WRITING ABOUT NOT WRITING

I get writers block. I get it a lot. Which is fucking annoying as shit when you have at least 5 scripts that you have to work on, 2 of which in the next few months. But of course right on cue writers block lands like a ton of bricks right when I don't need it.

Recently as I have several times in the past, I find myself just staring at a blank page for a couple of hours until finally I give in and just promise to do double tomorrow. But of course the very next day, we're back to same situation. Being a filmmaker can be tough when this becomes a fundamental problem. Because it's hard to convey an idea or begin production without a script. At least for me.

So one of the biggest points of this blog in General is help me get my writing flow back, and because I've got writers block it's hard to think about anything else but writers block and so I figured that the only thing I could is write a post about writers block. Very meta, I know.

So it's something I've struggled with for most of my life, writing has never come naturally to me, mainly because of my severe dyslexia, which you may or may not have noticed depending on how early you catch my blog posts before I notice how little sense they make In draft one. Story, characters and ideas I have no problem with. Getting that out and down onto a page, now that's a task.

Quite honestly the fact that I've written over half a dozen features and triple that for shorts and you're looking at quite simply, a miracle. However, every time this condition hits me, I find myself being unable to overcome it easily.

I'm told that the best way to overcome the thing is to simply write and so here it is, me writing about writers block so I can continue writing what I'm supposed to be writing.

MJ

To The Nines... 9 Years of MYCHO!

Its hard to believe that just 9 years ago Mycho was born. Looking back now its seems like no time has passed at all and yet also somehow feels as if 100's of years have gone by. To be honest I never thought it would last as long as it has. It feels awesome to look back and see what we've achieved and how we've grown and it also means were also 1 year off our 10th Birthday Celebrations.  Which is going to be something very special. 

So I thought I'd take the chance to just say Thank you. If you read the Blog or visit the site, or watch our Videos, or buy our movies, or listen to our music. All of it means the world to us and its the ONLY reason why we carry on doing it.

This year saw a big milestone for us as we finally scored international distribution for SLASHER HOUSE. After an epic 7 year journey the film finally saw the light of day and that has been a big step for us. Which led us to the production of our next feature length film Legacy Of Thorn. 

So once again thank you to everyone who supports us. We couldn't and wouldn't do it without you. 

We have so much stuff coming up its unreal, but more on that later. Hopefully updates from here on in should be more frequent and in the meantime take a look around the new blog which is migrating into the website as we speak so its kind of like the Death Star II from Jedi at the mo. 
MJ

You can also Rent or Buy SLASHER HOUSE online right now. 

Ultimate Filmmaker Advice : Use it or Lose It.

People always ask me what advice I would give to other filmmakers and I always wish I had something better than 'Just go and make films' to say... Well after pondering on this for months on end trying to figure out the perfect thing to say to aspiring filmmakers I managed to sum it up in the 3 words that my inner voice screams whenever I see anyone ask a film related question "Use. Your. Brain'. 

It sounds fucking stupid, I know. But honestly I've seen people ask the simplest of questions or even asked me directly and I answer whilst all the time thinking. Blooming ek, just think about it. Just use your brain.

(The following situation has been changed to protect identities, but you get the gist)

A few years ago a guys said to me, where can I get some guns for a short film from, 
I said "well where do you get guns from?" 
He said "a gun shop" looking pretty pleased with himself.
I said "Well yes, but you don't need real guns you're making a film, you need prop guns" 
at least at this point I hoped he was asking a film related question. 
"Ah right do you know any prop shops?"
"Loads" I said "Every shop is a prop shop"
A twisted confused look appears
"Huh?"
"Where do they sell guns?" I ask again 
"A shooting shop"
"Very good, But where do they sell fake guns?" 
"A... Prop shop?"
Okay at this point I just thought, right, just fucking say it. 
"A toy shop" I said and look smug and clever and pleased as fuck with myself. 
"But they have orange things on the ends, I can't use that"
I frown 
"cut it off" and the amazing phrase that I love comes out the guys mouth.

"Wow I never thought of that" 

I know... I know.

The guys who want guns head off to get their guns and I think, 
'Did I just teach someone something?' 
Something stupid, but something nonetheless. 

That evening I'm sitting at my computer and I get an e-mail from this guy, he said, we went and they had guns, but they were green. So we couldn't use them. I can't find any real gun shops in town.

