This blog has kind of fallen into silence as I’ve been writing, sewing, working hard and generally fumbling through lifes woes. But… I should be back to normal. This blog isn’t free, after all So a quick catch up…

CCP has been woring on re-writes for Day Job and the new and improved site (which will actually have content and stuff) is in it’s testing stages. We’ve also been coming up with smaller short projects to do before DJ funding comes through. Though if you are looking to spend money on a series, there’s a contact form there – use it. I’ll give you credit. Or an apple or something.

Source Wrestling has been doing well and we’ve unleashed some new talents. I’ve been putting my stamp on the project as much as possible and am really beginning to enjoy the mix of show-running and performing at the same time.

Ezri started school yesterday. Which made me feel old.

I now own two new pairs of trousers. One of them ripped.

I have an obsession with Morgana on Hunnyhive. Especially as she re-blogs some filthy stuff on Tumblr.

And thats about it. If I’m not writing, I’m hunting for funds or working on Source, or doing family stuff… and generally being snowed under.

But I’ll make a point of writing a more interesting blog soon. I have a list of things to rant about that… I’m too much of a loud mouth cock not to mention…

Until then. Here’s Eva Green.

Nice.

As I walked out of the Arches the other day, clearing out my dressing room and saying hello to several people, I wandered around the building and watched as one stage came down and another was erected. A clean slate, a new event. The end. It should have been a feeling of closure. Sadly, that feeling hasn’t came yet.

What feels like years ago, I received an email from Rob Drummond talking about a theatre project. An insane idea to merge theatre and wrestling, to put on a show at the Arches in which he’d show a transition from actor to wrestler and step into the ring for himself. I have to admit, I didn’t think it as likely…

When I heard the news, I was blown away. It was almost funny. I got a call from Abby – our hard working and all around wonderful production manager – telling me all about us having won the Vital Spark award and that soon, it was all going ahead. I would have been in shock. Unfortunately, I was in shock a day earlier when producer of the Movie Cafe emailed me asking if this occasional film reviewer (thats me by the way) was the same Jimmy T that was on the press release that he’d forwarded talking about the same thing. So I was spoiled a little, but I was still in awe. It’d been confirmed, I’d been told, all the information and typing I’d done to help the application go forward had been successful.

It was about to begin.

It hadn’t properly hit me though. Not until it did begin and I was meeting with Rob on a regular basis, and popping into the Arches on a weekly basis. Actually, not even then did it feel like it. The moment it all clicked was the night before out first session together. It hit me. I’d go to sleep in the usual routine and wake up on the road to a show that would become a milestone for me. Not that I knew that at the time, but… the blog works better if I say that now.

For those who came along and stayed for the post-play documentary saw, it was a long process for Rob. Five months of training, thinking, planning, brainstorming, walking Rob through the pain, the thoughts, the ideas, the club feet, telling the creative director Jackie (another wonderful part of the production, and the most infectious laugh I’ve ever encountered!) that Rob wasn’t going to die.

And after months of preparation and hard work, a few weeks ago it all finally came together. I had a script in my hand, we had the ring in the Arches, Francis Gallop was taking photo’s of us all fo the cut outs seen in the foyer while my daughter sat in and talked Rob and Abby’s ears off and then it felt… well, it was really casual and kind of normal considering what I do for a living but that reality grew closer and closer, and with each step, each meeting, each rehearsal, each training session, each sly smoke outside, I realised it wasn’t just the project that I was beginning to loved being a part of – but the people themselves were just wonderful.

From those of us performing including Damo who was a beacon of support ’till the last minute and beyond despite us getting tetchy with each other sometimes (which was actually funny at times and I started referring to him as another wife), Rob who put the whole thing together and showed just how far he’ll go for something he believes in, Joe who I barely know and really appreciated learning more about, Richard who went from quiet interm to just a really funny guy to be around (and made me want to re-learn piano) and Wizard’s bad puns and google habbits…. to the rest of the production like Abby who I really got to know, her husband who is just an amazing morale booster, Jackie who was a hell of a lot of fun to be around and the talented Andy, Jen and Ross who’s parts are so underrated but so big a part of it all… and of course, Lyndsay, George and Colin (and the unseen Fiona!) who worked hard on the documentary, and I have to say – George especially was a wonderful support figure(and thank you for all the kind words) and just mad any situation a great laugh. And we can’t foget Andy Elliot who had to deal with sweaty wrestlers before going to New York for Beautiful Burnout.

