Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been a guest on the Authorized podcast quite a few times. I love Andrew, Hannah and the gang and have nothing but respect for the passion and literary rigour they bring to the podcast with their love of film novelisations. So to have an entire episode dedicated to the Robot Overlords novelisation was a real honour, especially as the film celebrates ten years since its premiere at the London Film Festival.
What’s unusual about this episode is that I’m not in it for the first couple of hours (yes, it’s nearly three hours long!). Understandably, they wanted to discuss the book without the author simpering in the corner, but they also brought on my old chum Paddy Eason, the VFX supervisor on the film to give an insider’s view to the making of the film. They say lots of very nice things about the book, which is going to make me completely unbearable for a few days at least, and they reveal connections to Psycho, Mad Max, Planet of the Apes and Pixar’s Cars. Do please enjoy…
And if you fancy reading the book, you can get signed copies of the paperback from me here…
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).
This was a magical day. to fully appreciate what I’m going on about here, I urge you to see the 1999 Frank Oz, Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy movie Bowfinger. Not only is it a wonderfully funny film about making movies, but it captures that magical moment when you see that thing you wrote up on a big screen with an audience for the first time…
Wednesday 25th June – BFI Southbank, London
Had my CHUBBY RAIN moment tonight.
At the end of the movie BOWFINGER, Steve Martin’s character — a deluded and naive filmmaker (can’t imagine why I relate to him?) — gets to see his finished film CHUBBY RAIN with an audience. And it’s a magical moment as he hears the laughter and applause. Yeah, we’ve had test screenings, but never with a completed film, and always with an audience primed to give us notes. These guys were here just to enjoy themselves.
The preparation for this night has made me a nervous wreck. The plan was to invite as many distributors as possible, then surround them with children and hope that the good buzz heightens the film and gets us a distribution deal. But it’s NFT1 at the BFI on the South Bank… 450 seats to fill!
So we invited everyone we knew. I had about 60 people coming, including family and folk from Orion. But Harry had been inviting coachloads of kids and suddenly we were massively oversubscribed. So most of my guys were cut… then they weren’t (after some cancellations)… then they were again (more kids!).
I’ve been told that there will be more screenings for those who were cut soon.
I bumped into Jon as I came down the steps from Waterloo Bridge. I chatted with him, his dad (who’s in the film!), Piers and Jon’s agent Marc.
Inside, Tim and Hugo were handing out bags of sweets to the kids as they came into the foyer. I stepped inside to find the place pretty crammed already. I managed to find a few familiar faces (or they found me), and then Emily arrived with her Film Media Academy class from school. After a brief introduction from Jon, Ella and Milo the lights went down, there were some excited whoops and then the only noise as the lights went down was the hissing rustle of about three hundred bags of sweets being rummaged in.
90 minutes later…
The dug it. Lots of laughs and gasps, a big cheer when Smythe gets vaporised, a very big ‘Eww!’ as Alex moved in to kiss Sean, and a massive round of applause at the end.
Chubby Rain.
There was a mum with her two kids behind me who both declared it to be ‘Well sick!” and said they would definitely recommend it to their friends.
Ella was mobbed by the FMA girls in the foyer (Milo, who had come with his class from school, managed to get away!), and everyone was effusive in their praise. Piers reported that all the distributors that he managed to nab on the way out made positive comments, so it’s looking good.
Now it’s a waiting game. Will any of them bite?
Hung around afterwards with Jon talking sequel ideas.
A few days later…
Friday 27th June, 2014
Been getting some lovely comments from friends and colleagues and everyone genuinely seems to have enjoyed the film. Then Jon sent me a paragraph from Damon Wise of Empire Magazine. He’d had a private screening a few weeks backs for the article he’s writing on the film. He said…
“Rooted in Hollywood’s joyously anarchic young-adult adventure films of the ’80s, Robot Overlords combines intense cutting-edge VFX spectacle with warm, fuzzy British humour to create a unique futuristic throwback that fuses the digital fantasy of Transformers-era mayhem with the heartfelt analogue pleasures of The Railway Children. It is the stuff of daydreams and nightmares, tears and laughter, hopes and fears – an intimate blockbuster with a keen sense of home.”
