On the Shoulders of Giants has Landed! - UPDATED

A brand new retro SF feature from Water on the Rock Ltd. finally had its world premiere last Saturday 8 December in Leeds, West Yorkshire. 'On the Shoulders of Giants' was filmed in 2010 on a micro-budget, and I had the honour of playing Astro Navigator Alex Hyatt, an ambitious young crew member with a lasar gun, jetpack, and a love interest called Clarissa, (okay, she was a plant.)




The lovely Clarissa meets Navigator Hyatt, as Dr. Levenson
looks on...

Here's the synopsis:

In the 23rd century mankind had finally travelled beyond the confines of Earth's solar system and made contact with intelligent extraterrestrials. New forms of atomic propulsion has made exploration to distant worlds possible.

During the Andromeda’s maiden voyage its Einstein-Rosen (ER) drive is successfully tested. A vessel equipped with an ER drive is capable of crossing interstellar distances by travelling through self-generated wormholes. The ER drive was designed by the child science genius N'tron Zepethar.


Zed, one of the coolest robots ever, takes control...

Fifteen years earlier the starship Leviathan (with Zepethar aboard and propelled by his first version of an ER drive) disappeared on its maiden voyage. As the only other vessel equipped with an operational ER drive the Andromeda is reassigned to the Leviathan's rescue mission.

The Andromeda’s crew locates the crashed Leviathan on Theta-25L, a desolate planet 50 million light years from Earth. Whilst attempting to contact the Leviathan tragedy befalls the Andromeda's crew.

After fifteen years on Theta-25L, Zepethar is the sole survivor of the Leviathan's crew. When the Andromeda’s crew begin searching for answers to the Leviathan’s demise it soon becomes apparent both Zepethar and Theta-25L harbour terrifying secrets…


As a massive SF fan, being a part of this project was a dream come true. Directed by Kenneth D. Barker and also starring Sarah Wood, Warwick St. John, Adam Lee, Wayne Ewart and Carl Isherwood, 'On the Shoulders of Giants' is now available to watch here.

UPDATE - 02/03/13: New Clip from 'On the Shoulders of Giants'...
Check out Doctor Levenson and Alex Hyatt discussing life and the universe in this riveting clip:

Filming 'Theo the Mouse'

"How's Hollywood?" That's what my former colleagues ask me every time I return to a Certain Retail Outlet to pick up a carton of milk. I left my former employer in October of this year so that I could film Theo the Mouse's first DVD. Not to rub shoulders with James Cameron. So I politely tell them I don't know anybody named Holly...

In any case, I think Hollywood would be pretty horrific, don't you? Theo the Mouse doesn't live anywhere near there. Nor do his friends Wink and Wendy. And it's because of this able trio that I had the courage to take a gamble and walk away from Regular Income, because the reality was I couldn't work in a shop and produce a miniseries. Any DVD is an enormous undertaking, and Theo was no exception. Filmed in 3 days, edited in 12. Myself, Theo, Wink and Wendy have one thing in common: we're all slightly insane!


Theo the Mouse - forgetting a line!

For example, on the first day we canned 156 takes, which took about 12 hours. Edited down, this amounts to about 10 minutes - 1 complete episode. And we repeated the process over the course of the weekend. Going at this break-neck pace, it's crucial that everyone is 100% behind the project, or the whole thing will come tumbling down like a house of cards.

Fortunately, Theo T. Mouse had amassed a reliable army of recruits. Wink (and his brother Ween) and Wendy hit the ground running at 9am and continued to groove until the 9pm wrap. Props, costumes, lamps - all there, all being monitored, with every problem having a solution. All I had to do was point the camera! They made my life very easy.

Of course, there are some issues you can never predict. Theo was one of them. His eyes are, erm, quite different to human eyes...! Getting them to look down the barrel of the lense proved very time-consuming, and ate through takes like a toddler in a sweetshop. Then there was the infamous towel scene, (or Towelgate, as it shall henceforth be known.) Theo had to throw towels onto Wendy's head, but we just couldn't shoot it without catching the shadow of Theo's assistant in frame. After 45 minutes, some bright spark suggested moving the camera. (It had been a long day.)

Wendy gives us some on-set dancing!