The crew troughout the show are the most hard working I’ve has the pleasure of working alongside and I honestly can’t praise them enough. Those of you thta saw that reveal… the ring, the set up, the… well everything. All them.

When I hit opening night, I didn’t know what to expect. I was hiding through most of it, listening to Rob’s touching monologue before turning it int a vile attack on him – which was strange at first, I didn’t expect as much of a reaction as I got. And the tag match was the perfect idea, a great symbolism of the bullying discussed in the monologue, the unfair life of the victim who hs stood by and watched his whole life and that dramatic moment where Rob stomps his feet and ets the fans clapping as he builds himself up to redemption, a hot tag, clearing the ring and that final moment.

But what if the crowd would sit on their hands as I’ve seen both theatre and wrestling fans do before? What if the theatre crowd would react to the wrestling? What if the wrestling crowd wouldn’t react to the theatre? A part of me was terrified. Was it going to work? Was it all for nothing? Is anyone going to buy a ticket? Or more selfishly… am I going to be good enough?

Well, I’m not sure on that last one but… I was wrong on the rest. The wrestling fans were drawn in, the theatre fans were booing and hissing (with more than a few saying they genuinely didn’t now whether to hate me or not, which I think is a compliment) and there were times when the fans were so loud I couldn’t hear what was going on, including the climax of the show on opening night. The show itself broke attendance records, not as big a number as a Wrestlemania show, but… with that record breaker, the audience leaving happy and excited, newcomers to both theatre and wrestling and – for me, personally – learning a lot from both sides of things…

…I was amazed. Thats an understatement. I was overwhelmed.

It’s cheesy, but considering I always wanted to do theatre on a professional level, it was one of the best experiences of my life. It let me cross off one of the major things on my to do list and it’s left me wondering if we don’t do this again… should I change careers like Maj did?

But it’s gone now. The smoke has cleared, the dust settled and everyones taking some down time. Well, almost everyone. Now those of us in SWA’s management team have the Gathering on the 26th to worry about, and a lot of work still lies ahead – and for a show this size, will be putting ourselves through everything until the doors open – for it to happen and then more shows and of course Day Job to get on its feet with Gary as there are more rewrites and of course the entire production to put together. Which I’m looking forward to more than I can express.

But despite all this, seeing the empty Arches, the busy staff, everything moving on… it feels somewhat empty to stop after all this time and all this work and I hope that maybe, someday, someone will let us go again. Or maybe someone will be foolish enough to put my tubby ass on another show. Ok, that’s wishful thinking…

But if my theatre time ends here, it’ll have both opened and closed on a high note. Thank you to all who gave me the opportunity, who put faith in us and to Rob for this insane idea that he brought to life…

All I can say… is thank you.

Recently there was a debate on a popular wrestling fan site concerning wrestling as theatre, and in my diverse line of work it’s a debate I was fascinated by. Beyond the Mat’s Barry Blausten commented in his poplar documentary on the colorful and theatrical world of wrestling, and even legendary George Hackenschmitd claimed that without theatrics, wrestling wouldn’t work. Even in his era.

Wrestling is no different from theater in many regards. The audience will decide who they like and dislike based on the attitudes of the wrestlers, such as the battle between Eric Canyon and Scott Renwick in recent times. SWA fans have attached themselves to Renwick as an underdog under fire, constantly rising above challenges made by Eric Canyon and showing the heart of a champion, while Canyon has fallen into the role of the villain with his hellbent vendetta driving him towards control of the company.

Much like in boxing and MMA, wrestling also tends to unleash a story that we can link to. All three sports have had David versus Goliath concepts, larger fighters taking on the small underdog with the crowds often rooting for the underdog to achieve the huge upset. As soon as the fans connect and cheer for one man and begin to loathe the other, a story develops and unfolds and the audience is absorbed in that story,hoping for a happy ending.

Whether they get that happy ending or not, that’s up to the men in the ring. But the live performance and audience involvement, not to mention wrestlers often playing up to crowd response, goading them if they’re booed and asking for more support if the crowd are cheering them, is not unlike the theater world.

