As my next short film Blank Canvas goes into pre-production, here’s a look back at the reading of the script at Rising Phoenix, an arts collective holding a monthly new writing night in the atmospheric Net Loft venue at Brighton Fishing Museum. I knew the founder of Rising Phoenix, actor Isabella McCarthy Sommerville, from her role in my short film The Mirror, which was part of my ongoing practice to bring modern dramatic verse to screen and stage. Blank Canvas builds on The Mirror and Time and Tide to a present a full narrative drama using verse in certain sections of dialogue. The rehearsed reading to a packed audience, with written feedback, was a great way to assess the impact of the verse and how best to incorporate it into the interactions between the characters. You can read more about the film here
Blank Canvas selected as quarter-finalist in ScreenCraft Film Fund
I was excited to find out that Blank Canvas, my short film script containing dialogue in verse – along with its accompanying production plan - was selected as a quarter-finalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund Spring 2025. This year’s fund had 1100 submissions....