A few years ago I wrote Enemy of the Daleks, a Doctor Who audio drama starring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier. [Listen to the original trailer.] This morning I stumbled across a trio of fan videos for the story made by using CGI, animation and even action figures. Enjoy...
Showing posts with label Doctor Who. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doctor Who. Show all posts
Monday, October 08, 2012
Thursday, August 02, 2012
"Give me a Dalek any day..." - new Who trailer!
The BBC has just unleashed a fresh trailer for the new series of Doctor Who. Which is nice. First, here's the teaser trailer unveiled a few months back, to give some context:
And here's the new trailer, which went public this morning [August 2nd, 2012]:
Dinosaurs! On a spaceship! Plus, Daleks! Lots of Daleks! Ahhh. Welcome back, Doctor.
And here's the new trailer, which went public this morning [August 2nd, 2012]:
Dinosaurs! On a spaceship! Plus, Daleks! Lots of Daleks! Ahhh. Welcome back, Doctor.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
"Don't meta. Meta, and you're dead."
A mind-bending wee tribute to life, getting older and Doctor Who. Via @steven_moffat
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Working out the rules for a supernatural threat
I'm busy developing a supernatural feature screenplay with the working title AKUMU. At the centre of my narrative is a supernatural threat. Now, I know why this force of antagonism does what it does and why it affects some people differently from others [there's a gender split, for reasons of backstory].
I've been working on AKUMU via a weekly feature film screenwriting class in Edinburgh, where ideas get workshopped and people ask all those awkward questions you push to the back of your mind when writing something. The logic flaws, the gaping plot holes - all stand exposed in their flawed gapiness.
One thing that's become apparent is I need to nail down the rules determining what my supernatural threat can and can't do. These rules have to be clear, easy to communicate and credible [within the context of the narrative, at least]. The need to clarity is obvious, ditto the ease of communication.
Credibility is wrapped up in issues of internal narrative logic. You can have the most outlandish stuff imaginable happening and your audience will buy into that - so long as it's credible in the world you've created. Break your own rules - or, worse still, have no rules - and you'll soon lose your audience.
That's why the Weeping Angels created by Steven Moffat for Doctor Who are so cool. Setting aside the technobabble about quantum locking and all of that, the rules for dealing with the Weeping Angels are simple: don't blink. If you're not looking directly at them, they can get you. Simple but brilliant.
There's a story I read long ago, probably apocryphal, that the writer of Roger Rabbit spent years figuring out the rules for that stories collision of toons and real world characters. You can see a demonstration of how those rules work in this clip from the film version of Roger Rabbit.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
NSFW: Proof that Doctor Who is a bad-ass O.G.
A clip that proves the Doctor isn't afraid to pop a cap in your ass. In case you're wondering, O.G. stands for Original Gallifreyan. Obviously.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Friday, December 03, 2010
Intellect & romance triumph over brute force & cyncism
Craig Ferguson explains Doctor Who to Americans.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
How I became a TV drama writer
Lots of bloggers have been telling the story of their inspiration for becoming screenwriters. Don't think anybody's tagged me with this meme, but it's been nagging away at my subconscious so I'm gonna take a stab at it anyway. Partly because I hate being left out of the fun, mostly because I don't know the answer.
I've been making a living from words one way or another since I left school. Did a six-month pressure cooker diploma in journalism, then straight to my first full-time job. Much as I enjoyed that [which was often], I despaired of reporting on what other people did. I wanted to be creating my own stories.
I emigrated from New Zealand to the UK and wandered into comics editing. My first creative mentor, Steve MacManus, encouraged me to pursue writing if I had ambitions. Steve had done some writing during his early days in comics, and he confessed to regret that editing had undertaken it. So I did some comics writing.
Most of it was pretty lame. Any good bits were down to the artists involved - my efforts ranged from merely mediocre to downright shite. [The Straitjacket Fits wasn't bad, thanks to wonderful Roger Langridge art. The Soul Sisters was a comedy strip without any jokes, even if Shaky Kane give it a sheen of strangeness.]
