How I Did It - Blog 26 - Sunday 19th December 2010

            I sit here watching a programme on Cliff Richard wondering about what happened over the past few weeks to follow my goal. After the Pizzaman showing I had to get a bus back to London from Cardiff at 4am in order to go straight to work at 9am in Wimbledon. I felt exhausted but happy that I’d done this crazy schedule. I seem to thrive on challenges. I went home after work and slept for 14 hours straight before having to go back to work again and finish the ticketing week. I had a great Sunday with my special lady and wake on the Monday morning with the most bizarre kind of flu. My body tingled all over, I was dizzy, hot and cold, sweaty and my muscles ached. I phoned into work to say I wasn’t going in and spent a difficult day feeling horrible. I reminded myself of an old man when I made my way to the kitchen to get hot honey and lemon or effervescent paracetamol. I put a DVD in and pause it half way through so I can sleep. I wake, I take drugs and then I sleep some more. I feel terrible.

            I know I can’t afford to take more than one day off so get into work the next day feeling like I’m going to die. I feel like I’m going to be sick, I’m convinced I have bird flu that H1N1 thing but ignore my need to go to the GP and stick to the plan of earning money through selling tickets. I’m coughing, blowing my nose and joking about having ‘man-flu’. In truth I shouldn’t be there. I completely hate the next few days. I make the flu last longer by working a full week. I know I’ve got to send a few e-mails and contact a few people in order to tie up the loose ends of Pizzaman. I can not be bothered to do anything. I’m not writing any more, I’m not reading, I’m not motivated to do anything connected to working out what to do next or even think about how to make a feature film. I know I’m going to my parent’s house for the weekend with Marlene to celebrate my great auntie’s 100^th birthday but have warned my mother that we may not make it due to my illness.

For some reason I decide to go to a friend’s flat on Thursday evening to participate in his on-line radio comedy show. Whilst there I get a call from my heart to say she is having the same flu symptoms as my self. I make my apologies and get myself home to be a good husband. She is very ill. I call my father to really say we may not make it to Cardiff. We’re both gutted. I maintain my nurses roll and make sure we’re both feeling as best as we can by Friday evening. Luckily my special girl is feeling well enough to think about going to Cardiff, I’m also feeling a lot better so we call my parents to say we’re going to make it and they’re very happy. I’m happy too, we’re going to have a very early Christmas with them on Saturday night and then go to my Grandmother’s house on Sunday for the 100^th birthday party. I still haven’t done anything to further myself up to this point.

We get on the bus and I spend the whole trip playing angry birds on my iPhone. I sometimes get hooked on games and end the plague on my life by deleting said travesty on my iDevice. It actually makes the journey go by very quickly. I’d bought a paper and brought a book to read on the journey. Far from opening my mind I’ve wasted my time but enjoyed it as I did. Is there any difference?

My father greets us from the bus and we get to may parent’s home where we relax and chat over MacDonalds we pick up on the way home. I love the chatting, it’s the first time in over a year where I’ve gone to just visit family. Usually I’ve had something to do for Pizzaman or had a meeting to help myself in some way. Spending a relaxing time with family is a new experience for me. I really like it, I don’t feel in such a panicked rush to get things done. I nip to Blockbuster to get a few movies to watch after we’ve exchanged some presents and get back to talk more with my parents and have our family Christmas. It’s a lovely evening. Everyone is all smiles. As the evening goes on we watch the film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice which proves a very entertaining, vibrant and well made movie. I enjoy it very much. We’d also hired Inception but didn’t manage to watch before we all went to bed.

 

I take a break from recalling the past to clean, cook, organise and arrange my abode before I go to Portugal for Christmas. I sit here past midnight watching Lions For Lambs directed by Robert Redford. The script is incredible. Matthew Michael Carnahan. The same man who scripted The Kingdom and other political satires, the man is a masterful writer. I am in awe. Even Tom Cruise gives a good performance in this film. All the elements are there. Also in that break I hired a movie from the library, Solitary Man with Michael Douglas. I’d never heard of the film before but loved it again because of the script that went along with it. That’s how you get people involved, that’s how you get money to follow, that’s how you get your film made. A script that will make your eyes bleed with the want of more and more and more. I want to spend the time to write something that good. It will be a hell of a journey I’m sure.

I can’t help but think about the journey I’ve just been on. A two year venture that didn’t make me money. I say an episode of Jackass where they talk about what they are doing now and at the end Steve’o said that after the first series of Jackass he was famous still had no money and was unemployed. Even the Jackass boys made nothing from the first series. It gives me hope. I think about what I could become if I gave up. I would be the Pizzaman. The guy who made Pizzaman, the guy known for a small art work on a platform that isn’t fully formed yet. I’d be a wet blanket; I’d be a hypocrite. Because I have thought about leaving it, leaving the dream, going on with my life. What direction would that be? What does it make me to continue? Big forks in the road.

