Today I would like to announce that we have brought Martin Walker onto our team to be our Locations Manager. Martin is a very experienced individual and the man in charge of finding our all important block of flats where 65% of our film will be shot in. That is of course after he writes a bio and sends me a picture so I can him on the website.
Sam has spoke with Martin before but I got my first chance to meet him today where we scratched the surface on what sort of locations we are after. I got a really good feeling about Martin and most importantly I feel comfortable that he is going to do a really great job. Heard to describe but I feel that I don't have to worry about that area any longer.
I did mention the fact that the stairwells are really important about a thousand times though. It is really strange that I read all the low-budget books on film-making and they all reel off a number of things to consider when writing a screenplay to ensure that you can get the film made on a low budget so I set my film in a single block of flats. So far so good.... but about 15% of the film takes place in the stairwells in between the flats and I didn't take into consideration how big a job it will be to find one.
Either you have to find an empty apartment block, a block that is occupied and deal with people coming and going and generally making noise in the stairwells or a stairwell in another building (i.e. school) that can double for the stairwell and can be used when not in use by a business. Hopefully Martin can work his magic on the location and I am looking at each stairwell scene in detail to try and break them up so we can get through those scenes as efficiently as possibly.
Had some really nice script ideas today as well. I feel that I want to share them with you but if you haven't read the screenplay then it is hard to describe them and I also want to keep things a surprise till you read the film. Suffice to say that I had a couple of little problem areas identified and I think I came across some good solutions that make those problems disappear as well as enhancing other parts of the film at the same time. All of this is on paper though.... now I need to find some time at my computer to write everything up.
That is how I write, rough notes and scribbles on paper then write on computer, print, review and more scribbles... and repeat until I am happy with it and then I updraft it and sent it out to the masses!