Lost Tales of Erika Spawn
2008-07-03T20:22:38.717+01:00
Too Far Back..
Can't really regale you with many more tales from Cannes after all, since it's all a bit of a jumble without my notes to go from. Some of the memories are very pleasant (meeting up for the first time in years with our very own Lucy Sweet, Amber Moelter), some slightly less so (slogging around the Marche du Film for the umpteenth time) but I'm buggered if I can get them into any sort of coherent order so I'd probably best abandon the effort. It was a hell of an experience, though, and I'm sure I'll end up back there before too long.
Since returning, I've been hammering away on various projects. Some personal ones (my brother Colin got married the other week, and I cut them together a wedding video) some freelance ones (filming stand-ups and music videos.. Drop me a line if you're interested in my services for this sort of thing) and some company ones (sorting through our various distribution options for Hellbride and The Devil's Music.. There are certainly decisions to be made in the next couple of weeks). Also went to Glastonbury last weekend, which is kind of traditional for me (I think that was my 13th one).
I'm in the office all alone this week, since Pip's out on a shoot at Elstree. Well, I say alone. There are still the cats, who pop in and bother me whenever I'm doing something important that really doesn't benefit from loud mewing. Phone interview? George decides that it's time for a spot of loud mewing. Contract stuff? Buffy decides to howl like she's had vital parts of her reproductive system removed. Which, of course, she has. But that was ages ago, and she can't still be upset about it.
Oh, and the Zone Horror website are running my four-part guide to making micro-budget movies. The first chunk is over here.
2008-07-02T11:57:17.940+01:00
Cannes and back again..
Hi folks; sorry for the delay in posting about our Cannes adventures. I'm sure you've all been burning up with anticipation.
We drove to Cannes rather than flying; a jaunt across on the ferry, then a straight drive down to Lyon accompanied by various George Carlin albums. We crashed out in Lyon overnight, and then made the last leg of the journey into Cannes to arrive on Saturday 17th. Soon after arriving at our campsite (yes, we stayed at a campsite. Because we are indie filmmakers and thus poor. We were not the only folks emerging from tents in tuxedos, I can tell you..), we got a text from our friends Jim & Laura (who have just completed an absolutely cracking flick called BANE, which I demand that you check out as soon as you get the opportunity), suggesting that we meet them over by the accreditation booth. After duly picking up our passes we headed off to meet them; we stopped for some grub and a few beers and then headed off towards a beach party thrown in association with South African filmmakers. It was a lovely party that had obviously been carefully planned, but the torrential rain that evening kind of ruined the beach vibe a bit. I got cheerfully smashed on the free booze and chatted to filmmakers from all around the globe. We somehow made it back to the campsite at around 2am, (meeting a very chatty German editor en route, who helped us get the right bus stop!)
On Sunday, we met up with a UK screenwriter called Neth Knowles and went for a recce around the Marche as the bullshit levels in the air at the UK pavilion were hurting our ears. Made the decision to spend the day getting a feel for the place rather than approaching distribs/sales agents. At least sleeping in a tent had minimised my hangover.. We wandered into a buyers' screening of Reeker 2, (despite not actually being buyers), and I can happily report that its far, far better than the original. In the evening, we attended a little function at the Canadian Pavilion before heading out to meet the guys who made The Zombie Diaries, who were out drinking with our old buddy James Fisher from Hellbride. We all ended up at the Petit Majestic (merely a bar, but the main hangout for an awful lot of UK industry folks) where we met the team behind forthcoming Britflick Hotel Caledonia, who were extremely nice guys to chat to. The film sounds like it's going to be storming, too.
Monday rolled around, and it became apparent that it was time to hit the Marche proper. We'd got a list of companies that we were hoping to approach, and we made our way around all three floors of stands selling product from all over the world. The key word, of course, being selling.. Not all of them had the slightest interest in acquiring new stuff. We got some good reactions regardless; mainly from companies who were extremely tired of people coming up and pitching ideas or presales, and were relieved to see a finished film for once. I'll keep the companies that we had the most productive meetings with to myself, if you don't mind; never a good idea to discuss 'might happen' deals in public. There were certainly a couple of companies that impressed us a lot, though, and I hope we get the chance to deal with them in the future.
Cleverly, my notes regarding exactly what we did on a day-to-day basis run out at that point. I'll see if I can break down the rest and fill you in with the rest of our adventures on my next post!
2008-06-03T17:43:56.743+01:00
KillerKiller International Releases
Another new interview up at Cinescare, which should hopefully satisy your need to hear me go on about The Devil's Music for a while.
