TEN YEARS ON: ROBOT OVERLORDS. A PINEWOOD TEST SCREENING

Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been looking back at my diaries from ten years ago, during the making of Robot Overlords. Some of the diary entries you’ll see are the ones featured in the back of the film’s novelisation (and if you want a signed and dedicated copy of the paperback, then please step this way and click here). 

It’s been a while since the last update, and a few key events occurred, not least that I returned to work at Orion. It was kind of inevitable and it made me a little sad to have to rely on the day job, but this is a fact of life for most professional writers (it’s nigh on impossible to pay the bills on a writers’ income) and I kept writing on my commute which kept me sane for the next few years till I was made redundant.

We’d also had a screening for financiers which was incident-free, Mick Audsley (legendary editor who had worked with the likes of Terry Gilliam and Stephen Frears) came on board as a fresh pair of eyes to oversee the edit leading to lots of tinkering with the opening. And I was getting meetings with the likes of Aardman for a writing gig on a movie called Germs (still unmade at the time of writing), I had a terrible toothache over Christmas, my son broke his ankle (though he’s broken more bones than Jackie Chan), and Jon and I started tinkering with ideas for a Robot Overlords sequel. But one of my favourite memories of the post-production period of the film was this screening at Pinewood Studios with a bunch of kids. Abdi, if you’re out there somewhere do please get in touch. You made my evening that night!

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 – Pinewood Studio

Quite a packed day. Here are the highlights:

Got a positive rejection from Aardman. They felt my take on Germs was too young. I feel that any story featuring germs as the main characters is going to appeal to a young audience, so I’m not sure they’re on the right track. They said they were looking for The Dirty Dozen via Star Wars… I told them if he wants that we should write that! And I’m the man to do it. We’ll see…

Another test screening, but this time in screen 7 at Pinewood studios. More kids this time, maybe 60+.

Matt and I were sat behind an 11-year-old boy called Abdi… Well, I wish we could clone him. He was hooked from minute one. I know because he talked all the way through the film, but it was handy barometer of when he was engaged and when not. My favourite moment was when Nathan points the shotgun at Mr Smythe and this kid shouts, ‘SHOOT HIM!’. Matt and I punched the air at that point. At the end Abdi turned to his teacher sitting behind him, ‘That was awesome!’ He told Jon that he was the best director ever and we signed autographs for him and his friends. Great to see that more girls seemed to like it this time, too.

Afterwards there was a focus group of about 20 kids. By and large the 11-14 year olds loved it, but the title got a thumbs-down. Hugo perked up like a meerkat when he heard this… I fear a title change is on the cards. The word that gave them a problem was ‘robot’. The older kids felt it was too childish and off-putting. One 16-year-old said he thought the film was much better than he thought it would be because he was down on the title. We’ll wait to see what the other cards say, but there’s a feeling of inevitability about this.

Jon and I felt the younger kids’ answers were being influenced by the attitude of the older ones, who were very down on it overall. There was fun moment when they realised that Jon was sitting behind them, hearing all their comments. They were mortified, apologetic, and bugging him for advice on how to make it in the movies.

But, overall, a very positive screening, The new edit is good – rattles along – and everyone feels good about the progress Jon and Matt have made since the last screening. Onwards and upwards!

Friday 24th January, 2014

Got the forms back from the screening. Very positive. Lots of “awesome”, though one of my favourite comments was a complaint, “If you’re going to blow people up, use blood!”

The number-crunching analysis should be with us on Monday.

As you can see there were some doubts about the title. Not noted in my diary for some reason is that the producers had been having doubts about the title for some time. In particular the word “Our”. They were worried that people either wouldn’t get the reference, or the word “Our” would create pronunciation issues at the box office. Yes. Really.

Monday 27th January, 2014

After a long weekend of panicky emails between producers about a new title for Our Robot Overlords (including Cyber-Lords, Robo Warrior, iDrone, and, my favourite, Alien Scrapers*) we finally went for…

… drum roll…

… can you bear the tension…?

… ROBOT OVERLORDS.

In the next thrilling instalment… we discuss whether or not we need reshoots or pickups for the movie! Subscribe and don’t miss out.