Spring and Creativity...Kino and Film...Panic and Poetry

Hi all,

The boing of Spring has sprung and things are starting to open up creatively, so it's great to be involved in a couple of very interesting events over the next couple of weeks. 

Kino Shorts

I'll be doing some Q&A-ing this Wednesday night at THE BLACK LION, a wretched hive of scum and villainy or rather a rich little Cultural Cave more than making its mark on the richly creative scene of Manchester/Salford - (pop in if you get a chance - they have a great coffee machine and a fab food menu).  This particular night is all part of JOHN WOJOWSKI's KINO FILM NIGHT Series. 

John Wojowski: KINO SHORTS

John is the founder of the Kinofilm fest (1995) he is also the director of several film fests from Manchester to Cornwall and indeed probably beyond, he also is one of the foremost experts on European/South American  film posters, there are some extraordinary collections on his facebook page.  NO, the image below is not one of them, it's the fab flyer for the event.

Anyone interested in film should get along to these nights - YES THAT'S YOU MEDIA STUDENTS! But they are not just aimed at students who SHOULD be attending.  They are great networking nights for film fans, makers, actors, writers - they are such an inpirational buzz.  You will find many gems among the programs, there will be more than one or two of tomorrow's visionaries cutting their teeth here.  All this for 3 or 4 quid?  Beats any Orange Wednesday - make it a Black Lion Kino Wednesday - even sounds better. 

I'll be interviewing the film makers from the second half of the night so hope to see you down there. Up to night 23 now from John, I don't know where he gets his energy, he is one of Manchester/Salfords Film Gladiator hero's and film makers around Manchester should be glad he's around - he supplies a fantastic platform to get your films shown. 

Poetry and Panic

Next Tuesday 20th March see's Carly Bennet's first kreative kabaret suaree down at the fabulous 3MT (3 Minute Theatre) in the salubrious Afflex Palace, another wonderfully wretched hive of villainous colourful creatives.

The night is all about this...(from the facebook event page) http://www.facebook.com/jonkino#!/events/319319401448946/

poets, musicians, comedians, performers, dancers, artists

a collaboration of minds...set to musical backdrops, visual imagery and spoken word

It's Carly's first attempt at organising a night like this. I'll be performing along with a host of others, so get yourselves along to a fab venue within a fab venue (like a large Chinese Doll) and you can drink and make merry whilst watchin, supporting and enjoying the delights on offer.  Get your mates down and make it a great night, the first of many from Carly Bennet - good on you Carly.

Signing off, but more details to follow...

Joe x

To Premiere or not to Premiere...

Maybe it's because I'm packing in smoking...doing ok, just over two weeks so far...but I'm irritated today...

Fringe Theatre. 

It's hard trying to break through into the mainstream, very hard.  Sometimes it seems unnecessarily hard - so I'm assuming there are reasons for this.  I've written quite a volume of well reviewed work now in the TALES FROM PARADISE HEIGHTS series of plays (and indeed films) that tell tales for today.  They work very well on their own as stand-alone tales.  But, as audiences and reviewers have found out, these seperate tales are all linked by either character, location or event in the history of the community - creating a living breathing world that is continually rippling outwards with each tale.  There's plenty more to come.  So far so good...



But I've seen something today that has reignited a fire inside me,  around certain theatre's policies or attitudes to new work - i.e. 'we only show premieres'.  It's incredibly frustrating and limiting for new productions.  If you're trying to make a mark as a new writer you might not want to wait 12 months or more to get your allocated 2 -3 night slot in the venue you'd love to play, you want to get your play out there and work towards that venue.  But if you do that you lose the slot because you've shown it somewhere else months before.  I'm a bit naive when it comes to this approach and I don't understand it.  Can you imagine if cinema took the same approach?  The AMC in Manchester refuses to show 'THE AVENGERS' or 'THE DARK KNIGHT RISES' because they've been shown at The Cornerhouse. 



