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!