After having a day with the family for my great auntie’s 100^th birthday I go home. I loved it, my wife loved it, my parents loved it and then I’m back in work on Monday morning waiting for a day of on Friday. I can not be bothered to try and sell memberships, its my rebellion. It’s also ironic that by rebelling I’m effectively losing money; £1 commission per membership, I got good as well. I realise I absolutely despise the job. On Wednesday I think about becoming a Runner again for a Drama series, start from the bottom. On Thursday, out of the blue, I get a call from someone in Sky asking if I were free to work from January to April on a programme called This Is Jinsy, a new sit-com for Sky TV. Turns out I’ve had my number given to the Production Co-ordinator by Stephanie Burke a Production Manager I worked for almost four years ago for the first time. Again I’m surprised to get a recommendation from her as I’d worked for a friend of hers a few years ago and resigned a week into it because I hated it so much. That was a drama series too. Stephanie happens to be the Production Manager for This Is Jinsy. I call back and arrange to meet them in the morning. Friday happens to be my day off. My mind begins to spend the money before I meet them. I just hope that Steph wont remember my quiting. Funnily enough I also worked for her on ITV’s House Gift and commuted from Cardiff to London to do the job, she only found out very late on into the process. I effectively held the truth back so I could get the job. This was over a year ago now.

I get to the interview early and wait until twenty minutes after the meeting is due for the Production Co-ordinator to meet me. I go upstairs where I see Stephanie again, she’s pregnant. We exchange niceties and I keep my dignity by being honest and straight when if I really wanted the job should have lied about everything, as is the way in London. A fabricated story is more likely to get me a job rather than telling the truth. A small part of me likes Steph so I stay true to myself and of course get a call at the end of the day to say I didn’t get the job. I’m gutted for about four seconds before I let go of it completely. It’s good to feel secure in regard to finance but the job was driving, making coffee and working long hours for bad pay, no respect and no chance of promotion. I broke my own rule of never becoming a Runner again by harbouring these thoughts of actually doing this job. I knew it was a waste of my time and talent but I was about to sell myself cheaply to it again. I wonder why I’d do that. I continue to. For me it would be to make money only when I really need to progress into some sort of career. It’s a strange way this path.

How I Did It - Blog 25 - Tuesday 7th December 2010

            I’ve got to get myself back into writing and practicing writing as much as I can. Motivation to sit down and do so will no longer be such a big problem. Most of the people I seem to talk about in regard to writing don’t necessarily do it and are always after the answers as to what makes it easy. I know there is no quick fix. There is no process or piece of infrastructure for this one, you’ve just got to do it in any way possible. So I resolve to looking back at the night we showed Pizzaman.

            To see Pizzaman on the big screen is a wonderful experience more for the fact of being able to observe reaction from people. I think a lot of people thought I might be disappointed by either the turn out or the reactions I was getting but I managed to put it all into context. This is a bar/gig venue for bands with projected imagery rather than for short films. The type of people there were either people in Pizzaman or who have an invested interest in me or Teilo. People had not paid to see a movie and there were no seats. The age range was early 20s wanting to listen to the music being played. By the time the first episode had played most had lost interest. By the time the fourth episode was playing there was a handful of people left watching. The attention span in a bar is pretty low now, not that it wasn’t before, but when you consider that most people never finish a movie in a cinema without looking at their phone at least once the odds of holding attention in this space are slim to none.

            With that said the highest point came during episode 4. Two guys I’d never met before were standing in the middle of the dance floor together transfixed to the screen laughing at Pizzaman. Its what I needed. An outside opinion to see if what I thought was funny and worked actually was funny and did work if you paid attention to the episode. I was lifted by the compliment. Then one of the bands came on and started quoting from Episode 4 as they were setting up, making people laugh more. Although this is not full justification for spending the last two years working on a singular project it instilled confidence in me. It gave me a resolve that I could do this for a living, all I need to do is monetise my skills.

            Little tricks to grab attention was to put the volume up far louder than it should be, forcing people to either speak louder to each other or watch. As I suspected the impactual scenes were the attention grabbers; the scene with the girls screaming at each other, some of the darker topics when they were heard and the car chase. All the cleches worked. What didn’t work was the big screen. It was obvious that it wasn’t directed for a big screen audience and, at points, felt very amateurish, things that you may get away with if watching on a computer screen on your own.

            I enjoyed the night on the whole and I was also filming all of the music acts as they performed, with Teilo’s camera. As the final band was going on it was time to show Pizzaman episodes 13 and 14. Throughout the episodes band members stood in front of the screen and even strummed guitars for tuning and sometimes strummed for no reason. I was livid. I also didn’t want to cause a scene but made the decision not to film them. I refuse to mention the name of the band here as they are all complete a**holes and don’t deserve any kind of publicity. What made my blood boil was the lack of respect for another artist’s work especially as I was the one that got them into the centre pages of the South Wales Echo that day. It really sickened me and destroyed the evening. I knew there was a lack of organisation but this was too much. It really signalled the end of Pizzaman for me and now whenever I am asked about the band in question I am sure to lie about the quality of their work, down right shoddy.

