Showing posts with label 7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 7. Show all posts
Friday, December 21, 2012
Make 'em laugh... or at least shake their heads in disapproval
It is with great pleasure that I can announce that after many years of development, the first webisode in my sketch comedy series "And Several Butchers' Aprons" is complete!
Sure it is only one episode, but with the others not far away, I am happy to tick this one off my list :)
STATUS: 5/40 = 12.5%
Monday, August 27, 2012
Back on task...
With the road trip posts out of the way, lets get back on task and start working on the 40 before 40.
6. Work with a "wow" celebrity
Last week I kind of got to work with Australian legend Brian Brown (as well as his wife Rachel Ward and his daughter Matilda). While I got to work with him, he would have no memory of working with me and so I guess I need to expand this goal to include working with a big name celebrity that is internationally known and have them remember the experience. That said, if I don't get to achieve this goal any other way, then this will count! :)
7. Make a sketch comedy series
I have been working heaps lately so the editing on this has slowed down a bit but hopefully we will get back in to it very very soon. At the very least I am going to try and get another preview sketch online. Don't know which one though... too many good ones to pick between...
Last week I kind of got to work with Australian legend Brian Brown (as well as his wife Rachel Ward and his daughter Matilda). While I got to work with him, he would have no memory of working with me and so I guess I need to expand this goal to include working with a big name celebrity that is internationally known and have them remember the experience. That said, if I don't get to achieve this goal any other way, then this will count! :)
7. Make a sketch comedy seriesI have been working heaps lately so the editing on this has slowed down a bit but hopefully we will get back in to it very very soon. At the very least I am going to try and get another preview sketch online. Don't know which one though... too many good ones to pick between...
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Stand by for General Shenanigans!
7. Make a sketch comedy series.
For as long as I have known my nest friend Scott (26 years), we have always had similar tastes in comedy. We would watch the Goodies and Comedy Company, listen to Monty Python and the Goons, and we would say to our selves "we have to do our own sketch comedy show one day."
Back in 2002, I was talking to a different friend (James) and he convinced me to do a comedy TV show with him. It was going to be called CrassTV and we started working on ideas. Then he got a job teaching English in Japan and CrassTV was shelved.
Then I got together with some different friends (Jess, Neville and Brooke) and we decided to make a sketch comedy series to be called Mostly Filler. We had a team of writers writing scripts, we held casting over a couple of days (and saw hundreds of people), we cast a core team and started rehearsals. For reasons that I can't quite recall, we had a difference of opinions on which way the show should go, and sadly Mostly Filler was shelved.
With the bitter taste of failure in my mouth, I decided that sketch comedy was something that just wasn't going to happen. There was instead a Red Dwarf fan film competition I was going to enter. I wrote a B grade comedy horror short film called The Killer Bikini Vampire Girls. It had every cheesy cliche you could think of... it was so popular and so much fun that we did a sequel. And then another. And then another. We had a series of several more that we were looking at making, including a musical. Then one day, I was being interviewed for a job in production at a TV station and the station manager looked at me weird when he saw all the Killer Bikini Vampire girls films on my resume. I got the job but I felt I was known for the KBVG films only. For better or worse I decided that it was time to distance myself from the KBVG films. I moved on and did several dramatic films, all in the hope to show that I could do other things.
Then my friend Scott said "we really need to do that sketch comedy idea" and the ball was rolling. We threw around ideas, wrote sketches and then secured cast and crew. Although slightly behind my original schedule, we have filmed the majority of the sketches! There are a couple we have dropped because they have been done before, or they just weren't as funny as we originally thought, but we are looking good. Here is the first sketch that I have edited together:
From here we need to film one or two pickups and cutaways, then edit it together. We will then pitch it to several TV networks and hopefully, we will be picked up. We will also cut together a web series so I am well on track to fulfilling this goal :)
For as long as I have known my nest friend Scott (26 years), we have always had similar tastes in comedy. We would watch the Goodies and Comedy Company, listen to Monty Python and the Goons, and we would say to our selves "we have to do our own sketch comedy show one day."
Back in 2002, I was talking to a different friend (James) and he convinced me to do a comedy TV show with him. It was going to be called CrassTV and we started working on ideas. Then he got a job teaching English in Japan and CrassTV was shelved.
Then I got together with some different friends (Jess, Neville and Brooke) and we decided to make a sketch comedy series to be called Mostly Filler. We had a team of writers writing scripts, we held casting over a couple of days (and saw hundreds of people), we cast a core team and started rehearsals. For reasons that I can't quite recall, we had a difference of opinions on which way the show should go, and sadly Mostly Filler was shelved.
