'Clifton Village' - Big Squid, Bristol - July 2009

Contacted by Richard Higgs of Big Squid in Bristol to work on the pre-production (treatments, scripts, bible etc...) of 'CLIFTON VILLAGE' - a Pre-School, 52 x 10 min Stop-Frame / CGI series.

More details soon.

'How to be...' - 2BU Productions - June 2009

Asked by Elspeth Penny, Director at 2BU Productions Ltd in Devon, to read and assess the early scripts and series outline of an internet live action drama series 'How to be...' - with a view to possible involvement as Script Editor.

More soon.

Also looking at 'Mike Fofone' - a children's animation series idea by Carmel Crawford and Clare Dowling (based in Ireland), with a view to possible involvement at scriptwriter / editor in the future.

Also looking at animation series ideas by The Flying Workshop (based in York), also with a view to possible future involvement.

New Toucanhead Logo - May 2009

Here is the new Toucanhead logo - inspired by the work of Charles Harper.

'The Hairy Hands' by Ashley Thorpe - April 2009

Contacted by Sarah-Jane Meredith at South West Screen to provide script development for a 'Digital Shorts 09' animated film being produced through the Phoenix Media Centre in Exeter.

More soon.

Update: The script has now been approved and signed off by South West Screen. Will update again with news of the films production / completion.

30th June 09.

'Not Waving' by Mike Stuart - February 2009

Contacted by animation director Mike Stuart (director of award winning pre-school series 'Kipper') to read and feedback on his script treatment, 'Not Waving'.

More details soon.

'Air' by Steve Turnbull - February 2009

Contacted by Steve to read and provide notes and feedback on his 30 min children's script.

UPDATE: Steve's 'Monsters' script (see below) short-listed for Red Planet Competition.

More details on both soon.

'Unconditional Love' - Theme-based short film module - University of Gloucestershire - January 09

I'm currently involved with a 7 week short film making module, with 2nd year Graphic Design BA students. The brief is to produce a 20 second film (utilising one or a variety of possible techniques) that uses the juxtaposition of images to illustrate the theme of 'unconditional love'.

More details soon.

'Parent Cast' (Dept for Children, Family and Schools) - Wonky Films - January 2009

Over Christmas, Vicky Brophy from Wonky Films contacted me to help develop treatments and scripts for 2 animated information films (2-3 mins) for the DCFS.

More details soon.

Story / Scriptwriting Lecture & 'Man Vs. Bird' Animatic Module - University of Gloucestershire - November 2008

During a 5 week period I co-ran (with my wife Sylvi - a former Aardman storyboarder) a story / animatic module with first year BA graphic design students. The module was introduced with a story / scriptwriting lecture - and the brief for the module involved the students producing a 15 second cut-out animated film, telling a recognisable story based on the title 'Man Vs. Bird'.

More details soon.

'Angel and Florence' - Whirlwind Media - Oct 08

Started working (ongoing) with Paul Galloway and Richard Watson from Whirlwind Media in Bristol, on writing the pilot script(s) and series bible for a unique pre-school 2D/3D animated series called 'Angel and Florence'. I can't talk too much about the project at this stage, but it was recently (29th Oct 08) pitched to a well known Animation Production Company ("who seem genuinely impressed with the quality of the pitch" - Paul), and we are now waiting to hear what their final decision will be. Fingers crossed.

I first met Paul when he pitched his 'Bottom Knocker Street' children's live-action /animation series idea to Jackie Cockle and me last year at Aardman. He contacted me back in July about helping out with BKS and with 'Angel and Florence' - and BKS was recently submitted to the BBC in their latest call for new children's shows, with me attached as Scriptwriter. So fingers crossed again.

'The Surprise Demise of Francis Cooper's Mother' - A short film by Felix Massie - Oct 08

On the 17th October, Sarah Jex (Development Producer at Aardman Animations) contacted me to let me know that a short animated film (for Digital Shorts 07/08) that I'd script edited earlier in the year, was finally ready to see.

At the end of 2007 and start of 2008, I spent quite a bit of time working with Felix Massie on the script for his 2D/3D animated short, 'Francis Cooper' - after it was chosen for funding and production by South West Screen and Aardman Animations.

It's a dark little tale about fate and death, and about finally accepting responsibility for your actions - and the final film (which Sarah kindly sent me a link to) perfectly matched the ambition of the original script and Felix's unshifting dedication to it.

I found out a few days later from Felix that the film will get its World Premiere at the Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol on the 21st Nov 2008 - and with a bit of luck I will be in the audience to see it.

Animation Scriptwriting Lecture - Ravensbourne College - Oct 08

Back in July, Phil Parker (a very influential Script Development Consultant I had the pleasure of working with while at Aardman Animations) suggested I contact the Skillset accredited Animation Courses to offer my services as a visiting scriptwriting lecturer. Among others, I contacted Mike Smith at Ravensbourne College and he offered me a day at the college with his FDA / BA Animation students.

So on Friday the 17th October I spent the morning with Mike's final year BA students, going individually through each of the 14 short animated films (a mixture of CGI and 2D films - and tones ranging from the very serious, to comedies, and the poetic) they are going to make over the next year, and giving feedback on the ideas and advice on where they could go next. It was a fun and very rewarding experience for me, and there were some very interesting ideas in a final year group that will I'm sure prove to be very strong.

