Staten Eliot - Mixed Up

I was hoping to link to the spanky teaser trailer for Mixed Up; but it’s not quite ready yet, so I can’t. Instead, here’s my first ever guest post from one of the stars of the film, Staten Eliot:

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The strange thing about filming is as soon as it’s over it feels almost like it never happened.

So what was it like, the night shoots, Croydon, Beanos …?

A great part of shooting a film is the concentrated experience that it is. You start, at most, knowing one or two people  - who by chance you have worked with before or have met through mutual acquaintances - and by the end of it you know everyone intimately, even down to the smell of their sweat.

MIXED UP has been no different. Line the crew and (most of) the cast up, blindfold me and 9 out of 10 sniffs I’d get them right (some more pleasant sniffs than others). But sweat aside; it’s been a great shoot. Beano’s has been a marvellous location to shoot at and apart from a party scene at the end of the film, scheduled to shoot at the beginning of June, we’re finished.

That is to say we the actors are finished because as any of you that have had anything to do with a film before will know filming the footage is only halfway (if that) there. Now comes post-production (Editing, sound mix, grading et al) and then the festivals, sales agents, dristibutiors and all the other meetings, discussions and plans that have to go on. But for us the actors we’re almost there.

And it has been a great shoot.

From Lee Otway’s ability to create the funniest, crudest and most disgusting adlibs, breaking the cast and crew into laughing mush even at 4am in the morning (‘What’s your name … Jiz?’ took 17 takes as Aadel our DoP kept laughing so hard the camera shook violently up and down, While ‘I wouldn’t mind watching her on the bog’ took a record 23 for similar reasons) to the legend that is Sylvester McCoy waving hack saws around, barely in control of his limbs, while spouting anecdotes left, right and centre in a tiny basement workshop, in the middle of Croydon, in the middle of the night. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beautiful Adele Silva played ‘Cat’ the girl my character ‘Simon’ falls for and between her and Zara Dawson, who plays ‘Sam’, they kept me and the rest of the cast supplied with various brownies, Haribo, gingerbread men and microwave popcorn (a must when watching I am Legend on a lap top at 3am with 2hours till your next shot).  Zara also did a marvellous job of seeking out little scenes of action for me to film with the camcorder that became affectionately know (or feared depending who you were) as Stat-cam. Footage that will be cut as a video diary later in the year.

Unfortunately Stat-cam missed the first rehearsal Lee and I had together.  We were sat in a coffee shop a few hours before filming was scheduled to start, running lines. Lee got a little over excited and proclaimed at full volume while jumping on to his chair, ‘Get off Simon, you little Gnome Bitch!’ which proceeded with us being asked, gently and politely enough, to leave … and from that moment on the tone was set.

So now we are almost at the end, but not yet, not quite yet. The gig scene is still to shoot and still the wrap party is to come, then we have screenings and the such. But for now the team that was MIXED UP is parted … but only for now … there’s still plenty of time to get Lee’s song ‘Gorillas on fire’ on the Stat-cam, something everyone must see performed at least once in their life time …

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Staten Eliot is currently finishing production of his first feature film as both producer and actor: DRAWN. More info, clips etc can be found at:

http://uk.youtube.com/Drawnthemovie

http://www.dailymotion.com/DrawnTheMovie

or join the facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Drawn/12164327604?ref=ts

 

Lull

I’m at a bit of a loose end today. It’s not that I have nothing to do, it’s just I have nothing to do right now.

I’m working on lot of different projects, both film and TV stuff, and they’re all at different stages of development: some are one page synopses, some 4-5 page outlines, some 10 page treatments and a couple are already scripted. It’s a conveyer belt process whereby I write one stage, get notes, then move onto the next. Because there’s always a gap between finishing one stage and getting the notes, I can work on multiple projects at the same time without any problem.

Right now, I’ve completed the current stage for each project and can’t move forward without notes from the producers/directors. The problem being, they’ve all buggered off to Cannes.

Which leaves me kicking my heels wondering what to do with myself. I could, theoretically, start a *gasp* spec project … but since I’ve got a meeting tomorrow about a new film project, starting my own seems like a waste of time. Why write something you then have to sell when you already have people who want you to write things for them?

I could get a head start on the next stage of each project, but until I get the notes I could be running in completely the wrong direction. I’m not that bored.

