Hello again, we’re back. Not that we’ve really ever disappeared. We have been busy hiving away and will hopefully have our first video feature with you soon, the subject of which is the topic of this blog post. We also have a new idea for a series of shorts we hope to get going soon and Sardis is on our minds, though what we are up to will have to remain a strict secret.

We are back blogging again to say that we are on a mission, one that we do not wish to fail. But we need your help.

You may remember our post last year on Memorable Experiences about the fun that we had during a conference in Malvern. Well, that conference is coming up on the 11th of this month. This time, we are planning to once again stay up all night but with other friends and I will be taking a camera along with me. We are doing it on the first night of the conference, with a full day of activities to follow and more importantly, we are doing it to raise money for charity.

The Trauma Recovery Centre is a new local charity in Bath. Founded by the leader of Freedom Bath & Bristol, the church Jess and I both attend, the charity exists to give a voice to the voiceless. It’s focus is on helping children to deal with trauma that they have faced in their lives by providing a space in which they can process it. They hope to help them onto a bright and empowered future and the centre will become a refuge for victims of trafficking.

Trafficking is the sale, transport and profit from people forced to work against their will. I didn’t think this much of a problem and only occurred in extreme circumstances, such as in war zones where extremists force children to fight. I have since learnt however that this is not the case. There are an estimated twenty seven million people in slavery around the world right now, just under half the population of the united Kingdom. Every year, 1.2 million children are trafficked, which equates to two every minute. In the UK, between April and December 2009, one hundred and forty three children were recorded as having been victims of trafficking. Forty seven of those were exploited for sex, others for domestic servitude or forced labour.

So please, give generously here and help us provide for a charity who not only want to help restore those already hurt, but also prevent further injustice. Thank you.

Well, we’re coming to the end of the year, and what a year its been! You may not have heard much from us, but we assure you its been jam packed here at Flight Productions. We have two announcements to make, one sad and one exciting. So good news or bad news? What was that you said, I can’t hear you. Well, I think you said bad, so here goes. Due to the busyness of this festive period and of the last few weeks, Sardis has had to be put on hold, effective immediately. But do not fear, we plan for it to make a glorious return sometime in the new year. You have not yet heard the last from Aydin, Moesha and Galen, don’t fear. For those of you who are avid followers, we hope you can bear with us, but those of you are yet to find out what the fuss is about, please take this opportunity to read up on what you’ve missed.

Secondly, we have a very exciting announcement to make, which all of at Flight are very excited about. Jess has been busy all year finishing her debut novel and we can proudly say that it is now available to buy. I have already read it twice, and can honestly say it is the best book I’ve read all year. All of us here are very excited by this, and although it is not officially Flight Productions news, it is news to us and something we want to share. So please check it out here where you can read the first 25% of it for free, or for all Kindle readers, on Amazon here. I strongly recommend it, as it may become a future feature for Flight

So until next year, when we will back with more Blood and Ink, more Sardis and even some Project Gabriel, stay tuned and if you find yourself with nothing to do instead of reading Sardis, get a book written by one of its talented writers and enjoy that this holiday season. A merry christmas to you all, and a happy new year.

Well, a year has gone by now, and Flight Productions is still going. First of all, I’m going to address the elephant in the room. Hello Mr elephant, for all those who can’t see you, can you please tell the ladies and gentlemen whether you are African or Indian. Oh I see, how interesting, they’d never guess that.

Anyway, what I meant to say, Emily is still not made. The film that we set up this company to make is lying dormant, and currently, we have put it to one side. At the time it was a huge disappointment that we couldn’t manage to film it that summer and we initially thought that we would try again next year, so why are we not? Well, since writing Emily a lot of new projects have come up. Blood and Ink was started to help us gain experience and practice, though it has become so much more than a training exercise. Sardis has also recently come up, an idea that we didn’t plan far in advance, and due to the fact it involves no filming, we can get on with it straight away. So we are, and if you’re not already following the adventures of Aydin and Moesha, please do give it a try, we’re rather proud of it.

Another thing we have noticed this year is that with much more writing being done, we are all getting better as writers. This has led us to look over our work with a more critical eye, and both Emily and Project Gabriel are in the editing stage now. Project Gabriel is now on version 8, and remains a work in progress. This and Sardis are my main focus at the moment, with Sardis getting priority. Emily is now our lowest priority, and has been sidelined for now. But this is not the end for Emily, we fully intend it to be our first feature film, as was always the plan. Keep watching this space and you will be the first to know when it will be up and running again.