In 1993 I got the chance to write my first novel, a licensed Judge Dredd book. No years of writing and rewriting, I went straight from zero to a publishing contract. The novel was all over the shop, but Virgin Books were desperate and commissioned me to bash out another. Gradually, book by book, I got better.
Fast forward to the year 2000. Having gone freelance as a writer, I was making decent money from all manner of different work. By this point I knew plenty of people who were working screenwriters, mostly for TV. I'd been on Robert McKee's story structure, and bought some How To books - even read a few of them.
Somewhere along the way, I decided I wanted to be a screenwriter. [I blame Doctor Who for rewiring my imagination at an early age.] I knew someone who was writing for the Channel Five soap Family Affairs, a place where scribes with no TV experience could get a foot in the door. Thanks to who I knew, I too got a trial.
There was one minor problem: I'd never seen Family Affairs. Channel 5 wasn't available where I lived in Scotland. I did get someone to tape a few eps so I could see what the show was like, but otherwise I was woefully under-prepared. Just for larks, here's a scene from my Family Affairs trial script:
Fast forward to 2002 when I got talking to a writer on the BBC daytime drama series Doctors. He encouraged me to have a go, but suggested I watch the show for a few months first [sage advice]. I did, then wrote my own version of a Doctors script and submitted it to the writer's script editor.
The results were a bit better than my Family Affairs fiasco, but I hadn't clocked the fact no British TV drama wants to read sample script for their show. Despite this, the script editor took pity and [eventually] read my effort. It was a straight rejection. Their advice: get some experience somewhere else. Anywhere else.
Fast forward to 2005. Doctor Who returns to TV in a blaze of triumph. My outrageous dream of one day writing Doctor Who for TV was one of the reasons I'd emigrated to the UK, but the BBC had cancelled the show almost the same day as I arrived in the country. Now the show was back. Time to get my arse in gear.
By this point I'd had nearly 20 novels published [including several Doctor Who tie-ins], a dozen audio dramas released [including various Doctor Who derivations] and a vast amount of comics for various countries. All of that had given me confidence in my ability to tell a story. What I needed was craft skills.
So I got myself on a two-day radio drama lab. That helped me get on the first MA in screenwriting at Screen Academy Scotland. I also did nine months of mentoring with Adrian Mead, plus courses and workshops in storylining, continuing drama writing, script editing, more radio drama - you name it, I did it.
After two years' solid retraining I had a BBC Radio 4 play to my credit, a prize-winning short film script and a couple of halfway decent TV drama pilots. It was time to have another go at fulfilling my dream of writing TV drama. I went back to Doctors and explained all the things I achieved since 2002.
That - and my writing samples - earned me a proper script trial. It went well, earning me the right submit story of the day pitches via my script editor. But it was another eighteen months before I secured my first commission, which was broadcast on BBC1 in February this year. Nothing ever happens quickly.
Looking back over all of these steps, there's not one transcendental moment that made me realise I was a screenwriter. It's been a long, gradual journey with lots of diversions and missteps along the way. The ten years I spent editing comics felt like wasted effort at the time, yet taught me a lot.
I guess the shape of any writer's career only becomes evident in retrospect. You can make choices and decisions, turn down certain jobs and actively pursue others - but there's no guarantee things will turn out how you hope or expect. Right now, I'm in the middle of the journey. Let's us where it takes us. Onwards!
I've been making a living from words one way or another since I left school. Did a six-month pressure cooker diploma in journalism, then straight to my first full-time job. Much as I enjoyed that [which was often], I despaired of reporting on what other people did. I wanted to be creating my own stories.
I emigrated from New Zealand to the UK and wandered into comics editing. My first creative mentor, Steve MacManus, encouraged me to pursue writing if I had ambitions. Steve had done some writing during his early days in comics, and he confessed to regret that editing had undertaken it. So I did some comics writing.
