Screenwriter Chris Terrio on Argo

I found a very interesting interview with Chris Terrio, the writer of the critically acclaimed 2012 thriller Argo.  I was amused to hear he shared similar views on working. He says he would rather get paid to deliver Christmas baskets and explain that 'this is not my real job' than write or direct bad films or TV and have to admit 'this is my real job'. I much prefer to feel humiliated telling people I work as a night porter in a hospital but write and direct when I can, than admit to regularly directing East Enders.

Reached page 124 of Henry Bramble!

It is with great relief and excitement that I can announce I have reached the final page in what has been a huge slog writing the feature length screenplay of Henry Bramble. 

The writing itself was not necessarily hard, it was just trying to fit in the time to write around a full time job, a demanding family life and having to spend too much time on the short film that by all accounts, should have been finished over a year ago. Despite this I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. There were a couple of tough psychological barriers I had to get past, but hey that's what the re-writes are for. 

Anyway before you get too excited and demand a copy to read, please remember I have simply reached the end of the first pass - one of many re-writes. The story has been laid out, but it has many flaws, problems and discontinuity. Many of the characters are not clear enough on the page and the dialogue really sucks, but the point is, I reached the end!

I'm going to go through it in the new year page by page, scene by scene, tidying it up the best I can so it is in a readable state for my Producers, but it is still along way off yet before I can send it out to investors! In the meantime I'm off to Florida to rest my imagination over Christmas. See you in the new year!

CBB pitching event for Henry Bramble feature

Last Thursday we had the finale of our Creative Business Base programme run by Screen South. After six months of support and advice we ended up in the Blue Room at the BFI pitching to Film 4, Bfi, Prescience, The Works, Vertigo, Revolver, Bankside Films, Moviehouse Entertainment and Guerilla Films. 

Set up like a speed dating event, we had ten minutes to impress before moving to the next table. It was a lot of fun, and seemed relatively easy to impress with our crisp one-pagers featuring the new poster design and my passionate animated pitch of the story. However it was also a sobering moment of truth as we learned of the sheer size of the difficulties we will have to face if we are to succeed in bringing this wonderful story to a big screen international audience.

Although nearly everyone who attended the pitch really enjoyed the concept and would be very keen to see it made we had several issues to address:

• Henry Bramble is not a successful entity in any previous form (e.g. best selling novel or computer game) and will require large amounts of strategic marketing to get it into the public's psyche. 
• It is unlikely that we will be able to raise enough finance from the UK or Europe.
• No financier in their right mind is going to let a first time feature film director like myself be in control of $40 million. 
• Despite her impressive low-budget feature film achievements, Charlotte as Producer is also considered a high risk .

The advice that we received was extremely welcomed and gave us a lot of interesting facts to mull over. Here are a few of them:

• You need a strong Executive Producer backing you who has produced a similar film (in terms of content and budget) - someone like David Heyman for example.
• To compensate for not having directed a feature film before you will need to surround yourself with very experienced crew in particular the cinematographer. That way if you turn out to be a complete waste of space, the film can be competently made without you. 
• You will need to attach an extremely attractive cast (monetary not aesthetic). 
• If you want to make an independent film outside of the Hollywood system then you will have to slash the budget considerably.
• Even if you get the film financed you will not be able to raise the sufficient marketing costs required for this kind of film in order to compete with similar Hollywood titles.
• If one of the Hollywood studios agrees to distribute the film, they may (like Valiant) bury the film on purpose so that it does not compete with their current release slate.
• Hollywood will want to develop the project from the beginning and would more likely buy you out than let you direct the film. However you could probably pay off your mortgage with this fee though!
•  If you publish it as a novel first, it will take a minimum of three years to become a bestseller, which statistically is unlikely anyway with such competition already out there.

As you can see, it was a daunting experience, but a valuable one and something that I am certainly not phased by. I have a plan on how to deal with these issues and will report back with my final conclusions very soon. In the mean time I will leave you with the news that I am literally pages away from completing the first draft which although will be very rough and full of poor punctuation and verse, underneath is a very exciting and emotional story that I am desperate to share.

