Monday, November 17, 2008

Eek

The first two episodes of my Teen Drama Project, which I can now exclusively reveal is called 'Rock', and is about the small north cornwall town where every year posh kids get into punch-ups with the locals (that was pretty much the pitch right there, although rest assured there will also feature such delights as The Owlman Of Mawnan Smith, a Hugh Grant lookalike, and some Lovecraftian ferrymen), have finally been given an enthusiastic thumbs up by the BBC Heads of Fiction, Development and Serials, and are winging their way to what may well be the last desk they will ever lie upon: that of the Controller of BBC 3, whose wisdom, I am assured, is akin to that of Solomon on one of his more thoughtful days. If he likes them, he will be commissioning a series. If not, then... I don't know really.

So this is either the end of a process I've been wittering about for blimmin' ages (start at the bottom to read the complete collection), or the the start of something beautiful. Oi just don't know.

*frets*


25 comments:

Piers said...

*pets*

Mike Booth said...

*congratulets*

Well done on getting it to the man with his finger on the green light switch.

Boz said...

*fish nets*

Jolly well done for getting something to the top desk! How thrill inducing. Thinking happy positive thoughts right here.

Rose said...

Cor. Crossing my fingers and sending good vibes and doing other essentially pointless but nonetheless comforting gestures.

James Henry said...

Every little helps. Am grateful for all positive vibes.

Jayne said...

Oooh, good luck. I will dedicate my next cocktail to your success.

kaiki said...

yay! well done james, i am thrilled by the idea of the lovecraftian ferryman...i awaited the outcome with baited breath. (whatever that means)
x

BlackLOG said...

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James Henry said...

Ah, hello, did see this, but was struggling to think of 8 at least vaguely interesting facts. If I come up with any, I will of course let you know...

Anonymous said...

Blimey! Teen Drama Project mght actually get made! I feel rather as if a child I last saw as a baby has just turned up as my GP (style of thing, if you see what I mean).

Have heard that the BBC is most susceptible to massive letter-writing campaigns of late... *breaks open the Basildon Bond*

realdoc said...

Fingers crossed for you James. Also are you getting commission from the Obama campaign?


word ver: cromopti wasn't that a character in Bagpuss?

James Henry said...

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting I was responsible for Obama getting in, what with the Bob The Builder links and all. I must remind him, when inevitably we meet.

Anonymous said...

"Lovecraftian ferrymen"

The mind boggles. Am I meant to be thinking of men with beards basket weaving whilst singing love sonnets and looking dewy eyed at each other. The Hugh Grant lookalike sounds good though!

James Henry said...

H.P. Lovecraft

Stevyn Colgan said...

Oh, I know Rock so well ... curiously enough, I drew on my own experiences as a Cornishman a few years ago and tried to write a sitcom about a surf shop in Newquay called 'Wax on, wax off' (probably copyright issues there).

It was shite, frankly. So, it's good to see that someone is doing something that sounds much, much better for the old Duchy (and hopefully, infinitely better than Dawn French's Wild, Wild West).

James Henry said...

I would just like there to be a series on telly that's set in Cornwall, but not written from the perspective of someone who happens to have a second home down here...

One unexpected (but I suppose unsurprising) benefit of writing about Rock seems to be that the higher up the BBC the scripts went, the more people would say 'oh god bloody hell, love the place, send my kids there every year, rah rah rah'.

Anonymous said...

Rah rah rah. Oh, the depths of despair that instils in my heart. For once not totally useless though so hurrah! Hurrah for Rock! Hurrah for you! You must be a gibbering wreck by this point.



wv - bedings

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. So no gay men in boats then!

Hope the script gets to the top man at the BBC asap.

James Henry said...

It's with him now. Meep!

Anonymous said...

Go on my son, get it in there!! Or...or something...

Anonymous said...

Not to go all besotted on you, James, but your updates on the processes and progress of your writing projects are really inspiring (because I'm wannabe-scriptwriter student gunk, and you sound like an amalgamation of human AND writer, making it all seem less intimidating/impossible).

Congratulations on Rock -- it's brilliant news that The Heads have nodded their... their heads at it.

OH, AND ALSO. Did you write for Man Stroke Woman? I could've sworn I saw your name in there (okay, I admit it; I'm a credit pauser), but the internet denies this.

James Henry said...

I did indeed write for Man Stroke Woman. Well, a couple of sketches for the second series, anyway. Stupid internet.

I am indeed living proof it is possible to be writer AND human. Very few other writers manage it.

Anonymous said...

Can you divulge which sketches you wrote for it...? :D

James Henry said...

Erm... I think the ones that make it in were the 'I hate practical jokes' one (where the bloke has to hurriedly call off loads of people lurking in weird costumes) and one where a bloke keeps coming back to things one too many times. Although I kept forgetting it was on, so I never actually saw that one.

God, they sound brilliant written down, don't they?

Anonymous said...

I don't think sketches generally do sound brilliant written down. *Tries it* Will Ferrell is playing the cowbell in a recording studio, his bandmates hate it, but Bruce Dickinson wants more. More cowbell.

...

Anyway, yeah. I remember those sketches! Which is saying something because -- between you and me and everyone else -- I didn't think it was the best sketch show in the world, despite the two Nicks's involvement. The whole show's on YouTube somewhere. I don't know if it'd be good form to offer a link, but... they're all there, you should see it! O he who doesn't squeak with delight at watching his own work.