The Oldest Life on Earth Classification & Release Date

The BBFC has today officially classified the forthcoming DVD The Oldest Life on Earth a 12. The details can be found here: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/AVV277432. The consumer advice is that it contains moderate violence and occasional sight of blood. (!) I can assure you though that it's all tasteful and in context.

This means that the film will be available to buy from this website as from Monday 28 March 2011!

On a personal note, I'm very chuffed that all this has gone through without a hitch. The classification has been a big expense but I was very keen to do it, primarily because it's the law, but also because this DVD has been a serious project. It wasn't something that I dreamt up one drunken evening in the Local, before setting out the next day with a couple of mates and a camcorder! (Although that has been known to happen...!) It's taken hours and hours of planning, writing, editing, visual-effects-designing, publishing... not to mention brutal financing. Because of these reasons, I am very keen that, when you fine people hopefully watch it, you will appreciate that it was executed with dedicated seriousness, and I want people to take me seriously. That's why I believe a classification is important.

Moreover, it's been a new and fascinating process that I've been through with the BBFC, and in fact I've had a lot of Firsts over the last few months! Particularly notable is the 'mass production' that I initiated on Monday thanks to my fellow filmmaker friend Mr Kenneth D. Barker - (do give him some time and attention at his website: http://www.wotr.co.uk/, he's a clever fellow.) Mass production is something I've never done before, and Kenneth has been kind enough to let me use his equipment to print and duplicate DVDs en masse, which means I am now drowning in copies of my own creativity! I don't mind though - they're all shiny and lovely and I'm very proud of them.

See, they're wasted sitting in a big box under my desk! Come back on the 28th March and buy one for yourself! (Warning: impending sales pitch.) They're excellent value for money at a bargain basement £6.99, and they feature the main film plus an exclusive introduction, trailers, and a side-splitting outtake reel in which I fall over, while standing still, on the spot, for no reason whatsoever. That alone has to be worth the price of the DVD, if only for the point-and-laughability.

Writing Sooty and Sweep: Mathematical Humour

Nb. Skerratt Media isn’t making the new series of Sooty and Sweep! But Skerratt Media Captain Alex, (myself), is on board as co-writer.

My perception of myself is that I am incredibly cynical, occasionally timid, negative, take life far too seriously, and I’m a chronic worrier. I was painting this dour image to my friend Jason last week, who responded with, “How can that be true if you write a kids’ comedy?”

The answer is, I don’t know.

Since October 2010, Richard Cadell, Wink Taylor and myself have met up every month or so to sit down and bang out plot synopses and write scripts. This involves sitting in the same room eating pizza and wedges from 9am til 11pm doing nothing but make up jokes. It’s a kind of group therapy that I would highly recommend, (especially as it involves unlimited tea and coffee.)

The funny, and sad, thing about me is that I will sit there listening, for a long time, while Richard and Wink rush around the room laughing and gesturing at me like true pros. I’ll have a face like thunder, frowning and nodding, occasionally going “Hmmmmm,” and then I’ll say, with the most deadpan expression possible, “The surfboard should fall on Richard’s head. That would be hilarious.” *frown*

During this time, I’ll be crying with laughter in my head, because I find the idea a funny one, but very rarely does it translate into outward laughter. I can explain mathematically, with a flip-chart and pointer, why a joke is so rib-ticklingly hysterical, without so much as a curved lip. This must make me incredibly difficult to work with and to understand, but I hope those guys know that those intensive hours have been some of the best and most memorable of my life.  

New website launched

Hello all! By the time you read this the new website will be online and kicking. If you've stumbled across this blog without having visited said site, the place you need to be is http://www.skerratt-media.co.uk.

I'm Al, or Alex, (prefer the former but it tends to lead to confusion... I've had no end of Alecs and Allans before now.) I'm basically a freelance scriptwriter, actor, director and producer for DVDs, TV and radio! I'm not a control freak I promise, I'm just very passionate, which is an overused word I know, but it's the best I can think of. An alternative might be 'insane,' you can decide.

I won't give you my CV because that would be terribly narcissistic, (and also it's on my website), but, in short, my current project is The Oldest Life on Earth, (which I wrote, acted in, directed etc. etc.), which I'm aiming to have available to buy on DVD in Spring 2011 via my website, (did I mention my website already?)

I'm also writing the new series of Sooty for CITV / ITV1 with Richard Cadell and Wink Taylor which is scheduled for broadcast this year, so look out for that! (It won't be on my website.) I'm hoping to share some thoughts about that in the next few weeks, but really the purpose of this blog isn't bland self-publicity, (although I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a part of it.) I really want to let people inside my head and put my brain to keyboard, as well as giving people an insight into the creative process, and also the Industry. I'm still a noob to professional radio and telly so I'll be blogging very much as an Average Joe, sharing things on here as I learn them.

Feel free to drop me a line anytime, (my address is on my, erm, website), even if it's just to say hi, or to ask me anything, or to tell me anything! There can be some lonely days at the keyboard y'know.

Finally, I'd like to thank Liam at The Simple Site Company for the excellent design and maintenance of The Website, (check him out at http://www.thesimplesitecompany.co.uk), and Daniel for the Skerratt Media logo, who's inbetween websites right now, but has a groovy portfolio at http://www.deepinthought.co.uk.

Bye for now.