The Royal Exchange in Manchester for instance.  I LOVE THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.  I would love to get in there with more than one of the TALES FROM PARADISE HEIGHTS plays - to even have a studio season there to show how the tales all work independantly but are all also linked, a season that showed say - one play a month from the series...but I can't because they have been on elsewhere.  Studios are predominantly meant for new work, experimental work - and as a chance to get your work seen by regular theatre going audiences. To have a 'Oh you've done it somewhere else' (even if it was 12 months ago) approach is just non supportive. 

Jim Cartwright's Two has it's preview there tonight and runs till mid Feb.  I'll be checking it out, it's so well known for audiences and indeed actors showcasing.  I did it years ago in The Briton's Protection upstairs room whilst the city was going through a series of mini earth quakes (remember that?).  I was opposite an excellent actress named Donna Henry and it was directed by the very brilliant James 'Jimmy' Foster, I love the play. 

We had a problem then getting the rights, it's a long story but I ended up having a chat with Jim Cartwright on the phone and he was more than very helpful to us.  I got a bit cheeky - his wife was his agent back then you see - I asked her if she'd like to read some of my stuff.  She agreed.  She passed them to Jim to read as well, this was before I'd written any of the plays - they were scripts for screen and TV. 

He loved them.  So much so that he tried to get one of them made for TV through his production company DESTINY FILMS (Strumpett, Vacuuming Naked In Paradise) that he ran with Martin Carr.  The script he liked the most was a piece called MILTON WALK.  This was a four part drama for TV, set in an Irish village - it was a dark and sinister tale in the vein of RED RIDING, fans of Tales from Paradise Heights will know I do dark well.  PETE POSTLETHWAITE read and loved the script and was attached as lead.  It looked like I was going to break through.  However a new controller took over at ITV, and he discovered that around 5% of the story was a ghost story...'Ghost stories don't work on TV...' was what the new controller decided - and he pulled the plug.  I think we've had quite a lot of ghost stories and supernatural stuff on since over the years...yes, it's frustrating.

It still encouraged me to keep writing, I turned to theatre and things seemed to be going well with reviewers and audiences - they still are...The Public Reviews listed Strawberry Jack as one of the top 50 shows from 2011, and they reviewed over 2,000 shows of National and International acclaim, many prestige productions in the West End....

'Gritty urban drama that cements O’Byrne’s reputation as a first rate writer/director, and the new Jimmy McGovern.'

...but I can't get Strawberry Jack into the Royal Exchange Studio, because it was seen by around 200 people in a university theatre in Salford. 



The Royal Exchange aren't on their own here, The Lowry Studio (who have been FANTASTIC in their support of us over the last  2-3 years - thankyou Porl Cooper) have just adopted the same policy so we can't go there either.  I'm not slating these theatre's for having this policy, both of these venues have been absolutley magnificent in their promotion and development of new work, providing the theatre going public with the opportunity of hearing new voices...but I'm moaning about is that policy.  How does that help a new writer and new production?  

Finishing on a positive The Octagon Theatre, Bolton (who premiered Two way back in 1989, Jim Carwrights early days) have also been massively supportive of a new Bolton writer.  They showed The Bench last September and there will be a Tales from Paradise Heights night there in May, exploring the ripples and links in the series and later in the year they will be showing Strawberry Jack...thanks to Elizabeth Newman. 

No more moanin' now, I still love The Royal Exchange and The Lowry and hope I'm still on their Christmas card list...onwards and upwards.

God, I need a fag...

Joe x

Tales from Media City: A Hero Reborn...?

SOMETHING WAS WRONG IN THE MEDIA CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS...

Hazel stirred...something was wrong, her Superhuman Sense of Injustice was tingling...Salford was in pain, her City and her people needed her.  She looked out of the window and her fears were confirmed as the Pratt Signal lit up the night sky over Salford's Media City...

She rose from her bed, not the one that cost £899, no it was the one with the mattress costing £651.  She turned on the TV - the one costing £850 - no wait, it could have been the one costing £913 it didn't really matter - it was ALL tax payers money.  She staggered through some tax payer contributed £4,874 worth of furniture to find the comfiest chair - and with so much furniture to choose from things could get confusing - she didn't want to get confused again...she'd been confused before.

