July 2024 Newsletter
Don't blink! It's a new edition of the newsletter!
Hello, imaginary internet people!
Hey look at that, I said the newsletter would be semi regular, almost subliminal, and here we are with a 3 month break since the last one. I am a man of my word. What are we all up to? Surviving, thriving, ducking and diving? No idea what season it's supposed to be this week, it seems to change every hour or so. What larks, eh Pip?
We've just changed the UK government after a thankfully quick, short election process. For the first time, I got involved with the campaigning for our local MP, which I highly recommend to everyone, however you vote - it gives you a real feel for how things are run on the ground, how it all works, and makes you a valuable part of the whole process. Politics affects us all, every day, we should all be more engaged with it. And there has certainly been a LOT of it in the past few years. I actually forgot one of our multiple Prime Ministers the other day, we've been through so many of them recently. What a strange, strange time.
Writing Stuff
For the past 6 months or so, I've been trying to work out which new script I want to write next. I've had 3 or 4 bubbling along, under the radar, just one pagers or collections of notes. I always tell people who ask which idea they should work on next, to pick the one that excites you the most, the one burning a hole in your brain and desperate to come out. But I liked them all, and just had to wait. Two weeks ago, one of them suddenly got its claws into my brain and wouldn't let go, starting to fizz with new ideas for how the story could play out, dialogue, characters, everything. That's the one, it chose itself. The ideas tell me what to do, I just work here... It's an odd idea, I don't know if it'll work or how I'm going to write it, or if anyone else will like it - but I have no choice. It has spoken.
Usually I'll write a new spec script once a year, to keep my portfolio up to date, generate new, fresh material, and keep myself writing. In this business, you can spend a whole year doing outlines, pitches, etc, without actually writing a single page of a script. This keeps me from going rusty, and means I always have something new every year. You can't keep flogging the old scripts around town, they go stale, technology makes them go out of date, and you become a better writer the longer you do it, so the old ones don't represent you as well as they should. Sometimes I'll take one and give it a redraft, bringing it up to date - but sometimes I have to let them fall into the background. It's hard to let them go, but nothing is ever wasted. Anything really good, a scene, a sequence, a character, usually finds its way into something else, if the script has been shelved. And sometimes an old script springs back to life, when someone is interested in it, requiring a quick polish to tidy it up.
It's hard when you have no idea if something will sell, or attract any interest. You have to engage in a form of temporary delusion, firmly believing this story will definitely get made, that tons of people are crying out for it. You never know what will take off, and what will never leave the ground, so you have to go with it and be as optimistic as possible. And given how most of us in the creative world are riddled with insecurity, anxiety and impostor syndrome, that's a big ask... But hey. We do what we can.
Work Stuff
Last year, I wrote three issues of Commando comic, a genuine childhood dream come true. I used to love those comics as a kid, the stories, the characters, the art, and was absolutely thrilled to be able to write a few issues. My first one is out on July 18th, called Simple Simon. The next two will be out on August 29th (Blood Money) and September 12th (Bait), and I can't wait for everyone to see them - including me! I haven't seen them yet, and don't know who the artists are, but they're always amazing, so I'm very excited. And they've just posted the cover of Simple Simon on their Instagram page, so I've copied it in here:
I've also got a sneak peek at the Blood Money cover here, shhh, just between you and me:
Also last year, I wrote another Big Finish story for the 8th Doctor, Cass and Alex, following on from the previous box set Time War: Cass, this set is called Time War Uncharted: Reflections and is out in October. My story is called Cass-cade, and is one of the more emotional, character-based ones I've ever done, so much so that the recording made me cry, thanks to the performances.
I love doing these stories for Big Finish, it's one of the loveliest places to do fun, creative work, and work some proper legends. I've got another one being recorded at the moment, for a different team, which won't be announced probably until next year, but it is VERY exciting... Sorry, I know that's really annoying when people do that, but I just wanted to be giddy about it for a moment.
I've been working steadily at PocketFM now since February, and am really enjoying it. The show I'm leading, Insta Millionaire (UK), is doing well, and it's a huge amount of fun working out some of the twists and turns, and seeing how it plays out.
