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!

---------------------------

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!

Deviation

Long time no speaky; long time no writey.  Forgive me for the lack of updates but I have once again, been a little busy.  


CR!KEY VILLAINS is now in Post (with a lot of beautiful footage coming through from that), and I'm now producing J.K. Amalou's, DEVIATION, (which, from the rushes so far, is going to grip you by the stomach and not let up).  


So for now at least, you can catch me over HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE.


Until Yuletide, amigos.


LMG
x

CR!KEY - We're off!

For those of you who haven't seen recent Twitterage or haven't yet become fans of the Facebook site, the new film I'm Producing is called "CR!KEY VILLAINS".  I was intending to have a countdown to the shoot starting, but pre-production is all over and here I am, all lonely in the Production Office; everyone having fun on set.  [This, of course, is a total untruth as we are all having far too much fun, on and off set.  We are a very happy shoot, us lot. :0) ]

It's been a remarkably busy, but only sometimes stressful, few weeks of pre-production.  We have still managed to laugh on a daily basis (that says something) and although there are many details to be ironed out, therein lies the fun and games myself, Demi Jones (Producer), Michael Riley (Producer) and Margaret Matheson (Exec Producer) are yet to have - that is once I am through bowing at their jaw-dropping omnipresences.

With our locations spread over many parts of London as well as Southend, the scale of shoot is wide enough - but not once will we let our dear Writer/Director, David Hughes, be bothered with such trivial details, or allow him to move away from his position of picturesque, calm demeanour under extreme pressure. 

Last week, we had the cast read through and photo shoots which allowed colourful 3D life to billow into these, up until now, entertaining but 2D black and white characters on a page.  The actors started to fill out the personas and possess the words on the paper as their own - and suddenly a whole new world was emerging.  The big, small-time crooks; the ganstas; the girls; the cars; the guns; the houses; the money - the whole new world of the CR!KEY VILLAINS.  But, "Who are the Cast?", I hear you shout!  Who exactly are the CR!KEY VILLAINS? Well - you'll have to stay tuned for that.

If you'd like to keep up to date with me and the world of the CR!KEY VILLAINS shoot, then head over HERE - the Producer's Blog is where I'll be for a little while (starting soon) and I will do my best to bring you the news as it happens.

Hope to see you there. But remember: "Lie. Cheat. Steal. Whatever it takes to have a nice day."

Laters, beautiful people.

LMG x

Pssssst...

*shuffles*

Errr, hello? It's me?

It's been so long, I've forgotten what you look like!  Oh, but how I have missed all your little japes, and the way your dimples tilt upwards when you laugh!  Ahhh, it's been months since we shared a quiet gin and tonic and munched on chippies.  Yes, yes, I know - you still like ketchup and I still prefer HP Brown Sauce - but some things will never change.  At least we agree on the piri piri mayo side of things - we could never have too much of that good thing, could we?

I trust you've been behaving whilst I have been away?  Good.  I really have been away too - here, there and everywhere. I undertook what felt like a whistle-stop tour of Europe - literally a few nights here, a few nights there and then a few nights everywhere else.  It rained in Cannes, it rained in Andalusia - in the mountains and on the coast - and apparently it's also due to rain in Rome when my path may cross it. I really need to buy more WD40 before my mechanics halt with rust.  The trip(s) were part pleasure, part work and the recces I did whilst in Spain were ever so worthwhile - returning me to the UK with a big smile and a lovely bunch of contacts who will be more than happy to have a film crew irritating the hell out of them for a bit.  It's how I roll.

