A Belated Update

It’s been a while so what is the latest news with the adaption of “Bash The Rich”? Basically I am about half way through the first draft which has already had the over seeing eye of Mr Bones approval. It has been over a year since I first spoke with Ian about adapting the book and that has been quite a journey this far, meeting up with a variety of colourful characters, and dusting off the skeletons from the cupboard.

I must give a mention to Jay Jay, whom I had a wonderful night of pints, at a pub in brixton where she filled me in on her role within the book and life back in Swansea. Jay was a character first involved in “The Alarm”, notably the flour bombing incident, then moving to London around the same time as Ian and being involved in the early issues of Class war notably “The One For The Girls”. It was fantastic to hear stories of life as a punk in swansea, dodging the beatings of narrow minded locals, as well as the squatting scene in Brixton during the early eighties. 

Since I last blogged I have also been kept busy with Ian and other former characters from the book. Firstly “Page 3″ (Ian Bone and Ray Jones) singing about the recession:

And also with John Rety:

But mainly my research has also led me to filming Ian’s very own radio show on Resonance FM called “Anarchism In the uk”. Firstly John Rety, the former editor of Freedom Newspaper, who appears in the book debating with Tariq Ali over the anti-vietnam demonstration.

On the show as well is a character I have been spending a lot of time with and who has been mentionned in this blog before, Ian’s partner in crime, Martin Wright.

And in a strange twist of fate I also ended up being interviewed talking about my previous feature films, adapting bash the rich and anarchism etc.

So what’s the plan? Well I need to get the second half of the script finish as well as the first half re-written which should be hopefully completed over the christmas period. Although the book ends in 1986 I am taking it up until the Poll Tax Riots of 1990.

Once the first draft is complete I will then get the script into funders, notably Film4 who I have already spoken to about the project, and though this may take a few months I have my fingers crossed and will keep the blog updated on it’s progress. The point of initially creating this blog was to archive the research I was digging out but I am also hoping it can chart the films full production. Whatever happens the film will get made by any means necessary. 

This has always been my approach as a filmmaker. My first feature The Plague, screening on BBC2 Monday 17th November at 01:15am (Sunday night kinda) obviously programmed for unemployed and students staying up late, pays testament to that fact. The video player of my interview on Resonance FM above explains it all really so I don’t want repeat myself. But basically in the mean time of getting Bash The Rich hopefully funded I will be making my third feature film “S.S.D.D: Same Shit Different Day”. Fed up of waiting around as usual I have decided to make my new film on absolutely no money, it will be workshopped with a small handful of actors over december, and filming happens during January 09. You can follow the whole journey on my personal blog Broke But Making Films where I will be keeping an online video diary that will show all the secrets of no-budget filmmaking from improvising with actors, shooting illegally, editing on domestic equipment to actually distributing and promoting your own film your self. That’s right, I will be attempting to put in place an independent distribution network with the independent cinemas across Britain, an infrastructure that can remain in place for other no-budget filmmakers. It seems we have all the tools to shoot and edit films for nothing but the one thing that fucks us over is the distribution. And also the methods of improvisation etc and digital technology are often kept secret forcing you to spend £60 on some pretentious book telling you how to do it. Save your money as I hope to show you all those details. So who knows, I will go at it full steam and see what happens. The plan is that off the back of “S.S.D.D” I can get “Bash The Rich” funded. Please support independent and british cinema. At the moment we have NO British Film Industry. Ultimately the distributors hold all the power. I am not interested in making “Four Weddings And Another Notting Hill” bullshit. The current climate we live in i.e. the recession, rising house, fuel and food prices, the continual growth between rich and poor – is the influencing factor as a filmmaker to feel an urgency to make “S.S.D.D: Same Shit Different Day”. To create contemporary and relevant cinema that will connect with people. Check out the progress on how to – or possibly how not to – make a feature film in Britain for no money. Thanks to Ian Shepherd for already supporting.

And this new lease of energy and enthusiasm? Well it must come down to spending all this time with a certain elderly gentleman…