Sunday, June 07, 2009

The Marionette Unit

One of the reasons I have not been blogging frequently since arriving in Vancouver has been my involvement in a writing project called The Marionette Unit, which I co-wrote with director and good friend, Azhur Saleem and is produced by another good friend James Boyle.


I really enjoy co-writing, so long as the parties involved are on the "same page" creatively. Happily, that is the case with me and Azhur. We both have a passion for telling stories that are entertaining but have depth and something to say. As a writer, I tend to "see" the things I write before or as I write them. Even though I express my ideas in words, those words are painting a scene and the characters within it.

As a director, Azhur is also vert visual and brings so much to the story-telling process. Working with him is creatively very rewarding as we take the seed of an idea and bounce it back and forth. Like a snowball rolling downhill, it gathers shape and form in this process and we produce something that is greater than the sum of our individual efforts.

I have tried collaborations before, but egos have tended to destroy the ideas before they get a chance to take on their own creative lives.

With Azhur, we respect each others creativity and skill sets and we're not afraid to disagree, because the critique is for one purpose: to make the piece as good as it can get.

The Marionette Unit has just receive €10,000 of funding from the 5th Vevey European First Films Award and further funding is sure to be forthcoming. It will be my first screenplay to go into production and it will be an interesting experience. There will be something surreal watching an actor on the silver screen speak words I have conjured from the ether and written on the page. It will also be very humbling.

As I move forward with my other writing projects, some of them in collaboration with Azhur and James, I will remember this project with great affection, and know that along with creativity, tenacity and self-belief, a writer as needs the helping hand of serendipity.

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