Writing 29 pages of a screenplay per month #2: Flashback Inspiration

For the screen writing part of the challenge, I thought that I’d try and write a variety of forms, and in December I thought that writing shorts would be fun. I’d only written one before and that was part of a screen writing course. However upon thinking of shorts to write, one of my ideas I realised would need longer time to explore. I’ll go back to shorts during the year, as it’s a type of screenplay I don’t readily watch or read them.

With getting ideas they can come from anywhere, an article I've read or a conversation I've had. Most of my ideas come from the question; what if? A lecturer of mine at uni called John Rafferty was very eccentric and he would say all these out there ideas for articles and didn't make much sense at the time. Some of my course mates thought they didn't learn much. But what I did with his ideas is take one and then ask myself what if I did it this way instead of that, what if this happened instead.

My screenplay ‘s working title is called Stuck on You and yes I know it’s a Matt Damon film. My friend Hayley pointed out the film is a great lesson in green screen. So what is my screenplay about and how did I get the idea?

Before Christmas I was walking over to house of the new guy I am seeing, and I passed a park that I sit at in the summer. I had a flashback to the summer when I was with my ex and we were sorting through his football stickers he was collecting. There was a drunken couple who started chatting to us and said that my ex should hold onto the album as a complete one could be his pension. And so back to walking past the park in the winter I asked myself, what if a completed sticker album could be a person’s pension in the future?

After thinking some more, I thought it couldn't be one person’s pension, so I thought of different things the money could buy. The screenplay is set 40 years from now and is about a grandad and his grandson who after selling a 2014 world cup sticker album, uses the money for a European road trip. Except it’s one with a twist as there is a blast from the past for the grandad.

I've written 31 pages so far, which means I've achieved my 29 pages for January, but obviously haven’t met my November or December targets. But I'm on a roll with writing Stuck on You, and choosing the countries the characters visit make me feel like going on a road trip myself. Hopefully with the current cold weather I’ll get this completed in no time. Also if anyone has any suggestions for a title let me know!

Reconnecting #6 and New Food #14: Je voudrais une galette

Last weekend I went to The France Show at Olympia with a guy I've been seeing for few months. He works in France quite often, but doesn't see any of the country, just the hotel and airport or train station. So I thought the France Show would in a way show him more of the country.

Growing up I always was a bit funny visiting countries that didn't speak English. On family holidays I was quite moody and anxious in those countries as a result. It was only towards the end of the holiday I relaxed and had fun. I've no idea why I felt this way, but as I'm getting older, I'm a lot better in foreign countries. So The France Show was my way of reconnecting with a country I wasn't great with growing up.

The best part of the show had to be the food and there were a lot of different stands. Apart from eating a large macaroon and a cookie that was the size of my head, I also had a Galette. A galette is a French savoury pancake and I had mine with spinach and cheese which was pretty filling. It was also great training for my stomach for Pancake Day which is fast approaching.

New Album #6: The lady’s gold

My sister Lisa is obsessed with country music, and as a result over the years she’s got me into different bands and singers. We even went to Nashville a few years ago.

One of the bands that I got into thanks to Lisa was Lady Antebellum, and I've got their first 3 albums. The Need You Now album is one of my favourite albums. And a couple of years ago Lisa and I saw them in concert. My only regret of that concert was not making a banner saying it was my sister’s birthday. We were a few people deep from the stage and Charles came over to our area and was reading the banners that fans had.

Their 4^th album Gold is what I listened to recently on the way to work, and to be honest I don’t think it’s one of their best. With Need You Now and We Own the Night, there’s a bit of variety in sound, but with this album it was a middle of the road without any stand out tracks.

Maybe the album is a grower. I’m hoping their latest album 747 will be better.

New Recipe #7 and New Activity #17: Ladies who brunch

My favourite thing to do is cook for friends. Whenever my uni friends came to stay, my favourite part was dancing in the kitchen to Stevie Wonder while making breakfast for them all.

During the Christmas break on lazy Sunday afternoons I would binge watch Jamie Oliver money saving meals programmes and note which recipes I wanted to try. One of the recipes was a great one for a brunch.  And then I had an idea that I could hold a brunch for my Saturday pole friends before class. I’d never made brunch before, and yesterday I held a brunch for Lucy, Teri and Harriette who go to pole class.

The timing worked out quite well as our class starts at 2pm, so having brunch at 11.30 was ideal. Brunch was in two parts, the first was a Giant veg Rösti from the Jamie Oliver money saving recipe book. It’s a really healthy dish, it has grated potatoes and carrots, peas, spinach and poached egg. The first course was a success as my friends had seconds and there was barely anything left on the tray after!

The second part of the course was a pudding board. I’d made this once before and last time it had 3 components which I think was too many, so I stuck with two this time and it worked. I loved the reaction of my friends, they saw me making the warm chocolate fromage frais, and then I started getting the lemon and orange mousse out of the fridge I made earlier in the morning and they were all very surprised. I finished off the board with some berries for decoration.

We’re quite a chatty bunch, but with both courses there was silence as the food absorbed us all! I loved making brunch and I can’t wait to host another brunch.

Because we were so busy eating and chatting (when the food was finished) I didn’t get a chance to get pictures of Teri, Lucy and Harriette enjoying the brunch. But I’m sure they’ll be round again for more.

New Recipe #6: Old school baking

I love baking, so I’m surprised that I haven’t made flapjack until last weekend. This past week has been busy at work, so I thought I’d do some baking to help my colleagues get through the day.

Flapjack is really simple and everyone knows what flapjack tastes like! My only problem is the flapjack was soft and some pieces broke in half. But my colleagues didn't complain about this.

As you can see there is also a little tub of flapjack and that was for my neighbours. Last year we started a little baking exchange and its great that it has continued into 2015. 

New comedians #1 and #2: Second place was first

Last Friday I went to the Last Minute Comedy Club in Hitchin. It’s on the first Friday of every month, so I thought what better way to start the comedian part of the challenge then going somewhere local.

2 comedians were doing routines, the first Mark Maier, and his routine was about his family life, and how he often calls pilates pilots. The main comedian was Simon Munnery, and although he was funny, making jokes about how in the city you don’t say hello to anyone, but in the country you do, Mark was funnier.

The main reason for this was because as soon as Mark came on stage, he made observational jokes of what was around him. There was a black material backdrop behind him and it had faint overlapping lettering on it, which nobody could read. So Mark thought it was a secret Hitchin only language.

It was a great night, lots of laughs and for the blog I always have a picture to illustrate what I've done. If I took pictures of the comedians, I would be heckled at, so instead I'm using pictures of me and a friend or family member laughing. I love this one of me and my sister in Sydney. We got our dad to take a picture of us chest bouncing, and this is the end result!

  

New Film #14: Is it a bird, is it a plane?

On Wednesday a group of us went to the cinema to see Birdman. Birdman is a film starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone. It’s about Riggan who is an actor who played a superhero over twenty years ago. He is now putting on a broadway play and the film is about that and what goes through his mind.

The film has been getting lots of award nominations and the acting is great. What’s the selling point of the film the concept of how the director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu tried to film it as if it was one long shot. So the camera was always following the action. It reminded me of the different acting and staging techniques I studied in A Level Drama. And also in West Wing when they are doing the walking and talking and there would be these great duologue's played out.

If you go and see the film, tell me how it ends, I’m still not sure what happened!

And why the picture of me and my dad and sister? Well I couldn't find a picture of a birdman, and us wearing ponchos we’re vaguely look like we've got wings!

New Book #3: Miss Motivator

Oprah Winfrey is somebody that even though her talk shows weren't broadcast in the UK, you know who she is.

I think it was only a couple of years ago that I started watching shows made by Oprah; Oprah’s Final Chapter and her Master classes which I love.

My sister knew I was a fan of Oprah, so she got me for Christmas ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show- Reflections on an American Legacy.’ As you can see from the size of the book, you’re probably thinking it’s a coffee table book full of pictures and nothing else. Its filled has the history of the show, the highs and the lows and testimonies of Oprah by famous people.

It was a great book, (so great I read nearly half of it during the Christmas holidays) and a great way to start the year all motivated.

New Films #8-#13: Catching up on my Tivo

Following on from Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium which I watched over Christmas time, I've been watching a few more films that I recorded. All have no connection to each other and are completely random.

I started with The Descendants which has George Clooney in it and is about his wife being in a coma and discovering that his wife had been having an affair. I like George Clooney, his voice is amazing and when I can’t get to sleep, his Desert Island Discs sends me to sleep straight away, not because he is boring, because of his smooth voice. But when it comes to his films, apart from Oceans 11 and Gravity, I just don’t seem to think they are very good. And I'm afraid The Descendants was another that wasn't very good.

This is me midway through watching a double bill of the films I watched, it’s tiring work.

Some films are over hyped and Magic Mike falls into that category. It was okay and Matthew McConaughey’s way of saying; alright, alright, alright did come from the film, so I am grateful for that.

While films can be over hyped, others can take you completely by surprise and Indecent Proposal did. I didn't know what to expect, but I actually thought it was an interesting plot trying to answer the question of can money buy happiness and was well acted.

Over the Christmas holidays I went to the cinema twice, the first was to see Life of Pi. The film was beautifully shot, but I was distracted by Rafe Spall’s American accent in it. Stay British Rafe, stay British! And I also saw The Theory of Everything, which definitely lived up to the hype. How Eddie Redmayne did the physicality of Stephen Hawking is beyond me.  

New Book #2: A pocket full of style

Audrey Hepburn is timeless and effortlessly stylish. When I was in Rome all my outfits were very much her style. Like most people I've seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but I've also seen Funny Face, Sabrina, My Fair Lady and Roman Holiday which is my favourite of her films.

I got an Audrey Hepburn inspired book for Christmas from my friend Linsey who I went to Rome with. The book is called So Audrey and is 59 ways to put a little Hepburn in your step. And one of the things the book says is to wear red lipstick, which is what I did on New Year’s Eve. There’s lots of little tips, that I hopefully use.

Reconnecting #5: The other side of the world again

So a while ago, I met up with my friend Tom who I hadn't seen in 6 years, and at the end of last year (which sounds strange saying it) Tom’s parents Karen and Rob came to visit my parents while they were visiting from New Zealand.

I hadn't seen them since 2009 when I last went to Sydney on my own, so even though I message Karen from time to time, it was good to see them both. My mum is good friends with Karen and they used to work at the same school, so it was non-stop talk of teaching.

New Album #5: Festive boogie

Now from the title of this blog post you would think that at Christmas I danced to some festive songs, wrong! My sister Lisa got Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ album The Heist. She’s got 2 main genres of music she likes; rap and country. So on Christmas Day we danced around our living room to the album.

I’ve heard some of the album before; Same Love, Thrift Shop and Can’t Hold Us Down, but the other songs were a real mix. With some rap albums all the songs sound the same, but this was a great variety of styles on one album.