Eibon Films - News

Yes, I have been quiet for a while. Apologies, working too many hours and not sleeping enough. Disappointing really as I have watched some blinding films recently, that I’d like to mention to you, short mentions / reviews below.

- But hey! The real news is that we have been listed in the TOTAL FILM ‘Movie blogs you might have missed’ listing on page 5! in the horror section. Nice. A little recognition always helps. Thanks very much!

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 Indiewire and Bartlett’s Screenwriting Tips (via John Horn) had the scoop - that Paramount, inspired by their success with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, the film “with a production budget of $15,000…  one of the most profitable films in Hollywood history“, will not only pick up the filmmaker’s next film AREA 51; they are apparently keen on setting up a new arm for movies budgeted at less than $100,000.

“The as-yet-unnamed division’s initial plan is to finance as many as 20 “micro-budget” movies annually starting in 2010, Adam Goodman, president of Paramount’s film group, said Thursday.”

The best ones will most likely be given a theatrical exhibition in theaters equipped to show digital movies, enabling a lower cost distribution model than the expense of producing multiple film prints; and marketed without costly television commercials, print ads etc, instead relying on word-of-mouth. At the moment one will assume that the new initiative will be aimed at established talent, but there’s no reason why more breakthrough talent can’t make it. So dust off those Micro budget ideas folks!

Dan O’Bannon - ALIEN scribe is dead.  The World should definitely mourn the loss of one artist.

Until I started teaching myself about screenwriting, he was just a name on a poster. I mean I didn’t even really realise that people wrote screenplays; before I was first told that in order to make a film I needed a screenplay. I mean you just went to the cinema and the films just magically happen. Right? They all just show up on set and make it up as they go along. Right? At least that is what Hollywood often wants us to believe, with the cult of the Director and the purported talent of certain actors. God forbid, the stories are crafted by artisans…

I knew he had something to do with ALIEN and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, DARK STAR and LIFEFORCE but I had no clue as to what contribution he made, or how much of a difference he made; how significant was he?

And then one day I read the screenplay to ALIEN.  For me it was a life changing experience. I can’t really describe it, but the economic, unflowery and effective prose really spoke to me. Again, I wasn’t sure who (of all of the people involved in that screenplay) really was responsible, but I took notice and I read a few more screenplays that he had a hand in. Each one, was its own piece of work, but each had a unique power and economy that really spoke to me, even if the end film didn’t really have the same effect. Inspired by that, by the power of his prose, I tore the hell out of two feature screenplays trying to cut each one down to its purest and most economic form. But they were pale imitations at best, when compared to this man’s work. It is something I find myself continually revisiting and constantly chasing - an elusive muse.

It will be a crime if others do not mourn his passing. I know I have lost an unofficial mentor. I will still revisit his scripts and chase a fraction of their power.

The new trailer on Yahoo Movies of the remake of George Romero’s THE CRAZIES. 

Normally when faced with such a remake I would simply ask “Why?” This time I don’t need to. I already know why. Hollywood has run out of ideas and needs to find a new corpse to flog.

At least this time they have picked a film that is in need of a remake.

The original is good. I even have it in my collection. But it is not great.  There was always something lacking as part of the film experience. It has a brilliant core concept. As a piece of propaganda is has a powerful message. And yet it lacks that thing that makes me want to watch it again any time soon.

The trailer for the new version clearly has the missing horror watch-me-again element; the scares, the atmosphere etc. The question is, have they managed to retain the other elements and not f it up??? We’ll just have to wait and see…

Yes I completed the first draft of my nanowrimo novel yesterday - 56,103 words in 30 days!

Unfortunately I was distracted by work stuff and the fact that I hadn’t slept in two days and missed my chance to bump up my final official word count, before they locked the servers. Oh well… at least I know I not only completed the challenge early, I also finished the actual draft.

I will now take a month off from working on the novel, in order to get some distance from it. I will go back to working on my long delayed feature script and then come back to it in the New Year and then do the major structural rewrite fixes; before eventually looking at the quality of the prose etc.