There is a slight worry on the horizon. I have this vague fear that everyone’s going to come back from Cannes all fired up and determined to forge ahead … all of them. At the same time.

That would be completely impossible.

Well, I say impossible; more like very difficult, to be honest.

A position I don’t want to be in, at the very least.

Still, that’s all in the future. Today, I have nothing much to do. So instead of anything useful, here’re some more stills from Mixed Up.

Mixed Up - on set

So I finally caved in and went to visit the set.

Well, I say set; but really it’s just Beanos as is. The shop is so quirky and interesting to look at, it needs no dressing or enhancements. Every corner is incredibly filmic and just looks amazing on screen.

Mandy and I stopped in for a few hours on the way home, just to poke around a bit and so I could show my face. We met the core cast members: Adele Silva, Zara Dawson, Lee Otway, Katia Winter and Staten Eliot along with a handful of technical people whose names and jobs I can’t remember.

For which, yes, I am deeply ashamed; but it was late, I’d been up early and I’m generally a bit shit.

Director Lawrence Pearce and Producer Jonathan Sothcott, seemed on good form - despite eleven days (nights) of consecutive night shoots. In fact, given the exhausting schedule, everyone was quite upbeat and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Despite visiting the set of a movie I wrote, I completely failed to see anything bring filmed or to take any photos proving I was there. Although Staten did trick me into giving an interview for the EPK. I say trick, but it wasn’t very complicated: he shoved a camera in my face and started asking questions. It wasn’t until he was halfway through that I realised this was in fact an interview and not personal curiosity.

After that, a girl took us to one side and showed us some of the raw footage from the shoot so far. I’d love to tell you her name and her job, but … I can’t remember either. I’ve since discussed this with Mandy and our over-riding impression was of a lime-green bra and a quite spectacular pair of breasts. Not, I hasten to add, quite as spectacular as Mandy’s; but to be fair, she is heavily pregnant and is therefore cheating.

After closely consulting the credits on IMDb, I’ve decided she was probably Rosemary Hill, the camera assistant. I’m not 100% convinced of that, but for the purposes of this blog she is now called Rosemary.

So Rosemary showed us the raw footage, which looked fantastic. There was no sound, but Rosemary helped by filling in most of the dialogue.

At this point I started to feel a little ashamed. Earlier, Staten asked me if I had a favourite line in the script; and I was forced to admit I can’t remember a single word of it. It’s been a while since I worked on the script and I’ve worked on several other projects since then; but surely I should be able to remember my own dialogue?

Apparently not.

Oh well, Rosemary filled in the blanks and showed us numerous scenes including some of Sylvester McCoy’s and Billy Murray’s. It all looks wonderful and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Everyone I met was very complimentary about the script, but as discussed before - they would be, wouldn’t they? Furthermore, there just seemed to be a real buzz about the production. It’s going well so far, but time will tell.

And that, apart from a cup of tea* and a biscuit, was pretty much it. We came, we chatted, we slipped off before the cameras rolled. Still, at least I can say I made the effort.

* A cup of tea I had to make myself, and ended up making one for two other people. That’s right, I was teaboy on my own movie.

Mixed Up stills

A week or so into filming and apparently everything is going well.

“The best thing I’ve ever worked on” was one wildly over-enthusiastic response.

Hmm … well, we’ll see.

For those of you who haven’t checked out the Facebook group, here are a few stills:

Lisa McCallister and Faye Tozer … with Lee Otway and Staten Eliot hiding off to one side.

Katia Winter and Giles Alderson.

Adele Silva and Zara Dawson.

And of course:

Sylvester McCoy, obviously repairing the TARDIS there. I think the next Doctor should definitely carry a big bastard drill around with him. There are very few problems in life which can’t be solved with a big drill.

“EXTERMIN– Argh! Get off! Jesus Christ, he’s drilling through my head!”

There are a load more stills, but I’m not 100% certain which ones I’m allowed to show you. There are one or two I’m pretty certain aren’t for general consumption - but I’ll post updates if and when I’m given the all clear.

Remarkably, so far I’ve only had one ad-hoc re-write: a new cameo to squeeze in another bit of named talent. It appears they’re just filming what I wrote without fuss … either that or they’re just making shit up on the spot.

Either way, it’s forging merrily ahead.

I’ll keep you informed as I find out more.