With the bitter taste of failure in my mouth, I decided that sketch comedy was something that just wasn't going to happen. There was instead a Red Dwarf fan film competition I was going to enter. I wrote a B grade comedy horror short film called The Killer Bikini Vampire Girls. It had every cheesy cliche you could think of... it was so popular and so much fun that we did a sequel. And then another. And then another. We had a series of several more that we were looking at making, including a musical. Then one day, I was being interviewed for a job in production at a TV station and the station manager looked at me weird when he saw all the Killer Bikini Vampire girls films on my resume. I got the job but I felt I was known for the KBVG films only. For better or worse I decided that it was time to distance myself from the KBVG films. I moved on and did several dramatic films, all in the hope to show that I could do other things.
Then my friend Scott said "we really need to do that sketch comedy idea" and the ball was rolling. We threw around ideas, wrote sketches and then secured cast and crew. Although slightly behind my original schedule, we have filmed the majority of the sketches! There are a couple we have dropped because they have been done before, or they just weren't as funny as we originally thought, but we are looking good. Here is the first sketch that I have edited together:
From here we need to film one or two pickups and cutaways, then edit it together. We will then pitch it to several TV networks and hopefully, we will be picked up. We will also cut together a web series so I am well on track to fulfilling this goal :)
Thursday, December 29, 2011
9 Months In...
Alright, so I might be failing on keeping regular posts happening, but it's been a slow couple of months. I have been working a lot on the sketch comedy show (And Several Butchers' Aprons) and I am well on the way to achieving that objective.
Reading over my list you may have guessed that I am a fan of Doctor Who. I even applied for a job to work on the current series as script editor. I didn't get the job but after watching the last couple of seasons, maybe I should have. I haven't been a fan of alot of the writing as it hasn't been good Doctor Who; good sci-fi perhaps, but not good Doctor Who.
For example, the 2011 Christmas episode has the Doctor put the other 3 characters in mortal danger and then watches them save themselves. The Doctor could have left the episode half way through and the same outcome would have happened without him. Personally I think the Doctor should be the hero and should save the day.
Considering the ups and downs of the 2011 season, and the late schedule for the 2012 season, if I was working on Doctor Who, this is where I would have the show go from here:
Episode 7x01 - 2012 Easter Special (airs 7 April 2012). To be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor, Amy & Rory have one final adventure - this would be the farewell of Amy and Rory from the series. The Doctor realises that he needs to carry out a much quieter existence after Amy and Rory are nearly killed as a direct result of the Doctor's actions. Someone in the story mentions the lost prophecies.
Episode 7x02 (airs 4 Aug 2012): "By Any Other Name" to be written by Stephen Greenhorn. The Doctor arrives on Magnus Delta and is mistaken for a galactic official. He is constantly called by the incorrect name and his true identity is never revealed. The Doctor uncovers a plot by an alien race to turn the population of Magnus Delta into slaves, but thwarts their plans.
Episode 7x03 (11 Aug 2012): "The Lost Prophecies" to be written by Chris Chibnall. The Doctor has tracked down the legendary lost prophecies, one of which include details about the fields of Trenzelor when silence must fall. Arriving at the Archaeology University on Saltyx III, the Doctor meets 'a new friend', a female historian, who mistakes him for the new history professor, Giovanni Ferrari. Due to mistaken identity, she does not know that he is 'The Doctor'. The Lost Prophecies are in the possession of Professor Glenelg, a middle aged man who knows the Doctor (albeit not by name) whom he blames for his menial job in the back waters of the cosmos. The Doctor does not remember the Professor ("I meet a lot of people - I can't be expected to remember everyone") which makes matters worse. After a battle, the Doctor gets the prophecies but the Professor escapes.
Episode 7x04 (18 Aug 2012): "Grandfather Paradox" to be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor and the female historian materialise on modern day Earth. The female historian is amazed and can't quite believe that time travel is actually possible. They meet a teenage boy caught up in an alien plan to kidnap children. The aliens want children to plug into their living spaceship to use as an energy source as imaginations are what the alien space craft needs. The aliens realise that the Doctor has a huge imagination and they try to use him as an energy source. The alien spacecraft however is overloaded by the extensiveness of the Doctor's memories and experiences - the Doctor is the ultimate grandfather paradox after all.
Episode 7x05 (25 Aug 2012): "Pages of History" to be written by Paul Cornell. The Doctor and the female historian are on a tour of an archaeologically important site with a group of other tourists - an ancient library. The Doctor is annoyed at the inaccurate information the tour guide is giving and shows little interest in staying with the tour group. Having left the tour, the Doctor discovers a group of raiders stealing ancient artefacts. The female historian's life is threatened by the raiders and the Doctor is forced to make a hard decision to save her.
