As you will see if you scroll through the recent entries in this blog, outside influences have been pushing my thoughts towards the thorny issues of duration in story telling. Though inspired by conversations with other people, I’m probably especially aware of it because of the script that my brother and I are currently engaged with. As the keenest readers will know, we have been writing a feature length version of our award winning cinema extreme film “Hallo Panda”.

When it first came to us we saw the idea as a feature length story, simple and not epic, but never the less something that had enough scope to entertain an audience for an hour and a half. We were approached by one of the organisers of Cinema Extreme and asked to submit an idea that felt bigger than a short, felt like it could be a feature film and so our thoughts naturally turned to Panda because it had the scope of a feature but the underlying story was simple enough that we felt we might be able to get away with condensing it into a shorter space.

In the end this didn’t really work for us. I’m delighted to say that the film has found fans, even its irregular 3am screenings on Channel 4 have been enough to encourage an unofficial fan site on facebook not to mention a regular stream of people finding Chris and me through the internet as part of a quest to prove that they hadn’t dreamt the whole thing. However, as great as it feels that other people love our film, the honest truth is that Chris and I still have unfinished business in the Panda enclosure.

There is a tired maxim about the mistakes of translating a short into a feature but whether you think we’re barking up the tree or are just interested to see how we’re approaching the task of enlarging without padding, tomorrow you have your first chance.

We are over the moon that a section of our first draft has been selected for the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writer’s Forum and will be performed live at BAFTA from 6.30pm tomorrow. Tickets are five pounds and are available at the end of this link: http://www.bafta.org/public-calendar-event.html?btype=day&Gday=20091130000000

The event will be chaired by the brilliant Gillies MacKinnon and two other projects will be showcased alongside ours. All three are works in progress and it’s a rare privilege to be able to share something at such an early stage so I’m excited and terrified in roughly measure and both Chris and I would be really grateful for anyone who can come down and give us some thoughts on what they hear.

More information…

Rocliffe – http://www.rocliffe.com
Rocliffe at BAFTA – http://www.bafta.org/whats-on/bafta-rocliffe-new-writing-forum,380,BA.html
Our Event – http://www.bafta.org/public-calendar-event.html?btype=day&Gday=20091130000000
Hallo Panda Short Film – http://www.charlieproductions.co.uk/films/hallopanda/index.asp
Hallo Panda Fanpage - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hallo-Panda/160488370696?ref=search&sid=598966706.4224794191..1