A little update to let you all know the latest on The Marionette Unit. You'll have noticed we've been a bit quiet on the blogging front and rest assured, it means we're hard at work on the feature script. We've had some great feedback on the trailer, from the public, Steampunk enthusiasts and industry members alike. It may be quiet on the site a little while longer as we put the finishing touches on our draft and we'll get some news out to everyone as soon as we start sending the script out to our contacts here in London and LA. In the meantime, keep spreading the word of the film to as many people as you can! Thanks

It’s been a while since I’ve written on here about the film and it’s because we’ve been busy writing away on the idea. As an update, Paul and I are forging through the script and it’s shaping up nicely. The process has been amazing though. It’s important to us to try and get as much of the idea nailed before we sit down at our laptops on Final Draft and start putting it together. The reason for this is just to get the overall idea organised in our heads – and it’s MUCH easier to change things at this stage. You don’t want to get to page 90 and realise there’s a logic problem making you have to go back to page 1. Also, working on index cards, where each card represents a turning point or scene, means you don’t worry about the details or dialogue, even characterisation. You just work out the structure of the film. A lot of time was spent discussing the idea, what kind of film we wanted to make and what we wanted to say as filmmakers. All of this is changeable, so it’s a case of moving around and slowly narrowing down our choices till we’ve ...

Azhur Saleem and James Boyle have asked me to contribute my co-writer perspective of the "The Marionette Unit" filmmaking process to theirs. When Azhur sent me the first draft of The Marionette Unit, I had already been collaborating with him and James for about 12 months on other film and TV writing projects. We had established a rapport, which is essential in any enterprise, but especially so in creative projects. Our first creative meeting was for another feature-length idea, which we are still developing.  We met in a Starbucks on friday night after work and hashed out the initial plot in a couple of hours over cold coffee. The process was incredibly easy and organic. Ideas flowed and were assessed on one criterion only: Does it make the story better? I have had a number of writing collaborations in the past, but they have been ego driven: one party will feel strongly about something they had contributed and would fight for its inclusion in the final draft, to the detriment of the work itself. What I discovered in Starbucks that night was another writer who cared enough about story to check his ego at the door. Shortly after, Azhur asked me to pitch my ideas ...

Had a really interesting conversation with Paul the co-writer today during a story conference meeting we were having. We're in the process of really nailing the structure and tone of the film in treatment form before moving onto the actual screenplay draft. It's constantly evolving, characters are changing and morphing into others and levels of importance are constantly in flux. This is the fun part, but also pretty tough. It's easy to get lost - but it helps to work in a team. We both can keep each other in check. With an idea like this it's easy to let your imagination totally wander and you start getting an idea that would require a budget of $100m or something. Our aim with this film isn't to make a blockbuster type affair but more something like a dark thriller, a film that deals with the characters' lives and situations in a fantastical and visually interesting setting. We're having to strike the balance between taking the story to the limits and writing a script that can be produced on a reasonable budget. Normally you just worry about the story you want to tell - which is pretty much how we approached the short script version ...

Both James and I have been working hard on developing The Marionette Unit and I'm pleased to say that the script has reached its final stages before we head into official pre-production. Since I posted last time, a good friend of mine came on board to help co-write on the script. Paul Adams has been working with both James and I on another project we're developing for US television and we felt he'd be the right person to help hone the script of The Marionette Unit. It was a really fruitful collaboration and my first time working on a script as a co-writer. I've always been nervous about working on co-writing a script, only because I've found good producer/director relationships and director/cinematographer relationships but I don't think I've ever found someone who I've clicked with from a writing point of view. What was great about working with Paul was that he was into the same things I am creatively and passionate about telling the stories I want to tell - something that can entertain from a commercial point of view, but also with something interesting to say. The slightly tough aspect of this collaboration was the fact that Paul is based in Canada, so everything had to ...

Work is steadily moving forwards with the film in general, so we're feeling confident about realising this ambitious idea! In the meantime, I'm working on developing the script to get it as good as I can, and as they say, screenplays are not written, they are rewritten and rewritten and rewritten. I've always found this process kinda hard, I get too excited about the scenes I've written in and can immediately start visualising it and thing how cool it'll be. The discipline though is knowing what's not going to work for the film, and to hone and streamline every element. At the moment it's a process of writing for discovery, playing with themes and new scenes to see where they lead you and the characters. Once they're in you can see if it helps to tell the story and develop characterisation in an interesting way and in turn start taking out stuff that begins to feel clunky and wooden. Though, I always like to keep in a bit more than I think I'm going to need. That way you have room to develop on set and when you get to the cutting room too, you find a single glance will suffice where you ...