A little night Deviation

Apologies (once again) for my lack of attention to your mouse clicks...I will be back here soon.  Many things to attend to, never enough time!

In the meantime, a little more DEVIATION for you...oh, and Happy New Year!

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So, finally: it's *that* time for the announcement we've been mentioning on our Facebook and Twitter pages all week.

Deviation is pleased to announce a Tagline Competition. The brief is simple:

Create a tagline for DEVIATION. The tagline must reflect the tone of Deviation the movie, which is a dark thriller. For more information on Deviation and its characters, make sure you check out our round up of all the posts and articles about this film online, here.

The fab Rinaldo from Moviescope Magazine is offering a subscription to the winner of this contest and fellow deviant Chris Jones of The London Screenwriters' Festival has offered up ten Screenwriters' Pocketbooks: one for the winner and another for a whopping NINE runners up! Thanks guys!

Deadline for entries is 5pm, Friday 21st January and entrants may enter 2 taglines only. After this date, all qualifying taglines will be uploaded to this blog in the form of a poll and all you Deviants will have chance to vote for the winner!

NB. Entry must be via Twitter* or the Deviation Facebook page only wherever possible; all entries must be marked on both Twitter and FB with the hashtag #devcomp to be considered. If you have no Twitter or FB account, you can send the entry to Associate Producer Lucy V on Bang2writeATaolDOTcom, but please make sure DEVCOMP is in the subject line. *Please note Twitterati: you needn't take up extra space by adding either @devmov or @Bang2write into your tweets, just add the #devcomp hashtag & we will see it!

This is a writers' opportunity, so make sure you tell EVERYONE you know who is into the scribe thing! Please spread the word via your own blogs and social networks.

FURTHER INFO:

For anyone who doesn't know, a tagline is that little sentence or sentences you find on the movie poster or the DVD box. Famous examples include "In space, no one can hear you scream" (Alien); "They're here..." (Poltergeist) and "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free." (The Shawshank Redemption). Find more examples of movie taglines in this huge list.

For more the more advanced screenwriters out there, please note we are NOT looking for loglines. If you're not sure of the difference between a tagline and a logline, please read this article.

If you have any further queries, please tweet us or leave a msg on our FB wall. Before you do however, please check out the terms and conditions below, as there is a strong chance they may answer your questions.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1) Deadline 5pm, Friday 21st January, 2011; maximum 2 entries per person and the tagline must reflect the tone/genre of Deviation the movie.

2) There is no charge for this contest.

3) Winner will be picked after the 21st January by the readers of the Deviation blog and social networks via a poll, which will be hosted here.

4) Entries must be made via Twitter and the Deviation Facebook page; entries posted in the comments section of this blog, on any other blog or social networking page (including those of the producers' of Deviation movie) will not be counted.

5) For non-social networkers ONLY: please send entries to Lucy V Hay on Bang2writeATaolDOTcom with DEVCOMP in the subject line of the email.

6) Tweets and FB wall posts must be hashtagged #devcomp to be counted as part of the contest.

7) Joke taglines are welcome, but will not be counted as part of the contest.

8) Taglines limited to the size of a tweet incorporating #devcomp or the allowed 420 characters on the Facebook wall, including the hashtag #devcomp. Those longer or without the hashtag are disqualified.

9) The tagline must not be a logline.

10) Good luck!

And the Loser is...

Me.

Isn't that funny?  Big capital "W" one day, and then a big capital "L" the next.  Ain't that just life though?  

You may remember a billion years ago I wrote, produced, directed, shot and edited a very short film called "three" for the Swarovski/Three Graces Competition run by Tank Films.  Well, it's taken them this long to judge the rounds so far and as a result - I didn't win.  Boo.  Hiss.

Never mind, the guy who won was, in my view, always my main competition, so at least one of the pieces of cack didn't whip my ass.  I'm sorry to state that, as I don't really like making sweeping statements concerning other people's work, but there really was some sh*t in there.

Although I have just emailed those closely involved with the film, I also wanted to say a big thanks for all the support and cheery words I have had along the way from all my Tenacious Visitors.

Oh, and a shout out to those who got through to the next stage of Red Planet - a very well done to you all.

As I always like to state...onwards.

x

And the Winner is...

Me. 

Oh...and a few others...

Now for the re-write & edit.

Please leave a Message...

Hello all

*Your normal Tenacious service will resume sooner than anticipated*

I'm over 45,000 words now for NaNoWriMo, which means I am bang on schedule to finish this Friday.  Fickee-yupping-doooo.  Adios 'til then. 

xxx

*tap tap tap tap tap*

Life Mirrors Art in NaNoWriMo?