Well, you can stick a fork in me. I’m done.
And of all the films I thought we’d be compared to, THE RAILWAY CHILDREN would never have even made the top hundred, but a quote like this certainly can’t hurt any talks with potential distributors.
That’s the last entry from the novelisation of Robot Overlords. We’ve caught up! In the days following this, we apparently had distribution interest from some big names, but in the end no one bit. A big problem is that we’d made a film for 11-year-old boys, which is one of the toughest demographics to market to, especially back then. It would have meant spending millions on TV ads, transport ads etc, and no one was willing to risk that kind of money. I also learned that an influential industry person I thought was a friend stood outside the BFI screening and told anyone who would listen that the film didn’t make sense (gee, thanks, REDACTED!)…
Sadly, the film never really got the release it deserved. We did well on DVD (remember them!?), topping a few charts, but it never really made any impact and any talk of a sequel withered away. There was some serious talk of a TV series, but that came to nothing. I look back on Robot Overlords with a lot of pride and I still get nice comments at comic cons and the like from people who enjoyed it. Jon and I talk about what we might have done differently, and we did look into getting the TV rights back a few years ago, but it’s so tangled now that we couldn’t get them back. A shame, but I learned so much from the experience, not least to never give up. Onwards, upwards, keep writing!
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).
There were many magical moments during the making of Robot Overlords, but the recording of the score at AIR studios is one that still lingers ten years on. For a start… AIR studios! George Martin’s palace of sound. Hallowed ground and a genuine thrill just to be there. And the day there came hot on the heels of another screening at Pinewood the night before. There was a moment when Jon (Wright, director) and Matt (Platts-Mills, editor) were strolling through Pinewood, and it was quiet and dark and it felt like we owned the place, and I had one of those little out-of-body moments where it felt like I was in a dream. The screening had been to see the latest edit, with the pick-ups from the previous Pinewood shoot and some almost-finished VFX etc. It’s hard to describe just how floaty I felt in that short walk. All I can say to anyone lucky enough to have a moment like this is to just soak it in. Take a mental Polaroid and treasure it forever.
Anyway, back to AIR studios…
Wednesday 16th April – AIR Studios
An incredible day, watching and listening to the recording of the score for Robots at AIR Studios in Hampstead. Situated in Lyndhurst Hall, an old mission house designed by Alfred Waterhouse (who also designed the Natural History Museum), the studios aren’t as big or as famous as Abbey Road perhaps, but the sound in that hall is incredible.
When I arrived at 9.30 most of the musicians were assembling and getting ready. I found Paddy in the studio cafe and we made our way to the sound-proofed control room room. Christian Henson (composer) and his team were raring to go. He gave a short introduction, explaining that we only had the budget for one day of recording, and there was lots to do, and then they were off.
That was when my jaw dropped.
The score is amazing.
I’d had a taste of it last night at the Pinewood screening, but it was Christian’s demo, recorded with synths and samples. It was great and it gave the film a whole new feel. But nothing beats the English Session Orchestra going at full pelt.
As they rattled through cue after cue, we watched the scenes on the monitors, each one of them elevated to another level by the soaring music.
Jon arrived about 10.30ish and him, me, Paddy and Piers sat looking on with silly grins on our faces.
We discovered that the musicians hadn’t had any rehearsals. They were all sight-reading the music and often nailing it on the first take, all playing in time to a click track synchronised with a timecode on the screen. It certainly put my amateur fumblings on the guitar into perspective.
The main orchestra played from 10 till 1, then after lunch it was reduced to a smaller group of strings who played overdubs that made the orchestra sound even bigger than it was. The afternoon ended with a quartet playing a Haydn piece that will be heard on Monique’s gramophone player during a scene set in her room.
Just as we thought it couldn’t get any better, the choir arrived. Just eighteen voices (including, we were told, the deepest bass in Britain), but in that hall they sounded legion. One of my favourite parts of the score is a ‘Day in the life’ style crescendo of strings and horns (Christian’s tribute to AIR studios’ founder and Beatles producer George Martin). But then they added eerie, Kubrickian-2001 voices to it and it was transformed into something spine-tingling. By now Tim Haslam, Chris Clark and Steve Milne had joined us and we were all agog.
