Clermont-Ferrand is the short film equivalent of the Cannes International Film Festival (apparently) so after wrestling with the new cable modem (it conceded after two falls and a body slam), I managed to register Fate & Fortune on their website today. Now the drawback: they want the script in French.

So far I’ve managed to get as far as Destin et Fortune for the title and a poorly translated synopsis: Destin et Fortune est un comédie foncé et magique au sujet du futility de l’avarice. Destin apparaît d’un homme âgé moyen et la femme au foyer Marge Tucker devient son instrument inconscient mortel, hanté avec sa nouvelle voiture brillante.

Anyone wants to help with the translation of the 15 pages of script, please feel free to drop me a line.

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Next up, I have two short film scripts pretty much ready to shoot and an idea for a thirty second short. The Goober Script boys (that’s what they want to call themselves, who am I to argue) are happy with the edits I’ve made to The Car so that can go ahead and I’ve applied for a grant for Strawberries to be shot on 16mm.

I’m thinking of shooting The Car on video and getting it finished on film. I’ve no idea what that would look like. There’s a website which promises they can grade it, computer enhance it and print it out on 35mm to look perfect if it’s shot on DV. That would reduce the cost to around a third (ie. approx £3,500 instead of £10k). Sounds attractive.

So, wisely or unwisely, I’ve booked a week’s leave in October and that should be the time for shooting. Once I start casting and crewing, that’s it. No turning back. Stay tuned…

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I’ll tell you what’s weird. About five minutes after I wrote the message above, the phone went and it was the director of photography from Last Train. You decide to make a film and five minutes later, a cinematographer rings you. That’s weird.