Monday 28 July 2008

It's a Long Road...

The waiting game continues. The business plan is finished; the Accountants have given it the thumbs up, Ken the Producer has given it the thumbs up. Now the Lawyers have it and once they are happy we can get the plans printed and start sending them out. The business plan has taken nearly 8 months to complete - the length of time it would have taken to make the entire movie!

I have a small list of potential investors to approach and some very good contacts at Pinewood Studios. Of course there is no guarantees that these particular people will fund the film, but its a good place to start. I will also be approaching some Business Angel networks, which means I'll be able to pitch to investors there too.

Next week I’m off to America with my buddy Chris Jones to do some filming for a big corporate video, so as soon as I get back we should be able to get the ball rolling. I'll be visiting the Rhode Island Film Festival so I'll be gathering contacts there too.

Will keep you informed…

Tuesday 15 July 2008

Simon on Local Radio

Fosseway Radio, our local radio station have been following our progress with Kaleidoscope Man and recently did an interview with me which was filmed. I feel it's important to get publicity for the movie as soon as possible, and where better to start than your own home town.

Fosseway have been very enthusiastic and supportive about the film. So many thanks guys, I'll make sure you get an invite to the premier.

Monday 14 July 2008

Business Plan Cover - New Sexy Design


Here is the new design of the Business Plan cover. We've used images from the trailer and opening scene of the film and I'm really delighted by it. I wanted it to look fresh, original and exciting - a movie I'd definitely want to go and see.

The little green figure on the top row with his back to us is Matt the Storyboard Artist. The exploding city is Birmingham (with new CGI buildings added). That's the M6 at the bottom of the picture. It was shot at around 1am back in November!

Click on the image to download a high quality copy.

Friday 11 July 2008

Storyboarding Kaleidoscope Man

For me, having effective storyboards is an essential part of making this movie. I was extremely lucky to find a very talented young artist called Matt Allsopp who was fundimental in designing the spaceships and creating the really impressive look of the film.

Please see below a little video featuring Matt and myself which I hope you will find of interest.



There is still a lot of storyboarding and design work to be done and as soon as we get the finance in place, storyboarding will be the first area we focus on.

Let me know what you think...

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Raising Funds. A Difficult Road Ahead?

The wording on the Kaleidoscope Man business plan is now finished. Its full of very detailed information about tax breaks and the various rules and implications of investing in films. The Accountants have worked on in for weeks and have brought in tax specialists to help.

All we have to do now is get the Lawyers to vet it and we can send it out.

It dawned on me yesterday that we now have to find wealthy individuals to send it to and all of a sudden I'm nervous. Where are we going to find these people? Because of the type of business plan we have, we can only send it out to around 100 people, so we have to be very targeted.

I'm going to start listing everyone I've ever known who may be in a position to help. I'm not sure the list will be that long though. I just hope we don't send out loads of copies and get no responses.

I must stay positive.

Monday 7 July 2008

The Accountants Have Finished

Our Accountant called me today with the great news that they've finished their work on the business plan. Ken and I are popping in to see them tomorrow to go through their notes.

After that, the plan will weave its way to our Lawyers for one final check over and then we can send it out to potential investors.

Many thanks to Rashmin and Mervyn at Parker Cavendish, for their fantastic support.



Sunday 6 July 2008

Kaleidoscope Man - What Dreams Are Made Of....

It’s funny, but since I was about 15 I’ve been planning “the big one”, the sci-fi movie to end all movies and over the years, I’ve been bouncing ideas around my skull. A kind of ‘War of the Worlds’ thing, big epic, thrilling, etc, but because I’ve painted this enormous picture on a Cecil B. DeMille scale, I’ve been too scared to tackle it. I tried writing it once, but it just seemed so gargantuan that whatever words were on the page, it just wasn’t right.

So the idea for Kaleidoscope Man came as a sort of second hand substitute for not being able to face ‘the big one’. Initially, I had three ideas for this, my next movie:

  1. A story set in the aftermath of a nuclear war.
  2. A woman gets revenge on the man who raped her mother when she was a child.
  3. A man who wakes from one dream only to find himself in another dream, and so on.

I knew each of these ideas had something, but they were all to short for a feature film. I decided to blend them all together into a sort of anthology. But it was difficult, because they were all so different.

I’d also just done this ‘sort your life out’ course, called the Land Mark Forum, which had an incredible impact on me, and I wanted to incorporate some of the positive messages I’d picked up from the course, into the story.

I tend to do a lot of my brain storming in the bath. I just mull things over and usually ideas pop up. (I actually came up with my first film Written in Blood whilst lounging in a steaming tub!). I spent many hours soaking and thinking about how to combine each of these ideas.

But it was one hot summers afternoon, when Foot & Mouth was rampant in the British Countryside, that the idea hit me: ALIENS! THEY WERE ABDUCTED BY ALIENS! It struck me like a blast from God, and it felt monumental. From that moment on, these simple ideas became the first draft for Kaleidoscope Man.

Many drafts followed, which I tested on friends and family. During one family holiday to Majorca I read it aloud to my two brother-in-laws, Rob and Jeff, I continually picked their brains on the smallest details of the story. This went on for two weeks, driving them both insane. For me however, it was a fascinating insight into how the rest of the world would feel about the story. And it worked – I just knew it!

After about three years, I met a fellow Writer/Director Simon Bovey, who did a re-write. He ironed out any issues and did a dialogue polish. It’s now a sensational script with more twists, turns and emotion than I could ever have imagined. I really do believe it will move, touch, thrill and inspire the audience, leaving them with the feeling that life really is great, and with that wonderful thing we all thrive on. Hope.

What started as a substitute for ‘the big one’ has now become ‘the big one’. And for me it just proves yet again that life has an interesting way of dealing your cards.

I just so hope that the money to make it will come soon.

Saturday 5 July 2008

New Kaleidoscope Man Concept Art Added

I've added more concept designs and storyboards from the movie to this blog - just scroll down to the bottom of this page and check out some of Matt's superb images.

Let me know what you think!

Friday 4 July 2008

New Edit Of Kaleidoscope Man Trailer


This is the very latest edit of the Kaleidoscope Man trailer. Not hugely different from the older version except that I've now changed the opening logo (the company we are funding the film through) and have added a voice over.

After showing the first trailer to a few colleagues, they felt I should give a very brief idea of what the film is about. I did get a much longer script recorded for it, but it just didn't feel right with the music and dynamic images, so I kept it very simple.

I hope you like it!