Most of it was pretty lame. Any good bits were down to the artists involved - my efforts ranged from merely mediocre to downright shite. [The Straitjacket Fits wasn't bad, thanks to wonderful Roger Langridge art. The Soul Sisters was a comedy strip without any jokes, even if Shaky Kane give it a sheen of strangeness.]
In 1993 I got the chance to write my first novel, a licensed Judge Dredd book. No years of writing and rewriting, I went straight from zero to a publishing contract. The novel was all over the shop, but Virgin Books were desperate and commissioned me to bash out another. Gradually, book by book, I got better.
Fast forward to the year 2000. Having gone freelance as a writer, I was making decent money from all manner of different work. By this point I knew plenty of people who were working screenwriters, mostly for TV. I'd been on Robert McKee's story structure, and bought some How To books - even read a few of them.
Somewhere along the way, I decided I wanted to be a screenwriter. [I blame Doctor Who for rewiring my imagination at an early age.] I knew someone who was writing for the Channel Five soap Family Affairs, a place where scribes with no TV experience could get a foot in the door. Thanks to who I knew, I too got a trial.
There was one minor problem: I'd never seen Family Affairs. Channel 5 wasn't available where I lived in Scotland. I did get someone to tape a few eps so I could see what the show was like, but otherwise I was woefully under-prepared. Just for larks, here's a scene from my Family Affairs trial script:
[NIKKI AND LUKE ARE MAKING BREAKFAST. LUKE STOPS AND SMILES AT NIKKI, WHO NOTICES]Bleurgh! There's a lot more, just as bad, but I'll spare you the necessity of tearing out your own eyeballs. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get a gig writing for Family Affairs, on account of being utterly fucking clueless. I went back to writing comics and computer games and tie-in tomes, making good money.
1. NIKKI: [CURIOUS] Why are you so happy this morning?
2. LUKE: You being here with me - having breakfast together like we’re a couple - it doesn’t seem real.
3. NIKKI: Maybe it isn’t.
4. LUKE: [HAPPY] Well, if this is a dream, I hope we never wake up.
Fast forward to 2002 when I got talking to a writer on the BBC daytime drama series Doctors. He encouraged me to have a go, but suggested I watch the show for a few months first [sage advice]. I did, then wrote my own version of a Doctors script and submitted it to the writer's script editor.
The results were a bit better than my Family Affairs fiasco, but I hadn't clocked the fact no British TV drama wants to read sample script for their show. Despite this, the script editor took pity and [eventually] read my effort. It was a straight rejection. Their advice: get some experience somewhere else. Anywhere else.
Fast forward to 2005. Doctor Who returns to TV in a blaze of triumph. My outrageous dream of one day writing Doctor Who for TV was one of the reasons I'd emigrated to the UK, but the BBC had cancelled the show almost the same day as I arrived in the country. Now the show was back. Time to get my arse in gear.
By this point I'd had nearly 20 novels published [including several Doctor Who tie-ins], a dozen audio dramas released [including various Doctor Who derivations] and a vast amount of comics for various countries. All of that had given me confidence in my ability to tell a story. What I needed was craft skills.
So I got myself on a two-day radio drama lab. That helped me get on the first MA in screenwriting at Screen Academy Scotland. I also did nine months of mentoring with Adrian Mead, plus courses and workshops in storylining, continuing drama writing, script editing, more radio drama - you name it, I did it.
After two years' solid retraining I had a BBC Radio 4 play to my credit, a prize-winning short film script and a couple of halfway decent TV drama pilots. It was time to have another go at fulfilling my dream of writing TV drama. I went back to Doctors and explained all the things I achieved since 2002.
That - and my writing samples - earned me a proper script trial. It went well, earning me the right submit story of the day pitches via my script editor. But it was another eighteen months before I secured my first commission, which was broadcast on BBC1 in February this year. Nothing ever happens quickly.