Like when in March 2004 she designated a house in her Salford constituency, which she has owned with her husband since June 1997, as her second home. The following month she “flipped” the Kennington flat as her second home.  In December 2004 Ms Blears flipped again after buying another London flat and declaring that as her second home...and of course in that confusion you can forget to pay £13,000 in tax's can't you...just send 'em a cheque if they find out, it will all be fine, and the juggling of homes had all been worth it as it had allowed her to claim more than £20,000 per year of tax payers money in second home expenses...



Figures taken from this link...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/11/mps-expenses-scandal-hazel-blears-fighting-for-job-over-18k-tax-dodge-115875-21348438/

Still, that's old news now and none of that mattered - she still had her job, her people still loved her - hmm, maybe one day they could buy her a yacht to sail down the Salford Canal...?  Anyway - she flicked on the TV and took in the local BBC News from her consituency's Salford Media City...the place where so many of her constituents had been able to gain employment from the 1,846 jobs that were available at the BBC there. 

The news struck her like a thunderbolt...seriously readers as it appears only 24 people from Salford got jobs there, and of the 'lucky' 24 who got in 8 of them are on between £3.64 & £4.92 an hour.  More on that here:

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1470885_revealed-just-24-of-the-1846-bbc-jobs-at-mediacity-went-to-people-from-salford

I'm actually registered myself on the BBC Salford Jobs HR Direct website.  An amazing engine.  I went through the whole system of application with the BBC expressing strong interest in writing and made it all the way to their database, tests, forms etc - without speaking to a single 'human being'.  This amazing online job match engine that links candidates to appropriate jobs works a treat, apparently I'm 'appropriate' to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra - I've never played a musical instrument in my life. I have had around 20-30 producer job posts email alerts for eductational or children's program producers that all demand experience of which there is nothing in my CV.  I have not had one job alert that matches my skills - why take me on to the database as a suitable candidate if nothing over this near two year period actually matched my skills?  Useless. With these kind of systems in place how many good people have fallen throught the - well not cracks - major bloody chasms?

A Red Costumed Super Heroine streaked across the night sky...giving FULL VENT to her fury as the BBC cowered...

Hazel Blears, MP for Salford and Eccles, described the figures as ‘incredibly disappointing’. She said she was seeking an urgent meeting with Peter Salmon, director of BBC North.  “I’m shocked they have only come up with such a small number and I think they can do much, much better. In these difficult economic times it is vital that local people are able to take jobs in their home areas.'' No Shit Sherlock? What a pointless soundbyte, toothless. 

Shouldn't you have paid a little more attention at the beginning Hazel?  When the opportunity first arose about the Beeb coming to Salford?  You could have stuck your tuppence worth in with the likes of Mr Salmon, that would have shown a little more duty of care at the right point, maybe you were busy with figures. 

This is a concern though...'The BBC is also running an apprenticeship programme at MediaCity which has taken on 16 people from Greater Manchester – but none from Salford. The corporation, which aims to create 100 apprenticeships in all, said no one from the city had applied for the scheme.'

Why no applications from Salford?

Incredibly, Hazel is still in office...why was there no credible alternative to Her in Salford?  And if there was - why is she still there...maybe we get what we deserve? 

IN THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, APATHY REIGNS SUPREME

Joe x

Shouldn't Danny Boyle Stick To Making Films...?

Now I'm NOT having a go at Danny Boyle here...but...

I do feel a bit let down.  His latest project I think is going to be a major let down.  I don't see it having anywhere near as much impact as TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE, A LIFE LESS ORDINARY, THE BEACH, 28 DAYS LATER, SUNSHINE, MILLIONS, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, 127 HOURS or indeed FRANKENSTEIN at The National Theatre. 