Been checking out the details of some of the international releases for KillerKiller. The Russian version is already out. The title has been translated to (roughly) Prison of those Doomed, and the slightly insane cover art doesn't have an awful lot to do with the movie but I kind of dig it regardless..
I'm dying to hear the Russian dub, I truly am. My copy should be turning up in the next few days, so I'll keep you posted. The German release, however, has gone for the slightly more traditional approach..
I've no idea how the DVDs will shape up otherwise (whether either of them are the widescreen version rather than the 4:3 crop, whether either of them have any good extras), but I shall keep you posted nonetheless.
As far as pre-production goes, I'm officially juggling three projects (BrainBath, House on the Witchpit and Strippers vs Werewolves). That should be enough to keep me occupied but isn't, however, the whole story.. There's another project that I can't really discuss yet because other directors are involved and its not my place to blurt things out before official announcements. And there's also the fact that I keep getting these crazy ideas for a Hellbride 2 which I can't seem to shift. Considering that Hellbride hasn't actually been released yet other than festival screenings, I should probably wait until the DVD is actually out before making any decisions about sequels.
I love sequels. Just because I haven't shot one so far does not mean that I might not do so in the future...
2008-05-09T10:25:18.763+01:00
Reviews and brochures
A big box of our Cannes brochures turned up from the printers last week. We're trying to get a Flash version online, but we're having a few technical hitches. Hopefully I'll be able to give you a link next entry.
We've been getting lots of great coverage and reviews... Check out the coverage at;
Cinescare Review
SexGoreMutants Review
SexGoreMutants Interview
Horrorview Review
Horror Asylum Review
Fatally Yours Review
Best Horror Movies Review
The MJ Simpson Review that I already posted
I've heard tell that there should be reviews going up fairly shortly on both Fangoria.com and Horrortalk.com as well. I should perhaps mention that some of the above reviews are a bit spoilerish, so if you want to check out the flick 'clean' you might want to click with care...
2008-04-28T11:53:59.555+01:00
Getting ready for Cannes
We've never been to the Cannes Festival before. We've had folks out there representing our movies, sure, but during the actual festival I've always been hunched over an edit suite or a word-processing package in our office.
This year, however, we're finally going. Our accreditation came through the other week and we've got our accomodation sorted, so all that remains is an endless list of things not to forget. We've been sorting out our publicity materials first and foremost, as I imagine we're in a fairly unique position as far as small UK companies go in terms of quantity of projects (four complete, three in development or preproduction) so we need to make sure that we're representing ourselves in the best way. We've been putting together a brochure that has a similar layout to the main Jinx Media website, but we'll need to get it to the printers fairly soon which seems a shame whilst we've still got great quotes for The Devil's Music coming in all the time.
It's a really weird time at Jinx Media; like whatever happens next is going to be different somehow. Bigger, quite possibly, but certainly different from what's gone before... Hey, without change life would get pretty boring.
2008-03-26T10:56:00.741Z
First Review
Always incredibly, incredibly tense reading the first review...
On MJ Simpson's website
And exhale ;)
2008-02-15T00:42:30.851Z
The Devil's Music Cast & Crew Screening
Last Friday we had the cast and crew screening for The Devil's Music at the BFI in Stephen St, central London.
Cast & Crew screenings are always slightly odd beasts. It's a room full of people who are a bit nervous. For most of the cast and crew, they're nervous to see how something that they invested loads of time and energy into, ages ago, has turned out. For them, it's like spending two months mixing the ingredients for a cake, then having to spend 8 months waiting for it to cook without being able to peek into the oven to see how its doing. For those involved in post-production, however, it's a different matter.
Take me, for example. Whereas other folk in the audience might have entirely forgotten about certain scenes, be unaware of other bits that were added as pick-ups and so on, I'm painfully aware of everything. And it's all so familiar, from months of editing and polishing, that I've completely lost perspective on the whole damn thing. I can't even hear the dialogue being spoken, let alone process it; all I hear is background noises, edit glitches and so on.
So there's all different kinds of nervous in the room. But its good nervous. Happy nervous. And Friday rocked the house in all kinds of ways. To watch the movie in a nice full screening room is exactly what I needed right now; this flick delivers the goods and our hard work has paid off handsomely.
The aftershow party is always a blur, and it's always tough to try and get to speak to and thank everyone. I woke up the next morning with a bit of a sore throat (3 cigars) and a bit of a sore head (an indeterminate amount of beers), trying to work out whether I'd managed to thank everyone. I hadn't, so if anyone I didn't manage to get to during those couple of hours is reading this, thankyou so much for making this flick happen.
Now to work out what happens next...
