2009: The Third Post

So in the last year I've managed to update this thing twice (before now). That's pretty crap, even by my procrastinating standards! Still, with the exception of the brief blip on the rom/com front (which, unsurprisingly, has died down again) there's not been much progress in my attempts to 'break out'.
One project which has been exciting me no end, however, has been my boys brand project. A few months ago I finally gave the go ahead for a very talented friend - Mr Anthony Lamb - to render one of the characters in CG. Since then it's been a whirlwind of incredible graphics that have left my jaw gaping. Work continues towards a potential May/April pitch with the 'big boys'.
Aside from that, a new job (out of London, at last) begins later this month which promises to be quite creative. And a new collaboration with a somewhat prolific writer could create an opportunity in the kids TV market... so far we're one network down with several to go...
With any luck, there'll be more to talk about next year (and hopefully less personal issues). Whether 2010 manages to be 'that year' where things start to happen, I don't know. But I certainly intend to work my arse off to try and make it so.

Writing in a Block (or in a Caravan)

So during the first week of June I packed my bags and laptop and headed off to Norfolk to work on the rewrite of the rom/com project. I say rewrite. In actual fact it was pretty much a page 1 restart (and was written as such). The goal was to literally write an entire script in a week, which was really just from Monday night to early Friday morning. Now, I'm aware that this is a pretty insane thing to do, but given the usual limitations of time etc, it was just about the best shot I would have at really having another crack at this thing, and doing it well.
Last year I spent four weeks writing with a fully qualified screenwriter, and I learned a lot. This new draft of the rom/com was pretty much the first time I'd written since (the aborted Highlander script aside) and it was truly a revelation.
I'd spent the previous two or so weeks preparing. By the end of that, I had pages of notes, the whole thing was carded and I had watched enough romantic comedies to make even the most hardened guy a gibbering sentimental wreck.
And so it began. I arrived Monday afternoon, unloaded at the caravan and hit Tesco in search of nourishment. By the early evening I was ready to begin. And things were going pretty well...

And then, on Tuesday afternoon, disaster struck. Only 10 pages in, I returned from a midday break to find the power cord on the Mac had given up the ghost. Panic set in, but soon (after a desperate call to my brother-in-law) I'd found the local (I say local, 15-miles away) PC World. Turns out you can't get the old Mac power cord any more. I only had one choice left - buy a laptop and write in Word.
Actually, it wasn't as hideous as I thought it would be, and by Wednesday I was thundering ahead. To be honest, I didn't think I'd hit my personal deadline. I hit the midpoint Wednesday night, with only one full day left to go.
Long story short, I managed it. 105 pages by 10.30am on the Friday.
A few weeks on and I'm still refining it thanks to some great feedback from some trusted eyes... I'm really happy with the outcome of this draft. It's by far the best so far, and the best thing I've written to date. I just hope my producer, and his US producer contact, agree.
As ever... watch this space.

Socialite in the City

It's been almost a year since I had my last proper lead on the rom/com. And as I've said before, it seems that you can think a project is dead in the water and then BANG, up it jumps!
The latest revelation concerns my producer's latest trip to LA, during which time he spoke to a well-conected producer (who, among others, was on-board The Dark Knight) about our romantic comedy project. And the great news is that he liked it... with one reservation: the locale. So, it would seem that the project will be trading the dusty streets of London for New York (or maybe LA).
And yes... that means another draft (a proper 'from scratch' job).
With a good 12 months between drafts, I'm pretty sure the mojo is there to get this thing ship-shape in the next month or so. In fact I'm looking forward to it!
In other news: I'm seriously considering making a short film - in fact was about to write the script when this came up. So it's on the back-burner... but not forgotten. Watch this space...

Are you ready to go Dino?