How I Did It - Blog 24 - Saturday 5th December 2010

            I’m not sure where to go. I’m free. I’m very, very tired. I’m relaxing. Thursday was a success. I get to Cardiff and get a lift to Canton with my father immediately. We wait for 30 minutes for Teilo to get back in touch as I’m meant to pick up the Pizzaman episodes on discs from him. The plan is to then go to pick up my mother from work and drop both my father and mother home so I can go to Penarth to have tea with my cousins. I get a little impatient as Teilo doesn’t get in touch so I decide to do the next part of my journey. As a back up I asked Gareth Sturgess the Pizzaman editor to drop the series onto DVD but I made the mistake of leaving it too long to ask and he wasn’t able to do it although he e-mails me as I’m going to pick up my mother that he is starting to do it at that moment. There are no guarantees that he’ll have it finished in time for me to get to Newport and back.

            En route to my mother I also get a text from Teilo to say he’s actually at home on the other side of Cardiff. His phone’s battery had died earlier on. I get to mum and then drop mum and dad home so I can take the car. I go to Teilo’s home to realise he’s now living above a florist. I get the Z1 HDV camera, tripod and the discs from him and head to Penarth. I’m on a bit of a schedule as if I’m five minutes late I’ll be stuck in traffic for best part of an hour. I see it ahead but it’s moving continuously and I feel I’m lucky with the lights.

            At my cousin’s home it’s really great to spend some time with them. I have an hour there before I’ve got to get myself to Cardiff. During my tea of scrambled egg and beans, which I don’t feel is quite enough for me, I’ve also not eaten properly all day and was looking forward to a decent feeding that never comes, Gareth the editor texts to say the DVD will be ready in an hour. This puts me in quite a predicament, I could leave immediately and get to Newport and the evening in time or I could honour my word of staying for an hour with a part of my family I feel I’ve neglected due to Pizzaman for the best part of two year, and with children two years is a long time to have no real contact. Of course I stay. I learn something very important. Pizzaman may not have worked due to parental control. Censorship is regulated by a national body on the internet, that being the mum and dads of this world making sure their children are not adversely influenced by images or videos on the internet. I find this out when my cousin Jenny tells me she’s been reading my facebook messages and I ask if she’s seen the series. Instead of an answer from her there is a subtle but very quick ‘no’ from Jenny’s step father. This says it all to me and I realise that getting into school’s was almost an impossibility for Pizzaman. It was never going to explode very easily at all, our task quashed by something so far out of our control that if I wanted to do any better I needed to invent a kid’s version You Tube.

             Thankful for the lesson I say my goodbyes and jump into the car. I call Gareth to see if the DVD will be ready anytime soon. He says it will be so I say I’m on my way and take his post code. I hang up and call James Morris who I’ve been in touch with all day letting him know about bands and artists I’ve found, to tell him I’m nipping to Newport. He tells me he needs a DVD player so I hang up and call my folks to bring their spare one. I’m amazed how disorganised James is and fear that the night will happen only a few times and fizzle. I hope it doesn’t. I then drive as fast as I can to Newport, time is very tight. I’m all go go go. I’m using my iPhone as a sat nav so going a little slower than I want to in order not to crash whilst following it. I finally get there and hear a voice calling me as I walk in the wrong direction. Gareth with the DVD saying one of the episodes doesn’t play properly so has dropped it onto another disc. I tell him I love him and get back into the car. I have 15 minutes to get to Buffalo Bar in Cardiff. I call James to say I’ll be there in 20.

            I race the motorway and get there to meet my parents who help with the kit and I go off and park over the road running myself back to the bar from the car. I find James standing on a stool adjusting the projector with no luck. The video image is fuzzy and buttons are pressed to no avail. I run back to the car to get my laptop in case its the DVD player. I get back and James is still on the stool, for a moment there it comes into focus perfectly. I go to the DVD player again and fiddle with the wires they’d plugged into the back, presto it becomes a crisp picture. We tape the wire into a position that will hold it in place to replicate the image on the screen. With that done James asks if I’m all ready to go. I say yes and he asks if I could announced the start downstairs in the bar. I raise my voice and feel like I’m at a church fate as I bellow ‘ladies and gentleman’. People make their way up.

            CT and Hilly from Radio Cardiff jump up onto the stage and I go with them feeling a bit like a gooseberry with nothing to say. I ask that they bring Teilo up there as well. He comes to stand next to me as CT & Hilly introduce the night, I whisper to Teilo that I have no idea why we’re on the stage at that point. Then we’re properly introduced to the crowd of about 50 people and we say our thank-yous to cast and crew and audience. I then run to the DVD player and press play and there it is, our creation on the big screen.

