Plan B "The Recluse"

I worked on this video last month. It was a crazy shoot involving helicopters, mansions, and alligators!

Im currently doing Plan B's new feature film iLL Manors at the moment too, which is a scream. More on that when I can make the time to post :)

NSPCC advert "Everyday Choices"

I worked on this in July. It has already been selected as a contender for shot of the week in Shot magazine. Way to go Luke (the director)

I've been crap at posting lately

No excuses, but I've just been so, damn busy!

Which is good on the one hand. I've genuinely had only 2 days off since 5th May. Some days are easier than others, but since 5th May I have only not worked twice, and you can believe I was thinking about work the whole time! lol

And it doesnt look set to end anytime soon either. After this currrent job, I think I go straight onto another job that will take me into December.

I cant complain. For a self-emplyed person, it is something I have to do, but damn! I just wish I had more a life sometimes! lol

If my scheming goes ahead though, I intend not to work in Dec/Jan very much. Lets see if I earn enough cash my the end of the next job to make that a reality!

LZ7 - This little light

I worked on this video in April. Note yet another starring role for my car! lol

NSPCC advert

I went from Bulla straight onto an advert for the NSPCC.

It was again a very fun shoot, although dealing with the clients expectations along with the director, producer, and production designer added a new level of complicatedness to the whole thing.

The advert was filmed in First Person Style, and had the poor actress having to wear a crash helmet with a camera on her head for the whole shoot.

All good fun though, and got to work with Nicola and Terry who I hadn't worked with in ages. Both of them were friends I made doing The Rapture when I first came down to London.

Bulla went well

I've been a bit crap at posting lately. I just seem to be very busy all the time, which I suppose is good really! lol

Bulla went very well. Such a fun shoot with alsorts of interesting people and things going on.

The teaser poster is already out and its a beauty (although if you knew how bloody long we had to hunt for the location that the picture was taken in!! )

Can't wait to see what it looks like when its done!

Don't park there!

I finally got my revenge on all those bastards who park or leave their cars in the parking bays/areas we have paid for and cordened off for filming purposes.

It is the bain of my life when I have paid for a road closed, or 10 parking bays to find that some bastard the night before has dumped their car and buggered off for the day.

Today, down by the docks in the beautiful Trinity Buoy Wharf; the site manager had a toy (which I wish I had in my kit! lol) which solved the problem of the car parked in our area. He just fork-lift trucked it out of the way.

Take that errant parker! When I say don't park there, then DON'T PARK THERE! lol

Film premier

I was invited to the premier of one of the films that the guys I'm working with did last year. A comedy docu about a failed low budget film. The film that inspired this film was one I worked on 18 months ago, but thankfully it wasn't down to the Locations Dept that it went all a bit wobbly! lol


It was a great film, with all sorts of knowing wink to the wonderful world of low budget indie film making. Worth checking out if you get the chance. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1452294/

And yes, it even had a red carpet! lol

Next film up

This one is an East End gangster comedy/mockumentary. Could be great fun!

So its full of East End clichés. Been checking out jellied eel stalls (remember them?), Run down EE pubs, and bank vaults! More if I can post :)

The cars the star!

In the short clip for The Message charity shoot, there was a clip of a broken-down car being pushed as an act of kindness. They put a smoke machine under it to give it that "just broken down" look :D

They only bloody asked me to use my car for it! Guess my old shit-box looked the most likely to have broken down! At least it continued my unbroken streak of myself or something belonging to me appearing in everything I've ever work on lol

Parkour

On the LZ7 shoot, they also had a free-runner or Parkour guy who was bouncing around through their video. The guy really knew his stuff, and it was pretty damn cool to watch :)

We were also going to have Parkour on The Rapture shoot I did, but thank god that never came off, as we had no proper stunt co-ordinator on that shoot, nor health & safety in place. I would have hated to have been some how responsible for Danny Dyer or Lois Winstone getting killed for that shitty shoot! I even scouted a container docs in Kent for them to do it in! I had nightmares of someone getting killed before the whole scene was thankfuly cut! Phew!

Charity rappers

I've just done 3 days on a rap video/charity promo for a band called LZ7. They work with a Manchester based youth charity called The Message. They go into schools and try keep under-priviledged kids out of trouble. All good stuff really.

They were filming the video for their new song "This Little Light Of Mine", plus were also filming a promo for The Message about "Random Acts of Kindness". Which was basically showing that just because a teenager is wearing a hoody, that they're not a little thug who's about to mug an old lady. So lots of little clips of teenagers helping people in broken-down cars or delivering milk to old ladie. All good stuff :)

Its the first music video I've done, and they brought some really cool lights and stuff with them, plus hired in a Jimmy Jib, which is a sweet-ass camera-arm on track, which can do all sorts of cool things.