Remember, remember the 5th of November!  Oooooh, hello all!

I've been having loads of fun writing my novel for NaNoWriMo and am now totally obsessed with word counts.  The little word count widget I have on the blog sidebar doesn't seem to be working very well for me - it seems a little erratic - so I'll have to keep a note of my word counts as I go.

As I have already bemoaned, my weekend attempt was pretty crud. Having not actually started writing until the 2nd anyway, I did manage to get my fingers going and the word count has become as follows:

03/11/08: 4032

04/11/08: 8049

Obviously I am still going today, but I have just cranked over 9k so now I am fully committed and have to keep going! In addition to all that heart-stopping news I also now have a title - "Taking the Fast Lane".

I was quite interested to work out how many words per minute I am writing at the moment as this whole process is so totally different to screenwriting.  Bearing in mind I am 'making it up as I go along': I had no outline, no characters, no plot - in fact I had nothing until I sat down to start writing on Sunday - my average 'creation speed'* is 500 words an hour or 8.33 words per minute. However, this obviously varies greatly, as I know I managed to write 500 words in 15 minutes yesterday. It amazes me how hard it can be to think up many different ways to depict bad language, smut and loose morals without sounding repetitive. ;) Ho hum.

I must admit, I have never actually checked to see how many words made up any of my screenplays, so I set about looking at them as a little bit of procrastination and an excuse to spend ten minutes away from the ridiculously crass life my novel characters are leading. Needless to say,  I was quite shocked when I picked a random short and realised it was only made up of 2,245 words. How very funny.

Anyway, I really should get off and dedicate a  couple of hours to 'real' life now, before I re-embark on more 'Novel Hammering' (it's a new game, don'tcha know?) again this evening.  All I can say is I am so glad my life isn't as complicated and/or sordid as my 'Novel Lot".  *shudder*  

Sometimes my brain scares me with it's contents, you know.

;0)

Onwards.

*please note this is "raw creation speed" - not typing speed.  If it was typing speed I would indeed be looking for another vocation in life.

Happy Hol-ee-dayz

Am early-ish and sharp-ish round up to the end of the week, as Tenacious Me is off to Edinburgh for a week of catching up with some new shows, talent and literati, plus lots of old friends.

If you are in Edinburgh yourself this coming week for the TV/Book/Fringe/Festival, then shout my name really loud in Princes Street. Failing that, leave a note here and I may force myself away from watching, listening and talking just long enough to check in.

If you haven't caught my short film yet and would like to, here's the link, but all that aside, the usual blog absence rules apply. Play dirty. Get drunk. Tell silly stories. Tell on eachother. Upload it to YouTube.

Anyone want a deep-fried mars bar brought back?

At last - The Film!

I have possibly had the most stressful few days of my life over the past 48 hours - yesterday saw me car-less and Mac-less. I now have the car back (after a very large bill - leaking coolant/cambelt/main dealer cr*p & spiel) but as for Macbook...it's gone into the Apple Hospital for a week or so to have a new case - and hence the fact my formatting on Tenacious Me is all over the place.

Anyway, this would have been bad enough apart from the fact that I discovered my uploaded competition film file was indeed corrupt - a nagging feeling I had in the pit of my stomach since uploading it last week. So where are all my film files? On my Mac in Apple General - but backed up of course. On Time Machine - a Mac back-up system totally impenetrable by anything other than a Mac. Unless of course you have a crack IT Team, like I do. So, after The IT Team had recovered a useable file, I then had to upload it via Slaptop, which just took forever. The IT Team only use Linux for their stuff and I really don't understand the whole cute penguin thing so couldn't use their hardware. ;)

Anyway, heartache aside, it's there - the very nice, helpful person from Tank Films told me so this evening.

So without further ado - have a watch if it would please you to do so. You need to click on the cute turquoise square crystal thingy which lets you view all the films including mine. HERE is the link. Enjoy. Please. :0)

Strumming My Fingers

I have uploaded my film for "assessing" before it (hopefully) goes live on the comp site.  I will let you know when it is there - you can't vote (booooo), but you can comment (only nice ones please).

Not one for resting on my laurels too long, I already have three more definite projects in the very near pipeline.  Extremely fun and exciting, all this "Kick Your World Up It's Own Ass" approach.  Liking it.

Anyway, I digress for a change.  

