Some images of work : life : balance from 2018

Work : Life : Balance :

Images from 2018 from my work and life and a little bit of balance

 

 

The opening 4 minutes of The Knife That Killed Me movie #TKTKM

Here is the opening 4 minutes of our new movie – written and directed by Marcus Romer and Kit Monkman – for Greenscreen productions in association with Pilot Theatre and  Premiere – with UK distribution by Universal Pictures

The Knife That Killed Me – based on the novel by Anthony McGowan

Trailer for The Knife That Killed Me #THISISWHATDEADLOOKSLIKE

#THISISWHATDEADLOOKSLIKE

The Knife That Killed Me is the new feature film made for Universal Pictures by Green Screen Productions in association with Pilot Theatre and Palace Pictures.

It is based on the novel by Anthony McGowan, and was adapted and directed by Marcus Romer (Pilot Theatre) and Kit Monkman (KMA).

The visual effects and post production was delivered by the University of York TFTV department

The film was produced by Alan Latham and Thomas Mattinson.

With support and help from Universal Pictures

More information on imdb here theknifethatkilledmemovie.com

Looking back / Going forward 13/14 #blogpost

This year was full of stuff – some great things and some less so. I don’t want to dwell on the crap bits or over expound the positives. I want to rather put a list together, with some pictures of things that have been important to me over the year. I am looking forward to 2014 with a renewed vigour and I am looking forward to creating interesting work with interesting people, and to spending more time with my family and friends who are so important to me. At times it felt as if several things were pulling me in different directions – but not quite as hard as the dog walker I managed to get a picture of in Buenos Aires…

So, in no particular order

1. Blood + Chocolate – was the most extraordinary project ever. It was the culmination of two years of planning and an intense nine months of preparation and pre-production, resulting in a truly great project – my thanks go to all the people of York who came on the journey with us and to the hard work of all the teams who made this possible – so a big up to Pilot and SlungLow for making it happen.

The full webcast video of the whole production is available on demand here to watch again Blood + Chocolate webcast

2. The Knife That Killed Me – This year we finalised the edit and did the test screenings at Universal Pictures and I am very much looking forward to this being in cinemas in 2014 as we move towards the release date. This has been the culmination of 5 years work since I first pressed ‘send’ on the first draft of the screenplay to the producers. I am incredibly proud of the work that the whole team put into this, to make this completely new feature film happen

The quality of each of the frames is amazing – considering that there are 137,000 of them – and each has been hand finished and has hand drawn artwork on each one…

Great hand drawn artwork from Stu Ord on all these frames and screengrabs

3. TED Conference 2013 – I had an amazing time in Los Angeles in February at the annual TED conference. Some standout talks and great moments and new friends made…Like here ‘California Dreaming’ in front of the Hollywood sign

One of the talks by Spoken Word Poet Shane Kocyzan is well worth a moment of your time.

4. Our house – the sale fell through after 6 months of messing about. Shift Happens, I know… I have now moved back in. I love this house. We may sell it this year, we may not. Either way I am not going to stress about it as we realise how fortunate and lucky we are.

5. Shift Happens V – again we ran this in York and a big thanks to the fantastic line up of speakers – a couple of stand out moments for me were the fabulous Jenny Sealey from Graeae…

and to Matt Mason VP of  BitTorrent who came over from San Francisco to join us in York

the brilliant Julia Unwin, CEO of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

and of course Elliot Barnes-Worrell

6. Twitter stuff – now whilst this is not really a big deal it has been one of the stranger moments this year – I read a post by a facebook friend which I adapted, thanked and tweeted. Turns out someone had done this earlier in the year too and I hadn’t seen it or was even aware of it. By that time it was too late – it went viral. I thanked all parties and then sat back and tried to fend off the 30k email notifications of each RT or favourite. I now know how to turn of those notifications btw…

7. A proud dad moment as our son Christy Romer graduated with a 2:1 from LSE.

8. And a finger selfie from Porto in Portugal as we crossed over the bridge to the old town was part of a great summer break too

9. Where both Christy and Mills agreed to pose for their one annual picture for us, which was offley good of them…

10. As proud moments go – this one of Susie on the BBC news – which was the first of her many live TV interviews in the course of her high profile job made me a very proud husband indeed

11. So as I head towards our next programme of work which includes the No Boundaries Conference in February and then Pilot’s co-production with the Theatre Royal Stratford East, Derby Theatre and York Theatre Royal of a new version of Antigone adapted by Roy Williams, I feel very excited and privileged to be making this work…so watch this space for more updates and…

12. Onwards and Upwards my friends…

BBFC Certificate 15 for ‘The Knife That Killed Me’ #TKTKM (very strong language, strong sex references, strong violence, drug use)

BBFC film description and certification here

BBFCINSIGHT very strong language, strong sex references, strong violence, drug use

GENRE(S) Drama

DIRECTOR(S) Marcus Romer,Kit Monkman

CAST INCLUDES Jack McMullen,  Reece Dinsdale,  Jamie Shelton,  Oliver Lee,  Haruka Abe

SUMMARY THE KNIFE THAT KILLED ME is a British drama about teenage gang conflict and the pressures faced by a young man starting at a new school.

