WRITING GALLERY 1
wHAT'S ALL THIS, THEN?What's this picture got to do with writing? Well it's the only production image I have from what was the first shoot of one of my earliest scripts written soon after joining Pearl and Dean. It shows a fun moment on location as veteran cameraman Otto Heller is "manhandled" by two of our stuntmen. Following is Billy Herlihy, Second Assistant Director. Note the dress code of the time! The shoot, in Brighton, was in January 1964 and there was not too much light for Otto to work his habitual magic.
YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THE RESULT TO THE RIGHT ABOVE. |
FOR THE MOMENT, THE PRIZE-WINNING COMMERCIAL FOLLOWS THE CHOCOLATE AD. TO SAVE YOURSELF TIME, PRESS PLAY ARROW, THEN SCROLL PLAYBACK ACROSS TO 45 SECONDS! my first script, as shot and editedTo 2019 eyes James Hill's direction looks dated, but in 1964 this was cutting-edge product, assisted by Johnny Hawksworth's pseudo-Bach soundtrack. Not only did the ad sell cars but it won several ad festival prizes to the delight of all concerned, not least me.
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the fact that a few police forces later bought some triumph heralds is, as far as we know, unrelated to the film.
wHAT MORE PRIZES?
From the documentaries I scripted that won prizes, my favourite is From Harrogate it Started, about the 1971 RAC Rally of Great Britain. My concept was to ditch the conventional voice-over commentary and instead create an impressionistic weave from snatches of conversation, interviews, news items, natural sounds and of course music. For that we were fortunate the The Who group was sponsoring a car and crew in the event and gave permission for us to use anything from their catalogue for the soundtrack; an opportunity that Editor Brian Llewelyn used with his exceptional skill. To replace some of the missing news items that we needed to float across the airwaves, I wrote a selection of tongue-in-cheek bulletins which were recorded by Bruce Wyndham, the presenter of BBC Radio's Night Ride at the time.
I recently sourced a DVD copy of the film, so it is still out there. I have previously viewed it on YouTube, but currently only excerpts are available, available by clicking HERE. Thanks to the lack of conventional commentary, the production company managed to forget my credit. Worse still, I have discovered that on the British Film Institute website, the producer has pinched the writing credit. I will be seeking to change that, as well as adding my career credits as that BFI site only lists about ten percent of them. The IMDB site is almost complete, as far as my Film and TV credits go; the BFI one, if fully updated, would have the advantage of including documentaries.
I recently sourced a DVD copy of the film, so it is still out there. I have previously viewed it on YouTube, but currently only excerpts are available, available by clicking HERE. Thanks to the lack of conventional commentary, the production company managed to forget my credit. Worse still, I have discovered that on the British Film Institute website, the producer has pinched the writing credit. I will be seeking to change that, as well as adding my career credits as that BFI site only lists about ten percent of them. The IMDB site is almost complete, as far as my Film and TV credits go; the BFI one, if fully updated, would have the advantage of including documentaries.
