Cartoon Gravity 39

As Pro subscribers already know, whatever this virus is that is going around has me in its grip, so this is going to be a short missive today.

The first thing I need to tell you is that comments have reopened on this site. I'm not on social media any more, which is a good thing, but it makes it harder to service this site as a community. We have the Cartoon Gravity Club, of course, but that is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. And email seems like a lot of effort to go to just to comment on a piece. So I have reopened comments on all posts and the only requirement is that you be signed in to the site. Any and all thoughts (so long as they are civil) are welcome, so have at it.

The LifeOS system that I outlined a couple of weeks ago seems to be going from strength to strength the more I use it. I have recently had a fresh look at Dutch productivity app Griply, which has been designed around very similar lines. The app now allows natural language input, which makes the whole thing a lot easier than it used to be. As a way to set goals and then break them down into their constituent parts, it takes a lot of beating. It also allows for time-blocking, which is very handy indeed.

The first two episodes of Crowley have been written. Once we have wrangled episode 3 into some kind of shape, I will open the notebook up and start working on Mythos 4.

And speaking of Mythos, we have spent the past few weeks replacing the music that was in the BBC version, which we cannot use for rights reasons, with some brilliant new stuff, including a brand new theme, by Tim Elsenburg. Finishing touches are being touchingly finished and then there will either be an announcement or some kind of Taylor-style surprise drop. Watch this space.

Watch this space, also, for news on the Lovecraft Investigations Season 5 Kickstarter. It is NOT imminent, but it will be happening, and I know a lot of people missed out on the Crowley one, so this is your first official notice to keep your eyes peeled.

Elsewhere, I am on the home straight of a new movie script that I hope to be handing over to my reps in a week or so, and I'm taking a new TV show out to networks in the US at the end of the month. There's also some encouraging movement on a couple of movies that I want to make myself next year. Watch this space...

The effect of putting the LifeOS system into practice has highlighted a lot of things that I want to be doing that I am not currently scheduling. This year has been incredibly tricky work-wise, because of various political and economic factors that seem to have affected everybody in film and TV. I am certainly not immune from the panic and anxiety that comes from industry contractions like this and I know I'm going to look back on this fallow period and wonder why on Earth I didn't use the opportunity to spend time on other things that I'm interested in. Why didn't I start a photography project? Why did I not take that sketching course? Why did I not make more headway with my novel, or write some short stories, or spend more (or any) time at the gym? etc.

In the moment the answer to that "Why?" was always "Because I have to earn some money." But I was already writing and hustling and I couldn't usefully have done more of that, or to any greater effect, than I already was. So from now on, I am going to be carving a little more time out to devote to things that may not further my career, but which greatly enhance my quality of life. If I'm still sitting here this time next year without paid work, at least I can hope to be a little more rounded (even if the lack of income has caused me to be a little less round). The LifeOS system has been really useful in showing me where the gaps in my life are, and I'm slowly starting to fill them up.

That's the bulletin for this week. When this lurgy has released its grip, I will return with more energy and, hopefully, make a little more sense.

Fuck it. Send.