Writing
Notes from the work
Six decades in film and publishing, written down as it happened — on producing, writing, the industry, and the people in it.
Essays
4 min read
Being a Filmmaker
Loving your work as a film producer and director isn’t hard. Someone comes along and gives you money to organize a large bunch of grown up children, (actors) get them into their costumes, make sure…
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1 min read
Faith & Why we Must Maintain It
In Jerusalem, a female journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time; so she went to check …
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7 min read
Mid East
Today Hillary Clinton officially concedes defeat to Barak Obama. This might be the first clear sign of his sweeping to power in the election against John McCain later this year. I have to express g…
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5 min read
Whatever Next
In England it snowed overnight. In fact it was the heaviest snow we’ve had for nearly two decades, and the weather forecasters are predicting this is just the start of “the biggest snow event in ov…
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4 min read
Mount Fitchet
Mountfitchet Castle is, perhaps, an oxymoron. There is no castle at Mountfitchet. There used to be a castle, and there are some very limited remains, but paraphrasing William Shakespeare, I did not…
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9 min read
Crossing the Platform
We’ve reached the digital age where people are making, distributing and viewing their own material digitally. The gurus call it pier to pier, or User Generated Content (UGC) but it’s more simple th…
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4 min read
Slumdog
“Slumdog Millionaire” is a modern fable, a feel good movie that is wonderful, heartwarming and richly rewarding. I don’t quite accept the critical claims for this film being great, but it does dese…
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6 min read
Goodbye Greg
I have just returned from a very moving Tribute to the life of Greg Smith a film and theatrical Producer of some note who passed away last week. I had an intermittent but nevertheless intimate rela…
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4 min read
'W' Review
In my other blog at http://bcreativelimited.blogspot.com/ I wrote yesterday about the politics behind the film W and other films like it, particularly from this film’s director, Oliver Stone.
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4 min read
Negative Equity
Today this column hosts a very good friend, The Negotiator. This is a man who will find you solutions when it doesn’t seem possible.
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3 min read
Family
My American grand kids called me from their mum’s car. They were excited because they had both made a giant step forward in the Lenny Krayzelburg swim school of Los Angeles.
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2 min read
Goodbye George
I am taking this opportunity to say goodbye to President George W. Bush. Sure, like you I have seen him lampooned a million times in every conceivable way. It wasn’t always like this, it’s strange …
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3 min read
Money & Euro Football
This week the European Champion’s League football season kicked off. There are the rich and the poor in every sport, but rarely, if ever, is the discrepancy so large as it is here. It won’t be a su…
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8 min read
What’s really going on, the story about being a Jew in the UK today
To paraphrase the Peter Finch character in the film Network, I’m mad and I’m not going to take it any more. This is a controversial article, so, if you want to turn away now please do so. I make no…
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2 min read
Get Carter
This week I was interviewed for a book about Ted Lewis, the author who wrote the novel “Jack’s Return Home”, which was the basis for the film “Get Carter” starring Michael Caine, directed by Mike H…
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5 min read
Dark Knight
Whenever a film makes nearly a couple of hundred million dollars in its first weekend it is worth a look to see why. Over the last few days The Dark Knight, the most recent of the Batman film franc…
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4 min read
Being Jew...ish
There is something re-assuring about belonging to a club. It doesn’t much matter how good the club is, we all think, because we each know best, that our club is the best club. Surely it we are in t…
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4 min read
Standards
I saw the film “W” and the reason for my mention of it here is that I will later comment on the honesty, or lack of it, of the film’s makers, particularly Oliver Stone, its director. Am I alone in …
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6 min read
USA
During those particularly American rites of passage, the Primaries and later, the election for President we tend to forget the bigger issues. What is happening to the USA and its place in the world?
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4 min read
Still Friends
Beginning about fifteen years ago I started to meet friends from my childhood. It started when I was editing a small video series I had produced in London. Someone saw my name, and remembering me f…
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3 min read
Too Early to Call
The Obama presidency is still so new that no one can judge how it will turn out. Those of you who follow my articles will know I have long harbored doubts about the man. Yes, I admire his spunk, hi…
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4 min read
Things that are Good
I have been accused of ranting, and I have also been told that I am writing what many of you are thinking. Both of these observations have some truth in them. Despite my best efforts there are some…
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2 min read
Worrying Times
Two seemingly disassociated events taking place this week in the US and UK might be inextricably linked. In fact they are potentially of immense political significance.
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5 min read
The Truth Shall Set You Free
There are two different and disturbing stories in the press today. One gets little coverage and the other hardly any. They share a common theme that is not, at first, obvious.
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