Episode 7x06 (1 Sept 2012) & Episode 7x07 (8 Sept 2012): "Spare Parts" by Marc Platt. Assuming that there isn't any restrictions turning this Big Finish audio into a BBC episode, it is a brilliant Cyberman story that I think will work. At the end of the second part, the Doctor returns the female historian (who was almost assimilated by the Cybermen) to her homeworld.
Episode 7x08 - 2012 Christmas Special (25 Dec 2012). To be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor visits modern day England, trying to keep a low profile. He discovers a transmat device from the future. Witnessing a person use the machine, he follows them. Materialising in the future, he discovers that the Earth is under attack by the Zygons. Starting to lose the war, the Zygons have decided to go back in time and change the course of history. The Doctor manages to stop them.
Episode 7x09 (20 April 2013). A Dalek story (without the word 'Dalek' in the title) to be written by Mark Gatiss. A damaged salvage spaceship docks at a remote space station run by a caretaker - The Doctor. The Doctor has been passing time on the station researching the lost prophecies. One of which include this particular space station. The crew tell of how they barely managed to get away from their attackers. The space station comes under attack - by Daleks. With the shields offline and main power & life support failing, several red drone Daleks, a blue strategist Dalek and and an orange scientist Dalek board the station. Turns out the salvage spaceship has aboard pieces of the destroyed 'Crucible' and unbeknownst to them, the remains of Davros. The new Dalek paradigm have been searching for their creator. After all of the salavage spaceship crew are killed, the Daleks trick the Doctor and leave the space station with the remains of Davros.
Episode 7x10 (27 April 2013). To be written by Gareth Roberts. The Doctor meets up again with the female historian. Several years have passed and she is now running a museum from which was stolen a sacred relic from the constellation of Kasterborous. The Doctor helps her track it down - it is a Timelord artefact designed to track and locate any TARDIS. In the end, the thief (a hired mercenary) and the artefact are vaporised by an unseen assassin.
Episode 7x11 (4 May 2013). To be written by Helen Raynor. The female historian pieces together the truth: the Doctor is a Timelord.
Episode 7x12 (11 May 2013). To be written by Stephen Greenhorn. The TARDIS is under attack by an unknown force. The Doctor is forced to do an emergency materialisation, landing on the dark side of Proxima Centuri I where it is always night. On the planet the TARDIS is attacked by an alien species, similar to those seen in "Planet of the Dead". In this episode, the Doctor gets to know the female historian better. In the end, it turns out that the TARDIS was initially attacked by Professor Glenelg.
Episode 7x13 (18 May 2013). To be written by Toby Whithouse. After tracking down Professor Glenelg, the origin of Glenelg's hatred is revealed - the Doctor is responsible for the death of the Professor's wife. Still having no memory of said events, the Doctor tries to talk things through with Glenelg. Glenelg has an evil plan in motion to destroy the Doctor. In the end, Professor Glenelg's plan backfires and he is vaporized.
Episode 7x14 (25 May 2013). To be written by Keith Temple. The Doctor believes he can change one of the prophecies without dramatically affecting the flow of history. He goes to great lengths to change it, in the process, bumping into a young Professor Glenelg, one who has never met the Doctor. The Doctor tells the Professor about the Prophecies and asks for the Professor's help - the Professor thinks the Doctor is a delusional madman. In the end, the Professor's wife is killed - the Doctor's actions are what causes the prophecy to come true - the Professor now hates the Doctor. The Doctor realises that he no matter what he does, the prophecies all come true. As such, he sets the TARDIS controls for Trenzelor, unsure as to what will occur.
50th Anniversary Special (23 Nov 2013). To be written by Steven Moffat. On the fields of Trenzelor, the question is asked - "Doctor who?" This episode would see the regeneration of the Doctor (the prophecy says "at the fall of the 11th") and the farewell of Matt Smith from the series.
While I know that the actual series will probably be nothing like what I have here, I don't know if what they officially come up will be any good. There are rumours that they are looking at filming in Australia but that makes no sense financially. Yes they shot in the USA but that was a part of trying to increase their presence in the US market, and was financially aided by a poor US economy - neither of which is applicable to Australia. That said, I like being proved wrong... Wouldn't it be great if Steven Moffat liked my ideas...
Reading over my list you may have guessed that I am a fan of Doctor Who. I even applied for a job to work on the current series as script editor. I didn't get the job but after watching the last couple of seasons, maybe I should have. I haven't been a fan of alot of the writing as it hasn't been good Doctor Who; good sci-fi perhaps, but not good Doctor Who.
