Chewbacca Tattoo

I particularly like the fact that the host appears to be almost as hairy as his tattoo. Couldn't he have simply shaved Chewie onto himself?

Since finishing the first draft a couple of days ago, I find myself slacking off a little. 

First Draft

Wrote the first draft yesterday. I woke up just before five, and worked for seven hours, flying on Apple Jacks and coffee. Left myself shaking, back shot but with thirty-six pages of play. 

I think it's good, but it's too early to tell yet. I'll leave it for a couple of days, then re-read before I start cutting and sanding. There's a long way to go, but for now, I'm pleased.

Cooking

I'm still at it. Compare this picture to earlier in the month, and you'll notice the big change: blu-tacked cord is now snaking through the scenes. I'm making progress, but I can't shake the feeling that the wall would look better with a picture of Stringer Bell.

This morning, I have written a good, barbed joke for scene one and the final few lines of scene three. I've also made chocolate ice-cream which isn't freezing properly and some promising borscht. If the guests can overlook the outline of two brothers belting each other on the wall, it should be a good night.  

On Film-Making

I’m reading this book by Alexander MacKendrick, who directed some of my favourite films including The Ladykillers and The Sweet Smell of Success.  He talks about how the fact a script must be written with words makes one think about it verbally, which is a handicap to mastering the pre-verbal structures of narrative cinema.  We automatically equate thought with reading and writing, rather than visuals.

I think it’s true for theatre too.  You write plays with words.  Writers are also encouraged not to put in too many stage-directions - it can be seen as treading on the director's or the actors' toes - so I tend to stick to dialogue.  In the past I’ve written clever stuff and I've written funny stuff, but what’s engaging about a play isn’t what people say to each other, it’s what they’re feeling as they say it.

Writing Dad’s Money, I’m burying deep into the emotional journeys before I write any words.  Dialogue comes naturally to me, and it’s very hard to hold back from it, but I hope it’s going to make a deeper, more brutal, more beautiful piece when the words finally come.

Back to work

My girlfriend took me away for my birthday. We went to Somerset and Cornwall, where it rains a lot. We drank Tribute and ate fish and went on one walk which lasted five minutes and disappointed a Shetland pony. The Eden project was hot and wonderful and we also visited my namesake. Here, I attempt to look something like an air hostess.

Now I'm back at my desk. I sometimes find it hard getting back into projects when I've been away. I have to trust to what I've learnt works: soaking in the story, reading what I've done, letting it buzz around me. I'm more likely to succeed by not trying.

Photos

Today's the deadline for sending in the press packs to the fringe office and the Pleasance. Strictly, it's my deadline. Other people have a couple more days but I'm going away today and I just feel press releases and relaxation don't mix.

We also have to send in photos to illustrate the show in the papers. We took these last Saturday when we were shooting the film that might hopefully get shown at the Fringe press launch. Here Jerome and Martin enjoy a beautiful woodland dell:The brothers test the weave of their suits:And more faces:
I'm off till Monday.  Heading down Somerset.

Tickets: www.pleasance.co.uk / 0131 556 6550

The Wall

Writing continues.

Forest

I've been a happy man this past week, as my team - Nottingham Forest - are heading up to the Championship.  A well-earned promotion for a club that won back-to-back European cups.

On Saturday the cast and I drove out to Lee Valley to film a video clip. The fringe people are cutting a montage of messages from different shows to show to journalists at the programme launch. For a little play like this without a big PR budget, it's a great opportunity to get noticed by the press. 

I wrote a quick dualogue where the characters in the play introduce the show in heightened comic fashion. We parked, walked just twenty yards over a bank lushly fertilised with horse manure and found what looked like a quiet lane in a country forest. I've never found a location more easily. We began shooting and Jerome and Martin knocked it out of the park. I could not be happier with how easily and how hilariously they worked off each other. I can't wait for rehearsals.

We also took some pictures to send to the press - the deadline for press release and images is later this week. I'm very pleased Martin's doing the play - he's a very moving actor with a quality that means you just care for him as soon as he walks on stage. He's also a shameless mugger:

 

Mark Twain

Mr. Twain's rule of writing: 'Apply seat of pants to chair.'

Pants applied.

Bank Holiday

I'm writing the script. Not doing much else - I didn't realise that it's a bank holiday until this morning. It's gorgeous outside, but I close the curtains, banishing the sun for some QT with my imaginary friends on the rain-soaked Somerset levels. Yep, I am a damn big arty guy. You can call me artist. You can put an e on the end of artist. I'm cool with what I am.

On Saturday, we took pictures for the poster. The actors, in funeral suits and wellies, pulled faces in front of a wall in Hackney. Later on, we'll flood them but the only water involved at this stage is in a vase Ron the photographer used for drowning tenners. 

I spent Sunday working on the design. I'm teaching myself Photoshop to lay out rough ideas so I've got a definite plan before talking again to Joel, the designer. I'm hoping he'll give us more of his time to make my ragged efforts look good, and he's more likely to do that if the idea's solid before we talk. The work is frustrating, because I don't know the program well and my computer's not really up to it - it crashes a lot and saving takes over a minute. But by doing some work myself, I hope I can avoid wasting Joel's time and get a poster which looks great.

There'll be a little film about the process once it's finished.  In the meantime - here's Martin and Jerome, the two stars of Dad's Money:

Preview

We booked the first preview today.  It's at the Hen & Chickens, which looks like this, only bigger:

So far, I'm blogging to myself.  Google doesn't seem to know about the Dad's Money blog, added to which a lot of dads write blogs about money.  While no one's reading, let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I'm a playwright - the proud author of All My Sons, Glengarry Glen Ross, Design for Living and the sexy bits of the New Testament. If you like any of those, you'll love Dad's Money.