CUT All known versions of this work passed uncut.

Here you go – all the strong words in the film in one clump – passed uncut

BLOODY, SH*T, F*CKED UP, CHRIST ALMIGHTY, CR*P, F*CKING, C*CK, W*NKER, SH*T, MEATHEAD GOBSH*TES, C*CK, P*SS, W*NKER, T*SSER, SL*G, W*NKER, LOSER, PAUL FARTERMAN, FILTHY DOG, SH*T, FILTHY DOG, YOU’RE DEAD, RED SCUM, MAKE IM SH*T IMSEN, RED SCUM, B*TTY BOY, MORON, MENTALIST, OLD B*TCH, *RSEWIPE, LITTLE P*FF, CRETIN, SH*T, WEASLY LITTLE TW*T, APE MAN, P*SSY, TW*T, F*CK, SH*T, WHAT THE HELL, B*TTY B*TTY BOY, BLOODY MORON, P*SSY, F*CK OFF, B*TCH, APESH*T, B*LL*CKS, GUT ROT, COKE HEAD, FOR GOD’S SAKE, SUCKS C*CK, SUCKS C*CK, W*NKER, SH*T, KICKED THE SH*T OUT OF ME, FINGER UP HIS *RSE, DOG SH*GGERS, T*SSER, I COULDN’T GIVE A SH*T, D*CK, D*CKHEADS, LOSER, LANKY TW*AT, CHIEF B*MMER, FEISTY B*TCH, B*TCH, CROGGY DOG, THICK TW*T, CHICKEN SH*T, DOG SN*GGER, DOG D*CK SUCKER, SH*T STICKS, WHINY LITTLE SH*T, HE SH*T HIMSELF, SH*T STAINED DAD, CHICKEN SH*T DAD, GUTS ROTTING, YOU LIKE SUCKING YOUR DAD’S C*CK, BAST*RDS, SH*TTING TW*TTING C*CKING AR*EHOLE BAST*RDS,, PSYCHO TW*T, F*CKING STICK IT, SH*T WORK, STINKING F*CKING HANDS, WA*KER, SH*T, SH*GGING, TW*T, SH*T SH*T SH*T, SH*T, P*SSING RAIN, F*CKING SH*T, SHUT THE F*CK UP, SH*T OFF, LOAD OF CR*P, WHAT SH*TTING DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE, F*CKING, I HEARD YOU SH*T YOURSELF, F*CKING, PATHETIC TW*T, BAS*TRD, F*CK, F*CKING C*NT, LITTLE SH*TE, F*CKING DEAD, P*SSIES, SH*T EMSELVES, PR*CK, BLEEDING CHRISTMAS, CHICKEN SH*TS, P**FS, SL*T, DIRTY WH*RE, B*TCH, SPINELESS W*NKER, SL*G, SH*T, B*LLOCKS, TAKING THE P*SS, YOU’RE TOO FAT TO BE A FREAK, P*SS OFF, SH*T, P*SS OFF, TRACK RATS, APE MAN, C*CK LOVER, YOU DON’T F*CKING GET IT, PATHETIC W*NKER, LOAD OF SH*T, PATHETIC *RSEHOLE BULLY, W*NKER, B*STARDS, SH*T, TOO F*CKING LATE, F*CKING ANIMAL, CHRIST.

So your chain comes off your bike? What of it…

Cycling back from Porto to Lavadores, I got separated from the main group. Well my chain kept coming off, and as my hands were getting more and more oily, the others kind of got bored of waiting for me. So I turned my misfortune into a major opportunity.

Deciding thatI needed to wash my hands I pulled my limping bicycle to a lamp post – chained it up and told it in no uncertain terms that I was severely disappointed in its behaviour. I headed to a local bar in Afurada to wash my hands. When I returned not only had my bike been mended, but a local fisherman called Antonio had poured a glass of wine and in broken French, Spanish and Portuguese he told me he had sorted it and would I like to join him and his family for lunch.

Needless to say I joined them, and their hospitality, conversation and company made this a life affirming experience.

He had lived in the house all his life and went out for 18 hours every three days to catch Bream, Sea Bass and Mackerel in the Atlantic. The Dourada (bream) we had on the barbecue was the best I have ever tasted, and for sure the wine and conversation across three languages was amazing and invigorating.

