2 x 3 finished and getting my fix of Edinburgh friends!

So I caught up with the two guys - Gordon and Brian Slater - that I made 2 x 3 with last night. Finally (!) they'd finished the film (we only shot it last June). And the verdict?

Well, if you take it for what it is - a first-time attempt from a couple of working class lads with a hand-held camera and a lot of passion - it's alright. By no stretch of the imagination is it brilliant, but I laughed a few times (and I wrote the script, remember).

Its a pacy, edgy, lots of swearing right-in-your-face black comedy. The acting (apart from Gordon and Bill) leaves a lot to be desired but we were working with the best we could get on a no-budget production. The film's certainly not good enough to submit to competitions but as it was our first effort, it's going to have a special place in my heart, especially considering we had so much trouble with location, casting, sound, everything really!

Was really good to see the guys though, and great to hear that they're working on something else with a Glasgow-based screenwriter. When I get famous though I'm going to remake 2 x 3 with a big budget all-star cast. That'd be brilliant!!

Earlier on in the day I met up with two friends from my writing courses here in Edinburgh and we had a great catch-up over lunch. It's been great being back in Edinburgh after nine months living in Australia, soaking up the vibes of this beautiful city and just pottering about the old haunts. Being back in Edinburgh is like slipping on a favourite cardigan or an old pair of slippers.

Today I met up with Laura Kerr, the DJ from Leith FM whose show I went on twice last year. Another great catch up talking about film, fiction and music.

Today I also had a request from a producer to see the script of PERFORMANCE HEART. If you've been following this blog you'll know that PH is a very particular script, so I'm not expecting to get anywhere with that. But its interesting that of all my short scripts posted on InkTip, PERFORMANCE HEART is the one getting most interest. So the logline is obviously working (on InkTip you can't post the whole script, just the logline and producers hooked by the logline email you to request the full script).

I walked past Robert Louis Stevenson's old house today by the way. Edinburgh just oozes literature. Hope some of it rubs off on me!

Torpedoed & Sunk...

So I'm back in Edinburgh, where my big screenwriting adventure began! Looking forward to meeting a couple of people from my writing courses tomorrow, and the guys I made 2 x 3 with. Should find out whether they finally managed to edit that short...(Gordon thinks its pretty shit but still, it will be good to see the finished product).

On the plane over to the UK I had loads of movie choices on the Qantas in-flight entertainment system, but as I'm writing a romantic comedy guess what I chose to watch...

Not Red Hill, not The Tourist, not Animal Kingdom, not any one of a host of movies I wanted to watch. No, I watched two romantic comedies!! I figured I might as well be working so this was research. One (Love and Other Drugs) was actually really quite good but the other one, whose name I forget but it had Natalie Portman and Ashton Mrs Demi Moore in it, was shit. But my wife chose to watch the same films so we watched them together and compared notes at the end. It was a fun thing to do and I made some notes. I'm so diligent...

Spent a couple of hours working on DeCodeMe today in my hotel room. Deborah, my producer, has fired a few emails at me so I've been thinking about those and have given my views. I'm quite keen to find out if Deborah's thinking has changed any since I left Oz, and where she's currently at (she has lots of ideas about this film!).

Been catching up with lots of old mates since I've been in the UK, as you might expect, and everyone seems really thrilled for the way my writing's going, which is nice.

But, the big news since my last post has involved the Portuguese production company, Bluvi, who wanted to option my script, LUCK'S RAN OUT.

You may remember they offered a two-year option deal but with no money up front, just a percentage of profits once (if, when?) the film of my script started to make money.

I didn't think this was a good deal but in my curiosity about who they were and what they'd done (in terms of films produced, if anything) I Googled them and also Facebook-messaged this Portuguese screenwriter, Henrique Mendes, who lives in Lisbon where Bluvi are based.

Now, I've never met Henrique Mendes but we were friends on Facebook because he requested to be a friend of mine and I accepted. This isn't unusual as I get a fair few friend requests from other screenwriters across the globe. So anyway, I asked Henrique Mendes whether he'd heard of Bluvi and he said he had and had been interviewed for an internship with them. He also said he didn't think they'd done much but he'd ask a producer friend of his. So he did and his response was to not touch Bluvi with a bargepole (I'm paraphrasing, politely).

