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We stand at the end of a phase, the edge of a decision.

In around one week’s time, the existing filmmaking phase of Impact50 will close.

ADDENDUM... I am adding this line a day after this went live. All of my suggestions here are about ADDING to Impact50 and NOT taking anything away. Any changes made are entirely in the interests of elevating phase one for all involved so far, both writers and filmmakers.

Critically, the films submitted already will be assessed and judged as if there were no phase 2. We will complete a version of Impact50 (roughly) based on what has been submitted and then ask, what can we do now? What can we add? How can we best fill any gaps? I have a pretty good handle on where I think we will be in just over a week when it closes, and so this post reflects that perspective.

The 55 winning screenwriters will still be credited as the writers of the film. There may be more added but no-one will be taken away.

We are also considering exciting and seductive ways to attract filmmakers to the scripts already submitted to Impact50, as well as ways to help improve any submitted films where necessary, so as to improve their chances. Our clear desire is, and has always been, to facilitate as many filmmaker/writer collaborations and an enable as many original scripts to be produced as possible.

As my script ‘Norah’s Ark’ was in the Second Chancers, I decided to make it myself but for it to be considered as a Wild Card I had to make one of the 50 finalist scripts.

So I became a producer.

As a member of Surrey Border Movie Makers I asked if they would like to get involved. They agreed and formed the film crew.

Looking back to learn lessons from the past...

As part of 50 Kisses, we invited filmmakers to act on feedback from the community.

One filmmaking team, Sweet Home Films in LA, made their film over 20% shorter, fixed some audio problems and overall radically improved their work. Watch the first submitted edit below...

The power of editing never ceases to amaze me – actors, writers, DPs, designers, all offer incredible contributions to a story, but it’s the editor who takes that heady cocktail of ideas, creativity, drama, misfires, failures, surprises, technical problems etc etc that happened on set / location, and makes it all work as best it can.

This is a process that requires tough choices, reflection and an unwavering dedication to the audience.

We just had a film submitted to Imapact50 that shows the value of getting a GREAT location, with great props.

When you achieve this, the major benefit is that wherever you point the camera, it looks great (or at least credible). This is one reason why we found the location for the Presidents Speech that we shot a few weeks back (HERE).

The script. After many months of Rock. Paper. Scissors being open to film-makers, not a sniff. I feared the opportunity was slipping away. Think me as Gollum and my script the ring. So at the end of London Screenwriters Festival 2017 I stood like Wonder Woman (the norm for all delegates), hands on hips, and I pledged.

My script will get made…a few thoughts from a writer turned first time producer. 

At the heart of Create50 is the idea that we ALL win because we create, get feedback, create relationships, offer feedback and grow. It’s TRULY about the taking part.

We have spent the day revamping the Impact50 website so that it’s much easier to watch, rate and leave feedback on films.

We have introduced a star rating widget. Wait, what?

I have just uploaded the whole album of stills from the shoot last week, with Olivia Williams playing the President of the United States. You can see them all on Flickr HERE. Or you can see them on this blog post...

Last Friday we shot the opening scene of The Impact, written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Olivia Williams. We shot in an extraordinary White House Oval Office reconstruction in Norfolk at RAF Coltishall in the sets owned by October Films.

You will know we ran a crowdfund campaign to raise the initial finances needed (but we overspent), and so we now have a stretch goal to cover the additional costs we could not foresee. You can contribute to it HERE, and are all very grateful for anything you can offer. You rock!

You can watch the updated video for the crowdfund below... and contribute to it HERE.

The Watchers has been a long-time coming.

A very long time coming.

I wrote the first draft on June 8th 2015, it was then titled ‘The Watchers of Worlds’ - a nod to the astronauts being the only witnesses to a world both pre- and post-impact.

Since then I’ve gotten a degree in history, encountered Christ, finished three drafts of a fantasy feature - The Aeneid, one Egyptian TV pilot - Heiretic, started countless other projects, and shot goodness knows how many short films.

I just got the email confirming that Joe Ezsterhas signed the contract for his #Impact50 screenplay that will open the film. Boom!

We can finally share the script that we are shooting in the coming week, with the astonishingly awesome Olivia Williams playing the president of America.

You can read the script HERE and read all the other scripts that you can make to be a part of Impact50 HERE.

The brief was to write about peoples’ reactions in the 97 minutes after the Presidential announcement that life on earth was going to cease - in no more than 2 pages. 