Later in the day, I gave a 2 hour scriptwriting lecture (plus an introduction to me and my career in animation so far - and of course my time at Aardman) to all three years of the Animation FDA / BA - and with the aid of a few clips and short films, touched upon the tricky area of the opening pages/minutes of a script/film, and the delicate balancing act between the needs of Exposition vs. Story. 

Hopefully I didn't put too many cats in with the pigeons, with my thoughts and suggestions on the 14 projects, and hopefully I will return to Ravensbourne in the future.

iPod / iPhone Games - Julian Rex - Oct 08

Having had many lengthy discussions with Julian Rex (also see below) about games, narrative within games, the cross-over between films and games, storytelling with games, and the impact of the iPod / iPhone on all of this, Julian recently contacted a iPod / iPhone games developer in San Francisco, ngmoco:) after discovering they are looking for third-party developers (anywhere in the world) to develop simple and innovative iPod / iPhone games with. Again he has asked me to be involved from a story / character / game design point of view - so another great opportunity in a totally new area - and I will update this new page as soon as there are more developments. 

iPod Racing Game for Andy Wilton - Oct 08

In late September, Julian Rex (a former Sony games developer) asked me if I'd contribute to the development of a futuristic iPod / iPhone racing game he was working on for a games developer based in France, Andy Wilton (www.andywilton.com).

Over a couple of weeks we developed the world and backstory to the game, and began to get a picture of the characters who might populate this dangerous Sci-Fi world. Finally I put together a pitch document (with a selection of mood stills from other games, animation and feature films) to promote our ideas, and to illustrate the rules, weapons and gameplay of the racing game.

Hopefully some of the ideas might make it into the final game (as always the deadline is very tight) or if not maybe into a sequel that is bound to follow. Either way it was great fun to do this type of writing, and I hope to work for Julian and Andy again in the future.

'Monsters' by Steve Turnbull - Sept / Aug 2008

Screenwriter Steve Turnbull contacted me ahead of the Screenwriting Festival in Cheltenham, and asked if we could meet up for a chat about a project he was working on. Later in August he sent me the first 10 pages of his Sci-Fi live-action drama script 'Monsters'. The plan being for me to help Steve prepare the pilot script ready for submission to the Red Planet 'First 10 Pages' Competition in September.

Needless to say, Steve wouldn't thank me for going into great detail about his script, but it was a good first draft with loads of potential. Steve had created a credible near future world and an large and interesting set of characters. However because he was setting up a complex Sci-Fi world, with an intricate backstory and set of rules that he needed to get across to the audience, the first 10 pages of the script were struggling with the subtle balancing act of: Exposition vs. Story. He had so much to explain and set up, that it was literally getting in the way of and slowing down the story.

I worked with Steve over several drafts of the script (as the September Red Planet deadline neared) and I think he did a great job speeding up the opening of the story, and coming up with inventive strategies to help deliver the exposition economically.

The deadline for the competition has now passed - so fingers crossed for 'Monsters'.

The 3rd Screenwriters Festival - Cheltenham July 2008

This years Screenwriters Festival at Cheltenham was my first, but having listened to some very inspirational speakers and having met some great fellow writers, and all in the wonderful setting of The Manor by the Lake, I have a feeling I will be back next year for some more.

I'm not going to go into great detail about the festival at this point, but will leave it to the capable hands of Screenwriting and SWF bloggers: Danny Stack and Steve Turnbull to give a more detailed picture of the three day event.

Bristol University - April to June 2008

At the start of April I was contacted by Cathy Poole from Bristol University (via Helen Brunsdon from Aardman) to mentor / script edit 3 short animation scripts for Bristol University's short course 'Creative Writing for Performance'. I first met Cathy 6 - 7 years ago when she ran the education side of the Bristol Watershed Media Centre - I took a couple of courses she ran and later pitched her the idea of the Watershed having a regular Screenwriting Workshop (I think this has now become a reality) - so it was great to hear from her again and I had no idea she was now working at the University. Cathy runs many short courses in Drama, Film and Media throughout the year, a couple of which have screenwriting / writing for animation elements to them.

A few days after talking to Cathy on the phone about the students and my role on the course, I was emailed short treatments for 3 animated films: 'Edna's Stone' by Alice Fewtrell, 'Shadows' by Stella Shaw and 'Hush' by Amber Winter.

Alice's story was about a family visit to rainy and windswept beach and a young girl's discovery of a magical stone. (Think 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury)

Stella's was a woodland fantasy about a young girls unrequited love for an unattainable and damaged man. (An ambitious LOTR / 'Romeo and Juliet' retelling)

Amber's was modern tale of redemption focusing on the broken relationship between a mother and daughter, and the birth of an unplanned baby. (Think Mike Leigh)

Three very different stories and three different approaches to / use of animation. Alice's a hand drawn, impressionistic piece of poetry, Stella's a dark medieval/gothic fantasy, and Amber's a difficult family drama, that animation would bring a particular and useful distance to.

With all three projects, I suggested initially writing the drafts with out any dialogue and to tell the story visually (with one line of text/action for each shot/beat of the story) to simply aim to place a series of images in the mind of the reader. Some writers fall in love with their dialogue and refuse to let go of their precious lines, and I wanted Alice, Stella and Amber to use dialogue only if the story needed it, rather than because they wanted it.

Overall what I was looking for, was each of the writers being able to answer the questions: Why do I want to tell this story? What does it mean to me? and What is it 'really' about? And hopefully by the end of the process, we were able to get each script further towards this goal.