The day ended just before 10pm. A crammed session, but the score is not yet complete: guitars and flutes will be recorded at Christian’s studio tomorrow. Sadly, I can’t make it, but I can’t wait to hear the results.
You can listen to the Robot Overlords score on Spotify and Apple Music…
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).
Cyber-Lords, Robo Warrior, iDrone, and, my favourite, Alien Scrapers (really!?)
We finally went for…
… drum roll…
… can you bear the tension…?
… ROBOT OVERLORDS.
Phew. That was close.
So after many test screenings, we identified the points in the film that needed pick-ups. Not re-shoots, but little scenes that help glue the film together. Some were very small – a finger tracing a line on a map – others were a little more involved, such as bluescreen shots for the finale, and new scenes to help clarify the story. We had always expected to shoot these and there was enough in the budget for one day at Pinewood.
I also saw this as an opportunity to ask the actors to read an extract from the book on film. The plan was to record them saying individual lines as they moved around the studio. I had originally envisioned maybe doing this with my cheap old camcorder, or even my phone, but an old schoolfriend – Jeremy Mason – who now makes documentaries and has done more reality TV than any one person should endure, came to the rescue and offered to film everything! The clip is below…
Sunday 2nd March – Pinewood
Really tired, but if I don’t write this now…
Friday night was a rehearsal and reunion with Callan, James and Ella (Milo had only one line and it seemed unfair to drag him across town to rehearse that). Jon and I had written two scenes for the following days’ pick-ups and we had a couple of hours booked in the Millennium Hotel in Sloane Street.
Any fears we had that we couldn’t recapture the gang’s camaraderie instantly evaporated. They clicked back together like they’d never been away.
On Saturday morning I picked up Gillian Redfearn (the book’s editor), and Jennifer McMenemy (Gollancz marketing manager) from Slough Station and we made our way to Pinewood Studios, up Goldfinger Avenue and into stages N&P. Shooting was already underway: the finger on the map.
Not long after, Jeremy and his sound guy Matt Johns turned-up with some serious-looking kit… and to think I was going to do this with my poxy little camera.
I had explained the book reading idea to the kids last night, and that I didn’t want to get under their feet, and that I knew it was a long day etc. Well, once again, I needn’t have worried. We had everything we needed by 2pm. They threw themselves into it and we shot all over Pinewood. Just fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for more. A particular highlight was Milo learning a gory bit for the dinner table, and all the others walking away in disgust.
In the afternoon, Jenn interrogated me for author interviews, and thank God she was there to coach me, otherwise the message from me would have been ‘All teachers are weirdos like Smythe,’ and ‘This book will give you nightmares’.
Jeremy and Matt were just brilliant. Quick to react to an actor’s sudden availability, they were professional, discreet, fleet of foot, and the few clips I saw at the end of the day looked extraordinary.
And then Louise Mason turned up and did the impossible: took some photos of me where I don’t look like a gurning idiot!
Jon and his crew worked tirelessly through the schedule. The scene we wrote at the wall overlooking the school (shot against bluescreen) worked really well.
Then we all decamped to the container park on the edge of the studio. It was dark now. Clear skies and bitterly cold. We arrived just after 8pm and we had to release Ella and Milo at 9.15 (there are strict rules about how long child actors can work for). The crew sprung into action. A crane rose in the distance with a powerful light beaming down on us, a smoke machine added atmosphere and fresh sandwiches, cookies and tea helped keep us warm(ish).
The kids must have been chilled to the bone in their costumes, but there wasn’t a word of complaint, just singing and fart jokes (we could hear all this via our headphones picking up their radio mics).
We got what we needed in time and everyone hurried back to the relative warmth of their cars. I gave Jon a lift to Gerrard’s Cross train station. He was tired but happy with the day’s work. Mission accomplished.
