

It's a conspiracy thriller inspired by some dark and twisted stories that have been hitting the headlines in the UK over the last couple of years...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

Short stories and other writing projects...

Recently I've been working on some short stories, a form I used to write in a number of years ago, but from which I got distracted by other creative endeavours. In addition to using the short story format to further improve my writing and try out some things, I'm also pursuing it for competitions as well as submissions to publications that specialise in short stories.

Right now I've just started putting together "We Should Eat Ice Cream Too" (sci-fi), and I've also got "The Seventh Rub" (no particular genre and more of a personal tale), and "Dug Deep" (horror). "Dug Deep" is a ghost story situated in a collapsed mine as trapped workers are painstakingly being rescued, while "The Seventh Rub" deals with the issue of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. "We Should Eat Ice Cream Too" - a subtle kind of sci-fi story - deals with themes of immigration, societal cohesion, and family - particularly fathers and sons...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue this post...

"Sleb" is into the quarter finals!

Good news on this Sunday morning - the screenplay version of "Sleb" has reached the Quarter Finals of the Screenwriting Goldmine Awards Competition 2014! Click HERE to see the list of Quarter Finalists.

Click "READ MORE" for, well, more...

I'm writing a book...

I've mentioned a couple of times in recent weeks that I was planning a new project for the coming few months and so, without any further obtuse references to it, my new project is: adapting my screenplay "Sleb" into a novel.

Click "READ MORE" below for further details...

"Summer Road" getting re-drafted...

In 2010 I wrote a screenplay called "Summer Road", which was submitted to the BBC Writersroom and got a full read-through. It's important to note that getting a full read-through at the Writersroom is a tough ask in itself. They get 10,000 scripts a year and kick back the vast majority after a mere 10 pages - regardless of whether you agree with their system and approach to vetting unsolicited screenplays or not, those are the breaks when it comes to the Writersroom - so, point being, getting a full read-through is not exactly a common occurrence there.

Anyway - I've returned to this comedy drama to give it a bit of a bashing around to bring it up to my current screenwriting standard - and then put it out to a couple more places and bank it before advancing onto the next screenplay project I have in mind (which won't be feature length, by the by) ... after which I'm planning on seeking out an agent.

So that's future plans, but right now I've just started the re-writing process on Summer Road (Draft 4.1) - I'm at page 20 (of 107, currently) and so far the biggest changes have come to a handful of flashback sequences. In the previous incarnation of the script I was telling more than I was showing, so I'm reversing that situation and re-writing it according to my current standard.

It has been a good 18 months since I touched this screenplay and I'm able to weed out bits that no longer work, or which feel too 'on-the-nose', while adding a few more flourishes here and there. A key aim will be to re-work the entire second act - re-aiming the focus of the plot - and hopefully bring the page count down. 90 pages would be lovely, but I don't think I can tell this story quite that tightly (you don't want to hack and slash at the expense of your script after all) - but I'll be looking to try and get closer to that figure, even if the page count has - for the moment - packed on a couple of pages up front.

I think it will take a good couple of deep passes to do everything to it that I want to do, but it's kind of nice to head back to this script after spending so long on Allen Bridge, which I'm immensely proud of, but it's a good change of pace. That said, I'm also really looking forward to what I have planned for my next new screenplay and what will come after that - as I've aluded to above.