The Creative Business Base teams at Maidstone Studios.

Henry Bramble completed short in sight!

I am relieved and excited that we are finally on the road to recovery for the completion of the magical fantasy 3D short film The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble. Unfortunately the hard working creative team up at VERL were unable to complete the VFX due to a 'project management'  issue that has now finally been eliminated. A big thanks to VERL and Screen South who have worked tirelessly to sort this problem out. 

The completion of the visual effects for the film are now going to be managed by DiROOM based at the Truman Brewery in east London who have also come on board to complete the on-line, grade and 2K deliverables. We are aiming to have a completed film for Berlin where the Innovation Shorts Scheme will be holding the first industry screening. We are hoping our international premiere will be at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in May.

New Henry Bramble Poster

This is the latest poster design for the feature length version of The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble. It will be used as part of a pitching pack to raise development finance for the film in London on November 27th so fingers crossed - It's come along way from the sketch I did at the beginning of the year.

George Lucas hands Star Wars over to Disney

I feel very emotional about the news this morning that George Lucas is retiring and handing over his Lucasfilm empire to Disney. It feels like he has died. I guess it's that realisation that we've come to the end of another era. That unlike Star Wars, George Lucas is mortal and getting older every day. This then reminds you that you are not five years old boy anymore, but a middle aged man and time is running out for you too.

Despite all the grief he was given over the Star Wars prequels, lets not forget that without him, Star Wars and Indiana Jones would not exist. It must have been incredibly hard to let go of such a huge part of your life - your legacy. No wonder it has taken him four years to do. I think he must feel incredibly sad, relieved and excited all at the same time. I know I do. 

Kathleen Kennedy (The Producer of Indiana Jones and many of Steven Spielberg's other films) is going to take over the running of Lucasfilm and will be producing the next trilogy of Star Wars films which follow on from Return Of The Jedi. Lucas wrote treatments for these around the same time as he developed the first three films. They subsequently became novels and graphic novels in the early to mid-nineties. 

Way back then, when I was still at University, I learned that they were going to be making the prequels. I swore (to anyone who'd listen) that I would direct the ninth Star Wars film. I worked out that it would not be released any earlier than 2015, which gave me nearly nineteen years to calve out a successful directing career. I even made Danny Boyle sign my Trainspotting/Shallow Grave screenplay book "Good Luck with the ninth Star Wars." 

In 1997, while working on The Phantom Menace, I asked George Lucas' daughter Amanda if he would be making the final trilogy and without hesitation she said no. At that moment my dream of directing a Star Wars film had been shattered. Over the years I had forgotten that dream and instead been grateful for the wonderful experience I had working on Episode One that summer. The opportunity to meet the big man himself was inspiring enough for me to leave Star Wars behind and crack on with my own fantastical ideas and possible franchises. 

Despite the fact that in the last fifteen years I have unfortunately not yet reached a Hollywood level career in directing, this morning's news reignited a spark of excitement. There was still a chance, however small that I, Derek Boyes, could direct the ninth Star Wars film by 2020. 

Anyone know Kathleen Kennedy's number? 

The Fears Of A Stereotypical Imagination

I have just watched Snow White and the Huntsman which by all accounts is much better than I anticipated. Having been bored to death by Twilight, I was expecting a modern retelling with a lot of pale sullen faced  teenagers suffering mild depression from their broken hearts, but I was pleasantly surprised to see they were passionate about making this film. It's not quite the classic they were aiming for, but there are moments of beauty and inspiration. The beach attack on the castle was spectacular, some of the fantastical trees, fairies and toadstools were inspiring and the dark magical forest exceeded even Tim Burton's visions. The Huntsman (although his Scottish accent slipped into Australian from time to time) was convincingly masculine, without becoming homoerotic (Anyone see the film 300), though Charlize Theron's performance, particularly when she screamed, was cringing and about as effective as Ewan McGregor's 'younglings' performance in Revenge Of The Sith. However, to her credit, she has since perfected the ice cold performance in Prometheus.