How I Did It - Blog 23 - Thursday 2nd December 2010

            I’m in a café above Victoria coach station… I was in a café above Victoria coach station when I tried to kill some time catching up on the blog but I got a call from an ill Bobby Singh saying he can’t make it tonight. Tonight is the big screen showing of Pizzaman in Buffalo Bar in Cardiff. The original artist pulled out due to illness as well and Bobby was his replacement. I’ve hit the phone, finding people to help out and come close to success. Actually I was in the queue for the Megabus coach while on the phone to Betsan of the group Freshold Crew. I felt impatient as I had to get off the phone to her asap as I needed to go into my phone’s e-mail and show my bus ticket to the driver. In face as I write this on the bus to Cardiff I’m getting calls from people asking questions about the night or apologising for not being able to cover the band slot. It gives me hope that people still like me enough to call me about something to do with Pizzaman considering the e-mails I’ve been getting. I even had one guy threaten to hurt me on facebook.

            This morning I made the unwise decision to look at who had unsubscribed from the Chimp Mailer. It was quite a shock. I’d never thought I’d be so affected by knowing that certain people did not support what I did. I admit that I rinsed every contact I had to spread the word but I never thought I’d be left by some of them. You really do learn who your friends are and who you can trust. During the facebook side of the campaign my number of friends diminished considerably as well. I only noticed by accident when I wanted to see how one of the writers from Pizzaman was getting along. Suddenly I needed to ask permission to be his friend again. I checked someone else and found the same. I realised I am a human being and remain upset with them. My resolve is that you really can’t trust people you meet in London no matter how closely you work with them or consider them friends. Other shocks were from people I considered mentors and people who’ve been supportive. They have every right to stop hearing about it but it does leave a sting.

            In between writing I’ve taken yet more calls, one to say a rap group is able to cover the slot. This is great news. As I ‘m on the call I get a text that I read after I hang up. It says that James Morris has found another band and accepted them. I reluctantly call the rappers back to say it’s a no go and fell a bit shitty about it as it was so good of them to accept at such short notice. Life goes on and I feel like I’m on the path to Mount Doom to destroy the ring, there will always be a part of me wanting to hold on to it. I know I must let go.

            In other news my film review I did with Jim Gault was accepted by WalesOnline and I can have it shown on their site. I will be doing them once a month and they’ll provide the images I can use due to their rights issues. Jim has really done me a favour and I found it incredibly ironic as I’d not wanted to do it in the first place when it came to the crunch. I said I’d see it through but I had no burning desire to make it a success. I even met with Jim again to go over the edits he’d done. I softened a lot of the edits and had him rearrange the order I spoke and it eventually paid off. This is a very good platform as I was looking to keep a hold of the great contact I have with Media Wales and WalesOnline. Maybe one day they will have a pay wall to be jumped over but for now the future is enough.