Those of us that watch theater are shown a live performance of a story we can get emotionally invested in, that we can sit and form opinions of, following the hero’s as they fight against the villains. Sometime those lines are blurred, sometimes there’s a point to be made. But in both, there’s a story to be told and audiences lose themselves in that story. And comparison’s to classic themes in stories such as greed, revenge, power can easily be seen between the lines in the world of wrestling as ego and personal motivations often become clear in the ring.

So, is wrestling theater? Quite possibly. But there’s one thing he’s forgetting.

To me, theater is a lie. No one dies during a production of Hamlet. No one really has a grudge, no one really questions whether their life is worth living or struggles through deep personal issues. They portray it. They pretend. They drag the audience into a false reality and try to lead them through a journey. Which involves a lot of talent, it is entertaining and whether the performance is live or on a huge screen, it’s always a wonderful experience to have.

With wrestling, as much as you want to attach the performers tag on it, the pain you see is real. The challenges and the struggles are real and as much as the talent plays up to the reactions of the crowd, the people aren’t actors throwing out a performance or pretending to be someone else, they are real people living real lives and entering the ring as themselves. Maybe with a stage name or an alias, but the person in the ring isn’t pretending to be someone else.

I have showed the world of wrestling who I am and people hate me for it. I was booed, I was loathed, I was despised. I opened myself up, put myself on show for all the world to see and let them judge me.

How can that not be real?

The reality hit Rob Drummond like a, well… like a skinny actor hitting the canvas with a dislocated elbow. Those in the arts community have seen Rob limping through Glasgow with his legs giving in from some intense workouts from Joe Coffey, his arm in a sling and his ego bruised. It’s not easy. He learned that the hard way.

It’s been a long road for Rob in the past few months. A crash course in pro wrestling from the inside out. It’s taken it’s toll emotionally and physically but the end of that road is in sight. As Rob Drummond: Wrestling hits The Arches Theatre from February 8th-13th.

Book your tickets here or Join the Facebook page.

If you’ve woken up to a Facebook trend this morning, you’ll know the score. Since there’s bugger all else to do (well, thats a lie – I’m just stuck in the middle of writing) and most of us are stuck bored, I’m jumping on one of these irritating trends on the hope it inspires me to do some work… inbox a number between 1-500 and ill let you known what i think of you without using your name (I removed the smiley face)

For everyone that sends me a number in my Facebook inbox and instead of clogging up everyone’s feeds – I’m posting the answers here. In numerical order. Because I can. I’ll update with every new number given.

3.14 – You’re an incredibly nice guy. Though you seem to live through a lot of stress through one element of your life, which makes me wonder if you’re genuinely happy. But I hope you are. Because you deserve to be.

7 – I’m sure we’ve had a few fall outs over the years (I think – my memory is shockingly bad), but if it weren’t for you and the opportunities you gave me I’d never have experienced or had the opportunities that I have in the past few years. There have been great times, particularly when I was camping out down the road from you, that we’ve had talks where I’ve seen the rel man behind the persona. There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye, and a lot that I think many people misunderstands. But I’m glad I’ve seen behind the mask, and that I’ve had the opportunity to learn so much from you.

9 – A genuine pleasure to know, which is funny as hell considering we’re in more contact now and in each others heads more way more than our brief encounters and chats when we first bumped into each other online years ago. One of the few people I can bounce off creatively and more importantly – one of the very select few I’d give that privilege to (not that it’s much of a privilege with my mess of a mind).

22 – You have highs and lows. In your highs, you’re witty, funny and generally awesome. In your lows… I worry about you. Not in a bad way, but because I give a shit. And I hope that there’s not a parting of the ways with recent circumstances as I have very few mates like you who I can get geeky and discuss as much serious shit with as well.

24 – You like a lot of things I can’t stand, but you’re still awesome. You’re funny, fun in general and I love the way you and your other half interact. You’re still on the welcome list for my house (which is a very short list) and I hope you can return for drunken tomfoolery soon.

25 – Aside from your excellent taste in music, you’ve been a great help when I/we need you and you have more potential than I think you realise.

369 – You’re geekery impresses me. And despite me often keeping distance from people, you’re one of the few in our circle I liked from first meeting you – and you’re one of two people I’d want to bring on board with Cash Cow as you’re mind could contribute a lot.

14 – I haven’t seen you in person in years, and this gives me sad face. With so many odd people in or weird little world, you’re a great one to have a laugh with and if we worked in the same area – I;d be demanding post-show pints.