I have also this year been doing a lot of university work. My final year has not been easy, and has left me with little time or energy to write, which I’ve missed. These last few months after finishing my degree have been great, to go back to being creative with writing again. The next year sees me start full time work, but after the day has ended, I hope to be able to write. I will also have weekends free, which you don’t get at uni, so I am hopeful for the next year. Sardis has got some great moments coming up, and doing photo shoots for that is always fun. Project Gabriel is getting ever closer, and looking very exciting thus far. Blood and Ink is also progressing nicely, and we hope to begin filming once the pilot has been finalised and polished. Watch this space, the feathers will fly!

If you go to the ABOUT US page and scroll down past the illustrious Jess and Chris there is a picture of a guy pulling a smug sideways grin into the camera…that’s me! I’ve been involved with Flight Productions for nearly a year now, and have had blogging rights on the site for longer than I remember. I’m very bad at blogging though, but coming to what is ostensibly my one year anniversary of knowing Flight Productions, I thought I would take the opportunity to write a little about what I do for the company, as well as exploring what the company does for me.

Firstly, I am not an actor. First and foremost I am a writer, though I started off my association with flight as a prospective actor for Emily, a role which I am still really looking forward to taking on when the opportunity arises. While I have no official position in Flight Productions, I have been privileged to be involved in several of their projects such as Blood and Ink and Flight’s new Twitter novel Sardis. As a writer I try to put my own input into Flight’s work by helping with the writing, editing, and idea pooling for any project Jess and Chris will let me play with.

I enjoy working with Chris and Jess immensely and Flight Productions provides me with an awesome environment in which to work and muck about with other creative people, sometimes with far more emphasis on the mucking about than the work.

While I help Flight Production’s in any way I can (I seriously am still not sure what my job description is beyond that vague statement) Flight has also helped me in many ways since I have joined them, and over the last year I have noticed a real change in how I write and how I feel as a writer.

One of the great things about Flight is that they try to help me with my work as much as (if not more) than I try to help them with theirs. Over the last year, Chris and Jess have helped me work on my Novel and other projects as well as helping me explore how I write and why, as well as keeping me organised (a task which was no mean feat for Jess, who spent the better part of a day sorting through my computer and renaming almost 150 different files of writing).

This last year working with Flight has been really exciting, and I’ve loved being involved in the company and its projects. Flight has helped me develop both my work but also myself. So thank you for a great year Jess and Chris and I look forward to ever more amazing times to come.

P.S I promise to blog more than once a year in future!

We’ve recently started a new project called Sardis. You can check out our project page here for most of the info and regular updates on it. It’s a bit of a different project for us and we hope you like it.

Sardis is our second project delving into the Sci-fi realm but we think none sci-fi people should enjoy it too. Let us know what you think either by commenting here, dropping us an e-mail or sending us a message on facebook.

One of the things we at Flight Productions value is that of experience. One of the concepts we like and talk about often is that of memory banks. Creativity is linked to the experiences we have had, and so to have more bizarre ones increase the wackiness of one’s ideas. And boy, was this bizarre.

Jess and I were camping for a conference given by an Australian couple we both hugely respect, one of whom is very creative with writing music and film and the other of whom is a psychologist who knows how to live with artists and what they need. The talks they lead are always incredible, and this year was no exception. Anyway, on the first night camping we were both unable to get a good nights sleep due to strong winds battering our tents. Jess had suggested pulling an all-nighter that night and I regretted not doing that, so said we should do it the following night, as it sounds more fun than trying to sleep again. We then decided to see if any others wanted to come, and managed to find someone else as mad as us, which was quite reassuring really. So against, all logic and reasoning, we left the campsite at 12 that night, intending not to return till the sun had risen.

We had no real plan of what to do, but to go for a walk and have a more interesting night than sleeping in our separate tents. We walked along the road until we found a public footpath until it turned to thistles, so we had to turn back. We tried another, which then appeared to lead back to the first, which lead us to retrace our steps again. Non-phased by our current lack of success, we continued along the road until we met a bridleway, which led to a rather attractive lake, which was unfortunately fenced off. We walked on for about 10 minutes until a footpath took us off the bridleway. We emerged from this onto a quiet estate, on the outskirts of Malvern, not too far from our campsite. We then made a decision to head towards the top of the Malvern hills, to the peak at Worcestershire point.  Jess and I had climbed it in the day from a car park nearby, so we knew the route, and how it involved walking up a very steep hill with little protective railings. With agreements by all to take care, we decided that with two torches, organisation and courage we could manage it in the dark.

Using our sense of direction from earlier, we tried to work our way to the car park we had used previously. After the estate, we walked up a very steep one way street that led to the village at the feet of the hills. We said hello to a man who happened to be awake and was out on the balcony, who overheard our conversation ensuring our friend to take care as we did the difficult bit, but that it would be worth it, since the view was awesome. We thought it would be quite a good idea to watch the sun rise, as watching light fall on a view like that would be very impressive.