Despite these moments of minor infuriation, I can honestly say that no part of the filming was stressful. Yes, it was tiring - very much so - but it was manageable. The levels of multi-tasking were reasonable, and the levels of adrenalin were reasonable, and the whole team were reasonable, (actually, that's an understatement - they were lovely.) I have learnt that hard work only punishes you when you try to do too much. Theo knew what we could realistically expect to achieve, and we did!

Looking at the DVD now, I can't quite believe that we went from nothing to a finished disc - packaging, menus and special features - in just 3 and a half weeks. It just goes to show, if you have the right people on it, who know what they're doing, and actually want to be there, then the sky is truly the limit. Thank you Theo!

Have a gander at our incredibly catchy theme tune and title sequence, and order your copies now!

Sooty Christmas DVD from Abbey Home Media

Merry... November, everybody! Another DVD already, huh. I won't plead poverty in this one, I promise; talking about my personal life bores me silly. Good thing I don't keep a blog.

The DVD in question is the Sooty Christmas Special, available from all good stockists! (They don't pay me to say this.) It's another fine selection of episodes from 2011's TV series what I co-wrote with Richard C and Winkleton T, but this disc has a twist; it also features a series of links adapted from last year's West End seasonal show, so for those who missed it, this is a good chance to catch up!

But onto the episodes! Do I have a favourite? The Great Race is certainly high on the list. It went through a lot of drafts, and just kept getting better, in my opinion. I tackled the first draft, which started with everyone at the starting line in their vehicles, each eager to win the annual race! "But why are they having a race?" Richard asked, curiously. "Oh they just are! I think that's funny!" I said. Since which time, I have come to learn that Explaining the Plot is actually a positive thing! ("Oh well - if we must!") Professor Fuel became Fred Flywheel, then finally Fred Firewheel, and the stupidly elaborate race course that we devised  - taking them round the park, through Brean, and onto the beach! - became a much tidier go-karting circuit. And why not!

Squeaky Clean pleasantly surprised me, because I rattled off a rushed draft, sent it, and then forgot all about it until I saw a rough cut during filming. My first reaction, (which was one of surprise, not arrogance), was "Did I write this?!" I am my own worst critic and I must say I was pleased at what the production team had achieved. As an ep, it also highlights my lifelong battle with vacuum cleaners, ("hoovering sucks"), and provides nifty tips for dealing with stains, cutlery, and tsunamis.

Watch The Farm for a splendid appearance from Keith Chegwin! Yep! The Keith Chegwin! Cheggers! I felt a complete div when I found out he was going to be in this episode, because I had no idea who he was! But I live in a world populated by retro SF and general nerdiness, so if the Cheggmeister didn't appear in an episode of vintage Doctor Who, there's little chance he'd ever flash up on my radar. But he gives a sterling performance in this ep and there are some very moo-ving moments...! Particularly the sweet montage of the puppets with the animals, and Wink Taylor's egg routine. One of the last to be written, and some solid stuff.

The Souvenir Stall features some lovely 'old school' goodness for Harry Corbett fans. Look out for the pottery-making routine in Sooty's tool shed, which was very faithfully, and comically, re-enacted for this series. (Harry's original ep is on The Lost Episodes volume 2 DVD, if anyone's interested!)

Finally, The Great Outdoors! Another (semi) re-working of a Harry Corbett episode from the 1970s. In Harry's original routine, he was trying to follow one of Sooty's maps, (which turned out to be a circuit diagram!), desperately searching for somewhere to camp. When he, Sooty and Sweep finally found the perfect spot, they woke up to discover they'd pitched the tent in the centre of a roundabout! It's good stuff, and you'll be able to spot the influences when you see it. The first draft featured a Hollywood-style lightning strike, which was sensibly downgraded as the writing process advanced!

So there you are! Should you buy this DVD? Most definitely! Even if you don't celebrate Christmas! This particular disc might even be worth something in a few years, for a very good reason. Trust me! But you'll have to buy it to find out why! How's that for a sales pitch?!

Wishing a you a merry November and a happy new Advent!

Introducing Menston Green

Menston Green has been running since 1951. Families have been gathering around their television sets every night for almost sixty-two years to catch up with the residents of IBC1's most famous village.

But since the death of the show's most enduring cast member, the ratings have taken a dive. As a result, Mr Cutler (the producer) has no choice but to end his tenure and hand over the reins to the next generation - a last chance saloon to breathe new life into television's oldest soap opera.