Mixed Up Facebook

Even more Mixed Up goodness: there’s now a Facebook group for you to needlessly throw sheep at.

There’re even pictures of Sylvester McCoy with a drill and the odd bit of cleavage.

Those are separate photos, by the way. It’s not Sylvester’s cleavage. Not that that would be a bad thing, I’m sure he has a very nice cleavage - it’s just the ones on display are a little more … more.

So go on, join up or become a fan or both. All your friends have and you don’t want to look stupid now, do you?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13670566917

Mixed Up bits

Bit of a pointless post really; but hey, it’s early here.

Firstly: Mixed Up is now up on IMDb - that means it’s real. Officially real, as opposed to the imaginary project it was yesterday. Which obviously means my IMDb page now has another credit. I know this is a sad bit of worthless self promotion but … no, I have no defence. I just want people to look at my IMDb page.

You can be amazed, jealous, bored, dissmissive … whatever. Choose your own reaction.

And secondly, there’s now an official website other than the myspace page: www.mixedupthemovie.com.

There’s fuck all on it at the moment, but it’s there.

And with those pointless words, I’m off to breakfast.

The filming so far …

A couple of days into production of Mixed Up and here are my impressions of the shoot so far …

If you look dead centre of the horizon, roughly 4210 miles in the distance is Beanos.

Looks good from here.

Kick off

Mixed Up starts shooting today.

This is good news, I like it when projects start shooting - there’s a lot less chance they’ll fall apart and disappear. It’s not a guarantee of course, but it’s marginally less likely.

What impresses me most is the speed with which this has all come about. It was the end of November last year when the director, Lawrence Pearce, took me to peer through the windows of Beanos and mentioned something about a slacker comedy.

Since we’d met to talk about a different project, I thought we were just idly chatting on the way back to the station. It wasn’t until a week later I learnt I was writing it.

Lawrence provided the story, I provided a synopsis followed by a treatment and started the script near the end of January.

That’s three months from typing FADE IN: to the director yelling: ‘ACTION!’

That’s pretty quick.

By way of contrast, there’s another project I’ve been working on which is still going SEVEN YEARS down the line. SEVEN FUCKING YEARS! Three months? That’s the way it should be. All films should work like that.

In those three months (or less really, since it took three weeks to deliver the first draft) producer Jonathan Sothcott has secured funding and a great cast: Billy Murray, Adele Silva, Lee Otway, Zara Dawson, Abi Titmuss, Anna Brecon, Terry Stone, Giles Alderson, Katia Winter and of course, Sylvester McCoy.

Great cast, great location, great director.

Great script? I don’t know, people seem to like it. I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve seen the final product.

Despite my own paranoia, I have high hopes for this one. It’s exciting and it’s happening right now. No messing about, get the script, get the money, make the film.

I love it.

Having said that, with production starting today, I am, of course, going to go and hide in the Caribbean until it’s all over.

Writing for Doctor Who

That’s right, that’s the secret.

Me, Phill Barron putting words into the mouth of The Doctor.

Sort of.

Okay, so it’s not the current Doctor and it’s not actually Doctor Who, but it still counts.

What? Don’t look at me like that.

I’ve just had a phone call from producer Jonathan Sothcott (who I now love in a totally manly way, and promise not to refer to as my pimp for at least a week) saying Sylvester McCoy has confirmed for Mixed Up.

In a fairly exciting day with lots of work stuff materialising out of the blue, this is by far my favourite piece of information.

(Apologies to everyone else; but in fairness, I don’t own a crappy plastic figure of anyone else I spoke to or about today)

Mixed Up already had a great cast, but in my eyes it just got better. With only six days to go until shooting starts, I am now officially too excited to sleep.

Hee hee hee … Sylvester McCoy.

Closer

My anonymity grows.

It seems Abi Titmuss is running all over town, completely failing to mention me at every opportunity. After not being mentioned in Hello! and The Sun, I’ve now not been mentioned in Closer.

Okay, okay, so the Hello! article was actually Adele Silva not mentioning me. Meaning, technically, Abi’s only given two interviews which doesn’t really count as running all over town; but it’s still moderately exciting to see yourself failing to be mentioned in national publications. I really am on track for no one knowing who I am in the next few months.

In fact, I’d go so far as predicting that by Christmas, my anonymity will have grown to such proportions even Mandy will never have heard of me.

Truly we live in wonderous times.