It's Friday, which means there is a requirement for a stupid video.  Seeing as Olympic fever will be choking us over the weekend (or the air quality in Bejing, whichever gets us first), I thought I wouldn't bother with another Olympic blooper reel - soooo last week, darling.  So, here's another really ridiculous one for you instead.  I wonder how much this cost the taxpayer?

Have a nice weekend.

And Reee-lax.

It's only Monday and I need a break already.  I have had a fairly busy weekend but early Kid rises, busy Kid days plus late editing nights equals t-o-t-a-l-l-y k-n-a-c-k-e-r-e-d out.  On the plus side, not much to do on the edit now:  I am very, very nearly there - with around 35 seconds of visuals to edit and mix - then it's onto the never-ending list of 'finishing tweaks'. Fun.  

So, why did I decide to enter this comp, I keep asking myself?  Ah, yes, I was in danger of physically melting down into a blob of decreativity. I remember now. Still, it's only just over a month ago since I read about it and now I have a nice little short that's virtually in the can. Not too bad.  

So here's sneaky peek: a still from the exterior shoot last week - featuring my three beautiful little angels! Honestly, butter wouldn't melt. Yeah, right. 

Oh, nearly forgot to mention the first round of the BSSC has been announced as have BlueCat Semis...well done if you got placed!  My excuse is - I didn't enter!  How slack am I?!

Friday Shenanigans

Hello One and All.

A very busy week, mainly meetings and editing. Hell, I haven't even replied to many text messages this week, let alone hanging out at Facebook, and that's saying something.  Having stated that, a miniscule amount of my time has been spent working out how my World Domination Plans are coming along and then viewing this year's Virgin Media Shorts - I suggest you get on over there and vote for your favourite. There are some very strong contenders.

So, in what is becoming true tradition here are Tenacious Me, and to end a week full of marathon effort, here is a little silly to ease you into the Olympic Fever of 2008 which will be coming to a TV screen near you very soon. Before you know it, you won't be able to breathe without anticipation of Gold. Silver. Bronze. Lack of oxygen in Bejing. Whatever.  Just enjoy.

Bring Me Sunshine

Wow. Being sarcastically positive really works.

Today the sun shone, shone, and then shone some more.  In fact it shone so much, I managed to get all the shots I needed - plus quite a few additional ones - of my three very busy little girls.  They looked perfect, did as they were directed and ate ice cream afterwards with aplomb.  We even had time to hit the paddling pools to cool off a bit before lunch.

Today completed the 'shoot' part of my short: now for the edit and my nose being firmly pressed to some random grindstone. Crikey m'lord, we're nearly there.

Featured Kaos

Kaos Films - they of the BSSC - have now announced further details of their British Feature Screenplay Competition (BFSC).  In a nutshell, the winner of this competition will have their screenplay produced (not put into development) and filmed with a pro cast & crew and budget of up to $2million.

Rules are pretty much similar to the BSSC in that the competition is open to writers from any country and screenplays must be written in English language, however, in this instance (being a feature comp!) the screenplay running time should be between 80 and 110 minutes.  The entry fee is also a little heftier too: £65 early bird; £85 before final deadline.

You've got until 12th September 2008 to get your 'early bird' script in although  I suspect a lot of people will be cracking the whip to get their Red Planet entry polished around the same time (deadline: 30th Sept).  

The final deadline for BFSC entry is 14th November 2008 and full rules can be found here.

Also, go check out Mr Beckley's short film, "Fatal" - he wrote it, directed it and 'just did it'.  Good on you, matey.

Free Falling

At least, that's how it feels. Mad? Tick. Exciting? Tick. A revelation? Tickety-tick-tick.

Whilst most of my learned cyber-buds were soberly sanctifying their scriberly souls (ahem) at SWF, I decided to throw down the gauntlet and set myself a little challenge.  Or perhaps that should be: I threw a great, heaving, metal gauntlet at myself and it hit me in this guise:

Swarovski has teamed up with Tank to search the creative community for the freshest film directors around. The Three Graces competition, which launches today, is an open call to filmmakers and creatives working with the moving image to develop a short film to accompany one of three exclusive tracks we’ve commissioned for the project.  Submissions will interpret the myth of the Three Graces, who symbolise the qualities of radiance, joy and abundance.

After reading about the competition in Saturday's (28th June) Shooting People Filmmakers' Bulletin,  I spent the best part of yesterday storyboarding, setting up test shots, checking light levels, filming, chucking together a rough edit and thoroughly enjoying every single darn second of it. After very little sleep (editing becomes strangely obsessive, y'know), I woke up exhausted but buzzing and ready to get going on my plans for a second day of filming drop-ins and cutaways which will complete the shoot.  