Anyway the point I want to make, or rather the irritation I'd like to point out is that while I have been plodding along with the writing of the Henry Bramble feature I had absolutely no previous knowledge of this film, except for it's title and the DVD cover. I was just about to tackle the scene in my script where Henry and the two chumninks enter the Castle of Shadows through the sewage pipes when I decided to take a break and look at Snow White & The Huntsman. To my surprise and annoyance I discovered they had an almost identicle scene. Three dwarfs sneak into the castle via the sewers with Ray Winstone making almost the same 'poo' one liner that I had written. In reference to my previous postings, when you are coming up with the same scene as someone else rather than the same archetypal tool, then not only does it look like plagiarism but you then start to question your own ability to imagine original thoughts. For now I am not going to change my scene, just aim to develop it differently so that it exceeds and surprises expectations of audiences who have seen Snow White.

My other concern is the increasing release of gothic teen fairytale adaptations that are beginning to saturate the market with the same style and tone that I had previously liked, but is now becoming too familiar with audiences. The challenge is to have an original vision and style that audiences will be drawn to, which is no easy feat. As a result I am leaning much more towards a 'steampunk' world were medieval mixes with futuristic Victorian. It makes more sense thematically. Henry has a vivid imagination, the contents in his Uncle's country house are very traditional and Victorian, but as a boy living in a modern world, he is much more aware of technology. Merging these in his imagination would give him Steampunk which represents Uncle Geoffrey and the negative aspects of the adult world.

Finally, the last lesson learned from this film is that short actors playing fantastical elves, dwarves, goblins, sprites etc. in big Hollywood fantasy films could well be a thing of the past. Firstly, short actors playing these kinds of fantasy creatures (without complex prosthetics or CGI) arguably don't come across as 'magical' in a more diverse and progressive society. Secondly, in order to have more choice in casting, the filmmakers of The Lord Of The Rings and Snow White chose instead to shrink normal sized actors to play these parts. Since the creation of a completely CGI Gollum, there has been a surge in performance capture techniques allowing filmmakers to cast A-list actors that appear physically inhuman. I think for Henry Bramble, if we were rewarded with such a budget, this could be a direction we are forced into in an attempt to put financiers at ease by attaching well known actors (of any shape and size) to play Grimbo and Raygo. Can you imagine Charlize Theron and Brad Pitt playing three foot chumninks?

Raiders Of The Lost Ark in IMAX

What is the point? Went to see it last Tuesday at the Greenwich Odeon and was appalled by the picture quality. How is a film from 1981 shot on 35mm going to look any better in IMAX? The screen was too big, forcing me to sit at the very back of the cinema to get any kind of crisp image. My eyes were straining for the first 20 minutes. There was also some kind of digital buzzing going on where areas of the two projections were not aligning properly. Compared to the wonderful screening of JAWS earlier this year, the experience was very disappointing. I didn't even notice any improvement in the 'digitally restoration' and if anything noticed more faults in the film quality (some grainy shots in south America). I eventually began to enjoy the film in the last half but I have to say it didn't seem that different to watching it on DVD. From a directors point of view I did notice in this viewing how many scenes were covered in just one shot tracking backwards and forwards and left to right with just a few additional cutaways. He also uses shadows extensively throughout the film often saving him from shooting a reverse. I suspect these were all techniques used to speed up the production so he could come in within budget and finish principal photography several days earlier that scheduled.

Outline for Henry Bramble is cracked!

We are pushing forward with the feature film version of this wonderful heart warming story while my imagination is still flowing fast. As a result the development of the project is moving much faster than anyone could have imagined and getting to the truth/heart of the narrative has been extremely rewarding, especially from a personal point of view. 

We are all very excited by its potential to touch audiences around the world with its universal themes and archetypal fairytale structure. With the huge demand for quality family entertainment and new developments in filmmaking technology we have an amazing opportunity to produce a wonderful timeless classic.

