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
3 min read
TONY THE WORKAHOLIC
My name is Tony and I am a workaholic. There you go, the first step is the big one, the admission that there is something wrong with me. Now I’ve gone that far I guess I should explain myself.
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2 min read
Sex Stranger
Today I shall review a new CD called Sex With A Stranger. This is a totally new type of concept devised and composed by David Courtney.
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1 min read
BOOK ABOUT MICHAEL KLINGER WINS PRIZE
In Manchester last night it was announced that Andrew Spicer and A. T.McKenna's book about famed film producer, Michael Klinger, The Man Who Got Carter is the winner of the 2015, 1st Prize in Briti…
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3 min read
When You're Wrong
It is human nature to let others know when you predicted something and it turned out as you forecast. I managed this feat with quite a few things that modesty forbids me mentioning here if I was mo…
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4 min read
Roll of Shame
What do Vodafone, the Tesco store credit card, United Airlines Mileage Plus have in common? They all cost me time, blood pressure readings that were off the scale and tested my hard won patience. I…
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3 min read
Horrible Alzheimer’s
Horrible Alzheimer’s disease could there be anything more cruel or arbitrary than this illness that robs us of our loved ones and leaves us with their shadows? This is an intensely personal article…
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1 min read
FAREWELL LYNDA BELLINGHAM
I want to write a few words of goodbye to a very lovely lady.
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2 min read
Media
I recently had a fascinating couple of conversations with people in Los Angeles. One works for a huge, leading mobile telephone platform and the other for a giant film distribution company, now par…
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2 min read
REMEMBERING TED
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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3 min read
Kindness
I believe there is a saying that no kindness goes unpunished, and to some extent I believe that to be the case. Does this mean we should stop being kind, or trying to be kind? I don’t think so and …
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3 min read
MORE HOT WATER
We all live very close to the edge of a big hole. This hole should be labeled the unknown. It is a scary, dark place, full of boogey men, and other things that go bump in the dark. We can fall into…
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2 min read
Lurching to the Left
For reasons that don’t make much sense we are lurching to the political left, when perhaps we need to be holding hard to the centre. This goes for both the UK and the US, but it infects most of the…
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2 min read
MONEY FOR CREATIVES
We have pondered the question of what we, at the Funky Shirt Lunch Club, will define as the Creative Industries. This is important because on that definition hinges what we aim to arrange finance for.
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4 min read
Freddie is Shredded
There’s a saying that goes around media newsrooms, “you just couldn’t make this up!” and nothing sums this up better than the morality play of Sir Fred Goodwin, until very recently the CEO of The R…
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1 min read
The Toughest Moment
Very recently I found myself in the unenviable position of having to tell an exciting new film making talent that she shouldn't go ahead with her long cherished creative project. It was awful as th…
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6 min read
Legoland
Yesterday was my family’s Legoland day. Such is the draw of the place that Jennifer Sclaire, who is not a child herself, asked to join us for the fun.
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2 min read
Market or Die!
It's obvious, if you have a new creative concept, you need a marketing plan; right?
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2 min read
Fear for the Future
Sometimes you see something so scary that you can’t quite believe it. Yesterday was just such a moment. On Britain’s Andrew Marr show, broadcast Sunday morning on the BBC the Deputy Leader of the L…
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1 min read
TO BE A UNITED KINGDOM
I'm not Scottish, so forgive me as a British citizen from having a view. I don't think Scotland is going to vote for independence from the rest of the UK and I think, in a business sense, that they…
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4 min read
Learning in the UK
When I was in charge of a film degree programme at an English university I was once confronted by the parents of a student. My first question was, why are the parents of a 20-year-old student confr…
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4 min read
The Only Permitted Racism
It is interesting to note how many people I have spoken with since arriving back in the UK a couple of days ago who are sickened by the anti-Israel reporting on the supposedly fair and equal handed…
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4 min read
Neat Tricks Gordo
Have you noticed in all the financial mayhem that one guy is walking the walk and talking the talk, has a jaunty air, a smile on his face and a glint in his eye? I talk of the UK’s esteemed leader,…
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2 min read
ARROGANCE
What happens to very successful people? I think they go a little crazy. I was watching the actor Wesley Snipes after he had been sentenced to a term of three years in prison for failing to file a t…
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