Anyway, I'd already thought through what I was going to do and had emailed Bluvi back to say I wasn't interested in a 2-year no option fee deal but I would be prepared to consider a one-year deal with a option fee (I asked for 500 euros, which I didn't think was excessive).

Now, my thoughts were that Bluvi were probably not going to be interested in this but that was ok, we were negotiating and I wasn't prepared to give away my script for nothing.

So imagine my surprise when I got an email back from Bluvi cancelling negotiations on the grounds of...

...an intervention by Mr Henrique Mendes. My so-called Facebook friend had emailed Bluvi and had given them a piece of his mind, relating to how poor he thought their offer was and how they shouldn't be trying to exploit writers from Portugal never mind writers from overseas.

I had no knowledge that he'd done this, and I said so to Bluvi. But the damage had been done. Even though I stressed to Bluvi that Mr Henrique Mendes was not authorised to act on my behalf and that I had no knowledge of what he'd said to them, they broke off negotiations.

We probably wouldn't have reached agreement anyway, but I didn't bargain for the fact that a third party would torpedo my negotiations and sink them without trace.

I guess you live and learn. Maybe I should be more careful who I accept as a friend on Facebook from now on. But how extraordinary for them to cancel negotiations like that.

As for Mr Henrique Mendes, I messaged him and told him what happened and he sent me several messages back saying how sorry he was and how full of self-loathing he was and that he had some serious growing up to do. Can't disagree with that analysis but too late for me. Anyway, needless to say we're not friends on Facebook anymore, but that's because he dropped me (I didn't get the chance to drop him from my friends!). Funny thing is I'm not really angry with him about it. Obviously he made a colossal error of judgement and that has affected me in a big way. But other than that, what can I make of it all?

Well, one thing that has crossed my mind is that maybe he was allied to Bluvi all along and it was all a clever trick, and that at some stage down the line there'll be a Portuguese version of LUCK'S RAN OUT released. This is probably just my imagination running away with me (I am a writer after all!), but even if this does prove to be the case I've registered my script with the Australian Writers' Guild so should be ok. But what a fucking extraordinary episode!

In other news...

I've been talking to an agent in Sydney about representation and I finally got an email from them turning me down. Which was a bit depressing. So I've just got myself to rely on, which means knuckling down to DeCodeMe and giving that 100%+ to ensure that project has the best chance of getting off the ground.

But at the moment I'm still on holiday. Doing bits and pieces while I'm here and thinking a lot. I feel like I could do with some good news though.

Losing the plot?

I had a five hour meeting with my producer of DeCodeMe today. God, when we talk about this story we talk and talk and talk...

Just when I'd thought I'd delivered a treatment that addressed all the issues of concern and filled in the blanks of the plot, my producer throws some completely new ideas into the mix. So I shall have to spend a good few hours working through alternative story lines to see if I can improve on what I've delivered already.

I thought our story concept was pretty solid and almost ready to go, but I've now found out that my producer is less confident in the story (her original concept) than I am!

But I'm taking the view that it's ok to stress-test the story concept by subjecting it to approaches from left field. Let's work some story ideas out, play around with points of view and tenses, and see which version shapes up best.

But fuck, it's hard work.

First Script Sale! (first of many, I hope!!!)

What an interesting week! I've had several producers sniffing around not one, but four of my scripts! And one, Road's End Films, has bought my short script, ANY LAWFUL IMPEDIMENT. My first script sale!!

They initially expressed an interest in PERFORMANCE HEART after reading the logline on InkTip, but passed on that saying they wanted something simpler and not so location-specific (PERFORMANCE HEART is about two claustrophic circus performers who run away from the tyranny of the Big Top to find love. It's set in Edinburgh around the time of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so it's a very particular script). So when I got the rejection email for PERFORMANCE HEART I emailed back suggesting they might want to take a look at ANY LAWFUL IMPEDIMENT, which is set in a church so just the one location. And they emailed me back saying "I laughed, I cried...it's a lot of fun. I would like to film it. It could be a nice little festival piece."