A couple of months ago I had an idea for a kids TV show which, as these things do, grew and grew inside my head until I had no choice but to put pen to paper and start sketching. Yesterday I had my first pitch meeting, with a rather well known UK kids channel.
It actually went better than expected. They seem to like it, were very attentive and asked lots of questions (and appeared to like what they heard). The main problem, however, is that they are unable to entirely fund their own animation projects and, as yet, haven't found a partner with which to do so.
I'd created a 20 page bible - mainly thanks to my good friend (and illustration supremo) John Kelly's suggestions - which I left with them, so we'll see what they say. If nothing else, the lady I saw said she would try and help me find some contacts to take it further if they couldn't, which was really sweet of her.
So we'll see...
In other news, I'm told that the 'romantic comedy' project should be being optioned any week now...

30% of Something is Better Than 100% of Nothing...

The other day I found myself playing the good news, bad news game as I spoke on the phone with my producer regarding 'The Romantic Comedy' (as I am now describing it - and how you'll find it is now referred to throughout this blog). So what do you want first? Yeah, like everyone... you want the bad.
Another writer is coming on board to do a re-write. Not to write 'with' me, but to write over me. And as a result of this, my cut of the writing wages has been cut to just 30% of what I would have made before.
Sucks right? Well, not exactly.
So here comes the good news. With the input from this new guy (who is currently writing something for two high-profile American comedians) it looks like we're going to finally get that funding, and we're talking telephone numbers. All of which means that the movie may just get made after all.
It's a bitter pill to swallow, the thought that despite two years hard graft someone can swan in at the last moment, spend a month or two writing and run off with more than half the money. But, at the end of the day, I'm a rookie and am lucky to even get the opportunity to have my name gracing the silver screen so early on in my career. And, like this heading says, 30% of something is better than 100% of nothing!
If this all goes ahead as planned, we could be looking at bagging that 'established British thesp' we always wanted, along with one of our first choices for the lead male (as my producer is currently acting with him in what promises to be next year's sleeper horror comedy hit, Doghouse).
Anyone's who's followed this blog from the outset will understand that this could well just be another 'up' blip on the treacherous road to getting a movie made, with another 'down' blip just around the corner. But who knows...

Chillin'

For the last three weeks I've been working on a re-write of a script I cobbled together some five years ago(a horror movie, originally entitled Chiller). This time I'm working with a good friend who has some not inconsiderable standing in the industry and - as such - is really helping to turn this thing into a solid and pretty viable screenplay. Today we hit the midpoint and with any luck, in a few more weeks, we should have it done and dusted. What happens then is anyone's guess. It's been a really interesting time and, although we often have to battle with external forces beyond our control, when we're hammering on the keyboard, it really feels like the mojo is flowing.
As for the romantic comedy? Well, it looks like we may get a little help in the comedy stakes thanks to a writer considerably more experienced in that genre possibly lending a helping hand in the next few months. And in addition to that, there's a sniff of a well-known actor who's interested in reading the script when it's complete (who, funnily enough, is someone who we've always considered for the lead from the beginning).
As for Highlander? I've had a change of heart and will, at some point, continue to work on it. If there's one thing I've learned thus far it's that nothing is certain in this game, and just because the writer's of Iron Man have the ball right now, it doesn't mean it won't be back in play at some point in the future.

There Can Be Only One... and it won't be mine

It was bound to happen. Having spent the best part of two months writing my version of a Highlander redux (yes, that's what I've been going on about in my last few posts) it looks like I've been beaten to the punch.
News broke yesterday of Summit Entertainment's latest project, a reworking of Highlander which will be written by Iron Man scribes Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. It's actually a bit of a coup for Highlander producer Peter Davis as Iron Man's currently running something like $500 million worldwide. With credentials like that it could really push Highlander back up from the Z list franchise its become.
Still, I am utterly gutted. I knew, going into a spec script, that something like this could happen. But what upsets me more is that the ideas (some of which I thing are pretty clever) that I came up with for a Highlander remake will never see the light of day.
One can only presume that the movie will emerge around the original film's 25th anniversary (2011). It'll be a long wait, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

In you own time

This morning I tried out something new. In my relentless attempts to cover all bases creatively, I managed to get myself in the door at Big Finish's studios to record some background dialogue for one of their Stargate audio releases.
Basically this just involved me standing in a small wooden booth and shouting "Kill Her!!" loudly into a mic for about 10 minutes. But, despite it's rung position at the bottom of the acting ladder, it was still an interesting excercise and something I'd definately like to develop. As my two boys would attest, I like to do the voices, although I'm not sure there's much need of PC Plod in the world of Stargate.
In other news... more notes on the romantic comedy... draft seven, here we come!