"Why is it a problem with them being green?"
"Well they need to be black" he replied
"I understand that, what makes things black?"

A few minutes of silence before my next message, I assume well used google time.

"Dye?" was his fantastic response.
"Paint." I replied.

And then the words came again "Wow I never thought of that"

Then.
"Where do I get paint from?"

Fuck it.

"Wilkinson's in town, they have a two for one special on" 

I sigh and think, well 14 hours later we got here. However he then informed me that we now have to go back and get them and then paint them before their 9 o'clock call time in the morning. 

All it takes is to think. Use your brain. For just a second. Filmmaking is about solving problems. You have the best problem solving device known to man in your skull. USE IT.
MJ

REMEMBERING SLASHER HOUSE

7 years ago almost to the Day I had just sat down to rest after a day of pre production on my first 'professional' short film 'Before The Dawn'. Me and the producer had sat back and finally got round to watching Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw 2 on DVD. As we watched it I was reminded of an idea. The idea was a joke more than anything, but I though 'what if a bunch of serial killers were trapped in a house with one girl'. It seemed like a one note quip at the time and I doodled a few characters one day in class and then kind of forgot about it till that night.

After everyone left I couldn't sleep, and I started to think about how I could turn that little joke idea into something serious and feasible. The result of course was Slasher House and I sat and wrote the first draft in about 2 days. I didn't hold back and wrote something with the intention of selling it to a studio should the chance ever arise. I once again sat and did some character sketches, mostly for myself and then I left it. 

Over the next couple of years it came up in various conversations, and at one point I looked at involving a separate writer to Polish it up, but it just never really panned out. It wasn't till I sat down to make my first No Budget feature and was about to start shooting that our original writer/producer on Creepsville said, 

"Why are trying to make a 20 odd location, dim lit movie, shot at night, on location movie, when you have the perfect low budget script?" 

"Which one?" I asked

"Slasher House" He said and I thought, 'Shit I totally forgot about that'. 

Of course we were about to start shooting Creepsville at the time and so that was my full focus, but all the way through the shoot, the thought stuck with me. 'I'm gonna make Slasher House'. 

On January 1st 2010, much to everyones hung over dismay (One of the perks of being a workaholic is not having time for hangovers) I called the first pre production meeting on Slasher House, we went over the script and then over the next few months I went away and redrafted the whole thing, changed some characters around until I had what I felt to be a well rounded script that had all the Slasher conventions in it. 

At this point to tell the story in any detail would result in a kind of The Lord of the Rings epic which I simply don't want to go into for various reasons, so let me sum it up. 

In Mid July 2010 we landed on the Isle Of Mann and begin to shoot Slasher House, what began here was to be the single most simultaneously destructive and character building experience of my life. Friends were made, friends were lost, peoples loyalties were strained and everyone came out of it, for better or for worse, a different person. 

Almost 3 years since that day I now sit here writing this, to give me a chance to think about it all, because today sees the film out there in the world on DVD and this a testament to the people (all of them) who set foot onto the set of this film or supported it by donating money, time or something else. It would not have been the same film without you. 

So if you want to support a true grass roots indie production 

BUY IT :

And if you wish to see us make another.

DONATE HERE :

Thanks to everyone who supported us thus far. 

MJ

Its Only Business

The biggest problem with this world and the reason we're all in this fucking shit to begin with is because "Its Only Business" has become an excuse to do whatever we want and treat people however we want and feel as if this somehow fucking justifies ignoring common human decency. 

I have done a lot of 'favours' for people, for friends, most of the time at my own personal expense, on good faith that I will be remembered next time round and then they dare utter the fucking words 'Its just business' when they decide that they've slummed it with me enough. Or worse they will move on to the next freebie giving sucker or worse still move on to the guy who costs £20 less.

You can tell me not to take it personally, but fucking hell, I am my business, Me, And I go above and beyond to deliver. 

I understand the need to try and save money and cut costs, but for what its worth Loyalty and human decency comes in at being a tad more valuable in my eyes. 

But then again what did I expect? "Its Only Business". Right?

MJ

FILM FESTIVALS : PAY TO PLAY?

I've never understood film festivals charging to submit a film, ever. I can understand paying a fee once your film is accepted. But outside of that I have always been dubious as to why filmmakers (especially low budget ones) break their accounts to get their films finished then find themselves at the end with a fucking ridiculous bill to get their films shown or in a lot of cases... not. 

