Can they steal your thoughts these days??

It's been a long time since I updated this particular blog. I guess my other blogs have been getting more love and attention (my photography blog and my random inspiration blog). There are two main reasons why the updating of a blog goes by the wayside for a while. Either you get too lazy to update it, or you are too busy to update it, and this time, I am pleased to be able to report that it is the latter. I have been working on various scripts and stories in my quest to get a new film on the go and get back behind the camera. So three things have been occurring in the past six months. Firstly, I have been editing and refining a script that was written by one of my friends and collaborators called 'These Dreams'. It is a great story about a guy who is in a lot of debt and is having troubled dreams. The only problem is that he is living a double life and is not sure what are his dreams and what is reality. It is all going well with this one, and the only thing now is to have some further collaboration to make the ending as exciting and kick-ass as possible.

The second thing I have been doing is trying to write a short film which can be filmed on a very low budget in a short period of time. I find that I have trouble coming up with short film ideas these days, as the quality of short films being produced out there is very high. I usually get into an idea and when I get it down on paper it never quite hits the mark for me. I also have an issue with writers block, which seems to come out of the blue and zap my creativity for large chunks of time. But, lo and behold, the other day, when i was doing something totally unrealted to filmmaking, a short story popped into my head and wouldn't let go. I got out a writing pad and pen and twenty minutes later, hey presto, a short story. Perfect for filming quickly, inexpensive to make and only needing three actors. It's called '5 Minutes to Misery' and is now in the rewrite phase, where i show it to some trusted people I know and get their feedback to make it a little better. i will make it this summer, all being well. It is about the break up of a relationship and the pre-conceived notions we have of gender roles. I know that all sounds a bit pretentious, but it won't be. I promise.

The third thing I have been doing is trying to write a feature film and this has been a hard road for me for a long time. I have lots of half finished scripts and stories and have found that sometimes an idea will roll and then suddenly stop, for no reason. I have been getting frustrated at wanting to finish a script and get it to the point where people read it and like it and wish to see the movie. Again, with all of this the trouble was the writers block, but last week, out of the blue I had an idea. I was driving around and listening to music, thinking about the story I would like to write. It was then that I realised that a few of the little bits of scripts and stories I had lying around would probably go nicely if I joined them together and filled in the blanks. I had a 30 page script called 'The Rules of Engagement' and some stories (about 5 pages long) and some dialogue and characterisations. 'Holy Shit' I thought. 'What if all of these bits (which are in the same genre) could be stappled together into a longer story. I could then flesh out the action and stregthen the characters and maybe, just maybe, it might make one hell of a feature film. Sometimes when you are writing something, you think you know where the story is taking you. But all these little pieces that I was sure were individual stories and scripts may just turn out to be sections of one complete movie. The mind has a strange way of working, but eventually if you keep plugging away and writing down your ideas and thoughts, you will get that moment of clarity. You will get that one story you've been chasing forever. I think I just did.

On a side note, if you think you recognise the title of my short script above, it's because you do. Believe it or not (and you probably won't but it happens to be the truth) I have this extraordinary gift (or curse depending on your viewpoint) of being able to come up with titles, only to find that a few months later Hollywood make a film or tv show with the same title. It is annoying, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that I thought of it first and with the idea that if you believe in a collective consciousness, then I must be on the pulse of the thinking of Hollywood writers.

Let me give you the breakdown. I made my graduation film in 2002 which was called 'Dark' and was about a man and woman who get locked in a room together, but neither know why they have been put there. After this I wrote a film in the same genre about a woman who was agoraphobic and would not leave her house. I called this film 'Lost'. This was before the TV Series of the same name, which has probably spoiled that title for me forever. I then wrote the film above called 'The Rules of Engagement' only to find that a film with Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones was released with that title. My story is about a hitman and bears no similarity. Another project was called 'Dog Eat Dog' about gangsters in 1940's Ireland. Hollywood used this title for a piss poor romantic comedy soon after. Next came a horror film I wrote about a sea monster called 'Dark Waters'. Hollywood released 'Dark Water', a horror starring Jennifer Connelly. At this point i was beginning to think I was being bugged or someone was reading my mind or something, but at least I was on the same wavelength as the money men and studios. My friend Charlie wrote a script called 'Poker Night' which I will make one day when the money is there. A year later I read a story about a film which would be coming out starring Haydn Christiansen of Star Wars fame called (yes, you've guessed it) 'Poker Night'. The story is about a man and a woman who get locked in a room together, but neither know why they have been put there. Hmmmm. Does that sound at all familiar to you? Really, I should just ring them and tell them they should call it 'Dark'. So before you hear it somewhere else first (and there's a good chance you will) I have a few other scripts in various states of completion. These days, I am afraid to give them titles until they are done, but the titles I have are as follows: 'The Roofwalker', 'The Cleaner', 'The Rythm of Love', 'One Week', 'Knife', 'Too Many Crooks', 'Perfect Alibi', 'Stolen'. If you see any of these in a cinema near you, please remember you saw them here first. I wonder will they steal that last one. That would be ironic.