Out of the Blue

Only the other day someone asked me about the romantic comedy and I sighed heavily and explained that, while the sixth draft is done, it now sits waiting for someone to throw some money at it. "Something could happen with it tomorrow, or not for years" I said.
Then last night I got a brief email from my producer asking me to put together a new synopsis as he had someone that might be interested in making it.
It seems that this is how this particular industry works (at least on my low rung of the ladder). Up one minute, down the next.
Frankly, right now, I could do with the 'up' side of that, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed, although not without the hefty chunk of skepticism that I've had to incorporate into the 'dream' of this project becoming a reality.
In other news, Sword of Bad is on track for coming in woefully short of its expected 120 pages (we're talking almost half of that)! At this point it's only a bare-bones pass at the first draft, but even so it's the first script I've written which hasn't naturaly hit its page count.

... and breath

I discovered this morning that, despite being a relatively inactive passtime, writing is my stress relief. For my wife it's running, for me it's pulling something out of my head and clattering it into the keyboard.
With regular writing time becoming a questionable thing in upcoming months, I decided to get on with a project I've been stalling on for too long. I hinted at it in one of my previous posts (or was it the last one? Who knows). I managed to splurge out a 17-page outline which I'm now working from to pen the script. I'm still being secretive about it though, since this is viewable to anyone who happens to type the right words into Google. Thus, it will be knows as Sword of Bad, for reasons best known to me.
And it's coming on nicely (although I'm worried that I'm progressing too quickly through the plot). I'm really only interested in laying it down at this point, and have given myself four weeks (or so) to finish it. Thereafter I can spend what spare hours I can find sprucing up the relevant areas and making it more complete.
No news on the romantic comedy, it seems to have gone into limbo. Maybe something will pop up around this year's Cannes... who knows.

www.grantkempster.com

Yes, I am now a website.
After years of meaning to get around to putting together a website with my portfolio and other bits on, I finally made the push (with a little poke from some friends) and bought www.grantkempster.com for the next five years. Early days yet, so just a 'coming soon' page, but it's fun to have a little corner (well, it's not even a corner is it? More a footprint, and a small one at that) on the web.
In other news, the word on draft five of Socialite has been quite positive, and with a few tweaks done last week, we now have a draft six. It's turned in and I'm just waiting for some feedback from my producer. There's also been talk of a large chunk of the funding being in place... could this be the year? Previous experience tells me not to count on anything, not that I'm not secretly hoping it will all come together...

Research, it's all about the research

I'm sitting at my desk at the moment researching my next script. It's taken me a year to finally get around to writing something new (I'd wanted to write at least two scripts this year, but only managed one). Having polished off the fifth draft of Socialite - still waiting to hear back from my producer on that - I thought it was finally time to start on something new.
Thanks to a series of BBC documentaries that my good friend Jerry sent me, I've been inspired to do something which could either pay off or work out to be a massive waste of time. I'm writing a spec script, but not only that, it's a remake of an existing and successful franchise. Those who know me well will already know what it is, but since this is viewable by the public, I'm keeping schtum for now.
It's the first time I've had to properly research something, and I'm really enjoying pouring through Wiki and other such sites, attempting to unearth nuggets that I can use. I'm actually really excited about this project... I just hope someone doesn't get there before me.