37 – “My girlfriend sucked 37 dicks.” Brilliant number. Anyway, you’re one of the most selfessly helpful people I know and I wish I had your mindset at times of doing things for the greater good/the bigger picture.

47 – That’s a fantastic number. I’ll keep it simple… you’ve been selfless and helpful with me. That says a lot and I’m more thankful than I tend to let on.

69 – Bill and fucking Ted. Brilliant. I don’t know where your fun-ness and merryment comes from. But you always put a smile on my (and Di’s, and a lot of others) faces. You’re aweosme.

101 – Only really had one drink with you so don’t know you that well, but from that – it was a fun time and a good laugh worth repeating with more alcohol!

142 – I haven’t seen you in years, which is unfortunate. More than, really. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have likely never walked the path I have. Which is… well, I hope that’s a good thing! Ha!

144 – You moan a lot ;p But I can see why as we are surrounded by similarly attituded people. People are cunts, and I love hearing how you describe and deal with them, but I always hope they’re not getting to you.

250 – You’re weird. Sometimes thats a good thing. Though I need to know you better, partly a fault of my introverted/always busy state of mind.

316 – Absolute gem of a man, despite rarely seeing each other. And in terms of wrestling, if I had a WWE-like structure (and bank account) you’d be top of the list for creative advisor.

341 – I’ve never hid the fact I’ve admired you a lot and I find it funny that our paths in life seem to take similar turns. You’re always a balanced, intelligent ear that I wish could be around more – but when we do meet, it’s an absolute pleasure to be in your company.

456 – Most guys I know your size (mainly the ones from my old gym) were complete knobs. I’m glad we exchanged an email or two before we met at training. You were just as polite, courteous and grounded in person as you were on paper. What we do tends to absorb and change people. But you… I genuinly believe you’ll continue to be one of the good guys, and for what it’s worth – with that personality of yours combined with a touch more self belief, and I can see you being a valued and respected person on the levels of a certain butcher in our circles in years to come.

777 – It’s been too long, and you’re too far away. This upsets me – but I still owe you a pint!

This is just a quick post to share some annoying stupidity. Yes, more annoying and more stupid than that James Callis obsessed woman. If you’re a sci-fi fan you may have read this article, or at least… known about the plan. And can I just say, what a pointless, stupid waste of time.

Lets take out the obsessive fan ‘oh no my shows been cancelled, boo hoo’ crying for a moment and think about this. 2,880 apples sent in protest. Seriously?! So, with poverty, a recession and everything else in the world – the best thing to do with your money is to protest? About a TV show? To all those involved in the fundraising, I have to ask…. instead of sending apples to SyFy, wasting money and food, wouldn’t it be a better use of time to, I don’t know… raise money for charity? Just a thought, you tools.

Life has been surprisingly hectic with not much time for relaxing. Well, that’s a lie. I’ve put aside for relaxing time and consumed a healthy amount of beer in the process. Particularly on Sunday. But in all the rushing around and non-stop plotting and planning, it’s great to see more than a few things come together nicely.

The Day Job project is almost ready to close it’s first chapter. The first major writing stage is so close to being finished that it’s scary. Looking at my side of things when it comes to writing, I feel odd not having anything left to do (well, almost, I’ll get to that) and we’re so close to having the final episodes ready for first draft. In the next few months comes the hard part, putting it together. But while my mind works on production thoughts, going over ideas, possibilities and such in the background, the front of my mind is thinking feedback, rewrites and new ideas…

It’s kind of odd. Initially I got on board to help put it together and I seem to be tangled in the web of creativity. Which is a wonderful thing and has let my mind wake up again. I think I was initially going to write an episode or two and have ended up doing quite a few by accident. Five I think overall. And I’ve got the task of writing a vital scene in the closing episodes which I’ve already pre-planned (though, I won’t commit anything to paper until I’ve seen some of the script as I don’t want it to be unnatural).

Episode 4 was my first go and it was essentially me just laughing in my head and putting things down. The base concept was written down while waiting for a meeting on the Arches wrestling project. All the notes really said were;

- Shoes.
- I don’t know him.
- No X Box?
- Eye teeth.
- Remember the stalker.
- Poop shoot.
- You’re sitting on my dog.
- Summer Glau.
- Ken Adams.
- Exclamation marks.

