Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Uh-oh...

That writer/director was not happy with my script. I did something he said he didn't want done to it...but I did it because it's the only thing that makes sense and hoped he'd see that. He didn't. And...I just got a second e-mail from him. And he didn't like my other suggestions and got nit-picky about something else because apparently my sense of humor and his don't mesh. So he's doing the next pass on the script and it'll go from there. I've trimmed it down by nearly 20 pages so I guess I've done my job.

They sent the rewrite of the script I'd sent them for section 2 of the SB project and I've already begun working up the frames for it. I just need to figure out how to make them snazzy enough without being too snazzy while still being clear and not boring. Nothing much.

I finished reading a nice memoir written by a man who lived in Derry from the 30's through the troubles -- "Reflections of Derry" by Philip Cunningham. He has a nice folksy style and his manner of signifying who people are and where they're living or come from is fascinating. It's interesting how he avoided talking about the horrors of the 60's and 70's in any detail -- a quick reference to a friend whose son died in the hunger strike, a couple paragraphs about the Civil Rights March on October 5, 1968 that really got things going, a photograph of Eamon Melaugh circa 2004 -- but instead focused on growing up in a city where poverty was a normal way of life and housing was non-existent, adding in snippets of how he worked to keep his family fed, clothed and sheltered. Something else that comes across is how tightly knit the communities were and how redevelopment destroyed a lot of that. Next I'm digging into "Sister Kate."

BTW, I read volume 4 of that gay vampire detective series, "Mark Julian and the Vampire Hunter", and it was a lot lighter read than "...Heavenly Host" with a pleasant ending and a set-up for the next book. I love his characters -- Jaime, the shape-shifting sex-demon who's hot in love with a French werewolf prince who happens to be gorgeous; the double-dealing Tortego, who runs the local vampire council and is only comfortable when he's manipulating and misusing his fellow denizens; Vinnie's momma, a powerhouse little who wants a wedding and don't care who's the bride or if it's two grooms; Mark Julian, himself, whose history is so colorful there's no way his current incarnation as a detective can match up to it; and Vinnie, who was beginning to turn into a typical freshly-minted gay man but who now has some edge to his past. These characters really do belong in film, they're such fun...and I get the feeling that's all he wants from this. Me...my one vampire script is exceedingly dark and erotic -- a combination of "The hunger" and "Nosferatu" with the stylings of Almodovar (especially "Matador"), where love does not conquer all.

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