It's a Small World After All

In the last 12 months I've now had a total of four jobs. Weird considering I stayed in my last company for almost nine years. During this time, I've encountered a few strange coincidences...
Ten weeks ago I left London to join a small company based in Northampton. It wasn't until I was showing one of the other designers some of my magazines that he mentioned "I used to go out with a girl that worked on that!" Turns out I used to work with his ex! "Wow!" I procliamed, "She was in Shaun of the Dead you know!" To which he replied, "Yeah, so was I, I was standing next to her."
That kind of freaked me out. Then...
I started working back in London again this week (long story), and half way through the second day, one of the girls came over and said: "Do you know Paul Spragg?" I nodded, agog, then discovered she was married to a guy I used to work with years ago, and she's friends with half of my London pals.
Later that same day I was on the bus, trying desperately to get to a tube station that was open, when I sailed past High Street Ken, where I worked for nine months recently. Unsurprisingly (I was bound to see someone trying to get home) I spotted a guy from the IT department. Nothing too strange there. Then, about 15 minutes later, while thumbing through one of the city's free papers, I see a picture of the very same IT guy standing with Justin Lee Collins.
Either I'm reading too much into this or the Matrix has a few glitches that need ironing out.

A few bits happening with scripts, but not enough to start swinging things around my head... yet...

No News is...

I'm not sure if anyone still reads this, but if you do, I apologise for not updating sooner (it's been about two months!) A lot's been happening in that time, both personal and professional, all of which has kept me away.
I finally turned in the third draft of the romantic comedy last week and am waiting to hear what my producer thinks. If we want to get it into the schedule of a particular production company then we need to submit it by September. Just hope any changes that need to be made before then are achievable.
It was a tough re-write this time, altering the structure for the second time took its toll on me. You start to wonder if you're losing your way, having thought that you'd already nailed it twice already. Of course, it goes without saying, that with each pass the script is improving. But it's hard to see that when you're going through it all again. Over all I think it's a better script, but these things are subjective.
Some other projects that are getting me excited include Bad Dog, an indie sitcom that I'll be working on with my pal Marcus. If we can get the schedule sorted, we should be filming that in September with a view to maybe lauching it online.
Also my buddy Pete is going to be looking at my horror movie Chiller (to be retitled) in a month or so (if all goes well!) so that will be interesting.
And, of course, September 7th sees the release of Rise of the Footsoldier, produced by my producer Terry and featuring yours truly for about an eighth of a second in the background of the big hooligan scrap. The trailers look great, so I've got high hopes for this one (although my critic pal at Film Review wasn't particularly kind).
More news if there's any to tell!

Back to the Drawing Board

It'd all gone a bit quiet on the romantic comedy. The pace had been gathering nicely through April and May, at the end of which it looked like we might be ready to roll. But for various reasons (which I'm not going to go into indepth on here), the director - and funding which would have accompanied him - just wasn't the right fit for us. Consequently we're back to being a script without a home. Further to that I've had another round of notes on the second draft and it would seem that there's still a bunch of work to do. So this morning I began the third draft and, I guess... we'll see how that goes.
It's frustrating to once again be staring at a blank Final Draft page, but then that's the nature of the business and I really shouldn't complain. I'm under no assumption that I'm actually any good at this. I'm just learning the ropes, and if this thing actually gets made, I'll be one of the lucky few.
I've given myself a couple of weeks (as I start a new 9-6 job at the end of the month) to get this done... maybe there'll be more news after that.

Who's Dated Grant Kempster?

Okay, this is getting ridiculous now. First I wind up on some sleazy naked website (nb not ACTUALLY naked) and now I'm on some kind of 'Who's Dated Who' site! You can vote for my 'Top Romance', rate my relationship with my wife and even add girls I've been out with. Come on!! Why would anyone care?! Probably not the best idea to highlight this to my pals, some of who will most likely be more than happy to fill in some of the blanks on my behalf! Be nice people!!!
I also seem to have found my way onto Rotten Tomatoes for no apparent reason!
In other news. I met up with Chris Dines (director of KillingTime - the film I cut my acting chops on last year) at lunch for a coffee. Looks like the film won't be ready for another year, while his first film Finding Autumn might be hitting festivals this summer.

