Journal

New Systems for 2020

A New Year and some new methods of productivity/procrastination.

Journal

This Is Not A Conspiracy Theory

It’s finally complete; Kirby Ferguson’s latest episodic online documentary “This Is Not A Conspiracy Theory” posted its seventh and final episode last night.

Photography Featured

Reality Bleeds in Los Angeles...

I took the new (to me, it was actually "new" in 1973) Hasselblad with me to LA last week. I hadn't had it serviced, so I knew the results were likely to be a little dicey. I got the negatives back yesterday and oh boy there

Photography

Hasselblad

A couple of weeks ago, I took the plunge and bought an old (1973) Hasselblad 500CM on eBay. There have been a few teething problems, but this is the first successful image out of it and has made me fall in love with film all over again. I took the

Stuff

Comments...

As an experiment, I've enabled comments on this site in an effort to get a little interaction going. I'm using the Commento code and I haven't tried it before so there might be some teething problems, we shall see. In the meantime, say Hi

Photography Featured

Goodbye 2019

My year in pictures.

Journal

Ridley Scott's The Seven Worlds

This is from earlier in the year, but I only just saw it. Ridley Scott made this short film for Hennessey and it is stunning.

Journal

Night Of The Living Podcast interview

I did an interview last night with Freddy and Kelley from the Night Of The Living Podcast. It was easily the most fun interview I've done but I haven't listened back to it, so there's a decent chance I talk a lot of nonsense.

Creativity

Truth and fiction in "The Whisperer In Darkness"

A few things it seemed useful to mention that might be of interest to listeners...

Movies

Black Widow teaser

All in for this on May 1st:

Creativity

The Evil Has Landed...

We finally have something for you to listen to; the first three episodes of The Whisperer In Darkness are available via BBC Sounds and on your podcast app of choice. There will be further installments over the next couple of Mondays.

Creativity

A longer trail - Episode 0

Ahead of the first batch of THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS going live tomorrow, BBC Sounds have released a longer trail, in the form of Episode Zero.

Creativity

The Whisperer In Darkness

The first trailer for the sequel podcast to THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD has just landed. Series available on December 2nd...

Stuff

Happy Monday

Here's a cheerful little piece to start the week..

Journal

INFODUMP 33 is now live...

It'll be in your inbox if you subscribe (or your junk mail folder if you're smart) or you can see it HERE [https://mailchi.mp/e20164f9f8ba/3tvbt58cwu-2331393?e=c45bcdb407]. If you're new to it and you like it, there's a subscribe box

Creativity

The Scorsese-Marvel thing

Wherein I add absolutely nothing to the debate and ultimately fail to pick a side.

Stuff

Aaron Sorkin's open letter to Mark Zuckerberg

I'm not usually a fan of the open letter, as it just feels kind of performative to me, but this one is very good. I left Facebook a few months ago and, as this whole political ad thing plays out, I'm happy to file that as one of my better decisions.

Journal

Robert Richardson

Robert Richardson's work on Oliver Stone's movies and on Scorsese's films represents the pinnacle of the cinematographer's art. Latterly he's been doing amazing things with Tarantino and here he is talking to Deadline about "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood".

Journal

A piece on Lovecraft

I'd completely forgotten being interviewed for this piece and so I didn't think to look for it until today.

Writing

Interview with Kurt Sutter

This is a really interesting piece, from Deadline, with some insights into the studio process and showrunner politics.

Journal

On walking

This, from the peerless Brain Pickings: https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/01/10/kenneth-grahame-the-fellow-that-goes-alone/

Creativity

"Creative freedom" in UK broadcasting

Although I've worked plenty for British broadcasters in the past, I haven't done anything for a UK company (with the exception of a podcast series we make for BBC Sounds) since around 2015.

Creativity

Seven Days Walking - Box Set

This has been the soundtrack to all my writing this year. Now Ludovico Einaudi's SEVEN DAYS WALKING project is complete (it was originally released over seven months). The download is around now, but the CD box set is available from November 1st. This is perfect Autumn music, perfect

Stuff

A way to beat jetlag?

Saw this today and it seems like a throughly good idea. Tired of Jet Lag? This App Will Help Reset Your ClockTimeshifter cribs NASA-backed science to help you recalibrate your biorhythms after switching time zones.WIREDCondé Nast [https://www.wired.com/story/timeshifter-jet-lag-app/]

Getting Started Featured

Some thoughts on first drafts...

I'm writing a couple of movies right now that are both one-step deals, which means that I'm being paid to deliver one draft with no re-writes. Writing in my journal this morning, I stumbled across the following thought: