Fictional Skies

It can be tough finding the right medium to tell a story in especially when you discover a versatile concept that could work or crossover into either television, film, web, literature, stage, radio, video-game or graphic novel. How do you know what to write it as? The short answer is: you don't. Unless you're specifically: a playwright, scriptwriter, or novelist. However, if you've yet to figure that out or commit to a set course, or want to write in more than one discipline, then it's not as simple as knowing what you don't want to write. Everything is possible. You can chat to people about it or consult writing books. You can do some research consuming a mass of product looking at how others have done things with the story concept they had. Ultimately, you just have to follow your instincts and see where it takes you. The goal is to do the story concept justice - to attract a producer/company and an audience. Naturally they want their money's wo...

Three months ago I began work on my second project for the year: an urban horror series.  The first:  Project Spacebound began over four months ago and is being written at the same time.  From Half-Idea to Series  The big bang moment for this came when a half-idea met its title-to-be and fused together to become something with potential. The combination of those two intriguing elements told me that this was something to pursue. Its title was a word I thought I had initially made up, as it just appeared in my head and got me hooked. It conjured up emotion, atmosphere, genre and images. Later on, I discovered it was a real word, however, its slang meaning better suited the show and helped define a major element. The 'half-idea' was a notion and genre twist on a recent news story at the time. A 'what if...' scenario resulted and one that would lead into a high-concept horror sub-genre story. From then, I knew I had to construct a new and compelling ...

Two and a half months in and things are progressing nicely. Project Spacebound has a first draft and soon-to-be-announced Project Nightingale has an outline for its pilot episode. I found myself working on the first draft of Project Spacebound for three days during the week. Then at weekends developing and doing the prep work for Project Nightingale. I prefer prep work at the weekends because it's more relaxed and there's more time to give. Plus the prep work should be developing quicker than the script draft. So it worked out nicely. Adapting to Change  As previously mentioned , I have three projects set aside for the year and two of those have already begun. But I've decided not to bring the third one into the mix just yet. Again, like discovering the stacking projects method at the last moment, this decision was much the same. I'm comfortable with two projects going at once and really enjoy it. But feel I need to gain experience with two projects and see...

For the last month or so I have been working diligently on a new TV project: an animated adventure series for children. Although this is the grand reveal, I'm afraid it'll be a no show as to specific details. You know the score. If it was Comic-Con then I would be happy to share all! Instead I will offer a little insight on the origin of the idea, its rebirth and end with some notes on the early development for this. Project Spacebound is not the actual title. Although, a rather cool one come to think of it. It's the codename for the show and a way to talk about it other than referring to it as the vague New Project 2012, New Project1, 011011100010011 or Animated Children's TV Series, or God forbid, to reveal its actual title before its time! From Short Animation to Series  The revival for this stems back to a chat with Danny Stack a few months back. The act of being able to share the story concept with him and have it received well was revitalising and encou...