However, I have recently been struggling to find time to write over the past few weeks due to various other commitments and as a result I am somewhat behind with my deadline for a first rough draft. However I have managed to come up with a whole story for the film that will easily fill 90 minutes if not more and I have to say I am very pleased with it. 

Obviously I can't say too much, but I can confirm that in the land of Minoitaniga there are two main intelligent species, the Chumninks and the Morlogs. We also have three incredible creatures, the Voydarkatron (featured in the short), a Kabullarak, which is an eight legged crab-like creature that the Morlog's ride and then there are the Terrakite's, a featherless, vulture-like flying beast.  

When I'm writing I often come up with ideas that I realise I have taken from other films, however I do not see this as plagiarism, on the contrary I feel a sense of comfort knowing I have subconsciously recognised an archetypal story pattern. The film has merely a reference for me to become aware of it. 

For example one of the last scenes in the land of Minoitaniga is very similar to the end of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom.  When Indy returns to the village with the stolen Sankara Stone, the land is rich in plant life. The villagers are dressed in bright colours and run to their returning children with open arms and tears of joy - A highly emotional moment helped in contrast to the childless, crop-less, dusty village we saw in the beginning. 

I use the same symbolic references in my film but because it is a fantasy world rather than 1930's India, a school boy instead of an archeologist and a stone instead of imagination, it retains originality and freshness despite using the same archetypal tool.

Getting a career in television drama

Since leaving the National Film & Television School back in 2004 I've been paid a mere total of £6,500 as a professional writer/director for all the work I have done to date. Less than £1000 was for directing. The feature film business is very hard to break into. It's a game of chance where your skills and talents do not necessarily reflect your success and where you rarely get paid.

Having spend too long solely focused in this industry, I have decided to look for directing work in television drama too. It's producing some incredible shows at the moment that suite my style and taste (The Killing, The Bridge, Borgan, Spiral, Wallander, Sherlock, Accused and Luther being some of my favourites). Lets hope those television drama producers like my work enough to let me come and play. What you think?

JAWS - back on the big screen!

I went to see Jaws this afternoon at my local Cineworld for a mere £5.40 instead of the excessive £11 it cost to see Prometheus (which although was visually stunning, was also frustratingly disappointing. It had far too many story flaws for an experienced filmmaker like Scott not to notice, all which could have easy been solved).

It was a sheer pleasure to finally see Jaws on the big screen and looking so clean and crisp. I was only three when it was originally released and it's odd to think I am experiencing a better picture and sound than audiences would have  done back in 1975.

The first half of the film is perfect in its set up, not a frame is wasted, constantly feeding you information that helps build up the enormous pressure Brody is under from residents, the mayor and his family (and this is even before they know they have a genuine shark problem).

I became aware of just how clear cut 'the point of no return' for Brody is. When his kids come too close to being eaten themselves, the shark problem becomes personal for Brody. This is the moment he has to man up, set aside his fears of the water and go and get that son of a bitch once and for all. The momentum and drive built up here is so satisfying.

Having recently become a father I was also surprised how much more upset I was with certain moments in the film. The second victim, a little boy on yellow raft, is harrowing to watch, not so much his attack, but his poor mother who slowly realises her son never made it to the shore. Then later when Brody has just uncovered a shark prank, a girl shouts 'Shark!' He almost dismisses it but then remembering his kids are in the pond we see his reluctant walk turn into a full and desperate run. It is every parents worst fear.

Another amusing but subtle moment I don't remember noticing before is when the three men are relaxing and drinking inside the Orca. Richard Dreyfus and Robert Shaw are revealing to each other their scars. Brody desperately wants to join in and glances down under his shirt at a past injury only to decide it is not impressive enough. It is brilliant storytelling!

Unlike most of the current summer blockbusters, even after 32 years JAWS is still an incredibly satisfying film to watch and well worth the price of even a 3D film ticket.

Voydarkatron is alive!

For the last few months I have been getting weekly updates from VERL, the VFX team up in Dundee, that consist of fairly crude Voydarkatron CGI model animations. I then have to make detailed comments on them in terms of the relevant action for each shot and the believability of the movement. We are finally coming to the end of this part of the process and so I thought I'd show you a short teaser of the way the animated beast moves.