I have no idea how I transitioned this to a story, and half of it doesn’t make sense to me now I’ve looked back at the notebook. But somehow something came of it that made slightly more sense. But from that nonsensical pile of notes to the relatively easy to write script led me to writing…

6… which was the hardest for me. The first draft was thrown away instantly. It was a part of my life put down on paper and it was quite a hard one to get the right mix of funnies. But I was determined to get a closing moment that was discussed and thought was perfect for that episode; 7… which was a struggle for both of us but a follow up that was a game changer and we had to work hard together to make it right; 9… which was less funny more drama and I’m still working on as the subject matter is one I’ve avoided before and it’s something I want to get right (and cheers to Nanouk for inspiring the latest idea/rewrite!); 12… in which Rob Drummond pointed out that I’d accidentally wrote a play. Which I quite liked.

Everything’s still a work in progress and as we’ve went on, the characters, story and general overall stuff has become deeper, more fleshed out and some things have changed dramatically for the better. It’s a sign as well with Gary’s scripts, which have become deeper and more involved over time. So undoubtedly I’m looking forward to seeing how it ends then tackling re-writes of the whole series. Then by March… we’ll get this rolling.

The funny thing is that everyone (apart from one) in my tester group who’s read stuff has asked if one of the leads is based on me. Which I don’t know whether to take as a compliment or an insult. And Raven asked if the other lead was Gary. As such, we shall be auditioning each other very soon in whats either going to be a complete car crash… or a Kevin Smith move.

While we enter the closing stages of Day Job, I’ve been entering the opening stages of the Arches produced wrestling show. I don’t know if there’s a title yet. It’s a documentary, a play and a training schedule that’s teaching Rob Drummond the art of wrestling so he can devise a play on it, while the crew watches his training closely.

As a cultural exchange of sorts, he’s also led myself and Damo O’Conor through an acting workshop which was fun and hope to do more. Even if my collection of medical and psychological conditions make it difficult to focus on a big chunk of text (seriously – I have to read pages in a book three or four times before the next one as my mind refuses to focus). And I did read out Hamlet in Shatner style.

I don’t think it’s going to be what people expect. In fact, I know it’s not. But aside from a few moments,it’s been a lot of fun. And thankfully the Arches attended SWA’s recent event in Bridgeton and loved the show. Which I’m happy to hear.

Speaking of which… the Bridgeton show was a success. I feared it wouldn’t be. Ok, the crowd numbers weren’t gong to make any McMahon quake in their boots but considering it was a small venue for a small show it worked wonderfully and we ran out of chairs. The venue were thrilled and spent half an hour talking to me after the show asking when we’ll be back so last week we booked it for February and… I can’t wait.

Creatively wrestling is harder to get right than anything else I’ve done. It’s like making an album.. You have to put everything in the right order and for me the main event is key to make people leave happy. Which is why I merrily put Joe Coffey – who is quite the rising star and a stand out at Area 52 – in the main. And it was great to see him retain his Laird of the Ring title.

On a selfish note – it was also good to see someone I’ve been helping devise an image for make their singles debut after a few multi-man testers. Which I love as it lets me sink my teeth into something creative on a more personal level out with Falcon and Junior.

Anyway… after this rambling blog and some bad news via text, I’m going to go away now and get some work done…

…I say work, I mean googling.

Until next blog…
- Read Gary’s reasons why SGU is shit.
- Listen to Red Lightnings debut podcast.
- Book tickets to the next SWA show on November 6th!
- And send me emails through the contact section to cheer myself up.

Since SyFy announced Caprica was coming to an end I’ve read a lot of angry fans being angry fans and blasting the SyFy network for letting this tremendous piece of science fiction fall at the first hurdle. That it was a travesty that a true original SyFy show was being axed and of course, how dare they show Smackdown!

Here’s the thing that pisses me off. When Caprica was airing people found it tedious, slow, it had no direction it was pointless, it was just there to wank out BSG, it smelled and it had no friends. But as soon as it gets axed… it’s a complete turnaround and the stupidity rolls out.

When Caprica started people were uncertain about it. But they gave it a chance. And as it went on it seemed that a lot of those people stopped caring. Whether it be the storytellng, the pace, the lack of direction, too much time in the V world or just plain pissing over the work put into the Cylons in BSG. It seemed that there was a whole world of crap to complain about.

Aside from Allesadra Torresani who is just plain hot. Everyone loves her. The show? Well… no one liked Caprica. Not really. The majority tolerated it, they found it bearable at best and a lot of those people turned off.