15 Days Of Pizzaman - Episode 15 - The End

The Final Delivery Will Muckle “CUT YOU UP”? Will the assembly minister get away with it? Will Taj rescue Becky? How does it end? Click the number to finish the series…   Behind The Scenes The “Cut You Up” scene wasn’t meant to be filmed. It was just a cover shot for the conversation with Nick and Muckle but Martin Flynn who played Muckle made it far too convincing to stay on the cutting room floor. It became the line that people say when commenting on Pizzaman as a whole. The policemen were Peter Robson, Chris Aberg and Matt Day, James’ brother, friend and wedding suit tailor respectively. “People got roped in from all over the place,” says James smiling.   Teilo told us, “we spent months looking for a cheap car to be Taj’s car but it actually ended up being my own.” They could not clean the car and even made it much dirtier for authenticity. Other things they had to do was to have the main cast not shave for the duration of the shoot. “Continuity was the key. Having the uniform meant we didn’t have to keep track of clothes from one place to the next although there were a few times even this let us down,” says James. We did of course spot the gaffs, if you look closely at Ian’s hat in episode 4 you’ll see that in one shot its on and in another its not. Another clanger we spotted was episode 11 and 12 at the beginning, they ended up being named the same ‘Llandaf’ despite the different name on the website. Funnily enough we noticed that neither of those episodes had Taj set foot in Llandaf at all. I guess the schedule was pretty tight.   So we’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you for getting this far. We hope you have enjoyed the series and promise never to e-mail you again unless you ask us to. The question is, will there be a second series? Tell the world! Credits   Music(in order) Episode 1 “All About Da Money”by RD Ft Jammie –Deeme & Meanzee –Sourced by CT & Hilly “One More Chance”by Reepa -Ft Emma Stevens –Sourced by CT & Hilly “Why So Serious”by Ben Squibs –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Open My Mind” by Nzo –Sourced by CT & Hilly “Feeling Fresh”by Suspect & Reepa –Sourced by CT & Hilly Episode 2 “Feeling Fresh”by Suspect & Reepa –Sourced by CT & Hilly “Astronaughts” by Poq –Sourced by Sally Morrison “Retreat”by The Decimals –Produced by Gethin Pearson Episode 3 “Peche Peche”by Bobby Singh “I Think She Knows”by Luminaires –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Wires”by Samuel H Invisible –Sourced by Sally Morrison “Root” by Freshold –Provided by Betsan Evans Episode 4 “Root” by Freshold –Provided by Betsan Evans “Weight of The World”by The Calling Card –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Sirenz” by Trader –Produced by Gethin Pearson Episode 5 “Sirenz” by Trader –Produced by Gethin Pearson “The Game” by The Promises –Sourced by Sally Morrison “Rep It” by GTMC(Skowndrell & Tyranik) –Sourced by CT & Hilly “Bounce” by GTMC(Skowndrell & Tyranik) –Sourced by CT & Hilly “Bare” by Freshold –Provided by Betsan Evans “Arizona” by Poq –Sourced by Sally Morrison Episode 6 “Arizona” by Poq –Sourced by Sally Morrison “Bounce” by GTMC(Skowndrell & Tyranik) –Sourced by CT & Hilly “Wilmington”by Bedford Falls –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Weight of the World” byThe Calling Card –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Disko” by Poq –Sourced by Sally Morrison Episode 7 “Weight of the World”by The Calling Card –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Disko” by Poq –Sourced by Sally Morrison “Bounce” by GTMC(Skowndrell & Tyranik) –Sourced by CT & Hilly “Yellow Fever”by Silver Gospel Runners –Sourced by Sally Morrison “Ten Out Of Ten” by Weird Naked Indian –Produced by Gethin Pearson Episode 8 “Ten Out Of Ten”by Weird Naked Indian –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Why So Serious” by Ben Squibs –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Too Young to Scream”by Kiss Silver –Provided by Teilo Trimble “Attention Seeker”by Liam Johnson Episode 9 “Attention Seeker”by Liam Johnson “Yellow Fever”by Silver Gospel Runners –Sourced by Sally Morrison “A Magpie Stole My Shiny Things” by Cat Mouse Cat –Sourced by Sally Morrison Episode 10 “A Magpie Stole My Shiny Things”by Cat Mouse Cat –Sourced by Sally Morrison “Fear It” by Decimals –Produced by Gethin Pearson Episode 11 “Fear It” by Decimals –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Yellow Fever”by The Silver Gospel Runners –Sourced by Sally Morrison “I Think She Knows”by Luminaires –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Pumping Nylon”by Kickbox Riot –Produced by Gethin Pearson Episode 12 “Disko” by Poq –Sourced by Sally Morrison “High-Tec Demo” by Poq –Sourced by Sally Morrison Episode 13 “WalesOnline Podcast”by Media Wales –Provided by Chris Glynn-Jones “Dancing In The Dark”by Luminaires –Produced by Gethin Pearson Episode 14 “Dancing In The Dark”by The Luminaires –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Don’t Let Go”by The Calling Card –Produced by Gethin Pearson Episode 15 “Don’t Let Go”by The Calling Card –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Retreat”by The Decimals –Produced by Gethin Pearson “Why So Serious”by Ben Squibs –Produced by Gethin Pearson  Special Thanks to Venus Kebab House, Elmer’s Café,Jane Harding, Jeff and Joyce Robson,Violaine Grollier, Marlene Furtado,Martin Flynn, Juboraj Restaurant,Naim Alwan, Helen Armstrong,James Harries, CT & Hilly(Radio Cardiff), Paul Whitaker,Neil Jones, Neil Ap-Jones,Ali Al-Shayei, Margaret Griffiths,Jevan Roudh, Printing.com Cardiff,Kingswood Associates, Club X.And To You!   The Last Episode   Full Showing Tonight Thurs 2nd Dec 7pm Buffalo Bar Cardiff     Credits   Written, Directed & Produced by James Robson   Created, Produced & Cinematography by Teilo Trimble Story, Cameras, Sound &Casting byJames Robson & Teilo Trimble Edited byGareth Sturges TajSunny PatelBeckyRuth GiblettNickKevin Welch GethinThaer Al-Shayei MuckleMartin Flynn Pizzashop WorkersJustin Beaver,Michael “R3GO” Regan,Venot Zangana, Matt Jay Ruth Williams AMJane Harding SammyIan ScouseIan (Student/Ex-Student)George Goding NadSameep Nankani VinnayTariq Ali Party GoersNilesh Shewale,Gordon Fernandez VinnayTariq Ali Becky’s MotherJacqui Morris Hetal (Taj’s Sister)Hetal Panchmatia SianAlison Louise JohnDeviant DaveJo Osborne Laughing PolicemanSimon Reardon Bobby SinghHimself Single MotherNicola Jane SonRome Al-Shayei RhodriMatt Jay SuzanneElizabeth Cairns Suzanne’s SonEvan Cole Passer-byRuth Giblet ReceptionistNicole Smith Anita Coyle – SolicitorDominique Festen CathyLisa NorrisArmy ManDyfrig Owen Police ReceptionistJames Robson Welsh Media TypeTeilo Trimble Party GoersJames Robson,Michael “R3GO” Regan Catrin (Becky’s Sister)Catrin Enid Nice MumSally Morrison SonConnor Flynn Police ReceptionistFay Crispin Policeman 1Peter Robson Policeman 2Chris Aberg Policeman 3Matt Day Reporter 1David Carol Reporter 2Fay Crispin Associate ProducerThaer Al-Shayei Associate ProducerIoan Evans 3rd Assistant DirectorMichael “R3GO” Regan Script ContributionsDarren Lysenko, Kevin Welch,Teilo Trimble Additional CamerasMichael “R3GO” Regan,Fay Crispin, Mike O’Connor  Additional SoundMike O’Connor  Music LiaisonSally Morrison Music Co-ordinatorJames RobsonCasting AssistantsPallavi Sharma,Gareth Webb,Rob Clifford  Executive ProducersTeilo TrimbleandJames RobsonThe people and places ofCardiff. You're recieving this email because you know someone involved of the Pizzaman project. Unsubscribe j.s.robson@hotmail.co.uk from this list. Our mailing address is: Kapaw Ltd Fforest Farm House, Pontneddfechan Glynneath, Neath and Porttalbot SA11 5UE Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2010 Kapaw Ltd All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

