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.