Continued...

I’m continuing on from the last blog which I had to stop abruptly because I clocked Julien Temple (late by half an hour, but very apologetic) striding towards the Engine Room café as I was inside, writing. I guess I should count myself lucky he remembered our meeting at all. He is working on three films, and championing the Town Hall Island project at the moment, and I am made to feel increasingly nervous as I realise a very famous film director is standing in front of me with his trademark shades still masking his eyes. He keeps them on for the duration of the interview, and I soon realise that the shades are not there to make him look cool, they are there to mask the fact that he is just as nervous as me, if not more so…

Not what I was expecting at all, and when my Dictaphone decided to use up all its memory ten minutes into our interview, I’m really worried the hour we had to talk would be dramatically cut short…but miraculously, I controlled the situation by giving him a copy of Stranger magazine to browse whilst I fiddled with the damn thing, erasing items willy-nilly. Interviewing Julien was very different to interviewing Tim McInnerny, and I guess I wasn’t expecting to have to work harder to make Julien feel comfortable. Tim was a naturally entertaining, talkative, exuberant person to interview and probably could have talked about himself for hours more. But Julien, although passionate about the project, wasn’t overly forthcoming and took longer to settle into the interview.

I asked him questions about his involvement in the regeneration project, about his connection to the town and the next steps of the project. He was most happy talking about his segment of the project, the Black Lamp Cinema, which will (if the project gets the funding it deserves), show independent films from across the globe to a broad spectrum of audiences both old and young. I’m personally very excited about this idea, and think it’s exactly what the town has been screaming out for years, if not hundreds of years…

I’ve just written up the transcript and written a 750-word feature based on the interview for Stranger. (Check out the stranger website for full article next week: www.stranger-mag.com) I think this piece will act as a base for an extended feature I want to write once I’ve got more impetus to tantalize a national publication. By impetus, I mean more names. Alan Yentob is the patron of the project, so I really want to try and get hold of him – it should be pretty easy considering he lives just outside of town. A close friend of my parents who is a VERY close friend of Julien’s is trying to set me up a meeting with Lucinda, (Joe Strummer’s wife) which would be great because she’s chief organiser of the Strummerville music charity.

Damien Hurst is putting his name to the gallery that will feature in the project, but I’ve been told that that’s pretty much all he’s prepared to do, which means it’ll be near impossible for me to contact him…never mind, I hear he’s a bit up himself any way… There are also a few council members I need to talk to about the practicalities with, funding etc, and the coordinator of the whole shebang, and head of the Engine Room media centre, Phil Shepherd. I also will have to do a certain amount of research on the town, its traditions, history and modern economical shifts. All of which I will enjoy immensely, as the town is full of curious secrets.

I know that I am making a name for myself with the movers and shakers of the project, I was even told by Jill that they (project coordinators) had been talking about me in their board meeting, which I was a bit worried about at first – maybe I’m jumping the gun, getting excited before anything is confirmed.

But then I’m essentially acting as a publicity machine for them, writing about the project before anyone else realises there’s a damn good story here…at least I think that if I don’t do it now, I’ll miss out. And whilst I’ve got the time, I couldn’t think of anything I’d like to be dong more than boosting my home town’s cultural profile as well as meeting a host of interesting people and hopefully producing some good writing?

I’ve also got three other projects on the go – a green light on the sixixis profile, a green light on the Backstage piece and a review for a journalist friend for an exhibition she’s putting on in London next week. Brigid McConville is a close family friend and provided me with my first inspiration as a writer. She’s involved in an international organisation called The White Ribbon Alliance – helping to liberate women in developing countries, by giving them the chance to get their voices heard by the rest of the world.

This exhibition is a collection of materials handmade by women in Africa, depicting messages with “a promise to mothers lost” as the theme. Brigid will be touring the exhibition internationally and she has been invited to 10 Downing Street to show some of the exhibits. Brigid has asked me to review the exhibition and have a think about where I would like to place it. I was thinking about Mslexia or Red Pepper, but I will ask Brigid's opinion before I pitch, in case one of her freelance friends has already pitched to them.

After the exhibition on the 16th, I will be returning with Brigid’s youngest son Rory to look after him for the rest of the week in their beautiful family home in Enmore. It will be the perfect opportunity for me to finish off all my projects and get the true solitary writer vibe in this huge house in the middle of nowhere…I secretly can’t wait, it’ll be amazing.

At the time of writing I have also just finished filling in an application form for a digital shorts competition, and a rough draft of the Stranger feature. I’ve got a million phone calls to make tomorrow, but I don’t want to think about that right know. Bed is calling, but not before I’ve had a brief glimpse at Style mag…