15 Days Of Pizzaman - Episode 14

How We Made Pizzaman! Episode 1 - Click WalesOnline Episode 2 - Click the phone Episode 3 - Click Cardiff Central Episode 4 - Click the Flag   Do you think series like Pizzaman is the future? Tell us your thoughts. Click facebook to Reply... The Fourteenth Delivery   Where is Taj going? What’s he going to do? Is this the final episode? Not quite but were almost there… Click the number to see the penultimate episode. Behind The Scenes   When making a zero budget production there are a lot of sacrifices that are made, none more so than with the filmmakers striving to see their project through. Teilo resigned from a long running job just before the filming and James came from his honeymoon actually leaving his new wife in Portugal. James told us that he actively stopped looking for work in his field in order to write the series and work on the pre-production as well. He also took a part time job making sandwiches in a café in Ealing to pay for his rent. They told us, “being new and un-established in the creative world is the hardest part of getting funding, so we didn’t even try. It was always the longer-term plan to use this as a platform for the future. To ultimately gain funding and do another one either in Cardiff or beyond.” Neither of them got much more than four hours sleep a night during the filming weeks and they both took substantial financial losses in terms of lost earnings. James’ parent’s study became the production base and everything was coordinated there as soon as a days filming had ceased. James’ mother also became a production secretary on a number of occasions. There were a number of moments they loved. “Watching the actors was a pleasure,” says Teilo, “they bounced off each other so well in the confrontational scenes, you could feel the intensity in the room with them during the filming.” James added, “Kevin’s pre-performance is electrifying. He builds a back-story that you’re able to see immediately as he walks in to every scene.” Kevin had built his character around a manager he once worked for. Other notable moments for the makers were the three girls  screaming at each other. In the rehearsal they loved the screaming so much they went on for five minutes unscripted and ended up laughing hysterically afterwards. “The shoots had this energy throughout, everyone enjoyed themselves and put their own kind of magic in there,” said James, “it was a privilege to be surrounded by such talent.” “The whole idea was to bring the community together and I think it did,” says Teilo, head of the production company Kapaw, responsible for the series. James and Teilo met each other in the International Film School of Wales seven years earlier. They lived together and even made their final film together. In the subsequent years James went to work in television and Teilo set up Kapaw. They are still the best of friends and hope to work together again in the future. Tell the world! You're recieving this email because you know someone involved of the Pizzaman project. Unsubscribe j.s.robson@hotmail.co.uk from this list. Our mailing address is: Kapaw Ltd Fforest Farm House, Pontneddfechan Glynneath, Neath and Porttalbot SA11 5UE Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2010 Kapaw Ltd All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