Enter new employee Dale Delaney, a warm-hearted but dim-witted young dreamer with some unique ideas about TV drama. Together with his new recruits - Apple the first-time script writer and Clifford Bowfinger (creator of IBC1's other smash hit, Blake's Rebels) - the scene is set for a reboot of truly galactic proportions. But not everyone will survive his vivid reimagining...

Menston Green is a one-off radio comedy starring the renowned British actor Colin Baker (Doctor Who, Jonathan Creek, I'm a Celebrity Get me out of Here), and is due for release in early 2013 at skerratt-media.co.uk.

Have a listen to our exclusive interview with Colin here:

News Roundup: Sooty, Menston Green, Theo

I must apologise for the formality of this blog's title. But what else to call it? This is going to be a very 'bitty' post and I could think of no better word than "roundup", a new word for me given that I rarely have much to "roundup" besides cats and stubborn croissants, (notice my personification of the PASTRY and not the feline - that's how my brain works.)

I'll start off with my latest "commission" - the Theo the Mouse DVD for Wink Taylor and Wendy Abrahams. What a joy this has been so far! Pre-production bores me to tears - the phone calls, the emails, the schedules, it's a snooze, and yet it still stops me sleeping, an infuriating irony that bores me in itself. But I've not had to do any of that this time, because the show isn't my baby. Wink and Wendy are on it all: the sets, the props, the costumes, the scripts. All I have to do, when we start filming next Wednesday, is turn up and point the camera! Okay, admittedly I have to edit the thing, and conjure up some visual effects, but I really enjoy that stuff! So this is shaping up to be an ideal job, focusing on the things I love with very solid, professional people, (who also bring me food and toy Daleks - perfect.) The timescale's shifted slightly, so the finished DVD is more likely to be available in the new year than late 2012, but I'll keep you updated.

But before that, Sky TV will be running a promotional feature(!) which is recording on October 31, (not sure if it's a live broadcast or not, or indeed which Sky channel it's on! I have been told, but unless this information comes to me in the Written Word, it's most likely to disappear through the colander in my brain. Yikes. No doubt I'll bombard Facebook and Twitter with shameless self-publicity when the time arrives.) But Wink Taylor fans can rejoice: he'll be there operating and voicing the eponymous Theo, ably 'assisted' by his chum Wendy.

Menston Green, starring Colin Baker

Next: Menston Green, (my surreal sci-fi supermarket comedy starring Colin Baker!) We recorded it in July and it's shaping up very nicely. Tim at Visionary Sound did me an initial dialogue edit in September, which I sent back with notes, ("make it tighter, make it quicker!") And he did just that. Edit #2 was both tight and quick, in-keeping with the Official Motto of the Alex Skerratt School of Pacing: "If it's not moving at 900mph, it's not fast enough." (It's true!) So, terminal velocity now achieved, he's onto recording sound effects and music. The finished product will probably be available in early 2013, in a format to be confirmed.

Finally, Sooty. Me and Winkleton met up with Mr C last Friday to start planning the second series, and it was a blast. Oh those two make me laugh, (it's a tough thing to do, seriously; I'm as dead-pan as they come.) Nothing is set in stone for the 2013 series, (as these things never are), so we're just writing blind, but with immense enthusiasm. We've planned out 12, with Wink drafting 6, and me drafting 6, which we'll go through and tweak the next time we 'confab' in (hopefully) November.

Mr C was kind enough to take us for a very tasty carvery where we continued to plan ideas over meat and veg, gesticulating passionately about custard pies, magic wands and water pistols, whilst apparently piquing the interest of the senior gentleman at the next table:

"So!" he said, keenly. "How are you boys finding the job market?"

Richard turned to him and answered politely, "Yeah, it's okay."

The gentleman frowned. "Oh, you're all employed then?!"

"Yep, very much so," Richard replied.

I chuckled inside. "Very much" employed(!)... Richard owns a theme park!! He's very humble about it. I wondered what had prompted the man to ask this, and the only conclusion I can draw is that we must have looked like a set of graduates, desperate to break out into the Working World with our magic wands and custard pies, (okay, this is actually true in my case.) But what a compliment to Richard and Wink, who are a few years older than me.

So that's what's been happening. I decided to write this blog because I'm aware I've left some of the 'Menston Green' folks completely out of the loop, and they deserve to know what's going on. So that's my excuse for Skerratt Media's first official news, erm, "roundup." Now, where's that pastry...

Skerratt Media Teams Up with Theo the Mouse

I love puppets. They always do what you tell them, their comedy timing is impeccable, and they can shave thousands off your project's catering budget.