Milo Parker looking adorable on the set of Robot Overlords. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukWe only had one day at Pinewood so we worked like the clappers… like… the clappers… Oh, suit yourself. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukMe being interviewed at Pinewood and marketing guru Jenn McMenemy and editor Gillian Redfearn ready to step in just in case I say something stupid (spoiler: they did… many times). Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukCallan McAuliffe taking a break at Pinewood on the Robot Overlords set. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukRobot Overlords star Milo Parker and writer Mark Stay being mature on the Pinewood set of Robot Overlords. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukElla Hunt on the set of Robot Overlords at Pinewood Studios. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukJames Tarpey on the set of Robot Overlords at Pinewood Studios. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukMark Stay on the Pinewood set of Robot Overlords. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukDirector Jon Wright on the set of Robot Overlords at Pinewood Studios. Behind him is co-writer Mark Stay touching his headphones like he’s recording a charity single… Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukElla Hunt on the set of Robot Overlords. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukCraig Garner on the set of Robot Overlords at Pinewood Studios. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukJames Tarpey on the set of Robot Overlords, Pinewood Studios. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.ukCallan McAuliffe getting some intimate direction from Jon Wright at Pinewood while filming Robot Overlords. Photo by http://www.mpsv.co.uk
Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been looking back at my diaries from ten years ago, during the filming 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).
You can’t be a film fan and screenwriter and not have heard a few horror stories about test screenings, so I was naturally nervous when it came to popping my test screening cherry. If you don’t know, test screenings are where films are shown to unwitting members of the public. They often have no clue what they’re about to see, the film is usually lacking finished visual effects and score, and the audience is asked to complete a survey scoring various aspects of the film with room to leave comments. Careers have been launched/destroyed by these things…
Monday 25th November – First test screening
This evening saw a screening of Robots for children. There were about 30+ of then and alarm bells began ringing when we saw how young some of them were. Jon asked who was youngest during his introduction: 8 years old. A bit too young, maybe.
So it wasn’t a complete surprise when one poor traumatised girl asked to leave during the Morse Code Martin deep scan scene (referred to by many afterwards as ‘the torture scene’).
But, that aside, it was a hit. Considering how few completed VFX we have, and the temp score, dialogue and sound effects, it scored very highly, with boys between 9-14 really liking it. Not a massive surprise, but that’s exactly who we designed it for (though Jon said he was impressed by a couple of 8-year-old girls who loved it and asked some very intelligent questions in his Q&A).
We split them into age groups for the Q&A. Chris Clarke and I got the +12s. The 12 year-old boys loved it. The older girls thought their younger brothers would love it too. The older boys – 16,17 – liked it with reservations. A bit too young for them, clearly.
Apparently, Natascha Wharton (one of the BFI producers) got an earful from one of the teachers who was angry that some of the kids were too young for the material. Not Natascha’s fault at all, but I guess they needed to vent at someone. Hopefully there won’t be any bad fallout from that.
Reading the cards afterwards was great fun. Lots of effusive praise, apart from the girl who walked out who WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THE FILM TO ANYONE! But then she listed her favourite film as Babe, so she’s not our target market. From the comments made by the adults it was clear that dads like it, but some mums don’t. Some of the younger boys noted that they liked it, but their parents probably wouldn’t take them to see it. Poor kids.
This kind of testing is always a blunt instrument, and I’m uncomfortable with lumping genders and age groups together – as if we’re all alike and the same – but it does give you some kind of steer, and so far it’s working in our favour. I’ll surely complain when we get negative feedback!
Looking back it’s not difficult to see signs of some of the things that helped/stymied the film’s release and marketing. The fact that so many kids loved it, but instinctively knew that their mums would not approve of it was a bit of a red flag. Kids might know what they want, but it’s the parents who have the purse strings. Ultimately, if you want to generate the kind of ‘pester power’ that gets children to convince their parents to go and see a movie then you’ll need to spend millions to reach what is a very competitive market: the minds of children between ten and fourteen.
However, all that is to come. In the meantime, we had to collate our notes and see how we might tweak the film in the edit suite. Stay tuned for the next instalment coming soon…
Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been looking back at my diaries from ten years ago, during the filming 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).