Some people are dying to read it of course - which is nice (I’m sure that won’t last once they read it ;0) - But it is a long way off from being readable or worth sharing. However, I may just look at putting together a test chapter to see if people enjoy it and want to read more. But such thoughts can wait. Before I do that I desperately need to get my fitness levels back up, enjoy some quality reading and find my love of the written word again and find my hidden style.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to any Americans out there. I seemed to lose all track of days while doing this competition, besides knowing how many days I had left in the challenge of course.

In other news, the last short story I penned was deemed unsuitable for the chosen publication I had designed it for; which was a great shame. However, I have been assured by others that this is apparently nothing to do with the story’s merits or the quality of the writing. Anyway, I am sending it off to other publications for consideration, so I’ll keep you posted on further developments.

Also a friend at work has installed the Mac OS on my new netbook to create a Hacintosh! What a star! So I shall soon be able to use my favourite writing software on the move and be just that little bit more productive! Waheyy! Bring on the festive season and a New Year of writing!

Yes, for me Nanowrimo should be over. After all, I completed the 50k challenge days ago. However, despite [insane] work demands I have managed to knock out 2,000 words more. The only problem is that I still have a few words (2.5k at least) to knock out before I can consider this rough and ropey 1st draft complete.

Apparently you get a free voucher for a proof copy on Create Space as part of the deal. So even if I don’t share my dodgy novel, I will have a physical reminder of my effort; a manifestation of my blood sweat and tears.

I have hit 50K a week early! Nanowrimo is not over, although I have already completed the challenge. I still have to finish my novel, but the pressure is off to compete with others on getting to the magic marker. I am only competing against myself now! and I have one and a half chapters left to write.

Not bad for someone who had failed to even start the actual challenge, the last two years running, due to work getting in the way. It just goes to show what can be achieved if you plan properly and stick with it. Something that I am not always know for, when it comes to writing.

Of course the real issue is will it be worth reading? ;0)

Unfortunately I am back at work tomorrow, so my daily word count will be considerably reduced. Ah well….

Yes, I just hit 45,064 words for Nanowrimo! I am so close to the 50k mark I can really taste it. I was tempted to just see if I could go all night, but I haven’t slept properly in the last three days and I am shattered now, without doing an all-nighter and really messing myself up.

Last night I watched SEXY KILLER - (View the Trailer) a bonkers Spanish serial killer zombie flick; about a girl looking for the perfect plastic surgeon boyfriend at a medical university and eventually settles for the new assistant coroner who autopsies her victims and invents the device that accidentally reanimates the dead. The film begins with a promising college shower scene spoof of SCREAM, complete with bare nubile flesh and the mask wearing killer - and then turns the tables, in a completely obvious and disappointingly implausible costume twist. Luckily the deaths and characters are reasonably inventive enough to keep you watching; and there was genuine chemistry between the lead actors and style in the execution (pun intended).

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I am procrastinating, putting off writing another 2k for nanowrimo - having already reached the 40k mark yesterday. Motivation is hard, when all you want to do is…. well something else. lol But I am so close now to completing this insane challenge, that it would be rude and pointless to do so.

“Are you ready? For the war?”

But I am having fun - listening to great tunes, such as INVADERS MUST DIE and a back catalogue of Killing Joke tunes. I do find music is helping me block out the immediate outside world and get into a flow. It doesn’t always work, but times like now my fingers love dancing across the keys to the speed of the music; rapid fire thoughts beget rapid digit-ry. Rapid tunes properly evoke the world in which my characters dwell; catapulting me back to a simpler time when the artificial stimulus was all that mattered. When the ‘could be’ was better than the ‘is’.

“Show your colours, bring your colours to the floor.”

So why am I procrastinating?

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After a difficult last ditch effort I have made it to my self-imposed milestone of 35k! Nice. At the moment there is too much character and not enough horror. But that I think I can fix. Later.

I am still in a relative limbo. I am unsure where my novel is heading - don’t get me wrong, I know the ending and I have a plot. Only it has holes in it, holes that I was unable to shore up before starting this insane race. But not only am I in uncharted plot territory, I am also in uncharted novel writing territory, having ever attempted anything like this before. My passion is absent at the moment, instead replaced by a natural desire to compete. Let’s hope it is enough.