What does this tell me? No one cares about Caprica. Look at the numbers and the reviews from fans. It’s not a good show. It’s not worth investing in. It’s just not working. People accepted this, people agreed with this, people even said they didn’t think it would make a second season and a good few people were happy with that.

But it seems, once the network agreed with them – that network became the enemy.

It’s been a target for a while, particularly when they opted to include non-genre shows and change from Sci-Fi, to SyFy. But why shouldn’t they? It’s a business and their business wasn’t reaching it’s full potential. Why does Smackdown get on SyFy? Because it gets ratings that SGU and Caprica doesn’t. It’s had better ratings that the much loved Battlestar Galactica. It’s bringing a fresh audience to a channel that was struggling. Oh, and more Americans know who Undertaker is than they do Joseph Adama.

People are complaining that SyFy is abandoning it’s genre shows. It’s genre isn’t the problem. It’s quality is.

SyFy shouldn’t be blasted for doing whats right. They shouldn’t be critising a show no one liked (and those who suddenly think its a loss when it’s been axed, pathetic response) getting throw aside. They shouldn’t critisise a show that gets higher ratings because they believe they’re better than it (the previous bracketted comment proves otherwise). If anything, they should support their genre.

That doesn’t mean watch SGU and ask for another season. SGU is shit. It means wait, be patient. SyFy won’t survive by milking Battelstar (yay! look! Blood and Chrome, thats Adama, that’ll sell!!) or the long-dead Stargate franchise (and thats coming from a fan). They need to look at new ideas, fresh concepts, new beginnings… instead of looking for the next big thing instead of hoping to cling on to the fans of a popular show.

And those of you who are complaining about SyFy axing Caprica, and praying they don’t axe SGU, Captain Kirk has a message for you.

It’s been all quiet on the Picard Maneuver front and that’s because, well, I’ve been busy. Amongst booking an event five minutes from my house, which is a delight, and the Day Job project coming along nicely, as of last week the project at the Arches is officially under way. With the ink still wet on the contract, we’ve spent the past two days furiously training with SWA’s head trainer, Damo O’Conor, working with us to introduce Rob to the ring.

His comments after the first day; Wrestling is real. After a day he was covered in burns and bruises and the process has just begun. But no matter how hard it’ll be, there’s a tremendous determination there as he knows that there is something wonderful to come of all this – showing wrestling is indeed art.

It was a subject that came up on UKFF recently and I hope that this play can answer that question. There’s very little difference between what a wrestler, actor or musician does to perfect their work. It’s just that in wrestling, it’s physically demanding just like any sports you’d train for.

Merging what we can offer with Rob’s reputation and his writing talent, I can see something truly wonderful coming from this. Something that takes the audience on a journey as they see and hear about Rob’s transition. Even if a certain newspaper see’s it as a waste of money.

It’s been weird training with Rob from the basics. There are moments like taking bumps/break falls without someone hitting me which just felt odd. At the beginning, making sure you’re bumping safely and protecting is key. But I’m so used to the momentum of being hit that bumping straight off is just plain strange. But while I’ve been training lately and doing bigger moves, going back to the basics and tweaking things I’ve ignored or got into bad habits with has been quite beneficial, and it’s great to experience everything with Rob as we take the path towards the production together.

Both in terms of physical learning and bonding, it’s brilliant and with each day, each conversation on the play and exchanging of ideas I can already see something that’s going to be truly wonderful coming…

Though I’m also learning something I never noticed before. The wonder of group sessions. I’m so used to there being ten-twenty people in one room, and between each training regime there’s that waiting time. Now there’s two of us, the rest time is significantly decreased and our training days are more intense as a result. Which is an experience, but one that my body seems to have taken enough of a pounding in the past few years to adapt to.

It’s a great project for all of us involved. It truly is, and through the next couple of months I can’t wait to see everything unfold.

In other news, Day Job has been, well it’s been a struggle. Gary’s side of things can be read here, for me… well I had given myself a challenge that I soon regretted. But not for long. I found myself writing something where the balance between comedy and story had to be done very carefully. I didn’t want to sacrifice the story for a cheap laugh, but at the same time I’m writing comedy so it should be funny.

