Developing the Team

Last Friday saw an amazing occurrence. Apart from the fact Piers Beckley was up and communicating before midday (quite coherently, I'll add), our five other intrepid 0110 adventurers - Alan Mckenna, Dan Hall, Helen Smith, Laurence Timms and Michelle Lipton - had battled their way across London Town (Michelle having already walked barefoot from Brighton) to arrive fresh as daisies at the gates of Tenacious Towers - 0110 HQ for the day.

After Dusty the Maid had mistaken them for mere tradesfolk and encouraged them to warm their hands by the kitchen Aga, Billson (new Butler) apologetically rescued them and brought them to the Drawing Room. Here, we plotted, planned and schemed our way through the 0110 avenue of trees, thus enabling us clear vision of the Twisted Tales & Glorious wood lying before us. Oh yes, indeed it did.

We gallantly charged our way through marshy bogs and zombie infested enclosures and emerged in a vast clearing just in time to pop back for a spot of lunch: the seven of us looked quite a neat little package sat at the Southernmost end of the Grand Hall Dining Table. We filled our faces, swigged mead and chatted nonchalantly as Mrs B, the Housekeeper, screeched orders from the kitchens in the distance, often overtaking the dulcet tones of the Monks and lyre playing to us from the corner.

Once we had partaken of a brandy to warm our cockles, it was back into the wild - plagued by spectres and decisions. Which path did we take? We knew we had to decide as a Team - an Army - and we made it. We chose the correct trail through the choking fog but just as we thought the end was in sight we caught our breath: a huge beast emerged from a primordial swamp for the final showdown. We all looked at each other and immediately knew how to proceed. Fortunately for us we had an old Ghostbuster backpack kicking around and we zapped that blighter down to size in no time.

That, my dears, was our "0110:Twisted Tales & Glorious" Story/Pilot/Series Development Day.

Team works - in fact it works so well, two story first drafts are completed.

Fifty-Seven to Six

I have caught myself sighing a great deal this week; I have also been screwing up my face into positions a contortionist would be impressed by. This, my dear reader, is what comes of trying to shortlist a writing team of six from fifty-seven high quality applications. It's really tough, I can tell you, and it will still not be until (at least) mid next week until I know what's what.

Knowing a great deal of writers personally has been a blessing and a curse in itself, so I have had to operate on "corporate HR level" like I used to when hiring & firing years ago. It's a really tough, clinical way to do things, but to begin with, emotions have to be locked away; the bare facts & statistics looked at. End of. I really hate writing that: I have been at the mercy of this thinking many a time over the years, but 'tis the way of the world (I wince).

To a degree, I am still 'some bird who people kinda know the name of' pitching to 'The Lovely People Who Decide' on a regular basis, but I am building my facts, statistics and raising the bar by the day. Let's face it, you don't get contracts/commissions purely because you're 'nice': you get them because you have an aptitude, the ability to manage expectations and deliver the goods - and that's what the 0110 Team is about - that and the group dynamic which will become so very, very important. But what about raw talent, I hear you cry? Well, I can safely state there wasn't one CV/resume I was not impressed by. There is so much talent out there it makes me sad I can't use everyone - and that's the utter truth.

So far, this has already been a fascinating journey and one which will continue going from strength to strength. I hope you do/are enjoying the insight - if I can really call it that - although it's probably more along the lines of total waffle most of the time! I could, of course, just stay quiet until it's all done and dusted, as it's sometimes quite difficult to find that balance between saying too little and too much. However, I personally find it quite interesting to follow the process from early days development through to post production, as no two people ever find the journey the same.

Most of the updates concerning "0110: Twisted Tales & Glorious" will be on the official website diaries from now on, as I have plenty of other things to drone on about here. I will of course update you with the links here when there are juicy bits to read - within reason - as I am quite a shy, retiring person at heart.

Was that a snigger? Hmmmm? Cheeky.