Theo the Mouse, aided by Wink Taylor, pictured here
with his human stage chum Wendy Abrahams.

So when Wink Taylor and Wendy Abrahams asked me if I'd like to direct and film their latest DVD project - for their puppet pal Theo the Mouse - I leapt at the chance. And trust me, that's the sign of something good. Very rarely do producery types like me "leap." We normally creep towards things, cautiously, with our specs on. But this was a no-brainer.

How to describe Theo the Mouse? Wink pitched him to me as a "cross between Sooty and Sweep" - someone with Sweep's big heart, but obvious dim-wittedness, and Sooty's quiet, but cheeky, 'know-all' demeanour. He's into slapstick, terrible puns, and delights in winding up his 'assistant' Wendy to tremendous comedy effect.

All this - and more - will be packaged into a fun-filled DVD consisting of three Theo the Mouse episodes, to be released towards the end of 2012. The final, shiny version will be available through my website, www.skerratt-media.co.uk, and at Theo the Mouse live shows.

Check out the video below to see Theo and Wendy in action!

Notre Dame Oscars 2012

Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College in Leeds means the absolute world to me. When I first arrived there as a shy, tubby sixteen year-old with very questionable hair, I knew nobody. It was very scary. I didn't think I'd survive the month.

The red carpet!

Nobody was more surprised than I to discover that, not only did I survive the month, I lived and breathed the place for two fantastic years. It was one of those rare periods of my life when I woke up every morning and actually looked forward to going to 'work'. The simple reason for this was that I loved my friends and I loved my subjects, (Theatre, Media and Classical Civilisation - what's not to like?)

So returning there on 19 September 2012 as an introverted - but still tubby - twenty-four year-old with slightly less hair was an absolute joy, (only "less" because I'd had it chopped - baldness has thus far alluded me.) And walking down St. Mark's Avenue not only felt familiar - it felt routine. I actually believed, for a fleeting moment, that I was on my way to a class. Suddenly I was back in 2006. Incredible.

Of course the reason for my being there was somewhat surreal. My filmmaker friend Kenneth Barker has, for the last few years, been the VIP guest at the Media / Film studies 'Oscar' ceremony, and has presented the awards for the students' coursework. But he was unable to attend this year, and very kindly suggested me as an alternative. I couldn't say "yes" fast enough.

Me at Notre Dame in 2004, and an example of the
bad hair I was referring to...

My responsibilities were simple: first, to talk a little about myself, (and it was "a little" - I am the King of Concise), and to hand out the Oscar statuettes to the winners of the various categories: best editing, best narrative in a music video, best comedy performance, and so on. And very well-deserved these prizes were. The standard of filmmaking in all categories was staggering, with each piece brimming with innovation and creativity. My particular favourites were the music video to 'Blessed' by Tom Fangs Feat. Shermanology, and the film short 'Left Bear' directed by the (immenseley) talented Joshua Palit.

My third responsibility was to pick my overall fave for the Judge's Choice award, and this went to the mini-documentary about a local indie band known as The Scandal, with their video feature entitled 'The Scandal - A General Perspective.' You can find out more about them here http://www.facebook.com/TheScandalLeeds, and please do, they're rather good. I chose this as my winner simply because of how well it flowed, and how quickly it grabbed, and sustained, my attention - not an easy thing to achieve, so hats off to the director Johanna Wilton.

And that was it. The students posed for photographs on the red carpet, and I collected my things and hiked back up St. Mark's for what (I hope) will not be the last time. Notre Dame is such a special place and, on the strength of what I saw yesterday, is certainly not dipping on its standards of love, encouragement and creativity. It was great to be back, albeit for one night.

And I finally got to see inside the staff room, (I'd often wondered...)

Brand new Sooty DVD - in actual shops!

This one really crept up on me. I've been trying to get a DVD into the shops for years, and thus far my only plausible option has been to sneak into HMV and discretely deposit my home-made volumes on their shelves. And walk out. (Not that I've ever attempted this.)

Of course I'd remembered The Sooty Show DVD was coming, (August 14th, my sister's birthday!), but I'd forgotten that it was actually going to be 'commercial.' As in, I can now visit a high street store and pose next to something I've written, (well, co-written.)

The new Sooty DVD from Abbey Home Media, NOT
Skerratt Media, although the names are... similar.