What was the idea behind Norah’s Ark?

I noticed a 25’ boat sitting on stilts outside a commercial garage in a village in Hampshire, nowhere near any water.  So in the back of my mind it was only natural that when the news comes about the asteroid, a teacher called Norah has 6 children uncollected from school.  She tells them the story of Noah’s Ark, gets them to decorate animal masks and leads them onto the boat.  What else can you do when the earth is doomed?

When we entered The Impact 50, I had a clear and unwavering vision in my head. This was not going to be a big blustering film, but a small domestic glimpse into the world of a little girl who has a very different understanding of life. We knew that a lot of people were crowd-funding major productions with large-scale visions of the end of the world. Our film is set in a kitchen/diner. It is a simple setting with one ordinary mother and her extraordinary daughter.

The film is little more than a series of pleas from a desperate parent. It is a tale of a girl with Asperger’s syndrome and her total fixation on finishing her video game, a game that mirrors the chaos around her. It was agreed that to achieve this “locked in” existence we would work with tight angles and visuals that matched the setting.

When I finished post grad at UCLA, I was already working on film sets in several positions, most often as a script supervisor. However, I decided I wanted to experience the finance and distribution part of the business and so started work at Disney, Buena Vista.

I was working a 2-day shoot as a script supervisor when on the second day I got into a terrible car accident on the highway.

A few teenagers high on drugs or alcohol hit me. I was 26 years old and my life changed after that. Fortunately other than whiplash I wasn’t hurt badly, just some minor bruises, but my car was totaled.

If you’re thinking about having a go at making a Create 50 film – DO IT!

I got off my butt and produced my own script DADDY’S FORT and the process has been such an awesome learning curve.

I definitely recommend having a go if you’re serious about being in the film biz. We were really lucky to have OPC Media on set during production and they perfectly captured our shoot day in this brilliant behind the scenes featurette.

“What if no one options it?”

After the initial euphoria had waned, this was my focus. I couldn’t bear to think that my story, In Vino Veritas, had battled its way through over two thousand screenplays, only to possibly fall at the last hurdle and the more I thought about it, the more this potential outcome became unpalatable. That’s when I decided to become a producer and make it myself.

Being involved in the whole script-to-screen process of our two short films, has taught me much about translating my stories for the screen, as well as what each team member involved brings to the party, be it pre or post production or on set.

As others have already blogged, you cannot put a price on the invaluable lessons this allows you as a writer to understand what your carefully chosen words mean to a film cast and crew and, as a crew member, producer or director, how those words are used to bring the characters and story to life.

The Impact50 Trailer Has Been Launched… Get involved and make your micro-budget apocalyptic short.

Watch the trailer here for the crowd created feature film project #Impact50, about what would happen in the last few hours of humanity before an asteroid impact.

And if you are a filmmaker, there is still plenty of time for you to get involved and have YOUR work showcased in this revolutionary global project.

Watch the trailer here…

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO THE...VOLCANO?

Ok, you may be wondering why any sane person would be cooking on the edge of a volcano.

It seems pretty daft and there are certainly easier ways to fry your eggs (not a euphemism). Fact is though, that’s the only way I can truly sum up how it felt for me to take the plunge and turn my hand to both producing and directing a film for the very first time.

We have begun production on the opening scene where the president of America addresses the planet...

As you will recall, this script was written for us by Joe Eszterhas and we are VERY excited to bring it to life.

In the coming weeks we will share the script and the exciting news on who we have managed to secure to play the president.

We planned to have a technical rehearsal for Up Up and Away on Saturday 17th March with the actual shoot date on 18th - weather permitting. 

Well, weather did not permit.  With snow expected and freezing temperatures we decided to postpone the shoot date until the following Sunday, 25th March but went ahead with the technical rehearsal on 17th.

A number of challenges faced us, mainly involving the chair lifting into the air with actor (Brian O’Connell) on board. It was time for the game to commence in trial terms so we trooped out to inspect the pitch.

Guest post by Andrew McGee

Who’d have thought making a film set in space would be so tricky?

The Watchers was shot in late 2016, and through the hard work of an amazing cast and crew, the pre-production and shoot itself went extremely smoothly (even with my own laptop almost falling off the set, see below). Jumping straight into such an ambitious film straight after graduating, with professional adult actors and a fully constructed set of the International Space Station (thanks to the wonderful Jason Kelvin), was such an exciting time as a director.