This update was particularly exciting because in this weeks Dropbox VFX file there was a very short clip of an almost fully rendered Voydarlatron with motion blur.

I had no idea it was coming so when the clip opened up and played, I sat up transfixed. In front of me was a creature that actually looked real and blended seamlessly into the back plate we filmed on location.

On closer inspection you can see there are details still to be done, but for a test shot, I hadn't seen anything as exciting since I saw a fully rendered Jar Jar Binks a year before the release of Episode One (except the Voydarkatron will hopefully be received a little more positively by the general public). Unfortunately for you I'm not going to reveal this just yet, but here's a Voydarkatron eye test to wet the appetite.

The Confusing Land Of Minoitaniga

I was beginning to get concerned that I may be suffering from writer's block as I was struggling to come up with the main story for the imaginary world of Minotaniga (in terms of tying everything up while abiding by the rules of fairytales) and had a lot of unanswered questions to solve. For example who is Maliglut (the Darth Vader of the film), what does he want, why does he need it and why does he want to destroy Henry?

The difficulty was that the answers had to have a duel purpose and resonate in the real world as well. However with a bit of research leaning towards a few steampunk influences and some common sense, I came to the conclusion that Maliglut has stolen the sacred liquid crystal from the Guardians of Minoitaniga, which will allow him to see into the future.

However when Henry arrives in Minoitaniga Maliglut's vision into the future is blocked. The only way to unblock it, is to destroy Henry. Unfortunately Henry needs to get the liquid crystal off Maliglut in order to save the Guardians of Minoitaniga who will then give him the Voydarkatron blood to cure his Great Uncle Geoffrey's writer's block.

Following me okay? No I didn't think so. Rest assured it will all make perfect sense soon enough!

Script Consultant, Philosopher & Psychologist.

I had a really enjoyable, rewarding and life affirming meeting today with Britt Harrison and my producers. We met up to discuss the feature length version of The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble and to iron out any noticeable issues with my developing ideas for the film before they did any serious damage.

I have worked with several script editors over the years, but Britt is the first one to really delve deep into the writer's life in order to find the clues that will solve the story issues and clarify the writer's intentions. In doing so she helps you focus your ideas so that you can write the story you want to write. Too often script editors find solutions to make the story work without finding out first why the writer wants to write this particular story.

I am confident that I now know what I am writing and why. They say 'always write from the heart' and it appears I have done exactly that. I can't believe how personal this story is to me and that subconsciously I have managed to write so much of it with such clarity and truth. The session was so intense and exhilarating that I barely noticed that I was suffering from a heavy cold.

I have thus been set a ridiculous challenge - to complete a first exploratory draft screenplay by the 21 July 2012 (my Wedding Day). Can it be done? Well I never thought I could shoot the short in 3 days, so never say never! ...gulp!

Britt's incredibly useful 'story map' created during our discussions.

Selected for the Creative Business Base

I am pleased to announce that my creative team from Henry Bramble (Myself, Charlotte Wontner and Annabel Bates) have been offered a place on a free six month creative and business development programme devised by Screen South, Maidstone Studios, Peter Jones Academy and Amersham & Wycombe College. The programme will cover subjects including:

• Script and Project Development 
• Legals and contracts 
• Entrepreneurial mind-set and skills 
• Planning and Pitching 
• Creative Business - planning and development 
• Sources of Funding and Finance 
• Single project and Business Investments 
• Ways to market (Traditional vs. new media including social networks) 
• Sales Distribution Exhibition – what are they looking for? 
• Working with the global markets UK and International 
• Understanding exploitation potentials of projects (IP) 
• Use of new medias and IP 
• E-marketing and promotion

Over the next six months there will be fortnightly seminars, master classes, continuing script development, bespoke one to one meetings and training days, with daily access to hot desks, phones, internet and a meeting space at The Maidstone Studios. The programme concludes with all 8 teams pitching both their projects and businesses in London with top industry financiers, producers and business angels.