Such a pivotal day for the film, and looking back it’s strange that we didn’t do better with it in the end. I guess the lesson to learn is to be wary of excitement and hype, but my memories of that day were that we bloody loved it and it was going to be a smash…
Thursday 26th September – Molinare, London – Financiers’ screening
Today saw the financiers’ screening of Our Robot Overlords. Jon warned me that these can be brutal affairs, where the money people wonder why they bothered to invest in the first place, and who the hell hired these clowns and I don’t understand the ending, so let’s go straight to DVD and cut our losses.
I didn’t need to be there, but it was being shown on the big screen in (post-production facility) Molinare’s in Soho and I wanted to take notes for the book.
Jon and Matt were both outwardly calm, but nervous. Piers arrived with an infectious energy about him, which definitely helped the mood. The financiers started arriving soon after. People from NI Film, Pinewood, Steve Milne from Molinare, Natascha Wharton and Jamie Wolpert from the BFI, and our sales team and producers Tim Haslam and Hugo Grumbar.
What I saw was a much slicker cut of the film with a few VFX and pre-viz sequences. It’s far from finished or perfect, but it’s really feeling like a movie. There were cheers at SBK’s death scene and effusive applause at the end, and I blubbed a bit.
The lights came up and Tim gave Jon a bearhug and congratulated him on a job well done.
There were one or two notes, but nothing unfixable and that we hadn’t considered ourselves already. It could not have gone better and we were all buzzing afterwards. Already people were talking about sequels, TV shows, games and even theme park rides! If all goes to plan I could end up writing nothing but robots for the next ten years, but I don’t think I have a problem with that… yet.
As an added bonus the new issue of Total Film arrived. SBK was interviewed and mentioned Robots as one of a number of ‘wonderful scripts’ he’s worked on. I am currently floating on air.
Oh, and I spotted dad and Lou McGhie in the film. Claire, Emily and I are still in it. No sign of George*.
*He’s in it, behind Tamer Hassan when he’s just fired the shotgun. We just weren’t looking hard enough.
Just a few days before I was chatting to Tom Fickling about doing a comic strip adaptation with The Phoenix comic (which is a terrific comic if you’ve not encountered it before) and the talk of theme park rides wasn’t just a flippant remark. Our financiers knew people who could make these things happen. A few weeks after this my agent said one of the financiers was ready to pay for a sequel script (that money never arrived) and everyone thought that Sky would be interested in a TV series. All we needed was for the film to get wide distribution backed with proper marketing and it would be a smash! Hmm…
One big note that we did get from this screening that plagued us over the coming months was to add an expository voiceover from The Mediator character at the beginning. Looking back, I regret caving to this request. It has the poor viewer doing sums in their head as they try and figure out how long the robots have been here and how long it is before they go etc… None of it’s important and the mystery would have made them all the more enigmatic. Hey ho, you live and learn! But despite all that’s happened since, this was an amazing day and I really was floating on air and anything seemed possible. I guess another lesson is to enjoy those moments when they come along, because there haven’t been that many since!
Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been looking back at my diaries from ten years ago, during the filming 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).But this one is exclusive to this blog and has never been seen before…
I had never known anyone in the film industry when I was a kid. Growing up first on a housing estate in Hornsey, then in a caretaker’s house in Leatherhead, the very idea that I might get into the film industry was up there with being an astronaut. Or Batman. Both of which are still options, I guess, but fairly unlikely. My uncle Desmond told me once that he owed money to a man called Nosher Powell, who appeared in all kinds of films and TV shows as a heavy or a stuntman and the rumour was that he had been a Stormtrooper in Star Wars, which blew my tiny mind (it’s not listed on his IMDb, so who knows?). A girl was at my school for a short while who turned out to be the daughter of actor and stuntman Terry Plummer, which was exciting but she didn’t stay long. Then a couple of my best friends at secondary school had parents who worked in TV. My friend Tim’s dad worked for ITN and showed around the news studio one day, and my friend Jeremy’s mum got us tickets for the recording of a show called The Secret Cabaret where I met Ricky Jay after the show and he did some astonishing close-up card tricks for us. So that, and a screening of The Sooty Show when I was about six, was it as far as my childhood brushes with film and TV go. But they were memorable days and made me think that maybe working in TV or film wasn’t so unlikely. With that in mind, when Robot Overlords came along, I wanted my kids to get a taste of the industry in a way that I never really had. I’d already got them parts as extras in one scene (see this diary entry for the longest school run ever), but Emily, then 13, was showing a real talent for animation and editing. I had already banged on about how my favourite films were edited by women (Jaws by Verna Fields, Star Wars by Marcia Lucas, and Goodfellas by Thelma Schoonmaker) and I thought there would never be a better opportunity to inspire her than to take her to see an actual film being edited and get a sneak peek at CG animation, and so…
Friday 30th August, 2013
I decreed that it would be ‘Take your daughter to work’ day today, and so Emily and I hopped on the train up to London. Matt Platts-Mills (editor) kindly showed Emily how he cut together the scene between Gillian Anderson and the Steven Mayhew character based on Jon’s notes. He also added temp sound fx to the scene where the kids run from the Sentry.