For example, the 2011 Christmas episode has the Doctor put the other 3 characters in mortal danger and then watches them save themselves. The Doctor could have left the episode half way through and the same outcome would have happened without him. Personally I think the Doctor should be the hero and should save the day.
Considering the ups and downs of the 2011 season, and the late schedule for the 2012 season, if I was working on Doctor Who, this is where I would have the show go from here:
Episode 7x01 - 2012 Easter Special (airs 7 April 2012). To be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor, Amy & Rory have one final adventure - this would be the farewell of Amy and Rory from the series. The Doctor realises that he needs to carry out a much quieter existence after Amy and Rory are nearly killed as a direct result of the Doctor's actions. Someone in the story mentions the lost prophecies.
Episode 7x02 (airs 4 Aug 2012): "By Any Other Name" to be written by Stephen Greenhorn. The Doctor arrives on Magnus Delta and is mistaken for a galactic official. He is constantly called by the incorrect name and his true identity is never revealed. The Doctor uncovers a plot by an alien race to turn the population of Magnus Delta into slaves, but thwarts their plans.
Episode 7x03 (11 Aug 2012): "The Lost Prophecies" to be written by Chris Chibnall. The Doctor has tracked down the legendary lost prophecies, one of which include details about the fields of Trenzelor when silence must fall. Arriving at the Archaeology University on Saltyx III, the Doctor meets 'a new friend', a female historian, who mistakes him for the new history professor, Giovanni Ferrari. Due to mistaken identity, she does not know that he is 'The Doctor'. The Lost Prophecies are in the possession of Professor Glenelg, a middle aged man who knows the Doctor (albeit not by name) whom he blames for his menial job in the back waters of the cosmos. The Doctor does not remember the Professor ("I meet a lot of people - I can't be expected to remember everyone") which makes matters worse. After a battle, the Doctor gets the prophecies but the Professor escapes.
Episode 7x04 (18 Aug 2012): "Grandfather Paradox" to be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor and the female historian materialise on modern day Earth. The female historian is amazed and can't quite believe that time travel is actually possible. They meet a teenage boy caught up in an alien plan to kidnap children. The aliens want children to plug into their living spaceship to use as an energy source as imaginations are what the alien space craft needs. The aliens realise that the Doctor has a huge imagination and they try to use him as an energy source. The alien spacecraft however is overloaded by the extensiveness of the Doctor's memories and experiences - the Doctor is the ultimate grandfather paradox after all.
Episode 7x05 (25 Aug 2012): "Pages of History" to be written by Paul Cornell. The Doctor and the female historian are on a tour of an archaeologically important site with a group of other tourists - an ancient library. The Doctor is annoyed at the inaccurate information the tour guide is giving and shows little interest in staying with the tour group. Having left the tour, the Doctor discovers a group of raiders stealing ancient artefacts. The female historian's life is threatened by the raiders and the Doctor is forced to make a hard decision to save her.
Episode 7x06 (1 Sept 2012) & Episode 7x07 (8 Sept 2012): "Spare Parts" by Marc Platt. Assuming that there isn't any restrictions turning this Big Finish audio into a BBC episode, it is a brilliant Cyberman story that I think will work. At the end of the second part, the Doctor returns the female historian (who was almost assimilated by the Cybermen) to her homeworld.
Episode 7x08 - 2012 Christmas Special (25 Dec 2012). To be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor visits modern day England, trying to keep a low profile. He discovers a transmat device from the future. Witnessing a person use the machine, he follows them. Materialising in the future, he discovers that the Earth is under attack by the Zygons. Starting to lose the war, the Zygons have decided to go back in time and change the course of history. The Doctor manages to stop them.
Episode 7x09 (20 April 2013). A Dalek story (without the word 'Dalek' in the title) to be written by Mark Gatiss. A damaged salvage spaceship docks at a remote space station run by a caretaker - The Doctor. The Doctor has been passing time on the station researching the lost prophecies. One of which include this particular space station. The crew tell of how they barely managed to get away from their attackers. The space station comes under attack - by Daleks. With the shields offline and main power & life support failing, several red drone Daleks, a blue strategist Dalek and and an orange scientist Dalek board the station. Turns out the salvage spaceship has aboard pieces of the destroyed 'Crucible' and unbeknownst to them, the remains of Davros. The new Dalek paradigm have been searching for their creator. After all of the salavage spaceship crew are killed, the Daleks trick the Doctor and leave the space station with the remains of Davros.