Sounds a bit like The Big Pitch all over again, except there will be no audience vote to stop us this time!

The Clues to a Great Story

Found a another great TED talk on storytelling by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E). 

Prometheus has all the signs of a modern cinema classic

I'm growing more and more excited about Ridley Scott's 2012 prequel to his 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien. It stars two of my favourite actors, Noomi Rapace who played the original 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and Idris Elba from the BBC's excellent crime drama Luthor.

From the trailers it appears that Ridley has managed to successfully create an original new angle on the franchise while still retaining the feel and atmosphere of the original. If he succeeds then he will have thankfully disassociated it's previous disjointed sequels while at the same time reinforcing his original vision.

This is the perfect kind of film to utilise 3D technology as an additional storytelling tool to create a more immersive cinematic experience and I am sure Prometheus will be a breathtaking journey, sitting beautifully alongside his original classic.

Script meeting for Henry Bramble ...the feature film!

While we wait in limbo for the visual effects team to get moving on the short, I met up with the producer Charlotte Wontner and Script Editor Vicki Jung this afternoon to flesh out my ideas for the feature film version of The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble.

The key questions that I wanted to discuss in expanding the short was what Henry's journey would be and how that would link into the reason why Henry's mother has to abandon her son with an estranged relative.

In the short film it is really the uncle's story, as he discovers, through Henry, how to imagine again. Henry doesn't really change throughout the film he simply represents the wonderful innocence and wild imagination of children. For the 90 minute children's feature film however Henry has to have a strong character arc if he is going to be the central character.

From the original set up of the short it was clear that the problems Henry must face would stem from his absent father and all tie in with why his Mother has to abandon him suddenly. During our meeting we bounced many ideas and possibilities, but agreed on some basic foundations for the film.

I'm not going to give too much away, but the main thematic thread of the story will be about the importance of telling stories and that sometimes they can be powerful enough to save lives. Everything that happens in the film all stems from and connects together by this theme. If you have had the opportunity and the patience to read all 700+ pages of Storytelling - The 7 Basic Plots, then you will know how very important storytelling is to Man's very existence. If you haven't read it then I recommend you find a copy. It is truly mind-blowing stuff.

The feel and style of Henry Bramble is comparable to the wonderful Narnia films, but rather than setting it in World War II (and therefore being in danger of being accused of copying these stories), it was important to come up with an equally dark but contemporary backdrop that directly threatens Henry's future and sets it apart from any other children's story that has gone before. I am pleased to say I think we have achieved this, but rest assured, as in all good children's storytelling, there is an uplifting conclusion, but for now my lips are sealed.

How does a Voydarkatron walk?

The latest update from the Visual Effect Research Lab in Dundee are some crude but very cool test animations on how the Voydarkatron moves. This one is of him strolling through the forests. The video really needs to be set to loop to get a proper feel for the creature.

Voydarkatron Update

Just had a great Skype meeting with Adam Thomson (the vfx animation director at VERL) to get an update on the VFX progress with the cgi Voydarkatron. When you see his desktop you quickly comprehend why it takes so long to create these fantastic monsters.

Adam showed me some rough modelled stances that could be used in the film, one being a collapsed and dying Voydarkatron. He looks scary from every angle and despite his bulk, is much more versatile in his movements than I expected. He can tower over you like King Kong protecting his territory or stoop low in a hunting/feeding poise that is reminiscent of walking bats or scavenging birds of prey. I can't wait to see it all fully rendered.

In the next few days I should be getting sent through some crude animated models that I can drop into the edit which will be extremely helpful to myself in fine tuning the editing in these scenes and for the sound designer as he will be able to get a real sense of the danger, weight and movement of the creature.

Houston we have a problem!

When my fiance shouted down the stairs that Whitney Houston was dead, I was perplexed why there was no sudden reaction in me. I was a big fan growing up, spending many hours pining over girls at school, lying on my bed with my walkman on, letting Whitney increase the pain in my heart with that incredible voice of hers.