Notice I said 'pose next to.' This fabulous news comes hand-in-hand with the hilarious irony that I can't actually afford to buy a copy!

And I'm not fishing for sympathy here. My financial predicament is self-induced, on account of the enormous cost of my last project. But when I say 'hilarious irony,' I absolutely, genuinely mean it. It cracks me up! In a good way!

I am disappointed that I won't be getting my free magic wand as I can think of several uses for it, many of them at the Co-operative, but more on that later.

To business! Let me say a bit about this fine selection of episodes. I'm assuming Richard Cadell (presenter and executive producer) made the choice, and I can honestly say I couldn't have picked better. Okay, I'm biased, but from the point of view of a writer, as well as fan, I feel they're our strongest five.

As I haven't seen the DVD, (just thought I'd mention it), I'm basing the following on having watched the eps live, and on Amazon's product listing!

So we kick off with Chocco Chimp, unless you're hmv.com and then the *entire* DVD is called Chocco Chimp, (pah, they're not FANS!) This is my favourite of the whole series, not, I hasten to add, because of the wonderful Matthew Corbett's cameo, (he was the presenter before Richard Cadell), but because, for me, this one has the complete package: a story-driven script, lots of humour, (both dialogue and slapstick), and some gorgeous visuals, (the whole thing takes place in a safari park-themed crazy golf course, with Sooty dressed as Sherlock Holmes!) It really is the ultimate episode for Sooty fans old and new. Plus, out of all of them, this one was the most fun to write.

Next is The Runaway Bath, in which Richard very nearly killed me. I had flu at the time, very badly, and had been in bed for days, (okay you can show some sympathy now if you like. Also I can't afford the DVD.) When I suggested that Richard should talk "donkey" to his furry friends on the beach, he went one step further and devised a song, which he stood up and sang for us, with a dance. Bear in mind how difficult it is to breathe ordinarily when you have flu, then combine with that feeling we all know - laughing-so-hard-that-it-hurts! - and you have an actual, genuine near-death experience. But what a way to go it would have been! Plus this episode has a bath tub on wheels, which is cool.

Third is The Wedding. Originally called Mo's Wedding. And then Richard's Wedding. Out of all the episodes, this one went through the most drafts, (close runner-up, I think, is The Great Race.) I think it all takes place in some weird, parallel world, (like something out of Fringe), where Stacey Solomon is a church vicar, and where people say "I will" instead of "I do." I don't know how the latter came about. I do remember having a very long and detailed conversation about it with Richard, by the end of which we had intelligently concluded it was the only logical way to go. And at the time it made perfect sense! Watching it now... hmm! Unsure. Tiny niggles though, let's be fair. The Wedding is another of my favourites.

Fourthly, The Swimming Lesson. Sweep parachuting off the diving board was inspired, and I'm allowed to say that because it wasn't my idea!

Finally, it's The Marching Band. This was the second episode we wrote, (the first was The New Ride, albeit in a very different form), and when I first watched it, I did feel a bit uncomfortable, as I think it's obvious that we're still 'finding our feet' as writers. It's at those moments when I'm unable to just be a Sooty fan and I become my own worst critic. It probably isn't obvious to the outside world. That said - what's not to like! There are some wonderful cameos from fellow scribe Winkleton Taylorson, and some hysterical visuals, (the gang look superb in their band uniforms.) The first draft had an elderly trombone player being hoisted aloft by a beserk crane. "Too expensive" apparently. Bah! The devil's in the detail!

If you're lucky enough to be able to afford this (boom boom!), head on down to your local Asda, (where it's currently charting at number 1 I'm told!), or if you're an Amazon junkie, please consider ordering via the link on this page http://www.facebook.com/sootysweepandsoo to support the Sooty fan community on Facebook.

Enjoy!

Recording with Colin Baker

Me and Colin Baker go back a long way. Not that he realises this, (I'm guessing!) When I was 7 I saw him for the first time in Blake's 7. On my 18th birthday I met him at a convention in Darwen, and embarrassed myself by throwing camera batteries in his face. And on the 15th July 2012 I met him at Cottage Road, Headingley, not entirely by accident, as he'd arrived to record the part of Mr Cutler in my latest bank-balance massacre, Menston Green!

"There is nothing you can do to prevent the catharsis
of spurious hilarity!"

