My starting salary at Condé Nast’s Vogue in London in November 1978 (aged 18) was £2,500 per annum, plus, crucially, “luncheon vouchers to the value of 60p per day”. I was reminded of the luncheon vouchers whilst watching the first part of the documentary Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue (BBC2), having finally caught up with…
I tried stand-up comedy 30 times during the period of 12 months, from October 2012 to October 2013 (this time last year). I ‘performed’ in Barcelona, Madrid, London, New York and Edinburgh. Most of it is documented in these ‘Stand Up’ blogs. It all started with Logan Murray’s brilliant comedy course, continued for a while…
You will eventually be able to read about this in much more detail (if you wish) … in a sequel to A Load of Bull (Spanish edition Mucho Toro), currently with the working title of A Load of Barça. But here’s a snippet: I was relocated to Barcelona in June 2007 to run a magazine publishing company, with…
Sat 24 May 2014 (Barcelona) I returned from the Cannes Film Market a few days ago. The Cannes Film Festival ends tonight. Some of the prizes have already been awarded. Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó has won the ‘Un Certain Regard’ prize for White God – a film about a canine uprising. He therefore also won…
Monday 19 May 2014 (Cannes) It’s our last night in Cannes … at least for this year. I don’t think it could have gone any better. Now waiting for Right Said Fred to turn up for an ‘impromptu’, ‘unplugged’, ‘acoustic’ performance – whatever that exactly means. I’ve been asking them for the past 3 days…
Sunday 18 May 2014 (Cannes) Quick update. Sunday – often a day of contrasts – especially today. Around 11am, I buy my Sunday Times from a news kiosk near the ‘Théâtre Debussy’, where they’re hoovering the red carpet in preparation of an elegant lunchtime premiere of Spanish director Jaime Rosales’ Hermosa Juventud (‘Beautiful Youth’) –…
Fri 16 May 2014 (Cannes) As explained in part (1), this ‘diary-blog’ is supposed to be (and will be), part ‘present day’ as well as ‘flashbacks’ – the flashback bits to explain how I’ve got where I am today with the film project, and where I’m now going with it. If you stick with me,…
Thurs 15 May 2014 (Cannes) Today, ‘Right Said Fred’ arrived in Cannes. Apparently we’re going to have some ‘soundtrack meetings’. And there’s a rumour about a little concert. Normal service will resume with the ‘Making a Movie’ blog in due course … (To be continued)
Weds 14 May 2014 (Cannes) Forget all the pre-premiere controversy surrounding the film, ‘Grace of Monaco’ – the after-premiere party is incredible … It takes me about 7 hours to drive to Cannes from Barcelona, including a detour to pick up some ‘trailer’ DVDs from my director, for various meetings that I have. I finally…
13 May 2014 … so, to continue … In November 2004, nearly 10 years ago now, I went to my first ever film market – to ‘AFM’, the American Film Market, in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. But I had absolutely no idea what it was. I’d initially gone to LA and downtown Hollywood for a…