X-Factor styley, over 100 entries have been whittled down to 12. After the development process 6 of those will be commissioned. Next week we’ll be starting off with a day of discussion and workshops with the other shortlisters and Kate Leys. The development process will go on through till March when we’ll see… If all goes well and we get the green light, we’ll be chucking up regular updates here for you to track the progression of the film.
While ‘Man In A Cat has been talked about for a while, and the tester trailer alone has got over 850,000 views, it had to stand on ice for a while as our other projects and work relationships developed. But after having the storyboards on my wall for over a year it’ll be great to get some outside input. I’m particularly excited to see how the original story changes. While I love the idea of a Man, Woman, Cat love triangle (not like that), there’s still plenty that could be done on the script.
So let’s start from the beginning shall we? Here’s where the original idea taken from my sketchbook when I was 16, which was taken from Tony Lopes’ Odd Streak strip.
Huh, will yer look at that. Message in a Bottle was on the same page. Page 32 was obviously drinking well that year.
Unwanted husband and father, Paul Slater is a check out assistant in Tesco. But Paul leads a secret double life… He is… Santa Claus!… in the Tesco Christmas Grotto Mega Value Clearance section.
Like the awkward time when you watched a loved one dissapointedly unwrap your present bought on a shoestring budget, I would have liked to have offered you a slightly bigger, more raunchy present, but time’s been tight lately. Where’s the sherry. Sherry will dull this guilt.
Trivia: I wrote this when I was 13. Gadzooks! 10 years ago! In the ’90s! Jesus. Here’s the original sketch while I go and spin out in the corner.
Danish company Go’Proces: came to me with a script for an animated Christmas card. So I made one. It’s only occurred to me recently that Scandinavians have a particular sense of humour. Like the sort of joke that doesn’t have a punchline… or a joke. Just a big vast dark cold landscape of subtlety. I like!
As their friend base is exclusively Danish they decided not to go for subtitles, so good luck working out what they’re saying! Let me know what you think they’re saying so I can laugh at/with you.
Lastly, big up to long suffering Amy Commander for doing the voice of 6 characters – possibly even a man’s voice too with help from my computer.
P.S. Seems there’s some audio sync problems with this uploaded version.
We’re all a little excited this week, because Dice Productions had a little cameo appearance on The Culture Show on BBC2 last night… even if that cameo was only about two seconds long. But hey, we were on the Culture Show (on the telly) so who cares, right?
As you can see from the pic above, Message in a Bottle was included in a little montage during Josie Long‘s segment on the rise and rise of online comedy, which focused squarely on Funny or Die UK and Popcorn Comedy, in which we’ve had a little more active role through October’s Electric Cinema screening. Ian’s giggling face was also spotted on the show enjoying Popcorn Comedy at the Roxy Bar and Screen in October.
If Josie is to be believed (and I think she should be), online comedy is where it’s at. We totally agree that being able to produce and distribute your own content gives you so much more artistic freedom to experiment and not be so precious about ideas. Like Jon Petrie attested, you avoid the ‘too many cooks’ situation. As everyone knows, an overabundance of chefs does not good comedy make.
Now these creations are making their way into the clubs, bars, cinemas and underground Victorian toilets of Britain, through nights like Popcorn, there’s never been a better excuse to pick up a camera or sit down at your computer and create something hilarious, challenging or downright baffling.
If we’re honest, a glimpse of Ian’s face (above) and Louis’ hands are not the only things exciting us this week. Hopefully we can tell you more about those things some time in the near future.
Now’s as good as any time to make a little dedication to my favourite pencil. His name is ‘Old Blue’. We met about 2 years ago in a cold student flat in the middle Edinburgh, he was hanging out with some other mechanical pencil buddies his previous owner had obsessively collected inside a meticulous stationary draw. We got along great, but after a while his nobbliness really starting to bite into me. After a while things started to get pretty bad, so I jammed a couple of pen grips over him. We had our rows, but after going through some highs and lows, we’ve been trough some pretty amazing stuff, and I’ll never regret a moment. Thanks Pencil. Thpencil.
Ian’s also got a clever little extendable pen we call ‘Classy Clive’. It’s non-gender specific, well more vague really. Tom generally just writes with his own blood, he’s passionate like that, so… ‘Tom’ would be the accurate thing to put on his census form I suppose.
P.S. If you’re reading Steve Wright, can I have ‘Can’t Live if Living is Without You‘ by Harry Nilsson. Anything else that makes me want to bleed with clichéd insincerity is fine too. Does he still do that Sunday show? I don’t know.
All Consuming Love (Man In A Cat) has been shortlisted for Digishorts funding! Nice Stuff!
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