FWOAN 2019...

As we head into 2019, and what will hopefully be another successful year on the festival circuit, Oakhill Productions are taking another look at the process of making "For Want Of A Nail" while also looking ahead to our aspirations for FWOAN and the future.

It's really been a great few months since finishing 'For Want Of A Nail' back in March last year. The film is into a second year of it's festival run and has received such positive feedback from a wide variety of viewers.

        As we push forward with another year of festivals and screenings around the world, Writer Nick, who was naturally our script supervisor on set, reflects on his experience in making FWOAN, his best bits and his thoughts on the TV series development.

Read the full article at the Oakhill Productions website HERE and don't forget to follow FWOAN on Facebook.

FWOAN Wins at DMOFF...

Groovy news from the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival - I won the award for Best Screenwriter!

You can check out the full list of winners HERE.

FWOAN Selected for Lift-Off...

"For Want Of A Nail" has been officially selected for the Lift-Off Sessions October 2018.

The Lift-Off Sessions is a monthly online showcase, dedicated to screening the best and latest indie shorts to as wide an audience as possible. Lift-Off Global Network are committed to introducing new audiences to the indie film market.

Their official website is 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.

FWOAN - Interview with actress Thomasin Lockwood...

A new interview with Thomasin Lockwood - who plays Marty's twin sister Mindi in the film - has just gone live.

What appeals to you about the character of Mindy?

I like that she's tough on the outside, but inside is hurting deeply. She's someone who has endured a lot in life and has always had to be the 'strong' one. I like that I get to portray someone so complex.

Check out the full interview over at the official For Want Of A Nail website HERE.

FWOAN Festivals Update...

Just a quick bit of festival-related news for our short film "For Want Of A Nail" while our producer Ali has been busy working on a feature film.

Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (Semi-Finalist, 2018)

Los Angeles FEEDBACK Female Film Festival (2018)

LAFFFF brings up the issue of women in film, and in the case of FWOAN in addition to Ali, our producer who captained the ship from the get-go, we had women - chosen on merit or previous working relationships - filling the roles of: Director, Actors (both supporting roles were female), Director of Photography, Art Director, Assistant to the Art Director, 2nd Assistant Director, Costume Supervisor, Catering (two), Make-Up Artist, as well as our contacts at the charities OCD Action and Mind, and last but not least our Runner/Art Dept Assistant who was one of three young adults who were on-set gaining valuable work experience.

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...

Flavours of the Month: November 2017...

Space bums, dimension-jumping duos, voices from the past, and A Sideline In Vengeance - just some of what's been setting the tone this month...

Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...

Return to "Vengeance"...

The last time I worked on "A Sideline In Vengeance" (a conspiracy thriller screenplay) was over a year ago. Naturally, in that time I've been doing a lot of writing - what with For Want Of A Nail (currently in the editing stage - and I've seen the rough cut), as well as Murder at the Grindhouse (out of which I've also crafted a 'TV pilot' screenplay in the last few weeks).

When you come back to something you wrote a while back you invariably find new changes to make. When I last set eyes on the script I had no further ideas on how to work it - I'd gone as far as I could at that point in time. Now, though, it's a different story. I've got a list of tweaks I want to make - but first: the red pen comes out!

Where once was cleanly printed pages, now lies a wash of red ink (sometimes it's nice to be able to refer back to to editing process in this 'analogue' way, something which you lose when editing a document ... this way you get to see your mental process around your writing). I'm picking my way through the script line-by-line making initial changes and generally hacking out dialogue that I thought was necessary at the time, but now no longer need. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the page count when I apply all of these initial 'red pen on the paper' changes and cuts. More on this as-and-when...

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...

"A Sideline In Vengeance" update #6...

Quick update on "A Sideline In Vengeance", my conspiracy thriller screenplay: just the other day it made it through to the Quarter Finals (feature category) of the Shore Scripts 2016 competition ... which is nice (to use a random quote from The Fast Show).

The Quarter Finals represents the Top 6% of entries, and this year has seen the largest number of entries in the competition's history.

You can see the list here:
http://www.shorescripts.com/2016s-quarter-finalists/

"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...

"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...

"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...