We popped next door to chat with the assistant editor Vicky Webbley. who was very encouraging. She started out like Em: editing movies and putting them on YouTube.
After that we popped round to Nvizible (VFX company) where we got the VIP tour from Paddy Eason (VFX Supervisor) and Simon-Pierre Puech (compositor). We saw 3D models for the Spitfire, Sentry, Sniper and Skyship and they all looked incredible. Then it was fish n chips with Paddy, some shopping at Forbidden Planet, then home.
Emily is now 23 and an animator and storyboard artist working with her fella Kai for some very cool clients on Youtube. She still edits and I asked her what she remembered of the day and she recalled that Matt had discovered that the sandwich that Gillian Anderson holds in the scene moved from hand to hand and he was struggling to find shots that matched. And that Vicky told her that to be a good editor it helped to be good at Tetris with good organisational skills. She still remembers the day fondly and I’ll always be grateful to Matt, Vicky, Paddy and Simon for taking the time to show her around.
Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been looking back at my diaries from ten years ago, during the filming 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).But this one is exclusive to this blog and has never been seen before…
I had just returned from a family holiday in Spain and, having seen a rough cut of the film and finished the first draft of the novelisation, I was raring to get back and see what I’d missed. And it all started with a meeting at Orion House…
Wednesday 29th August, 2013
Great meeting today with Piers (Tempest, producer), Gillian Redfearn (my editor at Gollancz) and Jen McMenemy (Gollancz marketing manager). Lots of exciting stuff we can do for the book and the film. Piers showed us the Toronto (Film Festival) sales trailer — very exciting — and let slip that thanks to SBK (Sir Ben Kingsley) we might have a Prince’s Trust Premiere! That would be an incredible launch.
Stayed behind with Gillian to run through her edit notes. I’ve got a good idea of what to attack next. She’s very good. It’s like having a co-writer. Great objectivity.
To say that Gillian Redfearn is ‘very good’ is like saying Pele was quite handy with a football. I knew that Gillian had edited some of my favourite authors at Gollancz, and they were fulsome in their praise of her, but this was my first time being edited and I had no idea I was getting the Rolls Royce treatment. There were 4440 comments and changes (I still have the Word doc… let me know if you’d be interested in seeing it!). A perfect blend of suggestions, encouragement, compliments and Joyce Grenfell-like moments of, ‘No, Mark, don’t do that.’ And she was always the eye of the reader, not only pointing out moments of potential confusion, but demanding more of me and making me a better writer. Gillian basically taught me how to write a novel with her edit and I shall always be grateful for that incredible experience.
We didn’t get a Prince’s Trust premiere in the end, and more excited hyperbole was to come, but more of that later…
Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been looking back at my diaries from ten years ago, during the filming of Robot Overlords. From now on 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).
The film wrapped principle photography on 25th July 2013, which was also the day I finished my second pass on the novelisation. Around that time I started my sabbatical from Orion and began adjusting to working as a full time author for six months. Jon and I were exchanging ideas for a possible sequel (one that sadly won’t ever happen now) and other projects while he was working on the edit of the film. Then I got a call…
Tuesday 6th August, 2013
Jon called to soften me up before I see the first assembly tomorrow. He still thinks it’s a good film, but he’s got a mountain to climb during the edit. We agreed that there’s no way we can go toe-to-toe with the mega-blockbusters, but we will have one of the most ambitious British films out there. Can’t wait.