I suppose you want to know what I've been up to then?  Hmmm.  Complicated.  Lots of stuff.  This, of course, comes with the territory as I am neither one thing or another but all at the same time, and in one pot.  I'm currently writing a TV pilot, producing a different TV pilot¹, producing a very marvellous feature², developing/self-shooting D/P a doco and I'm also looking at a different way of working and production which could be very good fun. "0110: Twisted Tales & Glorious" may be the first victim - I mean, trial - but more on that another time. Well you get the picture - life is good and any more talk of my stuff on my own blog and I shall be accused of self wank publicity - and heaven forbid that should happen. ;0)  I often think it's odd how Producing has crept up on me like it has - but apparently you can't actually call yourself a Producer until your 4th feature, so I guess that makes me a Producer-in-Waiting-Bum.  Well, whatever it is that I spend my days doing, I really do enjoy it and apparently I am quite good at it, which is rather lovely for everyone else, too³.  I do miss the immersive creation that comes with writing and directing though, so there's no chance I could 'just' Produce, I don't think. Although, I have to say, budgets can be quite creative and if the money's right...

More than anything recently, I have been quite studious.  Quiet.  Still.  Observing.  Hiding from the light whilst constantly seeking out talent for in front of and behind the camera, crunching numbers one minute, researching words that go together, the next.  I have now emerged from my shell a little but I fully intend to retreat back very soon.  It's not that I don't love you all, it's just the noise, you see.  The digital white noise, it deafens me.  It's everywhere.  And it has done my head in.  Sorry.  But I only do online when necessary⁴.

Every day I receive in the region of 100-200 emails (some people think I am worth a punt, obviously).  I flag them up to respond, as follows:

1. I will die a painful, torturous death if I don't reply immediately
2. I will self-combust if I don't reply soon because it's so exciting
3. I will die if I don't reply in the next hour
4. Yes, it's important but I'll reply after torturous death, certain death and self-combustion ones
5. I will reply later when I have five seconds to breathe after the death mail
6. I will reply when I remember
7. General news and views - tea break reading fodder
8. Friends and relatives (non work related)
9. I won't ever reply, so fuck off and get out of my life, my face, business & Inbox
10. Spam, Junk and Nigerian Prince Marriage Proposals

Information overload, every morning. And that's just email. So please, if you are waiting for an answer to anything, bear with me. Just don't threaten me or get too sassy, otherwise you will be flagged as No 9 along with the exes. On the other hand if I say remind me in [insert timescale here]...guess what? Remember to remind me⁵: strangely, I said it for a reason!

I hardly ever read any blogs or Facebook pages these days either, so I have no real idea how you all are, where you all are or what you are doing; I find it virtually impossible to 'socialise' unless it's heavily work-related and my livelihood is under threat for not attending.  Having said that, when I do actually catch up with people or bump into them whilst they are also 'doing Soho' (so to speak), it's really lovely to grab a quick cuppa/G&T/Rioja and have a chinwag.

But don't fear, I haven't abandoned all technology as I can usually be found on Twitter a great deal. This is only because 140 characters don't take much thinking and I have a knack of not really noticing unless I have a message, plus it's nice to say Hi to people I haven't seen for ages. (Hi if you're not on Twitter *waves*)

I am also found to be lurking in the dark corners of eBay a lot as I am currently building up my own shooting kit.  I'm basically over there like an elephant running through a car boot sale at the moment, to be honest.  It's fun and I do like to win bids. On the other hand I can get a little stroppy if I don't [Yes, I'm talking about you, you slinky little matte box and sexy follow focus. Just so you know - I would have loved you more...]

Phew. Well, you know what? It's been lovely chatting, but my shell is calling me and I'm starting to get a bit tetchy.  I need to return to my script, the Spanish mountains and Rodrigo y Gabriella.

Until next time.

¹ 0110: Twisted Tales & Glorious of course, where have you been?
² Watch this space. There may be news, soon.
³ Of course, now I will fuck everything up and have to choke on humble pie or eat through a straw for the rest of my days

⁴ eBay is an online necessity
⁵ It's not rocket science. Mad, but not rocket science.

Quite Possibly the Best Version

I present my week to you. Once I have stopped laughing/crying I will bid you all a good weekend. That is all.