We reached the car park at about two, and headed up in single file, taking our time and watching our step all the way.  After 25 minutes, we left the woods to emerge on the top of the ridge. With the peak a short walk away, we rested at the top to get our energy levels back, have a drink and admire what we had achieved. We thought nobody else would be mad enough to be up here at 3am, we were pretty insane to be here. To our surprise, within the next twenty minutes we saw another eight people up there!

As we set off again along the hills, we saw a number of lights appear far behind us, bobbing up and down. They seemed to be moving quite quickly, and we assumed them to be cyclists, thinking them quite crazy. However, as they got closer, we saw the lights moving up and down faster and coming towards us slower than cyclists normally would. Their motion was very rhythmic with all moving in time. I thought that due to their slow movement, they couldn’t be cyclists, and could be using a larger bike, such as a Penny farthing. Jess however half expected something like an elven procession, as they were so orderly to have an otherworldly quality. When they came close they were a group of six men and women power walking with head lamps attached to their foreheads. We greeted them, but got no response as they marched past us without a word.

Before we could recover from the fact that we were not the only ones on top of these hills, we saw someone else heading towards us from the opposite direction, that which we were heading in. It was 2 guys, and a motorbike that they had PUSHED up the hill! These were the guys we had seen earlier on the balcony, and were bored, so had decided to push their bike up here and ride it down, as he didn’t want to disturb the neighbours with the noise. We chatted for a bit about all sorts, that is just too random to explain. Topics included his hatred of David Cameron, him being given drugs against his will, partying with Ringo from the Beatles, a friend who stole a JCB to throw a double decker bus off a cliff, his marriage life, aliens and the wild black panther that was loose in the area. Jess’ instant response to the latter was that she was armed, but in her mind this was only with some snacks that we had packed for the journey; homemade cakes and Kit-Kat chunkies. However, he clearly didn’t realise this was the kind of weaponry Jess meant, as shortly after he made his excuses and left us.

After this, we couldn’t help laughing together at the sheer randomness of it all, and continued to the peak. We stopped for a break before we reached the top, as we had plenty of time and we knew it would be windy up there. We talked about the previous encounters and how we had all thought differently. We were quite amazed at the openness and uniqueness of our second encounter, especially when compared to the closed conformity of the first. We also discussed our expectation of what we thought the lights were, and decided that since we weren’t actually able to check their ears due to the dark, they must have been elves.

At 3.45am we arrived at the summit and the view was spectacular. The panorama was in gray-scale, with only street lights offering any colour. A searchlight was shining up in the sky for no apparent reason, and had been on all night, but only now realised what it was. Part of me had wondered if they were calling for Batman, but I imagine not. We also saw 2 towers of red lights, one on each side of the hills. One had been described to us as a TV transmission tower, while there was a toll bridge over  the river Severn.

We stood around a monument at the top that showed a map of the surrounding panorama indicating what you could see. We couldn’t quite see all the way back to Bath, but it’s direction was shown. We stood there for a moment taking it all in and eating our Kit Kats, a sense of achievement running through all of us. It was a minor disappointment that they sky was actually quite cloudy near where the sun was due to rise. We were left with a tiny slit through which we had to try and spot the sun. As we waited to see a glimpse of the celestial body of the day, we saw the light fall on the view, bringing colour to the landscape. Our eyes were adjusting to seeing colour again, and amazed at the combination of street-lights and colourful daylight.

At half four, we decided to head back to the campsite, keen to not be late for breakfast before the conference began again. As we walked back in ever increasing levels of daylight, our friend saw the steepness of the difficult part of our route, and informed us that due to his mild vertigo, if he had known this was what lay ahead, he probably wouldn’t have done it. However, with no regrets, we continued down, and to our dismay, saw the sun come up at about 5, realising we had not missed the sunrise as previously feared. We continued back the way we had come, impressed with what we now saw in the daylight. Roads we had considered taking turned out to be nothing of the sort. On the descent of another hill, we saw a horse hovering before us, a swing for the school kids. When we reached the bridleway again, we were greeted by sheep that serenaded us as we walked along. A lamb or two were also joining it, leading us to dub them the Baa-Baa-shop quartet.

We arrived back at the campsite at just after half five, making wonderfully good time. We approached the gate but found the security guard was asleep in his car. We tried shaking the fence but to no avail, and had to resort to throwing things at his car to wake him. We then all showered and waited for everyone else to wake up so we could tell them of our adventures.

That morning we were all in quite a unrestrained state, and with much sleep deprivation, were in a very giggly mood, unable to take anything too seriously. We told the story to all our friends as they awoke, to many different reactions from wonder, to the indifference of those not fond of waking up early, to the confusion of “what are you on about?” In true storytelling style, the story grew, until Batman was saving us from elves on Penny Farthings who communicated with the sheep below by throwing chairs with Post-it notes attached.