Wednesday 7th August, 2013
Saw the rough assembly of Robots today. No VFX, no sound design, a temporary score from others movies etc, just a very rough cut, but I’m delighted to report that it’s going to be a belter. It starts lo-fi and indie and then just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It’s quite extraordinary, the performances are great, and I can’t think of another film to compare it to.
What’s clear is that Jon, Matt and Vicki (Webbley – assistant editor) have a huge task ahead of them. At least 10-12 weeks of editing. Also at the screening today were Christian Henson (composer), Jeremy Price (sound designer), and Dan Johnson (dubbing). By the end they look googly-eyed at the prospect of all the work ahead of them. Again, it’s an ambitious film and people have been befuddled by it (in meetings when we were trying to raise the money, people were sometimes sceptical that we could pull it off) but once they get their heads around it, they’re cool. Nvizible now step-up. They’ve designed shots of the Sentry powering up that are so cool, we might use it for the opening titles*.
*We didn’t!
Seeing this for the first time was an out of body experience. I’d seen a few clips, and I’d been on set of course, but seeing it all put together was unreal and very exciting. And you learn so much. I soon realised there was far too much grown-up chit-chat/exposition for a kids’ film, and that the things you cut that you think are essential so often strengthen what’s left behind. Big learning curve and an absolute treat.
That comment about not knowing what film to compare it to will come back to haunt me. One of the problems we had with robot overlords is there really wasn’t anything like it out there in cinemas… which made it difficult to sell.
Oh, and I also spotted this in my diary from Monday 12th August:
Also had a good idea this evening. MAGIPOCALYPSE — fantasy where magic disappears and former wizards go on the run without their powers… Watch this space.
That became The End of Magic. More about that an its sequel soon…
Long time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been looking back at my diaries from ten years ago, during the filming of Robot Overlords. From now on 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).
I managed to convince Jon to cast me, my wife Claire, our kids George (11 and suffering from growing pains) and Emily (13), my dad Derek and his friend Kevin as extras in the Poseidon Hotel crowd scenes. By this point the shoot had moved to the Isle of Man.
Sunday 7th July
Douglas, Isle of Man
A rather noisy and thrumming flight on a prop engine plane to the Isle of Man this morning. Movies have taught me two things about prop engines: 1) they conk out, usually mid-flight, and 2) they’re good for slicing-up Nazis. Disappointingly, the engines on our plane did neither.
Our taxi driver did his best to sell the island to us: there are no foxes, moles or badgers on the Isle of Man, there are some stretches of road with unlimited speeding, and we had to say hello to the fairies as we crossed over the fairy bridge. Very peculiar.
Met with dad and Kevin for lunch and, later, dinner. Dad got all proud and soppy over dinner. It was very sweet.
We’d had a stroll along the front earlier to find the location for tomorrow, bumping into Ella, then Callan, then (our Line Producer) Aidan Elliot on the way. Claire had to take George back to the hotel early. Still tired from his growing pains. We relaxed in the hotel room all afternoon, watching Andy Murray make history winning Wimbledon. The room is nice, but stuffy. I did nod off, but was awake to see him win the final set.
Monday 8th July
Douglas – Isle of Man
A fun, but exhausting day as an extra at the Castlemona Hotel. We all arrived at 8.15am for costume. Our clothing was deemed ‘not outrageous enough’ and the costume dept. got to work kitting us out. Dad looked like a 60s acid casualty, and Kevin ended up in a dress with a mohair cardigan (the costume lady took one look at Kevin – a former police officer, over 6ft tall with a beard – and said, ‘I’m putting you in a frock!’).
I got off lightly with a cotton paisley gown.
We soon realised just what the costume department meant when I met some of our fellow extras. They looked amazing, and many came in their own clothes, with terrific hair and beards and one girl had these incredible metal cones on her forehead. We, in comparison, were quite the squares. Paddy got roped-in too, and his paisley gown complimented mine*.
