4th April 2007

The main shoot is two days away and I’m struggling. Struggling badly. I’ve concentrated so much on the producing that I haven’t got round to the basics of making the film. I haven’t finished the storyboards and I don’t even know where my script is…

Mike has been brilliant producing the call sheets but the more I look at the schedule, the more intimidating it looks. I must have been off my chump to ditch my original idea for a film. It had one main character, a handful of supporting cast and a local shoot. This is a fucking epic!

We’ll be making a short film every day and need just one day of bad weather and we’re fucked. The forecast says we’ll get at least four days of rain with the possibility of snow later in the week.

Ray rings me and suggests we leave with the van at 4am. We have to pick the stunt equipment up, get to Hanwell for the props, pick up our sound recordist Curzio in West London then pick Lee up from Croydon before heading off to Bentwaters.

The last time the van did over 50 miles was three years ago when it was being towed by Green Flag.

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3rd February 2007

Read Through - West London

Another one of those days that makes the trauma of independent filmmaking worthwhile.

The principle cast meet for the first time. Bruce, who we’ve now cast as Marky, can’t make the read through but the rest of the guys gel and the group dynamic shines through immediately. It never ceases to amaze me how a script suddenly comes alive at read throughs and how actors breathe life into their characters.

I show the footage of the Bentwaters locations to the cast and they’re all blown away and excited about the project so I figure it’s a good time to break the news that our potential backers weren’t going to take any part in the project as SNOTD was too “commercial”. When asked how the film was going to be funded I tell them that Ray is going to sell his body on the streets of Letchworth. This seems to pacify them and they all trot off home with happy smiles and a bag of doughnuts from Sainsburys.

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Hot on the heels of my post last week about vampire dating, I’ve found another new site which I thought the fans of Stag Night of the Dead would appreciate.

Are you a slow moving zombie looking for an immobile zombie with all limbs intact who is somewhat rotten? If so then you need to try ZombieHarmony, the new dating site for people zombies just like you. Let’s face it, after an endless zombie rampage, there’s nothing better than coming home and indulging in a spot of zombie love. Especially with someone who can’t run away from you.

ZombieHarmony.com - because the apocalypse doesn’t have to be lonely.

So it was a Friday night and I found myself doing some research for a future project (oh God…the rumours are going to start again) and I was on the brilliant Monstrous.com site when I saw the following Google AdSense ad.

I don’t know about you but the idea of dating a vampire is…well…just a little bit creepy. Now I’ve got nothing against a little bit of slap and tickle and maybe a spot of earlobe nibbling and what have you but I draw the line at having my body drained of blood just for a shag.

To quote Marky from the film :

Oh, so what? You think we should’ve let her chew through our major arteries just cuz she had nice tits, do you?

Rumours, eh? Funny how they start. One minute there’s no mention of a London premiere for the new comedy zombie movie Stag Night of the Dead and then next - blam - all over t’Internet like a rash. How do these rumours start, eh?

I mean it’s not as if the film is finished yet so why people would mention a Halloween screening in a London cinema is beyond me.

Halloween. October 31st. The night ghosts and ghouls walk the Earth. I mean, what possible connection could there be with a zombie film?

Anyway I don’t want to add fuel to the fire about this worldwide premiere taking place in London October 31st 2008. No. That’s the last thing I’d like to do. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to make it anyway as I already have something marked in my diary for that day. In big red letters.