A Buddha Bad News

11 October 2006

After yesterday's post it is with regret that I have to inform you Buddha Of Birmingham will now never see the light of day.

Sometimes projects work out, other times they don't and this is one of those times. But then that is life.

Onwards and upwards.

End Of The Road

10 October 2006

My first collaboration with another writer has come to an end. My co-writer Belinda Evangelista has decided not to pursue Buddha Of Birmingham, and as per our agreement I now own all the rights concerning the project.

It's a project I think has great potential so I will be continuing with it.

The fourth draft of Mr. Valentine has slowed down a little and will consequently take a little longer than I expected. Therefore I shall not be sending scripts out this week, but I will wait until Mr. Valentine is finished.

Celtic Films have contacted me and requested treatments of my other work which will be emailed to them this week.

Novel Beginnings.

03 October 2006

The Novel has been started and is coming along nicely. I have made the decision to write it in the first person, as I think comedy novels are far better written this way. This is because you get to see the world through the characters' eyes and how they misinterpret events and conversations. It's a good idea, but whether it will sell or not is immaterial at this moment in time, as I consider this a practice run for the children's novel I want to start writing later in the year.

I emailed Micheline Steinberg Associates last Thursday to see if they had read Sins Of The Father, but as of yet I have had no reply. I have also decided to try other agents again, so I'm gathering a small list of ten or so that I will post out copies of From This Day Forth to.

Upgrade

25 September 2006

The lovely people at Moov2 have now upgraded my blog pages. Now I can add pictures whenever I want and I also have a spell checker which I'm really excited about. No longer do I have to look up words manually. What a relief.

Bit's And Bobs

21 September 2006

The fourth draft of Mr. Valentine is now well under way. The first act was way to slow in starting and nothing really happened until page forty. I've now corrected that and things now start happening on page fifteen. This change has had a knock on effect on the rest of the script and I'm finding that I'm having to change more than I intended. This is good however, because I feel the script will finally be ready when this draft is complete.

I have started making a comprehensive list of producers, production companies and contacts for when I start sending out my work again next month. The old list just doesn't hack it any more.

I am almost ready to start work on my first novel. It's not a major project for me as I will only be working on it for about half an hour a day. It's more of a hobby at the moment, a distraction form other work, but if it comes together it might lead to other things.

Drafty

15 September 2006

The first draft of Buddha of Birmingham is now complete and has been turned over to my writing partner Belinda, so she can work her magic.

After the disapointment of receiving the email from Celtic Films last week I am now gearing up for a fresh assult on production companies. Among the scripts I will be looking to send out in the next couple of months are; From This Day Forth, Where Angels Fear To Tread, Mr. Valentine, Sweethearts, Buddha of Birmingham and Sins of The Father.

I have dropped a treatment I was working on for a two part drama, as not many one-off dramas are being made at the moment. I have decided instead to concentrate on drama series ideas, two of which are ready for the treatment stage. Firstly though, I will be doing yet another rewrite of Mr. Valentine after receiving some rather helpful notes form the lovely Lucy, at Bang2Write. Check her out, she knows her stuff.

Final Draft Contest

13 September 2006

The Final Draft Big Break Semi-Finalists have been annonced and are as follows:

Jason Butler, Dublin, Ireland - TON OF MONEY Stinson Carter, Los Angeles, CA - ANANIAS Tom Cosgrove, Dublin, Ireland - THE SEA DEVILS Steven Davidson, Logan, UT - BADLAND James Duff, New York, NY - MOROCCO David Eskin, Vienna, VA - THE WALK Rick Fonte, Austin, TX - HER FORTUNE Jen Frankel, Toronto, ONT Canada - MINNIE FINSTER Jason Ginsburg, Valley Village, CA - THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS David Haynes, Santa Monica, CA - BAD THINGS PEOPLE DO Kellen Hertz, New York, NY - MASQUE Ken Klein, Portland, OR - IMPACTS AND REMAINS Yehudi Mercado, Austin, TX - BUFFALO SPEEDWAY Bret Ootes, Toronto, ONT Canada - ATOMIC EYE Jill Parker, London, UK - LOVE IN THE TIME OF BOLERO Jon Preece, Newport, UK - ELVIS WALKS HOME Richard Redlo, Albany, NY - THE OTHER TEAM Greg Shea, North Andover, MA - HEARTBREAK HILL Ian Taylor, Lilling York, UK - STREET MAGIC Nizar Wattad, Los Angeles, CA - AGENCY.

Well done to all those who took part. I will be taking part again next year.