5180/18100
I had planned to more or less leave everyone to it for the second day of filming. It’s a weird balance as the writer/creator of a project, because you don’t want to end up hanging around too much and interfering, but you also are nervous to leave your new baby with other people. Then again having a looming, socially awkward, nerdy, judgemental figure in the background all the time can be off-putting for everyone else. Sometimes writers are banned from the set by directors, which I think is a bit harsh, but in this case everyone has been very welcoming and keen to hear what I have to say. Ultimately though, the director is now in control and luckily he seems to understand the show and what it’s trying to achieve. Well, let’s hope so, otherwise that’s my career fucked again!
I thought I would go in for lunch, as they weren’t filming too far away from me, but as it turned out I had slept really badly, the cold I had picked up from my stupid daughter had got worst and unsurprisingly after a somewhat packed week or two I was wiped out. I made the undoubtedly correct decision to use the day to recuperate, before pressing on with the last episode of Relativity, the final script for AIOTM, writing four more filmed sketches for the series and starting my tour on Thursday. It’s bizarre that I am looking forward to getting out on the road because it will be comparatively less hassle.
So I wasn’t really in a fit state for anything. I half-watched some TV and played some computer games, felt a bit scared about the state of the world and the success of Trump and his team in creating so much crap that it’s hard for people to focus on the really ominous things he’s doing at the centre of his government and eroding hard-won freedoms. Will America roll over for him? As much as part of me hopes that the juggernaut rolls on so I can say, “I told you so†to the charred radioactive remains of the people who are supporting him on Twitter, I hope someone can stop him. But it’s most likely to be himself, finally overstepping some line - but given the lines that he’s stepped over and then paid Russian prostitutes to piss on, what line will that be?
Leaving the EU to shack up with this maniac instead seems like a crazy move from every angle, especially given his avowed self-interest. It’s America First, UK Sloppy Seconds. Put that on your placard, protestors.
And flicking through Netflix I chanced across the first episode of He-Man, Masters of the Universe. For a writer putting together a couple of sitcoms it is always fun to check out how a show began and I have to say He-Man goes straight into it without much need for preamble, assuming that the opening titles do the job (very much like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the first episode, complete with full title song, including the bit on the plane, which I watched a couple of weeks ago). Despite my love of Skeletor jokes, I don’t think I really watched much of this show first time round (it came out in 1983 so I was 16 and I’d like to say that should prove it - but I was watching kids’ TV then rather than smoking, taking drugs or having sex). It’s a bold premise and it’s pretty fucking trippy. The thing that had certainly escaped me was that although He-Man clearly lives in some heavily medieval fantasy realm, they also have spaceships and more jarringly a sort of Scooby Doo like mini-van that they travel around in. That one surprised me. He Man has a double identity as he is also Prince Adam, though he looks exactly the same in each incarnation (though his voice goes echoey when he’s He-Man) and he also has a big stripy pink cat, but no one realises and in this episode, once it’s established that Adam is safe elsewhere, no one even considers going to pick him up when they leave the planet with He-Man.
But it’s action-packed and fun (though He-Man’s witty quips usually just rely on describing the texture of someone’s head - fur-face or bonehead - and doesn’t make a lick of sense and involves a morally corrupt talking comet, but more work has gone into it than strictly necessary for what is essentially a toy commercial and it’s pretty imaginative and just in case you didn’t get the message of the episode it is explained by Man-at-arms at the end (you shouldn’t give up just because something went wrong for you once - I hear you Man-at-arms, I hear you).
It was an enjoyable close to a nothingy and annoying day and I got word through that filming had gone well. If only Man-at-arms had been there for me when I was struggling and failing to get writing commissions. I mean, I worked out the whole keep trying thing on my own, but it would have been nice to have had the reassurance from a moustachioed and weirdly named cartoon character whose role and purpose isn’t clearly defined.
A few of the tour shows are now sold out (Sutton Coldfield, Bristol, Selby, Fareham and Edinburgh all full) with Newcastle, Chorley, Colchester and Belfast all getting close. And the gigs in London on February 16-18th are also selling well.
So book ahead if you want to see the show. Though I reckon you'll be OK to turn up on the door at Margate, Nottingham (actually one of the biggest sellers, but a very big venue) and Barnards Castle!
Do spread the word about the show to anyone you think might be interested. It's literally the best that I can do.
