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We got hacked!

On February 2, 2012, in Blog, by Adrian

Yikes! We got hacked today! So sorry if you came on the website and thought we’d chosen to go down a different route of ‘entertainment’. Managed to get it fixed rather quickly though – good folks at JustHost sorted it out.

I never thought that would happen to us. Oh well.

It has, at least, given me a means to update you all. It’s been a good start to the year. We’re orchestrating our attack on studios right now and are very excited about it all! We’re armed with a killer script, a legion of producers (you guys), a pile of press cuttings and a string of celebrities to back us up. Someone’s going to love this thing as much as we do, surely. They gotta! Clovis Dardentor has just grown too big to make by ourselves .

Lots of other exciting news too. Will keep y’all posted.

Adrian

KILLING CLOVIS DARDENTOR

On October 26, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

Well, it has been a long time coming… but what counts is it’s here – and boy is it here!

As many of you will know, our focus has always, ultimately, been on getting CLOVIS DARDENTOR just right. It’s no longer just a film we want to make. It has been a part of our lives for nearly three years and has slowly become something that we HAVE to make. And we have to do it justice. After all, it is Jules Verne’s hidden gem.

We’ve been through a number of drafts now, but there was always the feeling that we hadn’t got it quite right. But y’know – after nearly three years – I think we’ve got it. And with a brand new ‘it’ comes a brand new name; “KILLING CLOVIS DARDENTOR“. A bit more fight in it, wouldn’t you say?

“Killing Clovis Dardentor” has to be perused by a few more pairs of eyes before we press ‘Go’, and then we’re back in business.

Time to start dusting off that ol’ rolling ball…

It’s Nearly Ready…

On July 19, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

The brand new Clovis Dardentor screenplay is more or less complete. Just a few tweaks and it is done and ready for a real push… a MASSIVE push. We’ve all been waiting for this for a long time. It’s spine tingling to be this close to getting it out there – and what’s more, it’s now something we can be really proud of. Updates soon.

… And I’m going to keep you waiting for the new, slightly altered name.

Hey! Why hasn’t it been made yet?

On May 13, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

Hello everyone!

We’ve just had word from our screenwriter, Lizzie Hopley that she is over half way through the new draft of Clovis, with an aim to finish it by the end of May/beginning of June. We’re excited to get going on it again.

We’ve had some tweets and emails asking when the film will be done, and why it is all taking SOOO long. I can’t stress enough that making a film is an extremely lengthy process. If a massive studio is behind it, it takes two years (and that’d be considered quick). There are so many different variables, so many obstacles and so many ups and downs. Granted; if we had decided, at the very beginning, to make a very low budget feature with the donations, then we probably could have done it by now. But we didn’t. We chose Clovis Dardentor which has evolved from a relatively low budget film to a fairly high budget one. It has changed, for the better. The ‘Clovis Dardentor’ we had set out to make with £1 Million (at the very beginning) was not right – it wasn’t Jules Verne – it wasn’t Clovis Dardentor.

We haven’t, and wouldn’t ever be able to sell enough credits to fulfill the new Clovis Dardentor’s budget (or the old one’s, in fact). It’s impossible – we’ve kinda proved that. We realised this a while ago and so started to pursue studios and production companies to take on the film (with us). That was the only way we could ever see THIS film get made.

I must assure our supporters who bought credits and pixel-ads that even though we can’t fund the film wholly with your donations, what you gave will still be used to make the film and your names will still be on the end credits. That hasn’t changed. Not one bit.

The focus, for us, has always been the film. Afterall, we’re filmmakers, not salesmen or internet marketers. For this reason, when Stephen Fry, John Lloyd (Blackadder/QI producer), Jude Law and many others read our script and decided that there was something missing, of course we were going to stop and sort out the problem. It has taken a long time to plan and organize the new draft of the screenplay, and it is a great feeling to know that it is being written right now!

Not long ago, we were just three schoolboys getting on with our A Levels, but now we’re film producers, full time. We get to spend our days being creative, planning future projects, writing scripts – it’s fantastic. Though updates have been sparse, we are still pouring our hearts into Clovis Dardentor and are really working harder than ever. If you bought a credit or a Pixel-Ad, I entirely understand any possible frustration or impatience you may be feeling… we’re impatient too.