15 Days Of Pizzaman - Episode 13

It's Almost Over 2 Days To Go! The Thirteenth Delivery What was on that footage? Is Becky going to see Taj? Will Catrin beat anyone up? And will the assembly minister have anything to say about all of this? (Click The Hat To Find Out) Behind the Scenes Its always a fear that you’re not going to cover all of the footage  needed to make a scene interesting and exciting. Plenty of cutaways, alternative angles, close ups and wide shots are needed. Then, to make sure you get a take that pulls all the elements together correctly (framing, sound, acting etc…) you need to do at least five takes of each of these shots, sometimes more, sometimes less. To give you an idea of the statistics involved for our 90mins of drama: 39 actors.   43 locations.   121 scenes.   2,500 takes in total.   38 hours of footage were shot.   £2,000 was the total cash spend for the production.   2 years from inception to release.   Nobody got paid.   The people and places of Cardiff must have a special mention, as it is them and they whom made this possible. Without their generosity and enthusiasm for the project nothing like this could or would exist. Cardiff is a hub of drama and creative activity with many people pushing to see more and more of the city on the big and small, and very small screens. Pizzaman always wanted to be a pioneer. Please help its audience grow by forwarding this to your inbox contacts. Thank you. Tell the world!   BUY THE DVD Watch the whole series at your leisure. Have it forever to treasure the moments you helped create together. You are clever people. Buy now. Click the boss below. PIZZA PARTY Thurs 2nd Dec 7pm - Buffalo Bar Pizzaman is being shown in full. Come to the full viewing at Buffalo Bar in Cardiff. Live acts include J-Roudh the Pizzaman website designer. Not only will Pizzaman be shown but you can meet the cast, buy the DVD and discover how on earth it was made. Hosted by the talented CT & Hilly of Radio Cardiff. Fresh Ties is proud to start a new kind of night in Cardiff, one which supports all the arts, entertains while raising funds for some very deserving grass roots charity organisations. Fresh Ties realises the importance of supporting the arts in the community and the need for people to come together to express themselves and be heard. If you'd like to be a part of Fresh Ties, whether you're a musician, film maker, photographer, artist or you just have something say, get in touch and be part of something special. Entrance is donation based. Read all about it.The Fresh Outlook.com is yournew daily national onlinenewspaper founded onresponsible coverage to inform,and positive news to encourage.The Fresh Outlook is a trueindependent, free of political,religious or financial ties.  The newspaper champions therights and opportunities forall people. Currently, it islooking to feature new talent,whether creative, business orcommunity, in its new section,'Fresh Talent'. So, if you wanta national profile, contactnewsdesk@freshties.com.  The newspaper is part ofnot-for-profit organisation,FreshTies, as part of itsmission that everyone canhave a decent life.www.theFreshOutlook.comand www.FreshTies.com You're recieving this email because you know someone involved of the Pizzaman project. Unsubscribe j.s.robson@hotmail.co.uk from this list. Our mailing address is: Kapaw Ltd Fforest Farm House, Pontneddfechan Glynneath, Neath and Porttalbot SA11 5UE Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2010 Kapaw Ltd All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

15 Days Of Pizzaman - Episode 12

Fresh Ties is proud to start a new kind of night in Cardiff, one which supports all the arts, entertains while raising funds for some very deserving grass roots charity organisations. Fresh Ties realises the importance of supporting the arts in the community and the need for people to come together to express themselves and be heard. If you'd like to be a part of Fresh Ties, whether you're a musician, film maker, photographer, artist or you just have something say, get in touch and be part of something special. Entrance is donation based. Read all about it.The Fresh Outlook.com is your new daily national onlinenewspaper founded on responsible coverage to inform, andpositive news to encourage. The Fresh Outlook is a trueindependent, free of political, religious or financial ties.  The newspaper champions the rights and opportunities forall people. Currently, it is looking to feature new talent, whethercreative, business or community, in its new section,'Fresh Talent'. So, if you want a national profile,contact newsdesk@freshties.com.  The newspaper is part of not-for-profit organisation,FreshTies, as part of its mission that everyone can have adecent life.www.theFreshOutlook.comand www.FreshTies.com CASTING Most of the Casting was done by James and Teilo but for a lot of the female parts there is a debt of thanks to: Welcome to Creative Casting!!! In 2007, Creative Casting acquired an established welsh based agency, that had a proven track record of over twenty years experience in supplying various supporting roles and artists to a number of serial dramas ,films, & commercials. Since it's formation, Creative Casting has continued to build on the links with the various productions crews and is now continually developing it's level of service to position itself as the television agency of choice in Wales and beyond. We currently have a port folio of over one thousand individuals of various ages and from all ethnic groups, that are available for every kind of role. We can offer you the chance to find that perfect person or even find that elusive walk-on part. We specialise not only in the supply of Supporting Actors, Extras, Walk-on, Background Artists and Chaperones but also in the provision of skilled individuals for one off dramas, commercials and model shoots. If you are interested in finding out more about being an artist please click here. If you interested in the services that we offer click here. If you cannot find what you are looking for, or require any further information, you are welcome to contact us via e-mail, online contact form or give us a call, where one of our team will be happy to help. The Twelfth Delivery Is Taj going to expose Nick? What is Nick going to do? Has Taj over stepped his mark? And what about the pending court case? (Click The Number To Find Out) BUY THE DVD Watch the whole series at your leisure. Have it forever to treasure the moments you helped create together. You are clever people. Buy now. Click the film reel. Behind The Scenes Believe it or not the whole of the Pizza-shop scenes, and Nick and Taj’s office scenes were shot on the same day. Venus Kebab House on Crwys Road in Cathays They closed to the public at 2am on a Sunday evening, which is when filming started. The filming continued all the way through until 6pm the following day. Actors came in at different points during the day so there was a variety of staff always bustling around. Venot, the owner also donned a Pizzaman T-shirt and became one of the extras even getting a line in one of the episodes. One of the difficulties in filming something about Pizza delivery was the change from day to night. Surprisingly the logistics of this make things more complicated than you would imagine. In Episode 3 where Taj meet Nasty Nad, his Sister’s psychotic ex-boyfriend, played by Sameep Nankani, came from Bristol for an hour first thing in the morning to shoot when it was light. He then went to work in Bristol and came back again in the evening for a further five hours to do the night time filming. Kingswood Associates, the location used for Taj’s Solicitor’s had allowed time on one day and so it was co-ordinated to film one scene in one direction and then turn the camera away from the window to shoot what we could as night before it actually got dark. Even a night scene where Taj and Becky have a heart to heart was filmed in the daytime with the windows behind blocked out with large pieces of black cardboard. The entrance to the police station had to be co-ordinated twice for one shoot in the day and one in the night as well. This usually means a lot of driving around picking people up and staying in touch to make sure everyone is happy and aware of the schedule. It is a normal thing to film day as night and vice versa but with such little money they had to be very creative about how certain scenes were filmed and what was possible within a non-paid actor’s schedule. We hope you can't tell which was which. Tell the world! You're recieving this email because you know someone involved of the Pizzaman project. Unsubscribe j.s.robson@hotmail.co.uk from this list. Our mailing address is: Kapaw Ltd Fforest Farm House, Pontneddfechan Glynneath, Neath and Porttalbot SA11 5UE Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2010 Kapaw Ltd All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