I can only imagine Colin's bewilderment as this mop-haired corduroy-wearing baby-faced scarecrow / man bounded over to him, palm outstretched. "Hello sir!" says I. "Good to meet you, I'm Alex!"

Colin very politely shook this stranger's hand. "Alex, hi," he replied. "What are you then?"

"I'm the producer, and the director," said the scarecrow, "and the writer. Oh and I'll be reading with you as well."

That sentence always makes me cringe. At best I must come across like a stuffed haystack with a God complex. At worst I must look as if I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

Mind you, I can't see myself as others see me. And I'll probably never know what Colin Baker thought of me. Maybe I wouldn't want to. Maybe I'd be pleasantly surprised.

After the recording I had a bit of a downer for two days. This is nothing unusual for me. However, once I saw some of the production stills, and listened to some of the scenes, my enthusiasm was re-ignited, and I was SO relieved. Thinking about it, absolutely nothing went wrong, which is phenomenal when you consider all the things that could have gone up in smoke: nobody got lost / ill / broke down, everyone had scripts, the scenes were acted / technician'd / recorded without a SINGLE hitch, not only did the cast and crew get away on time, they got away EARLY. After the carnage that had engulfed my last project, (Life on Earth Retold where, on some days, I didn't even know if I had a full cast, although not because of anyone who appeared in the finished product, I must add), Menston Green has been an absolute breeze.

So far. But it's onto post-production now...!

Obviously I'm hugely grateful to everyone who's given up their time to take part in this project. I love you all. I'd just like to give an extra special shout-out to my parents, (all three of them!), for their moral and financial support, the lifts to and from the studio, and for the mighty fine catering.

Also a massive thank you to Mr Tim, Mr Ash and Mr Matt, who did a, haha, "sound" job at tech'ing the project, (that joke never gets old.) Tim and Ash will also be handling the post-production on this, and I have every faith in them.

Finally - thank you Colin Baker! A legendary actor with a career that encompasses so many of my favourite shows: Blake's 7, Doctor Who, Jonathan Creek, Come Dine with Me... He drove up from Cambridge just to record this quirky comedy about a village convenience store, produced by a Ray Bolger lookalike. I don't know how many other celebrities would travel hundreds of miles to record with an unknown production company, but he's made my year.

"I did offer Paul Darrow a role in this," I told Colin during a recording break, (Paul Darrow was Avon in Blake's 7, and has acted with Colin Baker a number of times.)

"Could be worse," Colin said, with a cheeky grin. "You could have got Sylvester McCoy!"

The sixth doctor is a gentleman - I know he was joking. Which is just as well, as I have Sylvester ear-marked for the sequel!


In the meantime, though, stay tuned - the release date and format for Menston Green will be announced in due course.

Former Doctor Who joins 'Menston Green'

Chums of mine will know that I am a little bit of a sci-fi fan, so I must say I am hugely excited to announce that actor Colin Baker will be joining us for our first Skerratt Media radio offering, Menston Green.

We're going to be working with Doctor Who!

It's a radio comedy - about a TV soap! - that, in our fictitious world, has been running since the 1950s. But it's in trouble. The ratings are in free-fall and there hasn't been a cast change since the programme started. Colin will be playing the officious Mr Cutler, the newly-appointed Head of Soaps, Serials and Rodeos.

He is perhaps best known for his role as the sixth Doctor Who (1984-1986), while other credits include The Brothers, Blake's 7 and Jonathan Creek, to name a few.

Colin will be joined by actor, writer and mimick Wink Taylor, with whom I work on Sooty. Wink is known in theatrical circles as being the former voice of Basil Brush, as well the celebrity impersonator in a wide selection of greetings cards.

Wink's stage partner Wendy Abrahams will also be lending us her vocal skills. An established performer, she may also be known to Sooty fans as being the teddy bear's one and only make-up artist!

And now let me present to you the rest of the cast, (in order of equal loveliness!)

Vicki Glover will be playing Apple, the committed script writer.

Warwick St. John plays Cliff Bowfinger - embittered director!

Sam Chipman plays an actor, playing a character!

Bob Mallow takes on the role of Maurice, a respected Shakesperian thesp.

Hannah Robson is the soap's make-up artist, only she's often unaware of the fact!

Jenna Skerratt - my sister - comes out of acting retirement to play Christina St. Argentina the Eighteenth, the show's biggest name!

Anne Newton plays Daphne, who has been in Menston Green since it started.

And Gillian Barge plays another victim of the new producer's axe!