After editing and perfecting (ha!) the current material, this will be Entry Number One.  Whether I have the time to devise/shoot/edit Entry Number Two, Three and so on is another situation entirely but I do have lots of ideas kicking around - what happens to those remains to be seen; however, if I don't do something with at least one of them, that gauntlet is going to jump up and choke me. Fingers crossed it doesn't!

For all you out there who wish to have a punt, full details are here.

Good Luck & leave a comment if you are entering!

New @ BBC: SHARPS

As promised in my previous post:

OK, guys and gals. So you know you can write for TV, don't you? You could give all those overpaid, underworked scribes (ahem!) a run for their money, right?  You know you're the one Jane Tranter is looking for, but Ben Stephenson won't even listen to your pitch let alone pass on your darned script...oh, and then there's that age old Catch-22: you need your spec work to be read in order to get work, to enable you to prove you can actually do the work.

Well, I'm glad to say as long as you're over 18 years of age, live in the UK or Eire and have not had a previous writing credit for a network television programme over 15 minutes in length,  YOU CAN APPLY!

HERE is all the info you need...

It's a Bank Holiday - what else do you have planned?  Go on, I dare you.

Working 9 til 5...I wish

And breathe.

A whirlwind of occurrences, that's the life I lead.  Well, only sometimes these days, anyway.

The week went something like this:

Monday - The Kid was still not very well having just parted company with a sicky, coldy bug but still managed to soldier on through his 8 month check up with The Health Visitor.  He smiled at all the right things, burped loudly followed by a bellow of giggles, frowned when The Health Visitor tickled him under the chin, bobbed up and down to imaginary music and clapped on demand, and then when he got bored he chewed his shoe and farted. I then dropped him off at nursery whilst I headed home to try and get some work done.  It's amazing when you are writing how quickly nursery/school pick up time comes round...6 pages written; 9 calls made; 7 emails responded to.

Tuesday - The Kid took a backwards step in his recovery.  All plans - blown out.  Spent day with ass hovering over sofa, wishing I could just sit down for two seconds without mopping up snot, puke or rocking back and forth...0 pages written; 0 calls made; 0 emails read let alone responded to.

Wednesday - The Kid made a fantastically remarkable recovery and had so much energy all day I bit the bullet and decided to take him to his swimming class.  After a hard hour in the gym I dashed home to make a few calls whilst my Mum was still enthralled with her Grandson.  Perfick...0 pages written; 4 calls made; all emails read; 1 child knackered after a hard swim.

Thursday - first of all, thanks must go to the most courteous Mark for organising another little Blogette/Facebook get-together.  Yet again, a  very enjoyable afternoon which - horror of horrors - turned into an early evening minus child for me.  My system was so shocked by the lack of The Kid's bathtime "splash-splash", the fight to get him into his sleep suit afterwards and then the gentle prodding to keep him awake for his bottle, that I felt the need to consume more than my original 'just the one'...3 new chapters outlined; 5 calls made; 2 meetings attended; 1 social gathering attended; email read & responded to; 1 very odd journey home having laughed out [very] loud at my book on many occasions and then realising I wasn't the only person in the carriage. :0)

Friday - The Kid's music class and this week he emerged as star pupil due to his innate ability to 'bop' like a home boy whilst clapping furiously and, for the most part, totally in time to the music.  He was so immersed in the class that he only twice realised I was sitting beside him on the floor.  If I'd only thought to take MacBook with me I could have done a bit of writing. The only foot stomping occurred when the bubbles stopped and apparently the teacher felt so awful looking at his big, sad eyes, she carried on with the bubbles for a while longer, just for him.  I fear a future actor and/or muso in the making.  Either that or a Dictator...3 pages written (somehow); 0 calls made; all email read; 1 very proud mum.

Saturday - Amidst all the very tedious household stuff that has to be undertaken every weekend, I noted that Zone Horror have "Cut! The 2008 Horror Short Film Competition" running.  This is sponsored by C4's Fright Fest  and is worth up to £5k in winnings for a 2 minute film.  Closing date for entries is Friday 13th (!) June 2008 - so all you genre-istas out there - get going!  0 pages written; 2 chapters outlined; 0 calls made; 0 emails answered; 1 very domesticated-out mum.

Sunday - hasn't passed yet.  Anything could happen...may check emails.

And breathe.