It's alive! ALIVE!!

This is actually news from last week, but I completely forgot to blog about it at the time. Never mind.

In February and March of 2005 I directed a little micro-budget short film. Most of the post-production happened quickly, but then a string of things went wrong with the sound design. To wit, several people were lined up to do it and then for various reasons didn't actually do it (and in some cases took an excruciatingly long time not actually doing it).

The 2nd AD from the film crew eventually came to my rescue and volunteered for the sound job. (If only I'd known 18 months earlier that he was interested in sound design...) Last week he delivered me a DVD with his final changes, and we are finished! Hooray!

We were in post production for almost two years. Not hooray!

The film's called "No Circulars Please". Look for it at a cheap and cheerful shorts screening near you.

Coming along nicely

The monthly Mixt Nutz show was last night, and it went very well. The audience were a) nicely numerous, and b) nicely enthusiastic. The sketches got more laughs than I've seen Mixt Nutz sketches get, and in particular our new material went down swimmingly. This all bodes well for the planned Edinburgh show.

One thing that's remained constant, and which others have told me is perfectly usual, is that the sketches get fewer laughs than the improvisation games that open the show. I suppose the audience participation element, the heightened potential for surprise, and the general chaotic raucousness all help to boost the improv section's laugh count, but damn it, I want the audience to laugh hardest at my bits! MY BITS!

The universe hates me

So, I've got another draft on that feature film to do, a 15-minute radio play to write before the end of the month (and all I've done so far is the treatment), lots of Mixt Nutz material to create and/or re-draft, and a deadline fast approaching if I want to submit anything to The Treason Show this month.

And what just came through my letterbox?

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

I'm doomed.

Finished! But not.

Last week I finished my draft of the feature script I'm doctoring. Actually, my name is on the cover page now, so I should stop referring to this project as 'doctoring' and start calling it 'co-writing'.

Anyway, I finished the draft on Thursday or Friday, the script went out a day later, and by the end of the weekend we had notes from three different producers who were all interested and all wanted to see more or less the same changes. Definitely good news, but I'd been hoping to savour my warm fuzzy 'finished' feeling for a bit longer. Heigh ho.