Menston Green will be recording in Leeds throughout June and July, and will be available as a free download via skerratt-media.co.uk before the end of the year. A snazzy CD, with a shiny jacket and everything, will follow if there is sufficient demand.

I will leave you with a compilation of Colin Baker's highlights from Doctor Who, (courtesy of the amazing Babelcolour channel on YouTube.) If you've never seen the sixth Doctor in action before now, you've missed a treat. Take a look!

Co-distribution: WOTR Good Idea

Skerratt Media has joined forces with the Leeds-based film company Water on the Rock Ltd. in an exciting co-distribution venture! This means you can now buy my latest film, Life on Earth Retold, from the WOTR shop, where you can also view trailers, DVD stills, production subtitles and the original screenplay as a PDF document. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/JLeKt5 (Life on Earth Retold is of course available from the Skerratt Media homepage as well!)

And, in the coming months, you will also be able to purchase WOTR titles via my website, skerratt-media.co.uk. I'm not sure which ones yet, but suffice to say that some of Kenneth D. Barker's (the creative director's) biggest titles involve dragons, sorcery, cross-dressing superheroes and jetpacks, so it'll be a pleasure to showcase his work.

In the meantime, why not check out the interview I gave for Kenneth's site? In it I discuss my writing techniques, budgeting tips, and my mum! Plus lots of other stuff.

See if you can spot the cat ;)

Retold! Review?

Life on Earth Retold is available on DVD now! Get yours here: http://www.skerratt-media.co.uk/life-on-earth-retold.html

Or - you can have a copy for FREE!

Like this picture? No? Why not?? Tell me and get a free disc!

Well, five of you can. I'm a struggling artist in a perpetual quest for perfection, and I need feedback from people! So, email me at alex@skerratt-media.co.uk if you fancy writing a review of The Oldest Life on Earth and / or Life on Earth Retold to put on your blog / Facebook, and you can have a nicy shiny spine or two to jazz up your DVD library! All I ask is that you watch, tell me what you think, tell me what you like, what you don't like, and that's it!

This is a limited time offer though. Just the first five responses to this blog! So get emailing!

And thanks in advance :)

On the Shoulders of Giants

 

Change everything you know about the future...

The trailer from Water on the Rock's latest SF feature On the Shoulders of Giants went online yesterday, and what a corker it is. Obviously I'm biased, because I act in the thing, but as a hardcore sci-fi fan this stuff really tickles my inner geek.

I play Navigator Hyatt on board a super-advanced spaceship in the 23rd century, on its maiden voyage to test out the new Einstein-Rosen Drive. Several things about this role excited me. First, I'd get a laser gun. Second, I'd get a jetpack. Third, it would likely be the closest thing to Blake's 7 I'd ever to act in, (one of my all-time favourite TV shows.) Plus there's a talking computer called CAARN, and I happen to think that talking computers are cool...

We filmed this in the Spring of 2010, over the course of six or seven weeks, inside a derelict church in the centre of Leeds. But you wouldn't know this to look at the film, which has every appearance of being shot in a professional studio. And this recording space served us so faithfully, realising everything from Zepethar's quarters on the Leviathan to the barren wastelands of Theta-25L. Our director, 'Captain' Kenneth D. Barker, put his colour key skills to good use by shooting many of these impressive vistas against a green screen, allowing for many of the breathtaking visuals to be painted in later.

So it had been two years since I last donned Navvy Hyatt's Doc Martens, but I was chuffed and excited when Kenneth asked me to return to the role in February to record some extra voices for the project. And as if that wasn't exciting enough, I soon discovered that Hannah Rosbon, Vicki Glover and Waleed Khalid - actors from my upcoming film Life on Earth Retold - had also been offered voice-over roles! Brilliant! (See the video below.)

On the Shoulders of Giants is due for release in the Summer of 2012 via www.wotr.co.uk. Everybody involved in the project worked with relentless friendliness and enthusiasm, and if only 1% of that love ends up on screen, it'll still be one of the finest and most honest features out there.

*Hyatt over and out*

5 Years Later... 'Life on Earth Retold' Theatrical Trailer

Mark your diaries, circle your calendars, take the day off work... on Monday 9th April 2012, Life on Earth Retold will arrive on DVD at skerratt-media.co.uk. Check out the all-new trailer above for a taste of what's to come. And see if you can crack the Hidden Code...