As ‘Francis of Fell End Farm’ is now going through post-production, I think back over the past year since I decided to film the script.

I knew that my script presented challenges to anyone interested in filming it: Find a suitable farm location, an actor who could work with a collie - or a farmer able to work with a collie and act well enough - and a collie who would not experience ‘film fright’ when confronted by a team of people and their equipment.

As the judges for the competition said, they expected that it would be adapted.

When myself Jaye (producer) and Jonah (director) decided to option one of the Impact Scripts we instantly fell in love with Silent Ruin written by Chris Vanderhorst. We were impressed by the way it was written, and thought it quite unique that the end of the world was played out using different sounds.

The two characters in the screenplay are deaf, and use sign language. We did not want to employ hearing actors who could just be taught the signs.  To make the story really live we needed deaf actors, so the task began to find two deaf actors to play Viviana and Marcus.

By the moment I entered the international team of Impact50 I had produced three shorts. However, I have never produced a short film, which was not made from my own screenplay. This was my first try.

I read all the winning scripts, but it was hard to choose which one to produce, as I was searching a script with an easy location, minimum actors and ideally no dialogue, as I was going to shoot it in Russia. “Sing, Mummy!” by Tracey Parsons was ideal fit for my needs. And I really loved the script from the first read.

In just over 100 days, the Impact50 filmmaking challenge will close.Closing date is April 30th at midnight UK time.

Can you make a short film from a two page script about the end of the world?

If so, invest a weekend and become part of the Impact50 feature film challenge.

Teams from around the world have begun optioning scripts and making their films now, many of which you can watch on the site.

Losing our main farm location with less than 48 hours before film day we held it together (just) through head scratching, frantic phone calls (remember those?), and seven coffees, managing to find another location just in time.

We liked the gentle humour of Zara’s script and felt that both Omar – who we had seen giving excellent comedy performances – and Simon - who had a background in comedic acting – would be great for this kind of material.

We brought them together for a full rehearsal, hiring a room at a local hotel, and it was clear that they had an instant rapport.

We Were Human wrapped production in Reno at about 4:30 yesterday.

I took everyone to Bertha Miranda for dinner and drinks. (Left to right) me, our location coordinator Adam Barrett, cinematographer Aaron Franke, and stars Tony Frenchu and Cece Dietlein.

I can’t wait to start editing!

Making 'The Travellers' represented somewhat of a milestone for me as it is pretty much the first film I have made/directed that I have NOT written myself.

This definitely presented a number of challenges for me, but made the process more enjoyable as a result!

Usually, pre-production for me is fairly straightforward as I have the whole film and concept mapped out thoroughly in my head from the writing process.

Long term supporter of Impact50 and Create50, and super talented screenwriter and actress Cera Rose Pickering is taking control of her own destiny and producing her own Impact50 screenplay.

She has a cast and crew in place and needs only raise the final £800 for production. I have just backed it and if you would like to back it too, here’s the link…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/daddy-s-fort-a-short-film-for-create-50/

This morning at about 11:15, after a very early start, director Xander Borg called, "It's a wrap!" on 'No Connection, Try Again Later' for The Impact.

I had the great pleasure of acting as one of the producers and getting to work with him and actor Trevor Young (no relation to me!), as well as cinematographer Aaron Franke, whose footage looks amazing as I sit here reviewing it tonight.

Jaye Swift provided us with a great script to work from, and I can only hope when she sees our version of her film she'll be happy with how it turns out.

This is the first HOS project - a short film from the Lisa Parry script and part of the Impact50 initiative.

Watch the film HERE.

Although short, this script required a fantastic location, and we found one in J Reid Pianos in north London. Casting and auditions also went extremely well, and Sarah Eastwood and Ian McCurrach were a perfect fit for Jackie and Sergei.

We're also very excited to have a completely original piece of music composed by Konstantinos Lyrakis just for this film.

That's a wrap! We had an amazing last shoot for Crazy Cat Lady (written by Carrie Wachob) at Seattle Meowtropolitan.

Cats, cats, and more cats!

Our cast and crew worked hard and we're excited to jump into editing.

Draft of film coming soon...

Take a look at the new stills from the film 'Among the Stars' written by Richard Flynn and directed by Scott Young, while the film is in post production.

Here is what director Scott Young says about why they chose the script:

'We chose this script because of the strong emotional effect it will have on the audience. To be faced with death at such a young age, and to face it as bravely as Jay and Alex do will bring a few tears to the audience’s eyes.'

