Continuing On

A Filmmaker's Journal

So recently I’ve ummed and ahhed about continuing on with this filmmaking journal. I’ve wondered what worth there is in even charting these adventures in the trenches. Is it worth putting these posts out into the seemingly black void of the internet? I don’t really know to be sure. But then, over the weekend I met the brilliant writer Alison Moore at the UK Ghost Story Festival in Derby and one of the first things this Booker Shortlisted author told me was how much she’d enjoyed reading this Journal. Kind of blew me away.

(Alex Davis, Teika Marija Smits, Alison Moore, me, Peter Haynes)

So let’s continue on, if you’re willing to come a little further with me? Deeper into the strange world of writing and making films on the bottom rungs of the ladder. At least for a little while longer.

Alex Davis’s Ghost Story Festival was a fun day. I took part in two panels. One with the delightful Megan Taylor called Bringing the Supernatural Into the Modern Day and another with Teika Marija Smits, Peter Haynes, and the aforementioned Alison Moore entitled The Importance of Place in the Ghost Story. Everybody spoke elegantly and insightfully about writing ghost stories and the genre as a whole. And I said some stuff.

I also got my hands on the exclusive festival ghost story anthology Spirit Seasons, featuring my short story ‘Christopher’ and stories by other attendees of the weekend-long event. It’s always lovely to hold a book in your hands which contains words you’ve written. There was a signing for Spirit Seasons as well, where I got to meet the book’s illustrator Jen Clare.

(with Jen Clare)

(My panel with Megan Taylor)

(Me saying stupid stuff in front of people who know what they’re talking about)

In other news, I turned in a second draft of the brilliantly titled Improper Bastards to director Rick Roberts and have also been putting the finishing touches to the Dead Leaves 10th Anniversary Edition with Northern Republic, which will now not only feature a fantastic Introduction by Simon Clark and contain my essay ‘The Video Age’, but will also feature a brand new short story entitled ‘Kim Basinger’ (Spoiler Alert: Kim Basinger isn’t actually in the story - sorry - but it does feature a cameo appearance from Scott Bradley, the narrator and central character of Dead Leaves). There will be a cover reveal soon for that one.

Rick Roberts has also begun to cast Zero Hour, the World War II men-on-a-mission feature I scripted for him last summer. It’s very exciting to see that one coming together.

And in the background of all this stuff are the post-productions of both Adam Park’s The Wilding (which I’ve seen a rough cut of) and my own directional effort, The House on Lidderman Street, but more on those two in a future entry. Plus, there’s something major going on with another screenwriting project, but I’m afraid I can’t talk about that one just yet. Let’s just say though, if it comes off, all this work I’ve been doing for years and years will finally push over onto the next level and I’ll have to find a new name for this Substack. Time will tell.

Onwards!

(Also sold and signed a few copies of The Electric and Society Place at the Ghost Festival. It’s lovely to see them go out into the world.)