This could take years to get made. However, the near future looks bright. With the new draft comes new opportunities, open doors. We have producers, studios and production companies waiting to see it. When it’s done, I’ll be posting more updates, telling you where this crazy thing is going. But please, stick with us. These guys still are…

Brand New Clovis Script Coming Soon – Writing Begins!

On March 31, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

Hello everyone!

Just the other day we signed and sealed the deal on the new version of our Clovis Dardentor adaptation – ah see what I did there? I didn’t simply call it ‘Clovis Dardentor’ – why? Because the name has changed slightly; it is much more exciting now – which is good because so is the story!

We sat down with Lizzie Hopley (the writer) at our usual stomping grounds, ‘The Curzon Soho’ and went over EVERYTHING to make sure the new draft will be perfect! It’s now all up to Lizzie to give Clovis Dardentor what the studios, production companies and our star supporters thought it was lacking first time round. The new direction is ideal and the script should be fantastic!

As soon as it is done (within the next couple of months) we’ll be knocking on the doors of studios and production companies again (some of which are waiting with bated breath) though this time, Clovis will be considerably better dressed…

Pointless Blog about the Oscars!

On February 28, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

This year I had to settle on watching the Oscar’s from England. Last year we were in Los Angeles, watching the stars get out their cars and walk down the red carpet. This year, though, was so much better. Though my opinion doesn’t particularly matter, I thought the production was great. The whole thing looked absolutely amazing. Obviously, as Brits, we were very happy to see The King’s Speech scoop the main awards; Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Colin Firth).

Some familiar faces were at the ceremony too; Jude Law and Kevin Spacey, both of whom continue to be a constant support for Clovis Dardentor and our individual movie pursuits. What amazing people to have on your side! Now that Kevin’s going back into the movies, people are remembering how amazing he really is. Which he is!

In other news; things are going well here. Lizzie is back from Singapore soon when she will begin the ALL NEW CLOVIS DARDENTOR! It is incredibly exciting. Meanwhile we’re all doing what we can to force our feet further in the door. Can’t say specifics yet… but I can say that the door IS budging!

Original Illustrations…

On February 4, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

I thought, instead of teasing you with just one picture from the original book (as I did in the previous post), I’d upload a few. Above is the original inside cover of the 1897 first edition of “Clovis Dardentor”.

It was when looking back over the book and all these fantastic illustrations that we remembered the brilliance of the original story. On first glance we knew instantly what we needed to do in this new version of the screenplay and how we would bring Jules Verne back into the equation. I’m sure you’ll agree, the following images are not only intriguing, but they SCREAM adventure! That’s what “Clovis Dardentor” IS and was ALWAYS supposed to do.

Back To Jules…

On February 1, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

Okay, so it is all very well me telling you ‘We’re changing the script to take it closer to the book’… But many of you won’t know the book, so you’ll probably be rather stuck as to what that means. Well, I thought I’d give you an example.

The character ‘Clovis Dardentor’ is an absolute force of nature. Everyone who has read the script, including Stephen Fry and John Lloyd have agreed. Jules Verne really made something special there. We maintained that (to a point) in the screenplay adaptation… but I don’t think we did it enough.

Below is a page from the screenplay and a page from the original book. Both extracts describe the first time we meet our hero, Clovis Dardentor. By recognising the difference between the two, you’ll know what I mean when I say “We’re changing the script to bring it back to Jules Verne.”

Here, in the screenplay, we meet Clovis Dardentor in a departure lounge at an airport. It is great writing (by the lovely Lizzie Hopley) but something’s missing:

Now, here is the moment in which we meet Clovis in Jules Verne’s original manuscript. Mr/Monsieur Desirandelle (Annette Badland’s husband from JAM) is on a steamboat which has left the harbour without Clovis Dardentor, who was running late. Clovis commandeers a small boat in order to catch up…

Do you see what I mean? The sense of adventure in the original version is incredible. And THAT is what we want to bring back; the ADVENTURE!

So please, faithful producers, bear with us. We really think it is of utmost importance to get this new version of the script just right. Once we’ve done that, we can take it to the town. Given the staggering brilliance of Jules Verne’s lost hero, Mr. Clovis Dardentor, we reckon that the studios will well and truly be his playground. We’ve already had interest, so with a brand new screenplay and a massive dose of Jules Verne adventure, we should have considerably more!