We talked about the cost of living in Europe, football, making theatre, catching fish, bringing up children, and where we would most like to live in the world. I have been invited back with my family for us all to eat in his house.

I felt honoured and humbled by their generosity of spirit

I set off thanking him and Arture for their hospitality and bike mending skills and looked at the view and felt that on days like this it is more than good to be really alive…

No ice-cube trays? no problem…

Best discovery of the week? – cut the bottom off plastic bottles, fill with water, freeze – then add the heart shaped ice nuggets to gin and tonic – drink in the sun – That is all

Away from home…no email

So, here’s the thing. I really have fallen out of love. With email. Not that I really had any deep affection for it, but we have had words, and basically we are through with each other. For the sake of keeping things together we have agreed certain access rights. These are about handover times and brief pleasantries.

So for ten minute a day. And no longer, we have agreed to make a mutual visit. This means that we are both free to pursue our other interests and branch out a bit doing our own thing each day. But for the sake of others we have agreed this ten minute slot once a day from 7pm to 7.10pm

This is a trial separation and it is working well. Now don’t get me wrong I still get other ‘e’ messages but not email during the day. So SMS, DM, Skype, Voicemail, FB messages and Dropbox notifications. So still in contact and with those messages that are important to our relationship.

So e messages, yes e mail no.

anyone else in with me on this?

Off to do some writing and thinking and not checking emails – see you later – so just DM me or SMS if you need me

ta

M

Fairground Attraction – ‘Try the Guns…?’ #blogpost

‘Try the Guns’ the – sign said…I was cycling passed the Green in Histon today and I noticed it had changed. This struck me, not just as an odd thing to say, or to write on a sign, but more that it immediately transported me back to a time where I once fired an automatic machine gun into blanket between 2 lamp posts in Albania, as part of a fairground activity – but that comes later. So as you can see I have always had a real attraction to fairgrounds, especially the deserted places and spaces long forgotten and unloved. One of my first encounters was the deserted dodgem car shack in Shipley Glen in Yorkshire. Stepping off the rickety funicular railway built originally for Bradfordians to rise to the top of the moor to take the air, the deserted funfair was always a special treat…

The shrouded dodgems and the leaky roof on a misty November morning are really quite something to see. So this is where I started my obsession when we moved to Bradford back in 1996 – and thanks to ScrappyNW on Flickr for this image. So today, in Histon the light was perfect, and I wanted to grab some shots to capture the atmosphere – and to help bring back some of that story that had been lurking there since 1999 – in Albania. Today the Hook a Giant was a new one on me…

And the dodgems, whilst active were still great in the temporary structure that only the other day had been hauled off the back of the truck and this of course brought back to me, the story about being in the fairground in Albania…

So back to the story of the ‘try the guns’  it was back in 1999 – we took a show to Albania. The civil war with Kosovo had ended only months before and the UN had only just left. It was a cold October morning and we headed out from the National Theatre in Tirana, where we were performing, for a day out in Durres, which is on the coast and just a mere hop across the sea to Corfu. Here the deserted strip had not seen visitors for some time. The derelict and recently burned out Dodgems was still operational. But with only one car, yes just the one Dodgem. With nothing to dodge. A solitary dodgem. Not really worth going on really. What with having nothing to dodge and all.

So the Dodgem guy said ‘would I like to do something else?’ Wary I smiled and sort of nodded. At this he reached behind his desk and pulled out an automatic weapon. I stopped smiling. But a big grin came over his golden crowned teeth and he pointed to a rough set of army blankets tied between two lamp posts on the sea fronted prom. ‘For you’ he said and handed me the machine gun. He led me over to the front and sure enough told me to shoot the blanket. I shook my head and did a kind of ‘OOH it’s really interesting, but you see I’m just a theatre director and I was just over here – from you know, England…’ kind of look – and then he grabbed the gun, which was still in my hands, and sprayed a deafening roar of automatic rounds into the now dancing blankets.
I nearly messed myself. Loud? yep really bloody loud. I nodded, thanked him and backed away, having handed back the blanket killing machine. And I gave a sort nod which I hope tried to say ‘good luck with your dodgem during the winter season’ and I turned and tailed it and ran like hell.

So you see my obsession with these places is really a matter of life and death to me these days. It’s that simple…

So it was with great delight to get back – alive. So, a few years later on holiday in France, I was to discover this beauty on the Ile d’Oleron – a real tide gone out gem. From 1900. A two seated only Big Wheel…

Where the only thing I can imagine as a source of nightmares would be – that I was in one seat and the gold toothed smiling dodgem owner from Durres was in the other and smiling down and telling me to ‘Try the Guns’