Something for the Weekend?

It's funny where you some times find yourself. Last weekend I happily agreed to shoot a friend's music video (for his band, Kylie's Bitch) in Nottingham. We'd worked together before (briefly) on the Star Wars fan flick Order of the Sith: Downfall and have stayed good friends since (and we'll work together again soon on a sit-com). But I don't think any of us were prepared for the day's events.
A while ago Marcus had mentioned that he'd managed to assemble a cheerleader troupe for the shoot. The numbers seemed to dwindle with every conversation and by the time the day came, we were down to two girls. But it all worked out for the best.
I'm really not sure you're supposed to have such a good time shooting a video, but that was certainly the case in this instance. As the girls danced around the boys, trying to distract them, it was all we good do to stop from grinning like idiots. The end result won't be online for a few months, but I really can't wait to see it!

Inching Forward

So, the bad news: Our Hollywood actress is off the project. Reason? She's switched agents and her new reps don't want her filming a low-budget British rom/com. The good news is that we may have found our director and the money we need to get the film made. If we follow the current plan then there's a fair chance we could be shooting by the end of the year... but then I'm starting to get the jist of how this business works (and if you've read everything here, you will too), so there's no chickens being counted at this point.
It would appear there's still some work to do on the script, but over all things are looking up. the romantic comedy is now up on the IMDB (although the details are currently only available to IMDBpro users) and my producer Terry will be making noises about it in Cannes over the next week or so.
We're also going to have another crack at getting the veteran British actor on board...

Exit the Sandman

I don't want to make a habit of posting reviews of films on here. That's a job that I've happily left behind me. However after seeing Spider-Man 3 last night (with just three other people in the cinema) I felt compelled to put something on the page.
What a mess! Too many strings and villains turn Raimi's third chapter into a miandering over-long (and often tiresome) film that underplays all of its best moments.
As a kid who LOVED the black suit when it showed up in the late 80s, it was terrible to see the concept shoe-horned into the second act, dismissed in just a few scenes and then over almost before the fun got started. Then there's Venom, Spidey's coolest and most revered villain reduced to a last-minute showdown that rarely lived up to expectation (with the small exception of the line "I like being evil") Moving on to Goblin Jnr, a concept which was conceptualised in Spider-Man 2 beautifully but which is all over the place here. He's evil, then he's not, then he is again, then he's not. The sudden appearance of the Alfred-esque butler suddenly remembering to mention that he happened to know that Spider-Man didn't kill his dad (after two battles and a nice big facial scar) was laughable.
And then there's the Sandman. Nothing against the character in principle, but he serves absolutely no purpose here and could (and should) be excised effortlessly from the film to make a much tighter and more compelling story. I'm sure there's some Spidey fans out there with enough spare time on their hands for such a task, and if such a version does wind up doing the rounds, it will be the only reason I'll have for watching this again.

In other news... I'm meeting our potential director tonight to discuss the script for the romantic comedy. He's fairly low profile, although he's just finished a film with a pair who are often in the limelight, so that could change. Also, we have funding in place, so it could be all systems go...

Get Set...

The band I've been collaborating with for the last few months have finally released some of the artwork onto their MySpace site (above). Spiders Superstars are an eclectic five-piece band fronted by Dav (who I currently sit opposite at work) that pitch themselves somewhere between glam rock, dance music and good old-fashioned rock and roll. Head over to their site to check out some of the tunes. With any luck, once we've got some of the artwork into the public eye (we're talking about a merchandising brand rather than just a few t-shirts... hopefully), we can start publishing the images online.
I've also decided to use my MySpace site (Kempys Corner) as an online portfolio (about bloody time!) which might help in my upcoming job search.
No more news on the romantic comedy yet...