Stephen Fry’s Jammy Dodgers!

On January 25, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

Recently, we were invited by our friend Barry to guest on an edition of SORTED – The UK’s most subscribed cooking channel. If you haven’t discovered it yet, I would certainly recommend you check it out: http://www.youtube.com/sortedfood.

Anyway, we went along and made JAMMY DODGERS, in honour of our short film JAM. It was great fun! We actually used STEPHEN FRY’S jam to fill the ‘dodgers’, so I guess it would be fair to say that they do, in fact, belong to him. However, they are now all in our respective stomachs and not in his… Sorry Stephen :S

Here is the Jammy Dodgers edition of Sorted! Enjoy! (I urge you to go on their channel and check out their other stuff).

All of it…

On January 18, 2011, in Blog, by Adrian

Hello Everyone!

Okay, so firstly to apologize for the lack of posts over the past few months. All I can say is that I assure you, this is not because we haven’t been doing anything! On the contrary… we’ve been up to quite a lot!

For the past few months we’ve been coordinating and exploring different routes for the production of “Clovis Dardentor”. We’ve been networking all over the place and have been meeting producers, agents, actors and production companies both in the UK and in the USA in order to piece together every element of the film. I guess it would be fair to say that our attention has been almost exclusively given to the movie, and not to the website. Sorry about that.

Clovis Dardentor…

Though we have yet to shoot a frame, the film is coming along well. We’re still in development, trying to get things just right. We continue to work on the new script which will be used to pitch to production companies. We have quite a few leads there, so we’re very excited! The loyal and hugely talented writer of the “Clovis Dardentor” screenplay is, of course, the go-to-girl when the script is concerned, so we met with her and her agent just before Christmas to discuss exactly what direction we all want the film to go in. This was, perhaps, the best discussion we have ever had during the course of the entire project. Everyone agreed. Everyone was excited. We all knew what we had to do.

It is quite a major re-write. The entire tone of the film is changing. When trying to adapt the original novel into a screenplay, we accidently left out the most valuable component of all; Jules Verne. Now he’s back and the treatment just works! By going back to Jules, we’re actually (automatically) making the film more attractive to an American audience… which will open up a whole new book of possibitlies when trying to attach a studio/production company. We’re VERY excited about our prospects!

So that’s what we have been doing Clovis-wise. But what are we doing right now? Right this second? Well, soon we will meet up with Lizzie again (the writer) and initiate the new draft. Then Lizzie will go away for a month (perhaps) and return with something amazing. Once myself, Toby, Ben and Lizzie have that script in our hands – the possibilites are endless. We will be in a much better position than we ever were.

Other Bits and Bobs…

We’ve been doing as much as we can both ‘buyacredit’ and ‘non-buyacredit’, individually and together, in order to get our proverbial feet in that big proverbial door. We’ve been writing, producing – all manner of things! (Warning: The following sentence may contain a horrendous name-drop) Kevin Spacey told us to do as much as we can RIGHT NOW. He literally said ‘Do everything. Don’t sleep. Do everything!’ So, in fear of having our heads cut off and put into boxes, we’ve been doing just that.

Movies and Awards and Movies…

As film buffs, this time of year is perhaps our FAVORITE; the awards season.

I was very happy to see Colin Firth win the Golden Globe for best actor the other night. He thoroughly deserved it. “The King’s Speech” for me, was just perfect. If only I could make something like that one day. We never actually tried to get Colin Firth on board. I fear that now he might be a little bit too busy!!! I really hope he wins the Oscar.

Last year we saw the Academy Awards from LA which was a fantastic experience! Hopefully we’ll be returning soon. I’ll never forget the look on the face of our office landlord when he saw what he thought was a real Oscar on our desk. It was a week after of the awards and he knew we had only just come back from LA. Unfortunately, in reality, it was just a plastic Oscar we bought for a friend.

Bah! One day – maybe – perhaps – who knows?

Well – I guess that is all. Thank you for reading. I hope you’re a little more informed now. It is a new year, and very soon, we’ll have (quite literally) a new Clovis Dardentor to pitch to every producer and studio going. As ever, our excitement is almost illegal.

Speak soon.