I'm not going to be buying my Blu-ray copy of The 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony because...well I'm not a big fan of the plot for a start.  It concerns a rag tag team of deluded, egotistical ex sports people, lying and fiddling politicians and BIG BUSINESS getting together to spend somewhere in the region of 9.3 BILLION of PUBLIC FUNDS (rest assured it will go up) on something that in the end will only give real long term benefit to BIG BUSINESS.  To me it sort of flys in the face of the economic times we are living in, and the terrible financial year(s) that lie ahead of the country.  I mean - shouldn't there be some kind of WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!!!! moment here?  So the plot sucks...I much prefer his everyman stories and I can't really find one here...

Having said that in true Hollywood tradition the budget has er...gone up.  From 40 MILLION to a new shiney figure of 80 MILLION - for a feckin' opening ceremony - hang on, maybe this is a follow up to MILLIONS?  Alas no...and don't forget there's a closing ceremony ran by someone else so he's not even doing the closing credits - and yeah that's gonna cost a few bob too.

I can't say I feel sorry for Lord Seb Coe (the London 2012 Olympic Chairman) either who recently used a very poor choice of words whinging about costs:

"We will be living hand-to-mouth between now and the Olympic Games," said Coe, speaking at an event to mark the announcement of the first 6,800 nominated torch bearers. "At this moment we are absolutely balanced but, as you get towards the Games, you know there is a build-up of pressures."  Oh he's not talking about US living hand to mouth - no, it's the poor dears organising the Olympics, as recently it was also announced that the cost of security within venues, organised by Locog but paid for out of the PUBLIC PURSE, has almost doubled from £282m to £553m.

Come to Halliwell in Bolton Mr Coe, where I live, or indeed any other deprived inner city area and I'll show you another definition of living 'hand-to-mouth' a lot of hands here aren't even getting anywhere near the mouth - so - to coin a phrase - watch your mouth before you gob off again.  Oh and to rub salt into the wounds this fantastic organiser defended the escalation in security costs. Locog ( The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) originally estimated that only 10,000 security guards would be required in competition and training venues and signed a contract with G4S last year based on those figures. But it later emerged that an extra 13,700 would be required, to be drawn from the military, volunteers and a retraining scheme.  Surely in ANY other kind of business an organiser of this calibre would have been SACKED. Don't worry, with his record I'm sure he'd end up taking over at RBS - hell he might even end up being our next Chancellor. 

It's probably going to take 127 HOURS to get through security.  You'll be playing TRAINSPOTTING trying to get on the already overcrowded tube before the projected extra MILLIONS of tube journeys around the Olympics, and 28 DAYS LATER when it's all over and forgotten about, confined to a SHALLOW GRAVE, the organisers will be lapping it up on THE BEACH spending the MILLIONS they've made out of it...they've created a FRANKENSTEIN's monster that London tax payers will be paying for for years.   

9.3 BILLION...now if that had been invested in trying to revive the BRIT FILM INDUSTRY Danny?  It might have given something back.  Cue CHARIOTS OF FIRE...ah remember Colin Welland back in the glory days?  'THE BRITISH ARE COMING...' 




1981 when we still just about had a film industry, with hope in our hearts and wings on our heels?


Shame we never got there.

Joe x

Managed Decline? We've Managed It For A Long Time...

We've Managed Decline in a BIG WAY, eh? 

Much was attempted to be made last week over Geoffrey Howe's suggestion of 'Managed Decline' and Toxteth, Liverpool, after the riots there in 1981. 

One of our many thousands of Major Decline Managers over the decades: Lord Geoffrey Howe

I guess we could have all kicked off and been majorly outraged over this, quite a few were, I was...initially.   But hang on a minute...this is a trend that was adopted by us and introduced much more widely into our society and way of life, we allowed this to happen, and have really encouraged a lot of it.

Since 1981 we have managed to allow much in our lives and culture to fall into 'Managed Decline'.  Thatcher's destruction of the coal industry, unions, the selling of the family silver - privatisation - Tell Syd (British Gas) - has really worked wonders for our bills hasn't it now that these boards now have share holders to satisfy.  We're quite used to allowing our senior citizens to die in winter now, used to scandals around care homes where loved one's are all but tortured in secret due to minimum wage attendants who should never set foot in these places other than to perhaps help clean them.  Let's look further...