My fondest memories of her however, was in the film The Bodyguard. I was studying in Harrogate at the time, working at the local ODEON in the evenings and as a result watched the film many times. I'm not embarrassed to say it is a favourite of mine. This is not as surprising as it first sounds. My two favourite films of all time are Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, both were written by The Bodyguard screenwriting legend Lawrence Kasdan. My favourite songs from this film soundtrack are 'I Have Nothing' and 'Run To You'. She sounds so sincere and vulnerable in them and it often makes me wonder how similar her real life was to her character in the film.

I never really followed the gossip about her troubled marriage and addictions and so I was shocked when I saw her appear on the X-Factor recently. I didn't recognise her. At that moment it seemed clear to me that the Whitney I loved and respected had died a long time ago. I imagine this is the reason why I felt little emotion on hearing the tragic news. However, as the days have passed, I have had time to reflect on her music and the impact she had on me growing up and I now feel genuine sadness for her. I will always remember Whitney Houston as the beautiful, talented singer who starred in the The Bodyguard.

Film poster design ideas for Henry Bramble

This is my photoshop version of the sketch below. I'm pretty happy with the layout  and text positioning I just hope I can come up with a more exciting and creative montage for the imaginary top half.

This was my favorite of four rough sketches I did to help me focus on my ideas for the film poster. It is based on a combination of a Son Of Rambow quad poster design that was never used, the Sugarland Express quad poster and the international one sheet of The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus.

Cut 3 - The Cannes friendly version

Henry is left alone in a cold dusty attic room.

Okay so just when I thought I could cut no more out of the film without destroying the emotional impact of the story, I managed to get Henry Bramble down to an incredible 14 minutes and 40 seconds, leaving 20 seconds to fit all the credits in.

Why so precise I hear you say, well Cannes and many other film festivals won't except short films over 15 minutes. I had a meeting a few weeks back with my producers and agreed to try and get the 18 minute film down to 15. I insisted on being brutal about it, but was still convinced I'd never get close to 15 minutes.

To my surprise much of the process was simply removing time wasted by characters travelling from A to B. Often it worked better as a jump cut instead. There was very little cut out that I missed. Some cuts I worry are a fraction too fast for a fresh audience to keep up with, so I may extend these by a second or two, but I'm going to test screen it to a few kids and close critical film friends and see what the results are.

Whatever happens I think we will have a film that will be short enough for Cannes. The only question is whether the VFX boys up at Dundee can deliver everything in time.

Raygo Rattlegum helps Henry Bramble hunt for a Voydarkatron.

Was David Cameron's advice to the British film industry naive?

There's definately some pretentious art-house films out there that take themselves too seriously that should not be publicly funded (Rat Catcher, Hunger, Bronson) as well as some deplorable 'genre' films (Creep, The Cottage, Hush). I'm not sure what David Cameron meant by his comments this week, but I think the term 'commercial' is often misinterpreted.

A commercial film can be art-house, experimental, drama, documentary, animation, genre or any combination of these. It should be regarded as commercially successful not by how much money it makes, but simply by weather or not it makes its money back (this includes all production, marketing and distribution costs). If it doesn;t have an audience big enough to pay for itself then it should not be financed through public money.

The UK doesn't and will never have the financial infrastructure like Hollywood and therefore can't finance films like Avatar or even 'British' qualifying films like  Harry Potter or Bond. So its commitment to supporting all types of film is actually limited up to a certain level of budget. At the other end of the scale I agree with Julian Fellows that the government should not be financing self-indulgent filmmakers whose films have no chance of making their money back. Despite popular believe, this does not include filmmakers like Mike Leigh, Ken Loach or Anrdrea Arnold who are in fact by the above definition 'commercial filmmakers'.

This out-of-date attitude towards the UK film industry as being only capable of making fluffy period drama, gritty social realism, middle class romantic comedy or east-end gangster films has to change. We need to put more energy into educating British film audiences, by giving them access to the huge variety of wonderful high quality International and British films out there that don't make it to the multiplex. How we do this successfully is any ones guess and is probably just as hard to answer as "What makes a commercially successful film?"