15 Days Of Pizzaman - Episode 11

The Eleventh Delivery Is Taj about to catch a beating? Is Taj going to do the beating? Where does this go next? How will it end? (Click The Number To Find Out) Behind The Scenes (Click Here For Another Making Of... Video) The episode where the makers get a cameo. It happened by accident that James and Teilo were in the same episode. James is the one at the police reception looking mighty tired, an easy emotion for him as he was exhausted by this time in the shoot. Teilo played a very convincing self-obsessed Welsh Media type trying to belittle Taj. It was felt this scene was of supreme importance to theme. Everyone knew it would highlight cultural integration in Wales. Wales is vibrantly multicultural with Cardiff at the heart of this diversity. James and Teilo have felt a lack of representation of this cultural group in Cardiff when people from different ethnicities make up for 30% of the population. It was a conscious decision to avoid the religious stereotypes in Taj’s characterisation and play him as any other person having a hard time. The same went for Gethin, Taj’s best friend. Of course there are the ‘in’ jokes surrounding his ethnicity from the older characters but Taj’s patriotism always shines through, none more so than in this scene with Taj and Teilo. Incidentally it was Teilo that scripted this scene. There were a few times when James thought he might need to become a character other than the one he was planning to play. But igt seemed all of the actors had faith in the project and never let the side down. We take our hats off to them. Printing.Com must get a mention for supplying their offices for the interview scene. It was actually a big conference room that was used although it was shot it tightly enough to give the kind of claustrophobia J & T were looking for. The person interviewing them both happens to be James in a white shirt. It was on this day that we had a work experience girl with us. She’d just won a prize for an animation she’d done and proved herself very well by helping out with kit and lights as our Runner for the day. It’s probably a good time to mention that a lot of what you see was worked out on the fly; where to shoot the scene in each location, and work with what was available. Both James and Teilo had full time jobs before the shoot so did not have a chance to recce any of the locations let alone a budget to get anyone else to. It was a case of thinking on your feet at every moment. They had of course planned a comprehensive shot list but with all great shot lists it was generally a template for what happened on the day. One of the funniest places to use was James' old high school’s entrance as the police station foyer complete with ‘buzz-in’ button and sliding glass window. They had to angle out the big crucifix on the wall, if you look closely you might catch the edge of it. Tell the world!   BUY THE DVD Watch the whole series at your leisure. Have it forever to treasure the moments you helped create together. You are clever people. Buy now. Click the film reel. PIZZA PARTY Thurs 2nd Dec 7pm - Buffalo Bar Cardiff Pizzaman is being shown in full. Come to the full viewing at Buffalo Bar in Cardiff. Live acts include J-Roudh the Pizzaman website designer. Not only will Pizzaman be shown but you can meet the cast, buy the DVD and discover how on earth it was made. Hosted by the talented CT & Hilly of Radio Cardiff. Location details - Click the Pic. Fresh Ties is proud to start a new kind of night in Cardiff, one which supports all the arts, entertains while raising funds for some very deserving grass roots charity organisations. Fresh Ties realises the importance of supporting the arts in the community and the need for people to come together to express themselves and be heard. If you'd like to be a part of Fresh Ties, whether you're a musician, film maker, photographer, artist or you just have something say, get in touch and be part of something special. Entrance is donation based. Read all about it. The Fresh Outlook.com is your new daily national online newspaper founded on responsible coverage to inform, and positive news to encourage. The Fresh Outlook is a true independent, free of political, religious or financial ties.   The newspaper champions the rights and opportunities for all people. Currently, it is looking to feature new talent, whether creative, business or community, in its new section, 'Fresh Talent'. So, if you want a national profile, contact newsdesk@freshties.com.   The newspaper is part of not-for-profit organisation, FreshTies, as part of its mission that everyone can have a decent life. www.theFreshOutlook.com and www.FreshTies.com You're recieving this email because you know someone involved of the Pizzaman project. Unsubscribe j.s.robson@hotmail.co.uk from this list. Our mailing address is: Kapaw Ltd Fforest Farm House, Pontneddfechan Glynneath, Neath and Porttalbot SA11 5UE Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2010 Kapaw Ltd All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile