J J Abrams talks about his mystery box.

Watched this a while back and got very excited as I loved magic as a kid and for a short while was a junior member of the Medway Magical Society. I connected with a lot what he was saying and found it very inspirational depite not being that familiar with his TV work. Then he directed Star Trek and quickly became my top new favourite director. Now he has teamed up with Steven Spielberg with Super 8, a film that pays homage to Spielberg's classic work of the late seventies and early eighties. I just hope I won't be disappointed. Watch his talk below and see what you think.

J.J. Abrams traces his love for the unseen mystery –- a passion that’s evident in his films and TV shows, including Cloverfield, Lost and Alias -- back to its magical beginnings.

The best book about storytelling I have ever read - FACT!

I am terrible at reading at the best of times so when this book arrived from amazon and I saw the tiny font size and thickness of the book I never thought I'd ever finish it, however to my surprise I could not put it down. By the end of it I felt I had gone on a spiritual journey of enlightenment. Not only had it educated me in the many important works of storytelling throughout the ages but it also showed me how fundementally important storytelling is to the human race and that without it we would not survive. I insist that anyone that is serious about telling stories in whatever form MUST read this book!

"An enormous piece of work, not really one book at all but at least three... nothing less than the story of all stories." Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye

"This is a truly important book, an accolade often bestowed and rarely deserved in our modern age." Dame Beryl Bainbridge

"This is literally an incomparable book, because there is nothing to compare it with. It goes to the heart of man's cultural evolution through the stories we have told since storytelling began. It illuminates our nature, our beliefs and our collective emotions by shining a bright light on them from a completely new angle. Original, profound, fascinating - and on top of it all, a really good read." Sir Antony Jay, co-author of Yes, Minister

3-D family/fantasy short gets £20,000 Screen South funding

The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble is a new short film idea that I came up with off the back of a filmmaking summer school workshop I ran last year. It was inspired by my impending fatherhood having suddenly realised that although we wanted a girl, we could quite easily have a boy. I wrote the character of Henry Bramble based on the kind of boy I imagined we would have. As it turned out we had a baby girl, so I guess this story is now dedicated to the son I never had.

I developed the script over four weeks while working as an usher at The Maidstone Crown Court. There is so much waiting around in court due to legal arguments that I could get at least a couple of hours writing in a day. When I finished I let a few film people read it and by their feedback I quickly realised I had come up with another brilliant short film idea (the other being The Happiness Thief), that could potentially put me back on the map in terms of my directing career. However I was a little stumped as to how to get it made in a recession, especially as it was so ambitious and required a completely CGI character.

I knew pretty much all the shorts funding had stopped due to the the closure of The UK Film Council, but I sent the script to Screen South anyway, in the hope they may know of a shorts scheme I was unaware of. To my utter surprise they told me they had plans for a new Innovative Shorts scheme that would be much bigger than their largest Digital Shorts award.  The scheme sounded perfect for an ambitious 3D short and so I applied as soon as the applications appeared online.

To my relief The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble was one of four projects chosen to be awarded £20,000. Filming will take place over the Summer with VERL in Dundee undertaking the visual effects.

A new beginning

Well what can I say, I've been away from this blog for a long time having only just figured out how to set up an account on Blogger. Now it is so much easier! Anyway a lot has happened in the two and a bit years since my last blog entry, so I better fill you all in.

Progress with Blackout seemed to take a step backwards after my announcement that Jessica Hynes was coming on board. What was supposed to be the final draft in June 2009 proved to be problematic as I struggled to please Ipso Facto Films while still trying to hold on to the original concept I had for the film. In the end we over-developed having a far too complicated backstory with two main stories that nobody knew which to favour. The project was eventually shelved halfway through a new treatment back in September 2009.


Blackout was originally supposed to be a simple three character story and so I wanting to go back to writing a much simpler story. Using the original 1970 suspense thriller And Soon The Darkness as a template, I built a new mystery thriller called Missing set within the same world I had created for Blackout (the bleak remote wind swept Island of Sheppey). Things started to feel like they were moving forward again when Ipso Facto hired a top design company to work on a new poster and marketing pack but by now the recession was at its peak and we had little interest.