The very first shot of LOE 2007: Spike giving a Palaeontology
Lecture!

As you will know if you've been following my blog, I didn't plan the release to fall at this time, and yet it's worked out rather well. Come the 9th April, it will have been one year, (though not quite to the day), since I started writing the script, meaning the whole production process has taken a neat and tidy twelve months.

More signifcant - and wholly more deliberate - is the fact that the 9th April, (to the day, this time), marks the fifth anniversary of the Life on Earth series. Yep, on that day in 2007, (which was also a Monday!) Spike Ombre, along with Mack the faithful laptop and his digital friends, went online with Episode One: Fiends Reunited, in which a demon-possessed Ezra Lord attempted to raise a long lost civilisation fom the ashes, which just happened to be buried beneath the cathedral city of Lincoln!

LOE 2007: Spike chats to his laptop, Mack, as he strolls home
through Lincoln.

It all started because, frankly, I was bored at university. I was doing a Drama degree, (and yes it's a solid, proper academic subject, before I get letters), but I was only in lectures for about nine hours a week. I felt like I was losing my mind.

And then one evening - I remember it vividly - I was telling Richard Cooper (Ezra Lord) how I was desperate to get back into filmmaking, but I didn't know how to do it! I'd need a cast, a crew... I couldn't have Spike Ombre alone in his flat, just talking to himself, and fighting off... himself! At which point Rich laughed and coyly remarked, "knowing you, he'd probably just talk to his computer!"

The preverbial lightbulb lit up, my eyes widened, the penny dropped (further than ever before), and I grinned widely... "That's it! That's perfect!!"

LOE 2007: The mysterious Ezra Lord arrives at Spike's flat...

I never imagined, five years on, I'd still be doing it. But then, I love all the characters so much. It's a cliche, but they really are like best friends, or relatives. Sometimes I go a while without speaking to them, and yet when I do, it's like we've never been apart.

So do watch the trailer for Life on Earth Retold, and if you enjoy it, please could you share with / pass on to your friends, because I made this stuff to be seen, and I can't afford an aggressive billboard campaign just yet, (I'm saving that for the tenth anniversary.)

And on that note - see you in 2017, for Life on Earth: The Hoverboard Invasion. 

The Frustrated Musician

Being a kid was very frustrating. I was desperate to write stories, but at 3 years of age my grasp of written English was non-existent. So, I used to scribble colourful masses of nonsense onto A4 paper, give them a good staple, and present this to my parents as A Book, which I'd then translate as we flicked through.

If only I could get away with that now! I don't think my teddy bear friend would be amused...

Today, I'm at the same stage with music. I can't play an instrument for toffee, except perhaps the Triangle, but I wouldn't boast too loudly about that if interviewed. I have a whole album of material in my head, words and tunes all fully formed and ready to go, but I can't do anything with them! I couldn't even write them down as music! Now, I know that Every Good Boy Deserves Football, (or at least I thought I did), but then, what is this??

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Bachlut1.gif

I'm told, on good authority, that this is hand-written musical notation by J.S. Bach no less, (co author of A Whiter Shade of Pale! *eh eh, Matthew Fisher!*) But just look at what he's done! Far from Every Good Boy Deserving Football, this Bach character has seen fit to draw in extra lines (?!), meaning that not only does Every Good Boy Deserve Football, but Every Good Boy Deserves Football Because Bach Can Add Extra Dots And Dashes That Carry On For All Eternity Up Up And Off The Page Making No Sense Whatsoever And Thus Thwarting My Plans Of Ever Grasping The Language of the Dietonic Scale, (and yes, T, O, U, P, M, N, S, W and L are now officially notes.)

So in 2007, I met up with my friend Ian, waving the above at him, maroon-faced and in a fluster. No sooner had I proven that the Good Boys Deserving (of) Football are then followed by a FULL STOP, he smiled symapthetically, and volunteered to make music on my behalf.

The end result is the above video. The music and lyrics are my own, as is the singing, (did you know my mouth could make TWO kinds of sound??) And Ian played the drums, guitar and mixed the thing. Do give me a grade, because I value your feedback, but remember, no lower than a G, (refer back to my rant.)

And also, an informal request. If there are any musicians out there, preferably with half decent recording equipment, interested in working on tracks of a similar ilk to 'Brother,' then please make yourself be known to me! alex@skerratt-media.co.uk Just don't get me started on the Diuretic Scale.