It makes little sense to me that you would pay for something that you are not guaranteed to be involved in and even then it makes fucking little sense at that. You are giving a festival content to show, to attract custom and ticket sales, and your paying for the liberty too? 

Heres the kicker though, a lot of festivals pay for higher profile filmmakers to join them, cover their expenses, their hotels, their meals in some cases. Where do you think that money comes from? Sure a little here and there for sponsorship, but the simple fact is John Smith who made 'Night Of The Screaming Gekomen' who is still paying off £25,000 of credit card debt is sat on his todd the night of the fest eating a pot noodle and wondering if one day 10 years from now he'll be able to get his credit score back up enough to make another movie, is footing the bill.

The sad thing is I saw this start to happen about 10 years ago with bands, paying to get on a bill. PAY TO PLAY. But the sad thing is that at least they paid and actually got the exposure here, the little known filmmakers get pushed out. Which makes sense, don't get me wrong. You want your best acts on. But if we're going down this route, why are the lesser knowns footing the bill?  As always though the film industry has always been about a decade behind the music industry, which is baffling in its own right, but I digress. 

I'm not saying this applied to every single festival, but fuck it does to A LOT of 'em. It's not on and no one questions it and I gotta wonder. Why? Because this is not the way it should be and the way I see it, is that we as filmmakers are here to to make entertainment not to be exploited. 

Look this is just my opinion, but you have to agree there is a certain amount of logic here. I think festivals are a good, or even great, thing both fee'd and non fee'd, But like I say, I see a flaw in here and quite a serious one that I feel very few people question, Including myself. Until now. 

MJ

PITFALLS OF ACHIEVEMENT

We quite often equate success with being respected and appreciated. We see Achievement as something that would be rewarded. As an artist or in fact a person in any other profession, you would expect to work hard and reap the benefits. 


See about 15 years ago, maybe less maybe more depending on wether you do or do not count my humble beginnings helping my school friends out making Slasher Movies on a home camcorder when I was 15, I have worked, for the most part, pretty fucking hard at what I do and let me tell you its not something that falls naturally into my lap. I was never good at it (I'm not saying I am now, just better than I was) but fuck I worked hard, for a long time to make sure that I could work to professional standard, and that for me has been the biggest and more importantly is still the biggest journey I face on my road to being what I hope to one day deem a successful artist in my chosen medium. In this case referring to Horror Movies, but of course I can equally apply this notion to my band Subject 7, or many other things that have done over the years.

It seemS however that people very quickly can choose to ignore the fact that you worked hard, at one point I was working three jobs, trying to set up a company attending university FULL FUCKING TIME!! and I think people lose sight of that and just choose to see the end result and view that as Luck. I'm coming to a point here as working around a lot of students this weekend I came to realise that there is one thing that we are lied to about for most of our lives. Especially when working in the creative industries and that is that others will respect you and appreciate it if you work hard, if you make something of yourself. 

Now hold on a second , I'm not saying that I am in anyway now a successful person, so please don't read this as an ego trip. Also please don't think that I'm applying this to everyone, there are a handful of people out there who support us, who have helped me personally and I am eternally grateful and if the scales were tipped in this kind of behaviour the world in general would be a better place. I simply believe that after 8 years of fucking pushing harder than I ever thought I would ever have to I feel like I might just have Achieved something and that seems to have made a lot of people angry.

Because there is a truth here, if you work hard and try and create something from nothing, to better your life, your position, people for the most part will hate you quite simply because, and I quote Bill Nighy in Hot Fuzz here "You're making us all look bad". Yes because you have tried to do something and they gave up long ago or never got up and tried to begin with, they will create a problem. A very real problem, unfortunately that problem is with themselves and as people we find that hard to accept and so we 'choose' to make our issue someone else's. But of course thats not very helpful when you suddenly realise that 'some people' don't like for what seems like no reason. 

Now just for a second, imagine you work 18 hour days, hard days. Imagine you strain most relationships around you because of the amount of time you have to commit to your art/business/career and then imagine that you have to get up every single day knowing that some people are going to dislike you immensely for that, sometimes to level of sabotage or worse. Imagine now doing the impossible knowing that your payment is that. And I stand there every day and say is it worth it... and without even a blink I say... Yes. 

Why?

Because my job is to make Those people Look Bad.

You know who you are ;)

MJ