Other work has been bubbling along in the background, lots of things I've set in motion hopefully coming together soon, but most of that relies on other people. One project recently sprang to life, and looks like it may actually become something soon- an existing script that is now being shopped around town, with a producer and some other interesting attachments.
Also, I went into town (translation: central London) to have some professional photos taken for a new thing. This particular new thing requires photos, they organised it, the very idea of it makes me shrivel up in embarrassment, but it has to be done. In the end, it was good fun, very quick, and I don't absolutely hate the end results, so that's good. Mainly, I had to come to terms with the fact that I'm not 20 years younger or half a stone lighter, but this is the physical form I'm in now, and I'm embracing it. The thing is something that's been in the pipeline for a while, and will hopefully happen later this year. I'm in a strange transition period where I'm expanding the scope of the work I do, more teaching, some producing, a bit of everything, really. Lots of skills are transferable, which feels unusual to me, as I'm mostly self-taught and never considered myself to have any real qualifications. Stick around long enough, you become sort of a semi-authority on some stuff, I guess...
Movie/TV Stuff
Finally caught up with Immaculate, which is quite spectacularly bonkers, in a good way, with a barnstorming performance from Sydney Sweeney, who really goes for it. Loved The Fall Guy too, a love letter to stunt performers and movies in general. And Hit Man on Netflix was wonderful, so much fun, with bags of heart and charm. As reported in the last newsletter, we tried showing Ace Ventura to the kid (she's 6), and wowwww, I'd forgotten a lot of it - some VERY funny stuff, but also some VERY much not appropriate for a 6 year old stuff... We had to abandon it 20 minutes in, she can catch up when she's older... On the other hand, another Jim Carrey one, The Mask, went down a STORM, she loved it, and thankfully it holds up and didn't result in any awkward questions. Next up, we're going to try Jumanji, and possibly E.T., which I was unable to stop crying at just the trailer the other day, so that's going to be traumatic all over again.
Doctor Who: Gracie continues to inhale everything about this show, which is a joy to see. We felt it was the right time to introduce her to it, so she started with the Christmas special, Ncuti Gatwa's first full episode, and she was IN right from the start. She loves the show, Ncuti, Millie, the monsters, the music, and hums the theme tune perfectly every time. After that, we went back so she could see the three specials with the 14th Doctor, and started a chronological watch of the 2005-2022 era, to catch up. She's seen all of the 9th Doctor, and is halfway through the 10th Doctor's first series. She knows she has to see that in order, but is allowed to dip in and out of any of the classic era stories, so she's seen a 1st Doctor (the Daleks), a 4th Doctor (Robot), a 3rd (Spearhead from Space), and the recent Pyramids of Mars re-edit. I thought some eps might be too scary (73 Yards, Wild Blue Yonder) but she wasn't scared in the slightest - it's funny, adults and kids find very different things scary. But she was in floods of tears at the dad dying in Boom, and at Ruby leaving at the end of the series (though we're relieved they've announced she'll be back). She cannot get enough of this show. There's not a lot of toys around for kids at the moment, so I've started buying up old copies of Doctor Who Adventures on eBay with the free gifts. Hopefully now the younger audience has come back to the show, there'll be more stuff like this available.
Waffle Stuff
At a vintage market recently on Father's Day, I had a huge burger, lots of ale, and bought another vintage camera - best Father's Day so far, I have to say.
This is a beautiful little Kodak, that takes 110 film in the little cartridges, so I've got a nice LomoChrome colour film for it, that I'm looking forward to trying out. While this film camera hobby is not cheap, the cameras themselves don't cost that much, and are so much fun to use.
If you work in the creative world, it's very important to have creative hobbies, because your old hobby has now become your job. The hobbies are an outlet, just fun, creative things that you don't have to be any good at, and can never monetise - I'm never going to be a pro photographer, or a virtuoso guitar player, but I can take some fun pics and bash out some chords, and that's all it should ever be. It feels good to create stuff with no pressure or worry, it soothes the soul, and I highly recommend it.
Going to sign off here, I'm sure I've waffled on quite enough for anyone. Glad to have you in my little corner of the internet. See you in the next newsletter,
James Moran
http://www.jamesmoran.com/
Commando comics:
https://www.commandocomics.com/
Doctor Who Time War Uncharted: Reflections box set:
https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-time-war-uncharted-1-reflections-2528