December movie playlist

Lots of movies watched this month due to being ill so having time off work, and the 10 days off over the holiday period. Good times.

- Once Upon A Time In The West
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
- Who Saw Her Die
- What Have They Done To Your Daughters?
- L’Enfant
- La Jetée
- 40 Year Old Virgin
- Ghostwatch
- House On Dead End Street
- Dr Strangelove
- The Shout
- The Incredibles
- I Spit On Your Grave
- Innocence
- Star Trek
- Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
- The Box
- Saw
- The Santa Clause
- Memento
- Let The Right One In
- Hostel
- Gremlins
- Die Hard
- Muppet Christmas Carol
- Black Christmas
- The Princess Bride
- Madagascar 2
- Home Alone
- How To Lose Friends & Alienate People
- The Hangover
- Searchers 2.0
- One Missed Call (Miike)
- Witchfinder General
- Tokyo Sonata
- Tremors
- Slither
- Puppet Master
- Rambo: First Blood
- Star Wars IV: A New Hope
- Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars VI: Return Of The Jedi
- Inglourious Basterds

Have a good phonecall with old school friend Ria who now directs and produces a lot of theatre. I’m mainly calling to ask advice re: directing and working with the actors, which is the main thing I’m a little unsure of. She talks me through how she runs rehearsals and first meets and so on which is great, really useful stuff, that I basically knew but makes me feel a lot better to know I wasn’t on the wrong track with it.

Her major points were:
• Clarity
• Assume they have confidence in you
• Be confident that they think you’re great
• Don’t umm and ah
• Don’t be too eager to please
• Don’t be rude
• Make it all about the project
• Must be organized, neat and well-run
• Be firm but kind (to which I said, “just like when you’re looking after kids”, which she laughed at but agreed with)

Best feedback ever:

“…nearly texted you the other night as I was walking back from the station at 11pm to say your other script [Stacked Deck] totally messed with my mind and I’m now scared of getting attacked in my own house but I was walking too fast to get my phone out! Thanks a lot for that!”

Awesome.

Uh, I mean, umm sorry?

November movie playlist

- Up (2D) (with my godson for his first cinema trip!)
- Two For The Road
- Cloverfield
- Vanishing Point
- Hard Boiled
- The Lion King
- Hellraiser
- Raising Arizona
- Falling Down
- Phantom of Death
- I’m A Cyborg But That’s Okay
- Suburbia (Spheeris, 1984)
- Danger: Diabolik
- Escape From L.A.
- My Dear Killer
- Spiderman
- Hidden
- Ghostbusters
- Mouchette
- Time Crimes
- Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
- Braindead
- ‘Night Mother
- Two For The Road
- Sixteen Candles
- Amores Perros
- Sympathy For Mr Vengeance

favourite celluloid moments

Actually make it to the gym, shock horror. After doing a bunch of Lula stuff, get around to cracking on with Playtime’s Over.

I actually managed to start writing this at work today, first by hand then transferring to a word doc (which you just don’t format properly so it doesn’t look like a script if someone happens to walk by). Transferring what I’ve done at work to the script-writing program (with a little polish here and there) gives me four pages of script already. Good-o. Already loving how it’s turning out. Feel like this might be the easier one to get made. Really worried about the tube scenes in Stacked Deck/Love Hurts. Student/non-professional filming permits aren’t expensive, but you have to submit a script and I just can’t see ours getting approved

From: Hannah Duncan
To: Cecilia C.
Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 10:24 AM

Good morning

I have been thinking about our time frame and made a wall-planner yesterday of the rest of this month plus Dec and Jan - I genuinely think we should push the shoot back till the New Year. I just can't see how we're going to be prepared enough to shoot in December when you're away now from Monday till Dec 2nd. In fact, the more I've been thinking and assuming this (that we'll wait till Jan to shoot), the better I've been feeling about things. I think as it's our first time, we should give ourselves as much prep time and preproduction as possible, so that when we shoot we know *exactly* what we're doing, we've got the best people for the job on our crew, and we're not going to be rushed and making mistakes. I also feel that, given more time, and the fact that January is often a much quieter month for people, we'll not only be able to definitely get a better crew together (I think a lot of people just won't be available on the December weekend we'd been thinking of), we could even shoot two shorts, back to back, as I suggested that time - just get everything on film while we have the camera, kit and crew available, then spend a little longer editing. Two shorts are definitely better than one.

