Redrafting

Hello, I am writing to tell you about the latest draft of Life Just Is. After the illuminating read through with actors at the ICA Alex was put in the challenging position of writing with the audience in mind, and he has thrown himself into the fray with considerable success. The development of a script often requires endless tweaking. No doubt once we have cast a selection of up-and-coming stars of tomorrow in the various roles, and rehearsals have begun in earnest, there will be more changes relating to character and dialogue. At present the structure is there and the premise is straightforward, but now comes the most important task of bringing the characters and their interaction a greater feeling of the conflict of life. With the freedom and fun of being young while at the same time faced with the prospect of an unknown future and all the complications the real world brings. Early 20s is an intriguing and unsettling time of life, and Alex is striving to explore how friendship will see you through the confusion. There is still work to be done, but I feel the new draft is a benchmark for the development of the story of Life Just Is. The script will only improve. Being bold and venturing beyond the comfort zone to tell a story an audience will truly relate to has to be the final objective.

- Tom

Life's Just Networking Photographs, February 2010

Wow. What a night! Big thanks to all those who came down last night and made it our busiest event yet! We'll be back on March 9th with another great selection of films, but until then here are some snaps...

Waiting for the films to start.

Life Just Is writer/director and LJN host Alex Barrett giving his intro.

Alex Sufit, writer/director of The Morning After, talking about her film.

Producer/Director Thomas Stark Holland talking about his film Lucky Old Bag.

The crowd watching the QAs.

The crowd watching the QAs.

Marcel Garbi answering questions about his film The Spooky Healing.

Networking during the break.

Alex Sufit talking about her new projects.

Thomas Stark Holland talking about his upcoming films.

The team behind the film Foxes in the Underground (Producer Joanne Michael and Director Daniel Nickson) present their new projects.

Networking.

Exchanging cards!

Networking.

An Update

As it's been a couple of weeks since we last gave a progress update I thought I'd just write a brief account of what's been going on. Well, last night I sent a completed pass of the new draft to Tom and Christine. I'm not sure that the new draft is necessarily finished, but it's now at the stage where I felt that talking to the others would be beneficial before continuing. I'm feeling pretty good about it. It's tighter than the last draft and a few pages shorter, which I see as a big positive. That said, I think it stills needs a little more work before I'll consider it as the completed next draft. Hopefully I'll be able to meet with Tom and Christine soon so that we can discuss it further and then get it finished and ready to send out to prospective investors. In other news, we unfortunately found out that we weren't shortlisted for the iFeatures scheme. Obviously it's a real shame, but given the nature of what we're trying to do and the nature of what they were after, it always felt like a long shot. So we're staying positive despite the setback, and alternative plans are starting to take formation. More soon.

- Alex

Playing to the Crowd

As we've always promised to try and make this blog interesting for other independent filmmakers embarking on their own projects, I thought I'd mention on here that I've just published an article that I wrote surveying the current landscape of production, distribution and promotion over on my personal blog. You can check it out directly here.

- Alex

ICA Lab Photos

Further to Tom's post on our ICA Lab, here are a few more photographs from the session, taken by Deva Palmier, who runs the Lab. I've started to think properly about the new draft today, going through the script and the notes that Tom, Christine and I made in response to the Lab, and the feedback has certainly proved invaluable to the development of the project. I'm pretty happy with how the plans for the new draft are going so far. Although, in a sense, the changes we're making are 'surface' changes, I think they're going to have a big impact on the script. There's certainly a lot of work ahead of me in the next couple of weeks as I dig down deep into the story and the characters and filter all the feedback into concrete script changes. Right now I'm still in the thinking and planning phase, but I'm hoping to start the actual writing soon - if all goes to plan, the new draft will be ready to show the others by the middle of the month. I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Deva and all the actors involved with our Lab for their contribution to the development of our project.

- Alex

Left to Right: Rebecca Eve reading 'Jay', Matt Prendergast reading 'Bobby' and Charlotte Workman reading the Scene Directions.

Left to Right: Matthew Thrift reading 'David', Rebecca Eve, Matt Prendergast and Charlotte Workman.

Left to Right: Life Just Is Executive Producer Christine Hartland, Writer/Director Alex Barrett and Producer Tom Stuart.

Left to Right: Shane Zaza reading 'Tom', Nicola Raby reading 'Claire', Matthew Thrift and Rebecca Eve.

Left to Right: Nicholas Banks reading 'Pete' and Shane Zaza.

Left to Right: Nicola Raby and Matthew Thrift.

Left to Right: Nicolas Banks, Shane Zaza and Nicola Raby.

Left to Right: Matt Prendergast and Charlotte Workman.

Left to Right: Christine Hartland and Alex Barrett.

Merry Christmas

As we're going to be taking a short break from the project over the festive season it might be a little while before our next update, so I just wanted to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'd also like to thank all those who have offered support to the project, from our friends/fans/followers through to our direct collaborators, and I hope that next year will prove to be an exciting time for the project!

- Alex

Please note that although we will be taking a little break, our next networking event is scheduled for January 6th and we will remain open for RSVPs throughout the holiday period.

ICA Lab

Hello, to introduce myself, my name is Tom Stuart, and I am working with Alex Barrett and Christine Hartland to produce the feature film of Life Just Is.

On Sunday 13th December 2009 we made our way to the ICA in Central London to read through the script with 7 magnificent actors. To hear the script read aloud brought the characters to life and threw new light on the whole story. We were extremely lucky to have a talented group of performers who brought all their experience and imagination to play in the world of the script. Not only that they were perhaps the first collective audience of Life Just Is, and as such they became critics in the discussion following the read through. Getting actors involved in the creative process is a really superb development tool that is no doubt sorely underused by the UK Film Industry. A read through usually only happens once the film has been cast and production is imminent, often very late in the day, meaning any subsequent changes may be rushed and under pressure. A film script is hugely complicated and the process of making the film is inherently collaborative, so ultimately the earlier and more generous the feedback and co-operation, quite frankly the better.

Alex responded bravely to the honest but constructive thoughts and feelings of the actors. Taking the proverbial bull by the horns we met on Monday 14th at the BFI. We spent 3 hours analysing the drift of the discussion and picking apart what we felt was important, so that Alex might be best prepared for further work on his script in the light of this intelligent audience opinion. The aim is to enable a good script to become a great script. I thoroughly recommend a read through to any and every filmaker interested in writing the best script they possibly can, and as a member of the ICA you get a world class arts venue for free! An experience that is both invaluable and stylish.

I think this read through has been the biggest creative boost to the project since my involvment. I am very excited by the prospect of a new draft of Life Just Is, which Alex is aiming to produce in the New Year. Indeed 2010 promises to be a great year in the evolution of Life Just Is, so watch this space.

- Tom

The cast of the ICA Lab with producer Tom Stuart and writer/director Alex Barrett. Back row (left-right): Tom Stuart, Nicola Raby, Rebecca Eve, Shane Zaza, Nicholas Banks, Matthew Thrift. Front row (left-right): Charlotte Workman, Matt Prendergast, Alex Barrett.