Looking back over all of these steps, there's not one transcendental moment that made me realise I was a screenwriter. It's been a long, gradual journey with lots of diversions and missteps along the way. The ten years I spent editing comics felt like wasted effort at the time, yet taught me a lot.
I guess the shape of any writer's career only becomes evident in retrospect. You can make choices and decisions, turn down certain jobs and actively pursue others - but there's no guarantee things will turn out how you hope or expect. Right now, I'm in the middle of the journey. Let's us where it takes us. Onwards!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Doctor Who masterclass @ Edinburgh TV Festival
I was lucky enough to be in the audience for the Doctor Who masterclass at the Edinburgh International Television Festival this morning. The big announcement was that Doctor Who in 2011 series will effectively be two series. Moffat said the next series would begin at Easter with a run of seven episodes. The seventh ep would feature an earth-shattering climax that means nothing will ever be the same for the Doctor, Amy or Rory.
"It's an enormous, game-changing cliffhanger," Moffat told delegates. "Doctor Who will return in Autumn 2011 for another six episodes. We're not splitting it, we're making two separate series. It means you will never be more than a few months from the next series. Tart that I am, it means I get twice the number of first nights, twice the number of finales. The cliffhanger will be a doozy, a big one, a belter."
Moffat said the decision was inspired by watching his first series as showrunner when it was being transmitted: "I thought this show needs a big event in the middle, a mid-series finale." For him the show is epic, like climbing a mountain so large you can't see beyond it. "We have to take it series by series. Each one fills the horizon."
Moffat said he'd never worked so hard in his life. "For these years [while I'm running Doctor Who] I am a lazy bastard stuck in the body of a workaholic." It was confirmed during the festival that Moffat's other show, an updated version of Sherlock [co-created by Mark Gatiss], would be returning for another trio of 90-minute stories. "Two enormous BBC hits," Moffat observed, "that's not too bad."
"The Doctor and Sherlock are similar in intellect, but the Doctor is more human than Sherlock. I like to think of the Doctor as an angel who aspires to humanity. Sherlock starts as an amoral, autistic bastard who will be redeemed by friendship, made human by a psychopath." Moffat said Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as Sherlock before casting for the 11th Doctor began, so Cumberbatch was never considered for Who.
Moffat believes he has the best job in the world: "It's the only job where I get referred to as a supremo and as a dark overlord." He said Matt Smith's audition was so good, the tape could have been shown to the public and they would have made the exact same choice. "We knew we couldn't improve on that. Matt's version of the Doctor - he's like a young man built by old men from memory."
Moffat first saw Karen Gillan via tape, and claimed it made her look wee and dumpy. When she turned up, the actress was "this flame-haired goddess. When she wears heels, she's terrifying. You feel like the sidecar on a motorbike next to her." Gillan was also at the masterclass. She choose Amy's mini-skirt costume. "That came from her being a kiss-o-gram. She isn't going to wear big, massive trousers."
Moffat laughed about an article complaining Amy Pond was too sexy to be a companion on Who. "One of his past companions wore a leather bikini!" He said anyone taking an episode to a stag party because of its supposed sexiness would be disappointed.
Moffat is jointly responsible for the creative vision, but doesn't want writers replicating him: "I say to the writers, don't imitate me. You have to behave as if the show's yours." Predecessor Russell T Davies sent Moffat long, enthusiastic emails after each new episode. Moffat does take a pass at scripts by other writers if required, but tries to give it back to them before the script gets locked.
He didn't dismiss the idea of the Doctor regenerating into a woman in the future, but wasn't worried the character is supposed to run out of incarnations at number 13. "If we got to the 13th Doctor dying, we would involve the emergency protocol of making something up." Moffat just does the stuff he wants to see. "With my level of emotional maturity, that's perfect for any three-year-olds watching," he quipped.