Film HERE.

Of all my creative projects, I find that the ones that turn out the best are the ones that I feel a personal connection to.

‘East Valley Rhinos’ is a sweet tale about some rugby players who go to rescue an injured teammate from hospital. Having played rugby myself, it instantly grabbed me … and I knew I had to make it.

More than any sport that I’ve ever played, rugby has by far the strongest team bonding; that sense of camaraderie, of ‘brotherhood’.

This is the first HOS project - a short film from the Lisa Parry script and part of the Impact50 initiative.

Although short, this script required a fantastic location, and we found one in J Reid Pianos in north London. Casting and auditions also went extremely well, and Sarah Eastwood and Ian McCurrach were a perfect fit for Jackie and Sergei.

We're also very excited to have a completely original piece of music composed by Konstantinos Lyrakis just for this film.

Someone once told me that one of the best ways to improve my own writing was to produce a film. “Yeh, that’s not gonna happen,” I laughed. “I wouldn't know where to start!”

Then came along Create50’s ‘The Impact’ Initiative which offers 50 writers the chance to have their own screenplays put out to producers. I entered six scripts and sat back, getting more and more excited as first the long list was announced, then the short list, then the winners.

I have been sitting here tonight contemplating The Impact and all the amazing writers whose screenplays are out there now ready to be produced.

And I've also been contemplating the writers I've worked with, thus far, and have concluded that I feel humbled to be in the presence of such great talent.

As a writer myself, I know the work you put into your winning scripts, as it's the same work I put into my own projects - hey, I actually DID enter the writing component of The Impact, but didn't place anywhere... probably because I already knew 2-years ago that I really wanted to get into the production component and dig my heels in there.

It occurred to me that so many people don't know how difficult editing really is.

Here's a screen shot from a 40-second video that will only be seen on a smart phone when we actually shoot the full film this weekend.

I've invested at least 16-hours in making this video clip look like it's a FaceTime call that comes up on that smart phone.

How many times has a script been optioned or produced?

We now have data on the scripts that have been optioned and those that have been fully produced.

We do know many more are ‘cooking’ around the globe, and also many wildcard films have been optioned and or produced. We will update this chart as and when new options or productions come online.

Let’s see how this evolves! Exciting! (it will be updated on the STATS page on the menu above.

Join our Social Media Thunderclap here for the launch of The Impact50 film challenge next week.

Feature filmmaking is an intensely laborious and slow process… and The Impact50 hasn’t bucked that trend! But we are SUPER EXCITED to announce the next major phase in the process is about to launch!

So… April 19th is the date we launch!

The new Impact50 website is now up and pretty much 100% there. Check it out here www.Impact50film.com

Directed by Natalia Filson under her Red Squares Kino production company, the film Lullaby written by Jane Hamer is now in post production.

WATCH THE FILM HERE.

Pictures below:

As the asteroid dust begins to settle, we can now look back at the impact50 competition that left a lot of us with a real emotional impact, some good some bad.

For me personally the competition represented another lifeline after years of trial and error & error & error...

With the impending feeling that maybe writing is not for me after all... combined with all those voices of people echoing there pennies worth "Hairy fairy career" , "what are you going to do for a real job" , "its good but not what we're looking for right now" , if you've ever written you've surely heard some of these, unless you're incredibly lucky.

A number of filmmakers have begun making Impact 50 films to test the site. To be clear, we have not yet launched the filmmaking stage. But you may have also seen that a number of filmmakers have started making films for The Impact 50 ahead of the official launch.

This is to help us test the system once it’s completed. We expect that to be finalised for testing in around a week.

After a week or two of tweaks I am sure we will be ready to launch The Impact 50, The Film Making Phase… Buckle up, it’s going to be epic!

About two months ago, I began pre-production on my latest short film, which we aim to enter into the Impact50. Yes, I know the official filmmaking rules haven’t yet been announced, but if there’s one key piece of advice I’ve picked up from the Create50 and London Screenwriters’ Festival community it’s that you should be out there doing it NOW!
Not one day, some day. But now! (To borrow Chris’s words.)

Today we launch the new Impact50 website for the filmmaking and final release and distribution phase of the project.

We are in open beta phase so do expect a few hiccups and broken links – if you find any, drop Viktoria and email (Vicky@create50.com) and we will get it sorted.

From here you can read all the 55 winning scripts and watch films that have been submitted. You can also submit your own films too.