2008-01-28T10:03:29.887Z
Locking/Not Locking
The Devil's Music is close to locking. We're still missing some score elements and sound mixing, but the movie itself is perilously close to completion. So close, in fact, that a 'nearly done' copy left the office yesterday, heading out so as to sneak in under a festival deadline. Which festival, however, is something that I shall keep close to my chest; if they don't want us, I'm not going to give them free publicity!
Knowing when to stop tinkering on a movie is a real art. There are a couple of minor things I did to KillerKiller in the week before delivery that I really wish I could go back and undo; there comes a point where you lose perspective as an editor. You've seen the film so many times that you start to see any and all alterations as being positive just because they provide something new to look at. And I'm damn sure that I don't want that to happen with The Devil's Music.
When it gets to this point in post, I start chomping at the bit to get the movie seen. We've got our usual low-key cast and crew screening scheduled for next month, and I'm looking forward to people's reactions. It's a cracking flick, in my humble opinion.
2007-12-13T13:14:07.337Z
First Teaser Poster
2007-12-06T17:19:11.305Z
FBOTL Video Blog
If I were better organised, I do one of these every day. I'm not, so I don't. Here's one, anyway.
2007-11-26T19:02:06.603Z
The indie movie life
So, we've leaked the trailer for The Devil's Music, and we should be finished in post by around Christmas and hopefully hitting festivals shortly afterwards. I don't want to say a vast amount more about the movie just yet; there will be plenty of time for that later, (although those itching for a bit more Erika might wish to hit http://www.myspace.com/erikaspawnband ).
Heard recently that KillerKiller has been sold to Germany and Russia. Personally, I'm hoping for a dub rather than a sub, because I'd love to hear Richard Collins' already out-there portrayal of Perry dubbed into Russian.
A couple of folks have been asking when Hellbride is likely to hit DVD.. The answer is that we're planning to hang onto the rights until Cannes next year, where we can hopefully sign several different territories at once. So things might take a little longer, but it'll be worth it in the long run! As for TDM's release.. It's not flat-out horror, so we're looking at getting it shown in a few places that we've never approached with more straightforward genre fare. We've shown the mid-cut to a handful of test subjects and its getting big thumbs-ups. Which is always nice.
2007-11-15T12:15:57.955Z
Secret Project Isn't Secret Anymore..
Shock release of a teaser trailer!
Welcome to The Devil's Music.
2007-10-12T15:59:05.719+01:00
TrashHouse US and public speaking...
A little while back, we reclaimed the US rights for TrashHouse as the company that owned them had hit distribution problems in that territory. Thus, for the first time in a couple of years, the US rights for TrashHouse are actually up for grabs at just the point that the flick is getting a bit of coverage again due to the KillerKiller US release and the UK TrashHouse rerelease. In theory, the timing couldn't be better. In actuality, however, we're so madly busy with the various other stuff on our plate that we haven't really got the time to go pimping the flick to potential distribs, (although Pip has managed to make a few inroads this week). So if any decent horror distribs who deal with the US DVD market happen to be reading this, feel free to get in touch.
We made delivery on the Jim Bob video for his new single Battling The Bottle last week; it should hopefully be turning up on the music channels in the next month. Everyone's very happy with how the shoot went and how the video turned out, so as an experiment into music videos it was very much a success.
Since I've been asked to speak at a couple of places at the beginning of next year, I've put together an hour-long spoken word show about low-budget film production. I've called it Fake Blood on the Lens. Should be fun, although I haven't really spoken in public since quitting stand-up many years ago. I'll run dates once they're confirmed; if you're interested in booking the show for your college/film club/witches coven or whatever then drop a line through to Tim James at tj@jinxmedia.co.uk and he'll sort something out.
And, even despite all that, I somehow managed to drag the secret project through to first assembly. We sat and watched it twice through yesterday. Got another long afternoon at Final Cut Pro ahead of me...
2007-09-18T13:08:08.388+01:00
Shooting Movie #4
Principal photography for movie #4 (the secret project, as mentioned in the rather nice Fangoria article over at http://www.fangoria.com/fearful_feature.php?id=4810 ) has been running for the last two weeks. We've been moving around aaaaaaaall over the shop this time. Sunday we were shooting in Dartford, yesterday in Portsmouth, today in Southend, tomorrow in Lewisham and so on. It's a far cry from just being able to plonk our asses down in the Seedbed Centre in Southend for three weeks and shoot there, but it means an awful lot of varied and interesting locations hitting the lens.
Jesus, it's tiring, though. Feel like we haven't stopped for ages; even though we did theoretically get two days off last week, we ended up spending those two days tidying up loose ands and so didn't really get to relax.
The flick is still staying secret for the moment, though. It's not a straightforward deal like the others; we've got to work out how best to approach releasing it into the wild.
2007-08-21T12:04:44.918+01:00
Pre-Prod, sly filming and zorbing...
Went zorbing on Saturday, thanks to the generosity of the mighty Richard Collins, (Perry in KK, James in TrashHouse). Pip & I opted for the water based version, where they put you inside a great big ball, chuck a few buckets of water in with you and push you down a hill. It was utterly magnificent and I'd love to have another go some time; maybe trying the 'harness' version which looks a bit more intense. We did it via http://www.spheremania.co.uk/ in case the description has piqued anyone's curiosity enough to want to give it a go.
Pre-prod on the mysterious movie #4 is drawing to a close, and we've got rehearsals this week from Wednesday onwards. Just like last year, I find myself sitting in a room full of props and strange objects. We've got a final location expedition this afternoon, and then it's going to be all systems go until the end of the month.
We've already got a few sly scenes in the can, though, and I think it's going to work out nicely. This one's quite music intensive, and our old collaborator Phil Sheldon has been working himself like crazy to get all of our tunes in place.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends...
(Oh, and don't forget to order KK on DVD. It hits the shops in the US tomorrow)
2007-08-06T09:37:44.241+01:00
Keeping secrets
Dammit, secrets are ruining this blog.
They're making it impossible for me to be open and honest about what I'm up to, and therefore taking away the fun of regular posts. It'll all make sense later in the year, I promise, but at the moment I've got to keep schtum.
I got an email asking whether the secret project is a feature, a short or what. Well, the answer is that it's...
..Drumroll..
A feature. But not a feature that's anything like what we've done before. Very, very different indeed, and I think (hope) that it's going to surprise a lot of people.
Just don't give up on the blog, guys. I'll unglue my mouth and normal service will resume.
2007-07-16T20:21:10.844+01:00
KillerKiller on Amazon
Just a quickie, (running about like crazy today), to let you guys know that KillerKiller has appeared for pre-order on amazon.com if you fancy getting your order in early. It's the US version, (thus Region 1), but it might be a little wait for the R2 and surely everyone's multi-region nowadays, aren't they? August 7th is the street date.
http://www.amazon.com/Killer/dp/B000RO8UBK/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1801306-5647828?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1183041683&sr=1-1
We've also just got our first images from pre-production for the Secret Project in. I'm dying to show you, but I can't.
Rock on,
Pat
2007-06-28T15:42:42.452+01:00
Releases, rereleases and that pesky secret project
After a week's delay, the UK rerelease of TrashHouse is actually in the shops today. It's got a funky red cover, all the same special features as the last release but is only £5.99 (or even less if you're lucky). Go and buy it, because it's great.
KK's release, on the other hand, has been confirmed as August 7th in the US. You can preview the artwork, (and pre-order if you live in the USA) over at;
http://www.yorkentertainment.com/cgi/searchvideos.cgi?Action=lookup&Key=YPD+1416
And the secret project is progressing at a fantastic rate. We've sorted a lot of casting, we're deep in pre-production and we're shooting in August. Pippa's fully producing this time, freeing me up to concentrate on writing and directing, which is a real relief. I only wish that I could say more, but it wouldn't be wise at this stage.
In other news, I've also been taken on to direct the video for Jim Bob's next single, Battling the Bottle. It's the former Carter USM frontman's first single from his new album A Humpty Dumpty Thing, out later this year.
All good stuff...
2007-06-18T10:35:54.504+01:00
Secret Project
TrashHouse is getting rereleased on UK DVD on June 11th on the Shriek label. It's got nice new red packaging and you can pre-order it for the frankly obscenely cheap price of £3.99 including delivery from HMV. So what are you waiting for? Get your arse over to HMV..
http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=652691
York Entertainment tell me that KillerKiller is set for US DVD release in September, and I should get a firm date for that within the next week or so.
Hellbride is currently heading out to various critics and festivals; we'll keep you updated when it crops up somewhere near you.
BrainBath is set to be the biggest budget, most brain-mashingly dark, surreal and funny Jinx Media movie yet. We're putting together the funding as we speak, (potential investors feel free to get in touch at bbath@jinxmedia.co.uk ) so things might take a little bit longer as the various elements fall into place.
This therefore frees me up for...
The Secret Project.
Can't say a word yet. I just thought I best explain why I'm still so bloody busy all the time...
2007-05-18T15:00:26.573+01:00
Hellbride Screening Aftermath
Been a hell of a couple of weeks, culminating in last Friday's double whammy of;
1) Hellbride having two evening screenings at the london BFI office, (cast and crew/invite only), which went fantastically well.
2) The conclusion of the KillerKiller delivery list saga, meaning that all of the masters are now winging their way over to York Entertainment in California and the movie is now officially 'out of our hands'
The screenings were great. My favourites of the cast/crew premieres of all three flicks, by quite a long chalk. The latter screening in particular was extremely lively and loud, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting cheerfully drunk and smoking a large cigar at the aftershow, (I quit the ciggies over two years ago, but allow myself the occasional celebratory cigar; this one came courtesy of Dutch Dore-Boise). We had a couple of guests from Gorezone and Horrortalk in attendance, (Rosie and Dan; hi guys if you're reading), and hopefully they didn't have to put up with too much drunken bollocks from us all.
The start of this week has been somewhat quieter, naturally; we've been sorting out some publicity and reviews whilst I've largely been working on the Brainbath screenplay, which I'm jazzed as hell about, (I keep reading sections of it out to Pip whilst she's trying to work on other stuff, which must drive her insane. I'm lucky I find my own jokes so funny).
Good times. And more to come.
2007-04-17T15:55:26.888+01:00
First Hellbride Screening Tonight
Yup, it's that time. The cast and crew screening of Hellbride is happening tonight, which is something I've been really looking forward to... Less than half a dozen people have seen the movie thus far, and tonight around 80-odd folks will get to check it out. Hope they like it!
I've been so madly busy with the KillerKiller delivery list that I haven't had time to draw breath or blog lately, so apologies for that. Delivery lists, for those who don't know, are the fun lists of items that a producer has to deliver to a distribution company when their film gets signed. Certain things are pretty standard, but some stuff varies from contract to contract and there are usually some surprises. Much as we've had to run around like mad to get the list crossed off, I'm extremely glad that we didn't have to deliver an item that I saw on a delivery list for one of the companies that we didn't sign with; a digibeta of an 'airline version' with no sexual content, nudity, violence or bad language at all, yet the same running time. Trying to get that together for KillerKiller might have been sort of fun but I doubt if the result would have been watchable...
2007-04-13T08:53:49.595+01:00
KillerKiller signs
We're proud to announce that KillerKiller has signed an all-media worldwide sales and distribution deal with the fine folks at York Entertainment ( http://www.yorkinternationalinc.com/ ). As soon as territories and release dates are confirmed we shall, of course, let you know.
2007-03-19T15:34:34.222Z
Hellbride locks
Well, as much as any of my flicks lock until the day they get delivered to the distributors. It's done and dusted, and I hope folks agree that it's a cracking little flick.
Of course, only four people have actually seen it yet. I'll be booking the cast and crew screening over the next few days, and can't wait to see what other folks make of it. It's certainly a quirky one; probably the funniest of the three flicks, it somehow feels both a bit more mainstream than KK yet also somehow weirder. I guess we'll see how folks respond soon enough.
The main priority right now becomes sorting out the distribution for 'em, since movies ain't nothing without people actually getting to see them. Details once we've nailed 'em down, folks...
2007-03-08T10:24:11.640Z
Avoiding Oscars
Sitting here trying to work out what sites are actually safe to visit during the day; I'm trying to avoid finding out the Oscar results, since time-delays and work requirements meant that Pip and I were unable to watch 'em live, (as if often the case), and I've got to muddle through to 7.30pm without finding out the results if we're going to enjoy watching the show through this evening. The oscar show is one of our rituals; a few years back, we used to take it extremely seriously, and watch every flick nommed in every category just so we could have an educated opinion. A few years' worth of worthless shit like A Beautiful Mind picking up every award under the sun kind of beat the fun out of doing that, though, (shit, there goes my chance of ever working with Ron Howard), but the tradition of watching the ceremony straight through with a bunch of good snack food and a bottle of bubbly still holds true. But where is safe today? Where can I actually visit, in the real world or the virtual one? I have BBC News set as my homepage, so everytime I open a browser I now have to avert my eyes. And i know some bugger will get me with a scrolling tickertape somewhere.
Gave the current cut of Hellbride over to Phil and Richard, our scoring guys, at the weekend. They've done some amazing work thus far, and I can't wait to see it all coming together. Pip sat down and watched the current cut yesterday, which is the first time she's seen it since first assembly. It's all very exciting. I should probably start looking into booking a venue for the cast and crew prem pretty soon.
Oh, and I'd also like to point you fine folks over towards http://www.cinescare.com/index.php?page=stories&family=discoveries where the Cinescare folks ran an interview with me, along with reviews of KK and TrashHouse.
Rock on,
Pat
2007-02-26T09:11:27.870Z