Jeremy Kyles wonderful new generation, we feed the airtime he gets for his weekly live bear baiting 'lie detectors' and 'paternity tests'.  The absolute scourge of reality TV and false TOWIE Type Brief Celebrity Demigods, the WAG role models, the obscenely overpaid footballers with the morals of stray dogs, Freak of The Week documentary's, all part of a morally deficient media diet excess...we always want more, it's increasingly harder to shock us because we're Managing the Decline...

I can remember in the 80's having a reasonable wage where I could save for my marriage and mortgage because I had more than a fighting chance of getting a house.  But as house prices grew to ridiculous levels, as the cost of living rose, as credit was dished out willy nilly the bubble just expanded and expanded, we were being shafted and seemingly screaming for MORE!  OK so it's a few more years at home with mum and dad, we can Manage the Decline.  It's now got to the stage where there are three generations living in that same house...or the next under generation is trying to get ma and pa to enter the potential torture chamber of a 'care home' as the rich decide where the nicest place is in the Lake District for their second home - the gulf gets wider...

Our education system where schools are terrified to expell the unruly due to Government Monitoring, they can Manage the Decline in standards of behaviour...not do anything CONSTRUCTIVE about it, just have an in school 'Sin Bin' managed by staff close to the edge of completely losing it.  And let's not get started on having to pay for University Education now eh? We'll be here all day...it's Managing Decline isn't it?  

I live in Bolton, a once proud town and I've watched, stood by I suppose as my council have Managed the Decline of the look of the place, every road into it is starting to look like something from a Zombie Holocaust film or the next Mad Max Movie.  A lot of other towns are going or have gone the same way.

I could go on...the National Health Service, the Credit Crunch and the immoral behaviour of hedge funders, banks and the City...the MP Expenses Scandal, flipping homes, the Hacking Enquiry, the death of our Film Industry, the 'Foot Locker' and 'JD Sports' riots...we've done a fantastic job of Managing the Decline of our standards and way of life...so let's not just blame the Tories eh? 

But it's a NEW YEAR, and I'm going to finish on a POSITIVE.  Maybe a cliche but a POSITIVE. 

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. 

I know we're not all in positions of power, but it's the small differences that can start to make the more telling differences; this is a world where a fifty pence piece can tip over a fork lift truck...

I know that 2012 is possibly the worst financial time ever in a lot of our lives, it is in mine, I'm no longer keeping the wolf at the gate or the door, I'm fighting with packs of them in my own front room.  But...

I WILL MANAGE MY RISE.  My own personal space and contribution to the space and community around me, I won't take part in any further managing of the decline of it...and I'll start with ME.

I resolve to get at least ONE positive thing out of EVERY day.  Eventually that will grow to TWO - so on and so forth, I'll feckin' diary 'em...

I will SMILE at as many people as I can, it's time to LOSE THE FROWN...I know I'll get a few smiles back, and I'll share this mantra with as many people as I can, maybe even YOU will :)

I will talk as regularly as I can with the senior citizens in my street, and help them where I can, yes...old fashioned but I'll get a bit more NEIGHBOURLY - can't do any harm eh? 

It's not much but having little power to do much else at the moment I'll start with the small things, the things I CAN DO.  I'm the fifty pence piece waiting to tip the fork lift truck up when it's not looking...:)

HAVE A HAPPY AND GLORIOUS NEW YEAR FOLKS -

DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN, whatever form they are in...

Joe xxx

Lost Christmas

LOST CHRISTMAS ...I gave you my heart, and the very next day...

CBBC Xmas Eve, 5.30PM (But I watched it on iplayer - feckin' LOVE iplayer)

Manchester Actors Eddie Izzard, Larry Mills and Jason Flemyng

Now, I didn't catch this when it was transmitted, but the general view was that in terms or story and creative output, this was no turkey for Christmas.

