Look I've Been Busy
Hence no posts for ages, bad Steve! But it gets worse. I said I’d post a link to Beacons website as soon as they set it up. Well that was a week ago and I’m only getting round to it now. I guess I was just revelling in my Google position (On the carpet knees slightly bent) Anyway find Beacon here. Also for the purveyor of incredible low budget sci-fi, clips from ‘The Adventures of Stephen Brown’ can now be found on Youtube. Just click on the funny coloured words here, and here to experience the magic. But enough of that, this is my blog (kinda) so back to my story.
In October last year the wise people at Beacon in their infinite wisdom green lit my Stephen Brown zombie epic (B-movie if we’re honest) why? I’m sure they ask themselves that every night. Maybe they realised it was something I just needed to get out of my system so I could move on to other things (like Ninja!!!) maybe they actually liked the idea. Maybe I just messed up ‘Cheetah Squad’ so badly there was no alternative. I don’t know, but I had half a script and a deadline. I needed to do some work.
So obviously I spent the next month slacking off. I’m not shooting till the end of May, and I don’t have to hand in until 4 weeks prior to the first shooting weekend, it’s not like there’s a rush. All of a sudden it’s Christmas and ‘Lazarus’ is still only 30 pages. I resolve to use the festive holiday to finish the script. Which I do, kind of…
Your average SB story is a 2 part’er, each half running approximately 22 minutes. Using standard movie scripting conventions (which Beacon doesn’t, they're not making movies) this means that the finished script should be 44 pages give or take. Now I know I have a tendency to over write action. I also know that once I have a first draft, I’ll rip it apart and tear all of the fat off the bones leaving a lean mean second draft. I know this because the first draft of my film script was 127 pages; by the 4th I had it down to 92. I set myself a 60 page limit for the first draft. By December the 29th I was 2 pages over and no where near the finishing straight. To put it mildly I had a problem.
While I’m clearly too long for a 2 parter, but I haven’t got enough material to spread out for 3. Lets face it at the end of the day it’s better to have a rip roaring, well paced 2 parter, than an overly long, slow 3 parter. I drop a line to Steve explaining the situation. I want to come over, bounce some ideas a round and work out how I’m going to cut down to length. He says no prob’s, reminds me that Beacons Christmas meal is next weekend. I’m planning on heading over to that anyway, so afterwards we can throw some shapes, then I can crash the night on his sofa.
The night of the meal rolls around. It’s a large well attended annual event and lots of people have turned up at the pub for an evening of drinking and gorging. The food is excellent and I drink one to many Stella’s. Later that night round Steve’s I raise the thorny issue of Lazarus. I’m informed that there is some good news. This year every show will have 5 filming days instead of the old 4. Yey! What’s more since my story is most advanced I’m being shifted to first in the season! Huh? Oh and because Steve is going away travelling this summer the season will start shooting a month early in March! Hang on, so instead of having until mid to late April before I have to hand in a finished script, I’ve now got until mid February. I need another drink!
The rest of the night is a blur. The morning just aches. I trudge back towards the station through the hangover and pass out on the train, nearly missing my stop. No ideas have been thrown, my deadline is searing towards me and I’ve quite probably shot myself in the foot over the whole directing thing.
Houston, we have a problem.
In October last year the wise people at Beacon in their infinite wisdom green lit my Stephen Brown zombie epic (B-movie if we’re honest) why? I’m sure they ask themselves that every night. Maybe they realised it was something I just needed to get out of my system so I could move on to other things (like Ninja!!!) maybe they actually liked the idea. Maybe I just messed up ‘Cheetah Squad’ so badly there was no alternative. I don’t know, but I had half a script and a deadline. I needed to do some work.
So obviously I spent the next month slacking off. I’m not shooting till the end of May, and I don’t have to hand in until 4 weeks prior to the first shooting weekend, it’s not like there’s a rush. All of a sudden it’s Christmas and ‘Lazarus’ is still only 30 pages. I resolve to use the festive holiday to finish the script. Which I do, kind of…
Your average SB story is a 2 part’er, each half running approximately 22 minutes. Using standard movie scripting conventions (which Beacon doesn’t, they're not making movies) this means that the finished script should be 44 pages give or take. Now I know I have a tendency to over write action. I also know that once I have a first draft, I’ll rip it apart and tear all of the fat off the bones leaving a lean mean second draft. I know this because the first draft of my film script was 127 pages; by the 4th I had it down to 92. I set myself a 60 page limit for the first draft. By December the 29th I was 2 pages over and no where near the finishing straight. To put it mildly I had a problem.
While I’m clearly too long for a 2 parter, but I haven’t got enough material to spread out for 3. Lets face it at the end of the day it’s better to have a rip roaring, well paced 2 parter, than an overly long, slow 3 parter. I drop a line to Steve explaining the situation. I want to come over, bounce some ideas a round and work out how I’m going to cut down to length. He says no prob’s, reminds me that Beacons Christmas meal is next weekend. I’m planning on heading over to that anyway, so afterwards we can throw some shapes, then I can crash the night on his sofa.
The night of the meal rolls around. It’s a large well attended annual event and lots of people have turned up at the pub for an evening of drinking and gorging. The food is excellent and I drink one to many Stella’s. Later that night round Steve’s I raise the thorny issue of Lazarus. I’m informed that there is some good news. This year every show will have 5 filming days instead of the old 4. Yey! What’s more since my story is most advanced I’m being shifted to first in the season! Huh? Oh and because Steve is going away travelling this summer the season will start shooting a month early in March! Hang on, so instead of having until mid to late April before I have to hand in a finished script, I’ve now got until mid February. I need another drink!
The rest of the night is a blur. The morning just aches. I trudge back towards the station through the hangover and pass out on the train, nearly missing my stop. No ideas have been thrown, my deadline is searing towards me and I’ve quite probably shot myself in the foot over the whole directing thing.
Houston, we have a problem.
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