Everyone's a Critic

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes 'Bonekickers'. I've watched four of the episodes so far (not last night's yet), and read a lot of hostile reviews on the internet and some in the press too. But I love it. I thought I was missing something obvious that was wrong with what seems to me to be a fun adventure series. But I've asked other people (a lot of them writers, but some normal people as well) and they were all positive about it. And it's figures have been pretty solid, too.

The latest copy of the Radio Times (I buy it for the articles) has a piece laying into the series by their TV editor - and presumably no relation to Matthew or Julie - Alison Graham. (Oh, Alison Graham. My mother taught me that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, so here's my thoughts about Alison Graham: .) She trots out examples of the show's 'terrible' dialogue, such as "Don't mess with me, I'm an archaeologist". Excuse me? Isn't that line, well, fab?! Maybe it's just me.

This all got me thinking about critical reactions in general. I remember asking Matthew Graham when I met him at the BBC writers' room event whether he was still (or ever?) brave enough to visit any 'Life on Mars' online forums. The worst he'd ever spotted was someone claiming he should "die" for something he'd done in a LoM script. He stopped looking upon finding that. I didn't ask what had prompted this reaction, but this was on a fan site for goodness sake. With fans like that...

Still, Matt can take anything in his stride: he had earlier told a very funny anecdote at that same session about having a very famous producer feign a heart attack during a recent pitch he'd done(his reaction - to persevere to the very end of the pitch, as the guy might think it got better, you never know).

I don't know if I'd be able to resist taking a peek if it were me, though. And I'd probably be paralysed with fear an unable to write for weeks upon seeing the first page of bile. God bless the internet. Luckily I've worked mostly in UK film, so my work is generally unmade and/or unseen. God bless the British Film Industry. So double kudos to Piers for putting up his recent short film Fatal online, for all to see and form an opinion upon. Go see it, and comment if you like, but try to be polite and constructive. Spewing forth rabid reviews online or in the pages of the RT does not necessarily equate to having discerning taste.

Stuff to Do

Okay: I'm going to dizzy everyone now by doing two blog posts in a week, when it's lately taken me a month to get up to that count...

As you'll know, I've been working on the latest draft of my feature for Full On Films (probably, after Cannes, I will be able to talk about the content of the script a bit more, maybe even release the title - I'll have to check with the wonderful and redoutable producer-director of the project, Mark Jay). There's lots of support for the development, and lots of interest from potential partners in the production. And both Mark and I are very happy with the shape of draft 2. There's now a bit of down-time before Mark and I meet with a script executive appointed by Screen South and resume revisions. I've got lots of things planned for this time:

1) Book a ticket to the Screenwriters' Festival in Cheltenham - Hooray! Did this last night. I'll be one of the Travelodge posse for a second year running.

2) Apply to the Lighthouse/Skillset 'Guiding Lights' scheme. Boo! The initial commitment for this requires one to be in London on July 1st and 2nd. Unfortunately, those are the first two days of the Screenwriters' Festival (See point 1 above). It's frustrating that two big events and opportunities for writers are clashing, and if it weren't so close to the deadline (which is this coming Tuesday) I'd write an email to them pointing this out. As it is, it's too late. Good luck to anyone who's going for it. I will have to wait and hope that they run it again next year.

3) Apply to the BBC Writers' Academy. Oh Yes!

4) Review a contract. A very talented director with a production company wants to option one of my screenplays. Very excited. Keep everything crossed for me - I'll post more when there's more to post.

4) Resume work on the half hour screenplay that I'm working on with Lou Birks.

5) Resume some pieces of spec work - I've got a radio play that needs one more draft to polish, a short film that is still just a pile of notes and thoughts and needs to be flung hard at a piece of paper to see what sticks. Plus, a feature script I've used - quite sucessfully - as a calling-card, should really be made one of these days. I got some feedback reports on it last year, which I should use to do another draft.

6) Read people's blogs, post comments, send some emails: let people know I'm still alive.

That's quite a lot to be going on with, and I still have to post about last week's Q&A with Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh, and do a little '1 year on' bit to celebrate reaching my first blog birthday. I better start work then...

Sound and Vision

I am well and truly into the second draft of my feature for Full On, and should be finished by tomorrow. So, a bit too busy to do a proper blog post, but I wanted to shout out to anyone who's going to see and hear the mighty Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah - writers of Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, and lots of other things that aren't named after Bowie songs - talk at the Soho Theatre in a couple of weeks. If you are, I'll see you there!

Passion and Practicalities

On Lucy's blog, the fascinating comments thread concerning the responsibilities of writers continues to grow. My feeling is that one can write anything as long as it is, at heart, truthful. But where does the audience come into this? Do they have the final vote (with their feet)? Or, is it a cop out to say "people want to see it" as a defence for dodgy material?

The point where, say, a film about misogynist characters becomes a misogynist film is something we have to be aware of, but I think we must always be wary of slipping into self-censorship.

Connected to this area, I found - courtesy of Tom Green's Guild Blog - Matthew Graham's passionate rebuttal of Mark Lawson's claims that he, and the other 'Life on Mars' writers, had exercised self-censorship in Gene Hunt's dialogue. It's well worth a read: here.

On the iPod today: The Beatles White album. Double albums seem to be the perfect length for my commute to the Day Job, and there's something to be said for walking through Canary Wharf with the mad tape-loop hell of Reveloution #9 erupting in your head.