So this is great news! Of course, it's just a short film script and its a very modest amount of money. But still...this is progress!

Not so much progress on my prize-winning feature script, LUCK'S RAN OUT, though. I've turned Bluvi, the Portuguese production house based in Lisbon that offered to option it, down. I don't think a two-year option with no Option Fee is a good deal. It might be the only deal in town, but a bad deal's still a bad deal, and I'm hopeful that LUCK'S RAN OUT can attract other admirers (why not? It's already won the 2010 Screenwriter Showcase screenwriting contest).

In other news:

David Raynor, my director of DARK ANGELS, has sent me a book that he has the rights to. So I'll have a read of that when I go on holiday next week and see what I think. I can't go into too much detail but it certainly looks an interesting project.

And another interesting project, of course, is DeCodeMe, the romantic comedy I'm writing for independent Melbourne production house, AzureCiné. I've got a meeting with the producer tomorrow to go through the story line. There's a lot of work going into this, and I haven't even got to the script yet!

All-in-all, this feels like a good week and I feel re-enthused and motivated. Let's hope I can keep it going...

Feelin' the Love!!

So today I worked really really hard on the treatment for DeCodeMe. Made some good progress (I think) but will find out on Sunday when my producer flies to Sydney for a meeting.

I've also been thinking about the offer from the Portuguese production house to option LUCK'S RAN OUT. I drafted a response to them last night but didn't send it. And I didn't send it today either. This is because I've been corresponding with an agency and am hoping they might take me onto their books (I queried them last year and they said come back if you obtain producer interest in the script. So I did). I haven't heard back from them though, so I'm assuming they're still considering me.

I've pretty much made up my mind about the option offer though. But I'll sleep on it again tonight and let them know tomorrow.

But, whilst we're on the subject of producers, today I got an email from one about my short script, PERFORMANCE HEART. They'd seen the logline on Inktip. The email read: "I love this logline! Am I able to read this? I'm looking for a short film to produce/direct and this could be the right fit."

Well, let's hope so. I've emailed the script but I'm not getting too excited about anything. Now, if I were to wake up tomorrow and find that the Portuguese production house have rethought their option offer and have decided to give me a five figure sum, that the talent/literary agency I'm in contact with have decided to take me on, and that this producer dude options PERFORMANCE HEART...well, that would be a good day!

But I'm still feeling the love right now. I'm attracting interest, of a fashion, and I just need a bit more to take it to the next level. So come on producers, quit with the small talk and whispers in my ears and let's get down to some seriously heavy petting...

No Option?

So this week's news is that the Portuguese production company that enquired about LUCK'S RAN OUT wants to option the script! Sounds great! But the less than happy news is that they don't want to pay for it. So although they want me to grant them exclusive rights to the script for 12 months to see if they can get it off the ground, they're not willing to pay me for the privilege.

It's a tough old world this movie business! What they have proposed is a purchase price should they exercise the option, but they've even asked me what I think that should be. So of course I contacted the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) and the AWG have quoted all sorts of nice figures to me that will undoubtedly frighten the production house away.

Deborah, my producer for DeCodeMe, advises me not to price myself out of the market and to 'sacrifice' the script in order to build a reputation. So essentially I should forget about making any money out of this and just focus on the possibility of having my script turned into a movie. I know where she's coming from but it feels sort of wrong to just give a script away...

But anyway, I've gone back to them with some further questions and have advised them what the AWG have advised me. So the ball's in their court now.

In other news...

I saw a sneak preview of the trailer for DARK ANGELS. And very good it is too!!! It's a great story and I'm hoping that I'll still be on board for the feature version.

Speaking of features, David Raynor, the director of DARK ANGELS, and I have also been discussing another feature idea.

Dhalia - the director of A MAN TRIES TO GET BACK IN - has raised the idea again of working on a feature together (again, the biggest obstacle will be money, or lack of it to pay poor old me).

And I'm still working on the story outline for DeCodeMe. Deborah, the producer, is taking soundings off her contacts and reporting them back to me. She wants to be totally happy with the story outline before I start writing the script. So lots of background work going on with this one before I even get to the script.