I wrote a second draft with Ipso but began to have difficulties with conflicting notes and ideas that made a third draft impossible. With the option ending in April 2010, Ipso kindly agreed to return the rights to me so that I could look for a new home for Missing. My producer Bex Hopkins also stood down as she is having a baby this Summer and naturally wanted to have some time off from work. Since then I have developed a new draft with the help of a brilliant script editor Ludo Smolski and I am hopeful that a new producer will identify with the project and finally push it forward into production.

As for Blackout, I am keen to go back and re-write the version set in the Ardennes in Belgium and re-launch it sometime in the future.

Jessica Hynes attached to Blackout!

I am very excited to announce that the brilliant Jessica Hynes has agreed to play the female lead (Detective Inspector Kate Hext) in our dark gritty thriller Blackout. As both an incredibly talented writer and performer, Jessica Hynes has worked prolifically in television, film and theatre. 

After the instant success of 'Spaced' that she co-wrote and starred in with Simon Pegg, Jessica moved on to work in films, winning two British Comedy Awards. She was then nominated for an Olivier Award for her work in the playThe Night Heron in 2001 and was also nominated for a Best Actress BAFTA Award for the film Tomorrow La Scala.

In 2008 she brilliantly portrayed a heavily religious mother in the coming of age British comedy drama Son Of Rambow and recently appeared in London's Old Vic production of Alan Ayckbourn's comic trilogy, The Norman Conquests, that will play Broadway in the fall.

New Feature Film In Development

Accepted the offer to help re-write and direct a new feature length thriller fromIpso Facto Films called Torn, set between the North East of England and Norway. I will be working alongside the original north-east based writer Ian Dowson.

Blackout Gets Back On Track

Christine Alderson, head of Ipso Facto Films and Moxie Makers, has offered to option Blackout through Ipso Facto Films. Filming is expected to start Autumn 2009.

Posted 11/12/2008 at 12.18 by Derek

You lost today kid, but it doesn't mean you have to like it!

Just wanted to say a big thank you to all those fantastic people who believed in and supported Blackout over the last nine months of this amazing competition. Despite coming an extremely close second, we had a really positive response from the industry and are both really proud of what we have achieved. It is by no means the end, in fact it is actually just the beginning, so thank you again for all the votes and generous support. We promise to continue our efforts in 2009 to make Blackout a reality!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank the Moxie Maker team for creating this brilliant scheme. I know they have all worked their cute arses off all year and so really appreciate the 24 hour advise, support and mentoring that has made Blackout such an attractive and achievable project.

Thank you all!

Derek Boyes & Bex Hopkins

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Fantastic Casting News!

I am very proud and excited to announce that the incredibly talented Martin Compston is attached to play the lead role in our dark gritty thriller Blackout. Martin said about the script:

"I read Blackout last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was refreshing to read a dark indie that was exciting and clever"

He first appeared on our cinema screens in 2002 as Liam, the lead in Ken Loach's award winning film Sweet Sixteen, having been discovered at a school audition. His subsequent film career was comparatively low key as he wanted to "serve his apprenticeship" with a regular role in the BBC drama serial Monarch of the Glen. His hard work has paid off with impressive performances in Red Road(2007), A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints (2006) and the soon to released Ipso Facto film Souled Out (2009).

Watch the new BLACKOUT trailer and vote with confidence!

On behalf of Bex Hopkins (producer), Tarn Willers (sound recordist), Richard Chester (composer) and the rest of the cast and crew who helped us, I am very proud to present this promotional teaser trailer for Blackout. I hope this will give you a thrilling taster of what's to come and also give you the confidence to vote for Blackout.

This was a no-budget production shot on a very cold wet and windy Sunday in November, using mostly local volunteers with no filmmaking experience, so I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who helped out and supported us.

Please crank up your speakers, click your desired viewing size, sit back and enjoy! HIGH QUALITY VERSION 

PLEASE NOTE YOU WILL NEED THE LATEST QUICKTIME INSTALLED TO VIEW TRAILER! If you don't have it click here or watch the YouTube version below.

Writer and director - Derek Boyes
Producer - Bex Hopkins
Camera - Anka Bogacz
Sound - Tarn Willers
Make-up - Rebecca Kempton
Sound Design - Dave Hunt
Music - Richard Chester
Picture Grade - Doug Shannon
Production Assistants - Hannah Kay and Lucinda Sen
Land Rover Driver - James Kay

CAST
Gary - Elliot Henderson-Boyle
Dead Girl - Charlie Farge
Policemen - Darren Reeves and Ollie Ward
Farmer - Alan McEntee