*And in any subsequent script revisions we were referred to as the Camp Gentlemen in the gowns.
We started with an energetic scene — a punch-up between two brawlers, and the crowd went wild cheering these guys on. Claire had to pretend to be drunk/unconscious while all this was going on as Emily tried to wake her up, and George joined in the yelling with gusto. I couldn’t see, but apparently dad was cheering while standing on a chair at the back.
We worked our way through shot after shot, and the room got hotter and hotter, but spirits remained high. I got chatting to Jon’s dad Bill – also roped-in as an extra with Jon’s sister – who looked like Willie Nelson in his get-up. He was always quick with a joke to gee people on.
George began to flag and he had his head on the table between scenes. He was tired and in pain, not a great combination. But Emily was having a great time. She and I ended up in the scene where our heroes are grabbed by the mob. Em was pulling at James Tarpey’s coat, while I was wrestling with Ella Hunt. She was fighting me by jamming her hand under my chin. Her refrain between takes would be, ‘Right, let’s have the chin…’
Tamer Hassan, despite suffering with a foot in a cast, soldiered on through a key scene with a shotgun, and we all somehow kept the energy levels up… except George who spent some of the afternoon with the nurse. His growing pains so bad, that if you listened carefully you could hear him creaking like bamboo.
Jon seemed to think we’d all be in it, though so much would depend on the final cut. But he was happy and with two and a half weeks to go there’s a feeling that they’re in the final straight.
While Claire and the kids rested, I went for a drink with dad and Kevin. Ella was playing piano and singing in the hotel bar — and very good she was too. Had a quick chat with Ella and her mum before turning in. Early start tomorrow.
Thursday 9th July – Douglas to Epsom
We did our longest school run ever today. Up at 4.45am to get to Douglas airport (where George and I saw the actor John Rhys Davies queuing in security. We somehow held back from sidling up to him and whispering, ‘Asps… very dangerous…’). We were on a plane a couple of hours later, then dashed from Gatwick to a local supermarket for packed lunches and quick change into school uniform and both in school by 10am.
Damn, we’re good. And knackered.
I did a little writing in the afternoon, but kept nodding off. Back on track tomorrow hopefully.
Oh, and I bought a new office chair. Exciting!
Also got a very nice text from Jon. I’d thanked him for letting us join in all the fun, and he replied saying that he hoped I liked the finished film, and that he was putting everything into it. I don’t doubt him for a second and am massively impressed with his efforts.
This was an insane few days, and we still talk about it now and yes we all made it into the final film. Sort of. Here are some screen grabs from the finished movie…
Claire enjoying her hat a little too much.That ghostly figure with the bottle is my dad!Emily understood the first rule of being an extra is to peek over the shoulders of the stars… that way you’re guaranteed to be in the film!A fleeting glimpse of George (yellow shirt, bottom left: click on the image to embiggen…)Failed actor Mark Stay playing the role of Shouty Man (as listed on IMDb) with typical understatement.
George’s growing pains really wore the poor lad down and he was exhausted and spent a lot of the afternoon’s filming with a nurse. He’s made up for it since. He’s six foot two inches tall, studying acting at university, and has his mother’s looks and talent so has the potential to go far!
Here are a few behind-the-scenes pics from the day…
Milo’s character was based on George, so it was great to see them finally meet!Outside the costume dept vans wearing this year’s summer collection.We all had to wear robot implants, held in place by sticky tape.Fashion icons.The cool kids, from L to R: Callan McAuliffe, Milo Parker, Ella Hunt, Emily Stay, James Tarpey
I could show you the photo of Dad in his moo moo, but he’s threatened me with legal action, so sorry folks.
And yes, we really did see John Rhys-Davies on that long school run which just added to the surreal nature of our little adventure. I had used up all my allotted on-set days by now (there was budget to have me on location for eight days only, including the rehearsals), so these were my last days on the shoot, meaning I did miss out on the day when they filmed the Spitfire, but I wouldn’t have missed these days on the Isle of Man for anything. Making movies is insane and fun and I’d like to do more, please.
Mark Stay Writes 