I caught it up with it on iplayer.  For a program put out on CBBC I thought it was really well done.  Well written and directed by John Hay.  The director of photography, Graham Frake, did a wonderful job in capturing some of Manchester's well worn but still uniquely beautiful architecture, some wonderful angles and depth of field, gorgeous, really setting the mood and tone of the piece.  There is also a terrific first turn from young Larry Mills who did a first rate job holding his own alongside Eddie Izzard, Jason Flemyng and Steven Mackintosh.  Well done young fella. 

A perfect story for Christmas with some lovely moral stuff going on for a young and family audience - and worthy of joining the stable of repeats for each Christmas. 

But I had a problem with it - a BIG problem.  CASTING. 

I'm not saying any of the cast did a bad job, they didn't.  But this was a MANCHESTER Drama. 

Eddie Izzard (Aden, Yemen) Larry Mills (Stewkely) Jason Flemyng (Putney, London) Geofrey Palmer (London) Brett Fancy (Portsmouth) Sorcha Cussack (Dublin) Steven Mackintosh (Cambridge) Connie Hyde (Haslingdon - close) Christine Bottomley (Rochdale - closer)

No one in the principal cast was from Manchester.  Manchester isn't starved of acting talent, and I'm not saying Eddie Izzard should not have been cast - you need names to put bums on seats as it were, but why was there nobody from Manchester cast in the any of the other lead roles?  Was any effort made here?  I know I didn't hear any uniquely Manchester accents goin' on 'ere arr kid...Lost Opportunity. 

Can anyone at the BBC answer why? 

Excellent drama though, I'm not taking that away - and again, well done LARRY MILLS - a young man to look out for and well done the BBC for taking a risk on a new face, great discovery.

Am I wrong? Am I right? Who would you have cast from Manchester? Leave me a comment below...

Joe xxx

Welcome To The Mad House...

THE IRON LADY



It's not 2012 yet and I've just seen a TV Trailer that is already calling the French (PATHE) Farce THE IRON LADY the film of 2012...what...? 

That's right - forget THE HOBBIT, THE AVENGERS, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, SKY FALL, J EDGAR, CORIOLANUS, WAR HORSE, PROMETHEUS, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, THE HUNGER GAMES, BRAVE, GANGSTER SQUAD, CLOUD ATLAS, LES MISERABLES, THE GREAT GATSBY, DJANGO UNCHAINED, LINCOLN, COGAN'S TRADE, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, WETTEST COUNTRY, DARK SHADOWS, WORLD WAR Z, NERO FIDDLED, GREAT HOPE SPRINGS, THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN, GAMBIT, ARGO, MOONRISE KINGDOM, ON THE ROAD, COSMOPOLIS, TOTAL RECALL, THE BURIAL, LOVE, THE END, SEVEN DAYS, THE ANGEL'S SHARE and LAY THE FAVOURITE to name - a lot - you guys may as well pack up shop and not bother distributing, the CLEAR winner is already here on the 6th January, 2012.

From the French PATHE and Film4, distributed here by American FOX - Oh yes, I forgot as a nation we don't have much of a distibution network or movie industry thanks to - oh - thanks to The Iron Lady herself among others - she put the final nail in the coffin with the termination of the Eady Levy in 1985. 

The woman who 'defied convention' (French translation  'defied the nation') has her very own shiney biopic.  'Where there is discord, may we bring Harmony Hairspray...' much of the 'Iron' being in that hairstyle.

It looks like a great 'who do you do' for Meryl Streep, it's the first in a franchise I hear to take on Marvel Pictures - a Super Zero franchise paving the way for a team up...next up we've got THE INCREDIBLE SULK (Nick Clegg) THE ARTFUL TAX DODGER (George Osborne) and a remake of LIAR, LIAR (David Cameron) Expect THE (SC)AVENGERS...sometime in the Mayan Calendar...



Let's hope it rusts...

Joe x