I've broken down the schedule/deadlines as such:

By tonight: an ending settled upon (either through emails today or a phone call this evening)

By Friday: I'll get drafts of both scripts to you

Over the weekend: I'll start breaking the scripts down - and, if possible, could we have a face to face catch up before you go away? I'm staying west this weekend - had been thinking of driving back up to town on Saturday evening but could do Sunday morning, so could swing by your place on my way for a cuppa and a chat? What are your weekend plans? Am sure you'll be busy packing etc.

While you're away: I start laying the groundwork - with your permission, start talking to my contacts for advice etc - eg, talking to friend James (the production designer I've worked on shorts with before) about what we're doing, getting his advice, seeing even if he wants to help out, maybe seeing if I can get a couple days shooting with him on one of his next projects (I'll just take holiday from work) so I'm reminded about being on set; talking to my friend who works promoting short films, getting her to read the scripts for her comments, ask her for advice etc. Start sounding out possible people who may want to be involved. I might even drop a line to the guy who was low on my resources list and haven't spoken to in ages, just to see what advice he'd have, kit-wise, and whether we may be able to borrow stuff from them at all.

We need to start assembling a crew - have attached a key people and kit list, and we can try to finalise our crew by the second week of December, once you're back - when we can also try to schedule a weekend or two in January for the shoot dates.

Okay, so what I need from you today is: your blessing to move the shoot dates back; let me know whether we're discussing the endings over email today (do you have lots of meetings?) or whether you want to call tonight; and about possible weekend catch-up. And of course any other thoughts on this/scripts.

Talk soon

H xox

Send Cici a long email this morning explaining that I really think we need to move the shoot dates back, along with kit & crew list, and some alternative endings for Stacked Deck. Eventually hear back from her in the afternoon - apparently the shit is somewhat hitting the fan at her workplace: she's been in a meeting alllll morning and now returned to find a mountain of paperwork on her desk. We schedule a call for 10pm to run through things. Spend my lunchbreak sat in a coffee shop reading the Troma directing book. So so funny. I think Lloyd Kaufman might have entered my pantheon of heroes (along with Roger Corman, Alex Cox and Robert Rodriguez.)

Get home, certainly don't spend over an hour Facebook stalking someone whose last name I don't even know, make dinner, watch an episode of The Mighty Boosh. Can you believe I’ve never seen it? Speak to Cici - despite the fact her phone keeps dying so keeps hanging up mid-conversation, it's a productive call and she's in agreement about moving things back, especially as she's away from Monday until December 2nd. We discuss the new endings: we're both a little unsure but agree to do a redraft of the current version, toning down the violence, and then a new draft with the new ending where Julian fakes an injury. Finish that call and resume my online chat with Dan, who's off to LA in a few days to shoot another Taco Bell commercial. Mmmm taco bell...

Leave the house feeling slightly guilty that I haven't emailed Cici a new draft of the script as we'd agreed. On my 10 minute/half mile walk to work I walk past TWO film crews setting up - the first a small affair in Russell Square and Montague Street; the second seems to be the production base - and it's actually based in and around my office. Talk about a sign. It’s like getting a massive nudge in the ribs, saying 'come on, jackass, stop stalling'. Get in and discover through my amazing powers of detection (*cough*IMDBPro*cough*) that it's Clint Eastwood's new film. Don’t feel up to writing a whole new draft of the script as I can't settle on an ending, despite our discussions at brunch, so draw up some new endings to talk over with Cici as soon as.

Watch Raising Arizona with dinner. Fucking brilliant. Love Nicolas Cage in that film.

A morning of doctors’ surgeries and hospital waiting rooms is only made bearable by Lloyd Kaufman’s Troma/directing book. God it's hilarious. Run errands after lunch, intend to write in the afternoon but frankly, with a day off, crawling back into bed is just too damn tempting...

Breakfast with Cici at The Muffin Man in Kensington. Fucking freezing out. Bus is remarkably quick getting from Bloomsbury to KHS, so get there before her - especially as the tube line she needs to get is suspended so she has to walk. We eat first then chat - she's nicely enthusiastic about the two stories, though has some reservations about the ending of Stacked Deck, so we brainstorm some ideas. Leave the meeting still feeling good about it all (she's finished Rebel and completely loved it too; her brother has now nicked off with it) and with some deadlines to hit and her with some research to do.