We were all affected by the lack of sleep, and during the meeting that day, each one of us was prone to dropping off several times. When we arrived back home, Jess lay down for an hour nap, and didn’t get up for 15 hours, despite many attempts to wake her.

So, if you see a character in a film that pushes his bike up hills or about meeting elves in the night, then just check who did it, it may be a Flight Productions influence. We may chose to make more subtle references however, but stay tuned, this has inspired our creativity and the results will be even more bizarre than this. Look out for Sardis.

Hi all. Just to let you know, progress is going swimmingly. We are continuing to edit our scripts for Project Gabriel and Blood and Ink, and these continue to keep us quite busy. In the meantime though, we are aware you haven’t seen anything written by Chris, so to give you a taste, here is one of his short pieces called I close my eyes.

I close my eyes. I’ve shut out the busy world. All the sounds remain; the car engines, children shouting, leaves rustling and the distant birdsong. I have separated myself from the light.

The world hasn’t changed though; it just makes less sense to me. Nobody stops for me, they carry on regardless. They say by losing a sense your others become heightened, but I don’t believe it. I suspect you just get a better understanding of the others, but in truth they’ve always been that good.

I consider a world like this. The arctic can go for months without seeing the sun. How do they cope, I couldn’t. Do they get used to it and treat light as a treat which comes only when in season? I imagine they find workarounds, but they must find it tough.

It is surprisingly comfortable to keep my eyes closed. I know the benefits of opening them, on a cognitive level, but I can’t stir up the willpower. I’m enjoying myself by just interpreting the sounds. I can’t tell whether I’m right or wrong, but that’s part of the fun. When I let the light in, the world will be divided into what into truth and fiction, what is there and what isn’t. I’m not sure I want to deal in such absolutes.

I hear footsteps close to me, and my mind’s eye sees a giant with tiny feet, ashamed to associate with the other giants but too big to be friends with humans. In my heart I know I’m wrong, but I don’t care. I think the foot can’t possibly want me, but then realise it could. I can’t just sit here and assume the world is just going to ignore me, I should interact with it; surely that’s more fun?

I give in and open them. The sight before me is jaw dropping. I know you’d love it. I’m now faced with the choice of telling you what I see, which could be a disappointment, or letting your imagination have control. Do you want to know the truth?

We’ve put together a new project page for the tv series we are working on, Blood and Ink. You can check out the current info by clicking on projects and the Blood and ink at the top of the page or by going to Blood and Ink directly from the projects box on the right hand side.

Progress has been going well on the planning and writing side of Blood and Ink and we are currently in the process of fine tuning the pilot script and casting actors. We have quite a surpise coming up in the form of some audio and even possibly video so watch this project for more exciting info.

Although the tv series is taking up most of our time at the moment Project Gabriel is still being worked on and we are hoping it will not be much longer before we have a finished script ready to sell. We are finding Project Gabriel has been quite a learning exercise for our writers as they have had to balance their own desire to write every detail with the need to allow the buyer some realm of their own creativity. As such our scripters are not just learning to be better writers but thinking more about the roles of producers and directors in the film making process.

We also haven’t forgotten about Emily but this project has been put on hold for now. After much discussion and deliberation we have decided that we do not want to continue with filming Emily until we are sure we can do it to the ability that the story requires and feel that for now Blood and Ink will be our main focus. We are still 100% confident that this project will be our companies first feature film but it is important that we wait for the right timing.

All in all everyone here is working very hard and I’m sure you would be as impressed with them all as I am.

It has all been very quiet in our office recently. Everyone’s heads are down working on this, that and the other.

Finding funding for Emily has been slow (something about a recession) so we have decided to work on a smaller project that will hopefully be a bit cheaper and let us come up with some footage using most of the people involved. Seeing as most people feel that trying our hands at a feature film so soon is a bit too big of a step for us, we are using this as a stepping stone inbetween.

We are pleased to finally announce what that project is going to be. It’s working title is Blood and Ink and it will hopefully be a tv series. We have written the script for the pilot and we plan to start filming in the next two or three months. Casting has begun and an extended audition/rehearsal is being held in the next few weeks. Some plot details and other info will be released soon.

We are also still in need of a few people to help out behind the scenes and on set so if anyone is looking to get involved in something like this please do get in touch with us.

Recently we had a meeting with Robin Hood Ministries, and have agreed to work with them. They are a  local charity based in Trowbridge. They help break the cycle of poverty for the deprived of the world, by empowering them to become self-sufficent. Also helping to raise awareness of poverty so that individuals and businesses in the UK are able to understand better the situation of the worlds poor.

We really admire the work that they are doing, and wish to show our support by making them our official charity. We are currently in talks to find out how we can help them best and this could be the beginning of something exciting.

Their website is very well designed and you can check out their work in more detail. They are (and we think you’ll agree) quite incredibly awesome.