Looking back at the current draft (which I will be revising once I’ve done my next round in episode 12) it’s dealt with something I take very seriously and something I wanted to write and take it seriously. I want people I know to have had similar experiences to see some truth in it, I want it to be real. Above all else, even the funnies, I want people to feel that truth.

I’ll be looking at it after episode 12′s first draft is written in full. Which was just something I initially started writing while bored, but the above mentioned Rob inspired me to go with the idea as a full episode. And it can let me go in a different direction and bring back some lightness to what was two darker episodes by Gary and myself.

On the run up to Bridgeton’s Source event, SWA Source stars Glen Dunbar, Helo and Nikki Storm assist Damien O’Conor in training comedian Bruce Devlin to face The Machine. That’s in another post, but it hasn’t aired yet so I thought I’d mention it.

Anyway – I have things to write, graphics to make and after circuit training with Joe Coffey, legs to rest…

I received two seperate emails from nutters who read this blog asking if I was dead. I’m not dead. I’m very much alive and /or kicking. I’m just busy. Why? Well, good question…

For one, Gary’s laptop died last month leaving him isolated and alone in the dark and dangerous world known to us as offline. This is a scary concept for me, scarier was taking on episode 7. With Gary being forced to submit to the world of pens and paper I took the challenge of turning his concept into a script, which wasn’t easy.

After powering through a few episodes, seven became a problem. Suddenly there was a lag, a delay. I left Gary too it as I did some research/production pre-planning and thought on episode ten which I’d agreed to write and accidentally wrote lines for when I was bored. So our minds were distracted, but before we could get too distracted we had to tackle 7. It’s the half way point, an important part of the puzzle and one of the key’s to future development.

And we were stuck.

I took a bash and it was, well, it was shit. But there’s a framework there too improve and the ending is so key to the entire series plot that I began making multiple endings from shock and surprise, to subtle, to ridiculous, to having a stripper involved. I really struggle with someone else’s ideas at the best of times because I don’t want to fuck around with what they had in mind and I’m writing for them, more than for the story. Which can be hard to break out of for me. But I wrote a framework, sent it along and await feedback before doing anything too heavy in terms of repairing.

The positive thing is that Raven laughed when she read two seperate scenes over my shoulder, so I must have done something right.

I think this ep is so important that it’ll take some time to perfect. Eight might be difficult, Gary is plowing on with nine on paper as it’s an idea he’s been talking about for a long time now, and ten… well I’ve got Ten in my head. I’ve figured out how to start and end it, I’ve got the setting, bits of action and dialogue as well as the jokes already stored away for that vital writing session and I know it’ll be fine once I’ve started writing it down.

But 7. That’s the killer. That’s the one I’m worried about it all unraveling. And that is making me hit my head in frustration. I might put aside the outline and start from scratch, I might wait to see what Gary says, I might just burn an old lady and laugh manically as I throw my shoes at her. Who knows.

On the positive side, the first six episodes (in their current drafts) are printed out and reading them as one unit (instead of separately) they work wonderfully together. So here’s hoping we can push past seven (or maybe even shelf the fucking thing for now if it’s kicking us in the balls so hard as we both know whats next, and write backwards – fucking no idea there) and get it finished.

Oh, then film it and you can watch it and shit. So I should really piss off and get the filming block A budget, reports etc down. Thehn match up what we need and such with the possible locations I’ve marked out (which range from all over England to Glasgow) as a pre-planning thing then get the finances sorted.

Outside that, I’ve been working on a new gym routine, editing SWA Fan Access, figuring out the podcast ideas, the possibility of TPM Ringwear (yes, I sew… I may as well) and figuring out if a ring will fit in the Arches for the soon-to-be-started production. We need to give this damn thing a title soon. I can’t keep referring to it as ‘That Play Thing).

I’ve been told that there will be a progress blog and with a month away, these will be an interesting few weeks as the countdown begins to get the official research and development underway.

So yes. There’s a hint of a sit rep without actually telling you anything.

HA! You’ve all been fooled.

“There’s this phenomenon of fans who become very proprietary, not just about the objects of their fannish-ness, but also their status in the fandom,” she says. “They always want to be the one who had the inside story, the inside contact, the latest cutting edge stuff about the show or the actors. There’s almost a need to be an object of famousness themselves.”

For those who have read my previous Finnish-inspired Fandom posts, which generated some hate from the types of people the quote above refers to, I thought I’d share an interesting article from AfterElton.com by Brent Hartinger. Click here to read the full piece