A pretty, damn cool few days :)

Picture wrap!

And we finally wrapped on Booked Out on Wednesday. It was hardwork, but a great shoot. And I got to work with a load of brilliant people again.

I've spent the last few days overseeing the decorating, cleaning, and waste removal from our main location (3/4 tonnes of trash!!). And then back to Harrogate for Easter and to get the last of my stuff before I move down to London permanently.

So still all bloody go!

Sorry, been busy

A bit crap on the posting front, sorry!. My average posts per month ratio will be suffering for this! ;)

Filming is in full swing on my latest film, and I'm doing crazier than usual hours as I'm wearing a couple more hats than my usual Location Manager role. I'm also Transport Captain, and about half of Production Manager. As a result I haven't had a day off in nearly 4 weeks. My last day off had me take my first phonecall at 8.30am (I missed a work text at 7.20), and I didn't get back in after a full days location scouting until at 7.30.pm. So a day off is a 3 hour sleep-in from the usual 14-16 hours I do six days a week! lol

But it is a great shoot, with a really cool crew, and a great script to work off. We spent the weekend filming a swing dancing (a kind of 40'a/50's jive) scene. Had loads of people in 50'a hair and clothes dancing really coolly to a brilliant old swing tune. So all is good:)

Action!

We started filming on Sunday, with our first location being in St Pancras station, which yours truly managed to blag for free :D

St Pancras really is the most beautiful building, and what we shot looked wonderful!

So three crazy weeks ahead of me, but it'll all be worth it. Wish me luck!

Next job!

I have landed my next job, so am now down in London again; and may be here for quite a while (more on that soon).

It is an indie comedy called Booked Out, which is a charming script in a kooky romantic comedy sort of way, by a first time director and first time producer. They are both great guys and I am looking forward to it.

Schedule is tight! We shoot in 3 weeks so I had better get cracking! lol More as it comes!

www.bookedoutfilm.com

Work update

Basically, nothing much to report!!

I am still up in Yorkshire and am currently doing some temporary Market Research work to tide myself over. The film industry basically grinds to a halt in Winter. This is something that I need to get used to if I am to stay in this industry.

Most people work like crazy over the Summer months, then can take it easy or do temp work over the Winter months. So this could be a common occurance for me then.

I was involved with two projects that I was going to do for free, but this inconvenient requirement to earn money and pay bills meant that I wasnt able to see them all the way through; which was frankly gutting as I am not in the business of taking something on that I cant finish. But I was able to find the locations for both of them before I left London, but was not able to be there durnig the filming of them. They were The Tower (gritty urban TV pilot), and Breathe (a 3D sci-fi short). Reports of the filming were that both went really well! I look forward to reporting on both of them when they are finished!

I am also finally moving to London properly! Probably sometime in March, I hope! I am currently re-decorating my flat so I can rent it out, so come March off to London I go! Exciting stuff!

And hopefully my next film jobs will come up around then too. I have spoken to a couple of people about various projects, so if all goes according to plan - ROLL ON MARCH!! :D

Highly important new trailer for new Robin Hood film

If you remember, I did a day on Ridley Scotts new Robin Hood film.

http://teamwak.blogspot.com/2009/08/sir-martin-de-walker-palace-gaurd-for.html

Anyway the trailer is out now, and its a right good rollicking yarn, so cant wait to see it!

http://www.superherohype.com/news.php?id=8938

Best thing is though, I am in it! lol Granted you wouldnt be able to tell its me, but I know it is! lol So helpfully below I have posted a screen cap to show my big moment*

* Hopes to God that Ridley has some better close-ups of the thone, or Im screwed!

The Steward of The Valley

I did a day yesterday on an educational programme for the new ciriculum for kids wanting to do sport and leisure as a career. It was a fun day and we got to film at the stadium of premier league football team Charlton Athletic, who play at The Valley.

Its always nice to get to go behind the scenes at big stadiums, and this was no different. It looks like an excellent little programme, and we had a few very keen teenage actors running around doing sporty things all day long.

And best of all, they asked me to be in it (in the background) as a football steward. So cue orange jacket and my chance to continue my unbroken streak of appearing in everything I have ever worked on! Nice! :)

Name in Lights

The screeing of Reuniting The Rubins was a unqualified success, or at least I think so.

It was great to see all my old friends from the film, and the Odeon, Leicester Square was packed. Most of the cast attended, including James Callis and Honor Blackman. And both seemed to enjoy it.

The audience Oooo'd and Ahhhh'd in all the right places, and Yoav and Jonathan got a resounding round of auplause that lasted for ages. Keep your eyes peeled in 2010, and I hope you enjoy the film (and the locations! lol) as much as I did. And is it wrong that I think my name looks rather good on a 40 foot screen! ;)

PS. Mr Callis may just steal this film! What a fucking legend! lol