I am sharing this rare interview with Stuart and Mark that I recorded after a screening of EXAM, a cracking British thriller set in one room. Mark, who died a few days ago, was a very close friend and also the editor of EXAM. I just wanted to share this footage as so little exists […]
In the early part of 1990, I found myself directing my first feature film at the age of 20. Standing in a freezing forest in Wales in the early hours of a February morning, I recall the convoy of trucks thundering up the side of the mountain. It evoked the opening shot from the little […]
When I reflect on any significant relationship in my life, that person has often gifted me something. Mark Talbot-Butler, who I just found out died last night, gave me the gift of rigorously high standards. Mark was best known for being a film editor, something I experienced first hand with him more than once. I […]
In the run up to Christmas, we ran a children’s book challenge to write one of twenty five short stories that we would then publish in a book, and also ask Santa to read! One for every night in December. We have uploaded then all now to watch here. Huge thanks to all the writers, […]
You can now get the book on Amazon HERE. As ever, debate among the judges was heated, but we finally arrived at a list! Please do leave a comment on this post, and if you are not on the list, keep going, it’s an insane job to judge art. We may also sneak some bonus […]
Deadline Dec 6th midnight GMT // 1,000 Words or fewer ‘Twisted 50: The Ghosts of Christmas’ is a collection of winter spine tinglers, fifty stories of the paranormal, fifty writers… fifty slices of terror. This special volume will be published on December 16th, just in time for that extra special gift this season… Can you […]
You can now get the book on Amazon HERE. Wow, well that was a whirlwind! We had 230 stories submitted to this initiative and each one was read by four experienced readers before selecting the 25 to go into the book. I plan to share an analysis of the experience in the coming days so […]
I just found out that Richie Brown, one of our writers from Create50, has sadly died. Richie was a prolific writer for Create50 and a huge supporter, both publically, and behind the scenes. A handful of writers really committed to elevating the whole Twisted50 experience for everyone, and Richie was one of them. During the […]
There are so many facets to direction, but Chris McQuarrie is bang on here… Lens, Light and Location. It’s just part of this killer interview he did with Chris Lockhart which is worth the watch. But this part REALLY resonated with so many lessons I have learned the hard way. Lens, Light and Location. Of […]
SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED This Christmas I am inviting you to write a bedtime story for children. Are you in? We want to create some magic for families around the world and get all of us… imagining, dreaming, creating, writing, rewriting, peer reviewing… and all on a short timescale and low word count. We will select […]
Maureen Hascoet de Cuestas is an extraordinary woman. I have known her for fifteen years now, we have worked together on many events. We have continued to support each other whenever things got tough. Often we needed just a safe place to talk and find solutions to what often felt like impossible challenges. Maureen […]
I just head that my old friend and filmmaker Johnny Kevorkian has died. I met Johnny when he worked on our first film, The Runner, in the spring of 1990. The production was crazy wild, we had so little idea what the hell we were doing! Johnny was around 16 and became the grip, in […]
By Sebastian Solberg The question I get asked most by aspiring filmmakers is ‘What camera should I buy?”. I hear this constantly. and the amount of times that not having the ‘right’ equipment has stopped someone from bringing their film idea to life is crazy! The truth is, to make great films, you don’t have […]
https://vimeo.com/383492750 Next Saturday I am hosting a special screening of my debut feature film ‘I Am The Prize’ along with in depth discussion on how I did it and how you can to. So… Making a micro-budget comedy feature film in 21 days is nothing if not educational. Here are my top 7 learnings: 1. […]
Stop what you are doing. Switch off Facebook and Twitter. Turn off your phone. And play… We also this video converted into a podcast below for those on the move. Onwards and upwards! Chris Jones My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com My Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChrisJonesFilmmaker My Twitter @LivingSpiritPix Sign up to my mailing list for updates on events, books […]
Filmmaking is a team effort… but it also takes individual leadership, hustle, passion, vision, tenacity, grit and perhaps pathological optimism. Most filmmakers think they have. Not all do. But Simon Cox does. Simon spent nearly two decades making his passion project, a movie postcard back to the kid inside him, the one who fell in […]
** SPOILER FREE ** I rather loved Joker. The design. The universe. The cinematography. The story arc. The performance. My god the performance. The soundscape and music score. Love the music by Hildur Guðnadóttir. LOVE (one track below). So, some story observations that make it fascinating for me. The Joker is in almost EVERY scene […]
When parents at the school gates first started talking about the charity fire walk that was coming up later in the month, I didn’t think too much about it. It seemed like a great idea, but that’s as far as it went. I thought it would be a nice idea to go along as a […]
It all seemed like a good idea at the time. A firewalk to raise money for our school. What I didn’t know at the time was just how far and deep I would have to reach inside to achieve it. Fire kisses. That’s what they’re called… tiny little marks, where the red hot embers made […]
It’s an astonishing story so brilliantly and chillingly written by Craig Mazin. The pace, the casting, the direction, the design, the cinematography ALL work in concert to create this unforgettable experience. But the soundtrack, the music score and the fusion it creates with the soundscape, stand out for me. Immediately evocative, the score by Hildur […]
Film insurance is always a quesiton I get asked about – how muhc, where from, what kind of cover… So I asked the lovely people at Performance Media and Film a few basic questions for indie filmmakers. Q – What are the different types of insurance needed for low budget films? A – You can […]
The Numbers is a supernatural thriller inspired in part by TV shows from the 1970s such as Tales of the Unexpected, and the Amicus and Hammer films of the 1960s and 1970s. It originally started life as a short film script, but as I was doing a re-write, I thought that I could add at […]
Martin Gooch is a VERY old friend of mine, and his latest SciFi movie is premiering in London as part of SciFi London. He will be there to answer questions and you can get tickets HERE. I asked him to share his thoughts on making low budget SciFi as his experience and wisdom is gold […]
I love this video essay by Alex Ball with long term, John Carpenter collaborator Alan Howarth. It harks back to a time when innovation was profoundly inventive and deeply analogue, even though of course the score is ‘digital’. John Carpenter was a massive influence for me as a kid and while I was making Zombie […]
One extraordinary man fights for lives, reform and justice in the most forgotten jails in the world and I want to help. Will you help too? LINK HERE This is the cause we have chosen got Talent Campus 5.0 and it’s very personal to one specific screenwriter in our community. Imagine you had a daughter, […]