Make a pitstop at Whole Foods and find Libby’s pumpkin mix (hurrah!) then hop on a bus back to town. It’s the Remembrance Day concert at the Albert Hall so the traffic is terrible and lanes of traffic have been shut; takes a while... Jump off on Oxford Street to go to Office in search of my dream Nike Blazers. They don't have any so run over to Carnaby Street - where they don't have the size I ask for but do have the size smaller, which, miraculously, actually fit perfectly. Guess I overestimated the size of my feet. Get home, faff, nap, shower, make food, faff some more, figure out what wear, jump on a bus down to Vauxhall for Clare’s birthday extravangza. Good times.

Jesus, November already. How did this happen? Grey and rainy all day. Take Tay on his first cinema trip, to see Up. Oh Pixar. The first 15-20 minutes make me cry silently and continuously. And again towards the end. Sigh. Great film. Tayo enjoys himself too, transfixed through most of it. Haven’t seen a kids’ film at the cinema for a while, and definitely not with a family audience as there is on a Sunday afternoon. Very amusing, hearing the parents’ laughing at certain things, the kids asking “why?” continuously, repeating the jokes.

Later, back at home, decide to watch Two For The Road. Really great film but more excitingly it uses exactly the kind of narrative device I’ve been trying to work with in this redraft of Little Brother, to great effect. It makes me really excited about the LB script again, and I wish to hell I could get hold of an original copy of the TFTR script. All I can find online is a transcript, annoyingly. The film seems really ahead of its time in a lot of ways, and much of it is very contemporary (fashions aside). Am definitely going to have to watch it again, just to take proper note of the transitions and story telling.

October movie playlist

- Road House, and
- Point Break (a PCC Patrick Swayze tribute double bill)
- Straight To Hell
- Hairspray
- Wild Style
- Man Bites Dog
- My Own Private Idaho
- Don’t Look Now
- Mountain of the Cannibal God
- True Romance (a little BG)
- The Godfather
- Bonnie & Clyde
- Inglorious Bastards (the original)
- Slacker
- In Search Of A Midnight Kiss
- Benny’s Video
- Funny Games
- Transformers
- Hatchet
- Colin
- Zombieland
- Le Cercle Rouge
- Poltergeist
- Transformers
- Theory of Achievement
- Trick R Treat
- American Werewolf In London
- Stranger Than Paradise
- Nightmare On Elm Street
- Final Destination 2
- A l’Interieur

Miraculously make it to the gym after work. Even more miraculously, don’t die. Later look up Hal Hartley shorts online and watch Theory Of Achievement. Interesting to watch but feel things like Hal Hartley and Jim Jarmusch that I’m watching are more relating to Little Brother (wt) than anything I’d make with Cici. Manage to sit down and finally bang out the script for Stacked Deck (working title). Ends up being 11 pages long. It’s definitely a first draft, too, but at least I’ve done it. Email it off to Cici.

Second zombie movie of the weekend. Haven’t been to the cinema on a Saturday night in… well, years, I think. Some long overdue hangtime with James Diggle becomes an early show of Zombieland (omg I LOVED it. Such a great popcorn, Saturday night kind of film) and burritos in Angel. Decide to walk up to Angel as it always seems so near but I’ve never bothered yet. It is just as close as I think, and such a direct route. The night is just kicking off really when we leave at 10-ish, but we’re stuffed from yummy Mexican and frozen margs. I walk back home again, potter about, contemplate work… end up watching Le Cercle Rouge instead. Jean-Pierre Melville makes some classy films.

Another insane day at work. Drama department being annoyingly demanding – or rather, rudely demanding. It’s fine if you need something urgently but fucking learn to ask nicely or at least say PLEASE. Grrrr. Don’t even have time to have breakfast, so get cranky even easier. The IT system I need to get the contracts up for the Drama person is dead too, so spend ages on the phone with the IT guy, while downing coffee.

Cici comes over in the evening, we have some wine and food and talk film – amazingly, of all the shorts I’ve been sending her these past two weeks, our favourites are exactly the same: Bedhead and Treevenge – and, for me, Spike Jonze’s How They Get There (she hadn’t managed to watch it before now). It’s good to know we’re on the same page with that. Head on down to the PCC for the Colin screening with Director Q&A afterwards. We both have pretty low expectations of the film so I’m actually pleasantly surprised. Definitely some pacing issues, and the shaky cam is fucking AWFUL – just completely ruins most of the action sequences – but it’s really interesting to see what they’ve done with just £45 and a camcorder.

I leave Cici with Rebel Without A Crew to read, and Slacker to watch. Just a little more film education for her.