Episode 7x10 (27 April 2013). To be written by Gareth Roberts. The Doctor meets up again with the female historian. Several years have passed and she is now running a museum from which was stolen a sacred relic from the constellation of Kasterborous. The Doctor helps her track it down - it is a Timelord artefact designed to track and locate any TARDIS. In the end, the thief (a hired mercenary) and the artefact are vaporised by an unseen assassin.
Episode 7x11 (4 May 2013). To be written by Helen Raynor. The female historian pieces together the truth: the Doctor is a Timelord.
Episode 7x12 (11 May 2013). To be written by Stephen Greenhorn. The TARDIS is under attack by an unknown force. The Doctor is forced to do an emergency materialisation, landing on the dark side of Proxima Centuri I where it is always night. On the planet the TARDIS is attacked by an alien species, similar to those seen in "Planet of the Dead". In this episode, the Doctor gets to know the female historian better. In the end, it turns out that the TARDIS was initially attacked by Professor Glenelg.
Episode 7x13 (18 May 2013). To be written by Toby Whithouse. After tracking down Professor Glenelg, the origin of Glenelg's hatred is revealed - the Doctor is responsible for the death of the Professor's wife. Still having no memory of said events, the Doctor tries to talk things through with Glenelg. Glenelg has an evil plan in motion to destroy the Doctor. In the end, Professor Glenelg's plan backfires and he is vaporized.
Episode 7x14 (25 May 2013). To be written by Keith Temple. The Doctor believes he can change one of the prophecies without dramatically affecting the flow of history. He goes to great lengths to change it, in the process, bumping into a young Professor Glenelg, one who has never met the Doctor. The Doctor tells the Professor about the Prophecies and asks for the Professor's help - the Professor thinks the Doctor is a delusional madman. In the end, the Professor's wife is killed - the Doctor's actions are what causes the prophecy to come true - the Professor now hates the Doctor. The Doctor realises that he no matter what he does, the prophecies all come true. As such, he sets the TARDIS controls for Trenzelor, unsure as to what will occur.
50th Anniversary Special (23 Nov 2013). To be written by Steven Moffat. On the fields of Trenzelor, the question is asked - "Doctor who?" This episode would see the regeneration of the Doctor (the prophecy says "at the fall of the 11th") and the farewell of Matt Smith from the series.
While I know that the actual series will probably be nothing like what I have here, I don't know if what they officially come up will be any good. There are rumours that they are looking at filming in Australia but that makes no sense financially. Yes they shot in the USA but that was a part of trying to increase their presence in the US market, and was financially aided by a poor US economy - neither of which is applicable to Australia. That said, I like being proved wrong... Wouldn't it be great if Steven Moffat liked my ideas...
Monday, March 28, 2011
One week on...
So it has been a week since I declared to the world that I was going to set myself forty goals before I reached the 40th anniversary of the day of my birth, and I have to say that I have surprised myself at how productive that week has been.
Item #7 - Sketch Comedy Series
The ideas have been pouring out of my head like a washing machine on the drain cycle: lots of little bits of dirty material. In general though the scripts are coming along in a slow fashion but I see the remainder of this year being set to getting the scripts written with production starting during summer.
Item #8 - deLorean Time Machine
I realized the other day that this goal is the most expensive and as such the most likely goal to not be achieved. So that I can claim partial success on this goal, I have expanded the goal to not only get a full scale drivable replica deLorean time machine but to collect as many replica time machines as possible.
As the deLorean is a specialist item I have decided to start with something I can build relatively easily. As such, I am going to start off by building a TARDIS.
Item #11 - "The Art Of War"
I have both a paperback copy and a Kindle ebook and I have started reading - this may just be the first goal I will complete...
Item #40 - regular blog posting
Although this is the first update, I think its a good start
Item #7 - Sketch Comedy Series
The ideas have been pouring out of my head like a washing machine on the drain cycle: lots of little bits of dirty material. In general though the scripts are coming along in a slow fashion but I see the remainder of this year being set to getting the scripts written with production starting during summer.
Item #8 - deLorean Time Machine
I realized the other day that this goal is the most expensive and as such the most likely goal to not be achieved. So that I can claim partial success on this goal, I have expanded the goal to not only get a full scale drivable replica deLorean time machine but to collect as many replica time machines as possible.
As the deLorean is a specialist item I have decided to start with something I can build relatively easily. As such, I am going to start off by building a TARDIS.
Item #11 - "The Art Of War"
I have both a paperback copy and a Kindle ebook and I have started reading - this may just be the first goal I will complete...
Item #40 - regular blog posting
Although this is the first update, I think its a good start
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