* Note * - As I write this blog I am listening to Thomas Newman's score to "Skyfall", as I've not listened to it before and the writers of "Skyfall" were talking on the brilliant Empire Magazine's Podcast, so now I'm in a very James Bond style mood... apologies. End of Note.
Creative Talent Connections is officially off and running! Thanks to Scott Middleton, visual effects guru who worked on the "Bloodline" pilot for us, was kind enough to create our CTC logo which you can see above.
So what is Creative Talent Connections? Well, not unlike The Avengers, when Nick Fury had an idea to bring together earth's mightiest heroes to form a team to stop bad ass aliens, world threatening destruction and other crazy stuff, Scott Forrest, Claire Maguire and myself decided that the Scottish TV and film industry, certainly at our level, where are not quite at a broadcast setting (we're working on changing that...), was becoming a bit muddled, too many people were holding their contacts, equipment, etc, to themselves, when really we should be helping each other out and encouraging each other to create more content in Scotland, using primarily a Scottish cast and crew.
After our meeting at BBC Scotland Directs networking evening in February, the three of us decided to keep the networking going in order to find other like minded individuals so we can help each other out, whether it be just to talk about the industry or ideas for projects, to work on each other's projects, lend equipment and generally produce more content. The theory being that if we make enough noise, someone will hear us and hopefully a conversation between people at our level and those who have more experience, who have access to money, or to contacts, can start talking and mentor creative talent in Scotland.
There is a wealth of talent in this country for TV, radio, theatre and film, and if we start making more content either for broadcast on TV, or on the internet, radio, on the stage, and on the proposed Scottish digital channel, then there will be more opportunities for those who want to work in the creative industry. Or we'll need to look outside of Scotland in order to make a living in our chosen career, which isn't an ideal situation (okay, so it's really cold here 9 months out of 12, but we're tough! We can handle it!)
Primarily CTC is a group who will be developing ideas for new TV programmes, dramas, comedies, horror, fantasy, game shows, documentaries, you name it, so we can take them to production companies and get more content produced. We have several projects on going, with most of our attention on our supernatural drama series, "Bloodline", which, thanks to CTC, we got all of our crew, cast and resources and shot a 45 minute pilot for less than £2,000.
Acting legends Tam Toye and Simon Weir with Claire, myself and Scott
Our first official CTC Networking night took place on the 25th of November at Blackfriars in Merchant City. Special guests Tam Toye and Simon Weir were our special guests and did an hour long talk about their experiences in the industry, explaining how they got started, how the industry worked and their advice to the fellow actors in the room. It was a brilliant night and we're now booking guests, hopefully established directors and producers, for our CTC night in January, where we will also be launching our CTC Film Festival, a short, one night festival where 6 teams can enter and make a film to be shown in March, judged by our special guests on that evening.
All of the details for our networking nights are available on Facebook at this page.
We hope some of you will come along to our nights and learn valuable lessons about working in the creative industry.
Kirsty Strain and Greg Hemphill are our special guests in our first ever podcast!
To compliment our networking events we've also launched our CTC Podcasts, where we will invite special guests - actors, writers, directors, producers, etc - to come in and talk to us openly and honestly about their experiences in the industry. Again, the hope is that everybody will learn something new and be able to advance in their careers in the industry.
We were very grateful that comedy legend Greg Hemphill, best known for writing and starring in Chewin' The Fat and Still Game, and Kirsty Strain who is best known for her work in River City and Burnistoun, as well as Scottish BAFTA best film, "Up There", agreed to be our first guests.
Recorded at the Cue and Review Studios in Bishopbriggs (thanks Chris and the team!) we had a blast talking to the guys about their careers and their thoughts on the industry. Now we have the fun of cutting our 3 hour interview down to an hour, which is a nightmare as they were just so damn funny.
The podcast will be available to listen to online, on iTunes and will be broadcast on East Dunbartonshire Radio in the near future. We're working on securing future guests for the podcasts so stay tuned.
2012 is nearly over and our 48 hour film Glasgow entry, "Cameron Stone: A Legendary Actor" has been chosen to be shown at the Raptor Filmz Festival on the 2nd of December from 6pm at the Grosvenor Cinema in Ashton Lane from 6pm. It's a great way to get our work showcased and we're very grateful to be chosen.
And 2013 is shaping up already, with several short films in development for film festivals, Bloodline being prepared for pitching to production companies and our networking events and podcasts taking shape, it's going to be a busy year for CTC!
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