Gillan said the Weeping Angels were her favourite monster on the show. Moffat admitted being proud of them, but they do offer creative challenges: "It's hell to write chase scenes with inanimate objects."
A brief trailer for the Christmas episode was shown, with the tagline [Christmas] Time Can Be Rewritten. The trailer suggests this will be Who's version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but that could be subterfuge. Moffat will be seeing a first cut of this year's Christmas special on Tuesday. Beyond that, he confirmed the next series will reveal the true identity of River Song.
"It's an enormous, game-changing cliffhanger," Moffat told delegates. "Doctor Who will return in Autumn 2011 for another six episodes. We're not splitting it, we're making two separate series. It means you will never be more than a few months from the next series. Tart that I am, it means I get twice the number of first nights, twice the number of finales. The cliffhanger will be a doozy, a big one, a belter."
Moffat said the decision was inspired by watching his first series as showrunner when it was being transmitted: "I thought this show needs a big event in the middle, a mid-series finale." For him the show is epic, like climbing a mountain so large you can't see beyond it. "We have to take it series by series. Each one fills the horizon."
Moffat said he'd never worked so hard in his life. "For these years [while I'm running Doctor Who] I am a lazy bastard stuck in the body of a workaholic." It was confirmed during the festival that Moffat's other show, an updated version of Sherlock [co-created by Mark Gatiss], would be returning for another trio of 90-minute stories. "Two enormous BBC hits," Moffat observed, "that's not too bad."
"The Doctor and Sherlock are similar in intellect, but the Doctor is more human than Sherlock. I like to think of the Doctor as an angel who aspires to humanity. Sherlock starts as an amoral, autistic bastard who will be redeemed by friendship, made human by a psychopath." Moffat said Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as Sherlock before casting for the 11th Doctor began, so Cumberbatch was never considered for Who.
Moffat believes he has the best job in the world: "It's the only job where I get referred to as a supremo and as a dark overlord." He said Matt Smith's audition was so good, the tape could have been shown to the public and they would have made the exact same choice. "We knew we couldn't improve on that. Matt's version of the Doctor - he's like a young man built by old men from memory."
Moffat first saw Karen Gillan via tape, and claimed it made her look wee and dumpy. When she turned up, the actress was "this flame-haired goddess. When she wears heels, she's terrifying. You feel like the sidecar on a motorbike next to her." Gillan was also at the masterclass. She choose Amy's mini-skirt costume. "That came from her being a kiss-o-gram. She isn't going to wear big, massive trousers."
Moffat laughed about an article complaining Amy Pond was too sexy to be a companion on Who. "One of his past companions wore a leather bikini!" He said anyone taking an episode to a stag party because of its supposed sexiness would be disappointed.
Moffat is jointly responsible for the creative vision, but doesn't want writers replicating him: "I say to the writers, don't imitate me. You have to behave as if the show's yours." Predecessor Russell T Davies sent Moffat long, enthusiastic emails after each new episode. Moffat does take a pass at scripts by other writers if required, but tries to give it back to them before the script gets locked.
He didn't dismiss the idea of the Doctor regenerating into a woman in the future, but wasn't worried the character is supposed to run out of incarnations at number 13. "If we got to the 13th Doctor dying, we would involve the emergency protocol of making something up." Moffat just does the stuff he wants to see. "With my level of emotional maturity, that's perfect for any three-year-olds watching," he quipped.
Gillan said the Weeping Angels were her favourite monster on the show. Moffat admitted being proud of them, but they do offer creative challenges: "It's hell to write chase scenes with inanimate objects."
A brief trailer for the Christmas episode was shown, with the tagline [Christmas] Time Can Be Rewritten. The trailer suggests this will be Who's version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but that could be subterfuge. Moffat will be seeing a first cut of this year's Christmas special on Tuesday. Beyond that, he confirmed the next series will reveal the true identity of River Song.
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