Michael Haneke double bill at the Curzon Renoir: Benny’s Video and Funny Games (the original). The first film kicks off at midday – the cinema is e m p t y when I get there, it’s great. Literally like five other people in the screen with me. Kick off my boots and get comfortable. Benny’s Video is interesting, pretty fucked up. I love the fact that I live near enough to the Renoir (about 60 seconds away) that in between switching films, I have enough time to run home, take out my lenses, put on my glasses and grab a drink – and still be back before the second film has started. Funny Games is also great, very interesting in terms of what’s shown and not shown – I can’t decide whether I like the occasional moments of breaking the fourth wall, when the kid talks to the audience and stuff, but overall pretty unsettling.

In the evening I bail on a birthday party and head over to some friends to vegetate in front of the telly - and man am I glad I did because TV history was made this night. Jedward doing Britney? I think it might be one of the best things my eyes have ever seen.

In between sending out contracts or fielding calls from panicked Production Managers, manage to get a little brainstorming done at work, and spend the day with things on the back burner of my mind.

Watch Slacker while eating dinner. Haven’t seen it in years – it’s still one of those changed-my-life films.

Have the afternoon off work for errands and brainstorming and a haircut. Way less productive than I want to be - having only gotten three hours sleep the night before I crash for an hour when I get back, wake up and have to run to Hammersmith for hairdresser, who is running an hour late. My hair takes a good couple hours to do in the end, so I don't leave the hairdresser till gone 7, don't get home till gone 8, by which time I’m tired and hungry and the day feels wasted. I have managed to re-read the whole of Rebel Without A Crew while getting my hair done though, so it's not a total loss. Though slightly dated just because of the advent of digital filmmaking, it's still an amazing, inspiring book, and I’m suddenly really psyched for this project.

After dinner put the original Inglorious Bastards on and track down more short films online for Cici to check out. Adam Green's just launched his Halloween short and spend the rest of the night talking to myself in a broad Boston accent. Make myself laugh at least.

Go to see Bonnie & Clyde at the Prince Charles. Can you believe I’ve never seen it before, ever? Absolutely amazing. Major crush on Faye Dunaway.

Go to see The Godfather at the BFI. Can you believe I’ve never seen it before, ever? Absolutely amazing. Major crush on Al Pacino.

A rushed trip to Ikea (mad busy on a Sunday), get back to mine as cranky as a toddler 'cause I haven't had enough sleep, coffee or food. A good start. Crash out with Mountain Of The Cannibal God. It’s ok, but no Cannibal Holocaust.

how it starts

Meet with Cici for brunch at High Road Brasserie in Chiswick. The heating and hot water are out at my place in town so after watching Don't Look Now at the PCC I escaped back west to my parents' for the weekend, so Chiswick is a good halfway point for brunch. I get there a little before her, grab a table by the window, flick through the books I’ve just picked up at a charity shop. Can’t help but half overhear the guys at the table next to us - one of them is clearly an actor.

Cici arrives, we order food and coffee and then she jumps straight in with it. She wants to make a short film but doesn't really know how to go about doing this, so is bringing me on board. We talk a little about the basics, what exactly a producer would be doing, the kind of films we both love, the imminent London Film Festival; I try to explain auteur theory, and what could happen after making a short. She’s rabidly enthusiastic, which is great, and I’m into it too, though perhaps a little more grounded and realistic about it all.

The table next to us starts to pack up to leave; one of the men turns to us and tells us there really is some good stuff at the LIFF we should check out. Turns out he's a film reviewer at viewlondon, overheard our conversation. Starts talking to us about filmmaking, picking up on Cici's lack of experience over my (admittedly limited) knowledge. He wishes us luck though; Cici hollers "you'll be reviewing our films in a year or two's time!" after him as he leaves. Probably serves us right for having this meeting at an offshoot of Soho house.

We pay the check and I drag her down to Chiswick library, where I head straight for the film section (she's amused I know exactly where these books are), pick up Filmmaking For Dummies and How To Make Short Films for her, get Alexander Mackendrick's book on film which I remember being told about in a script reading class, send her off home to do some reading so she's a little more prepared for all this. Head home myself with intentions of brainstorming then get back and end up crashing in front of the TV catching up on Chuck and Gossip Girl for a couple hours. I like not having a TV at my place, it makes me infinitely more productive, but it does mean when I’m back at my parents' house all I do is watch the shows I’ve tivoed.