cushions, scripts and cancellations

It's been a manic week for Film Northants with the finalists announced and voting getting underway on September 1st.



It seems like a crisis has either arisen, been averted or been resolved, several times a day and I have been chained to the email.



And it all started so well. The giddy finalists all sent their photos in on time and copy reached the Chron a day before their deadline. Then on Wednesday (my 31st birthday - eek!) there was a fantastic article in the Chron and the voting absolutely exploded. By lunchtime (after I sorted a couple of teething problems) we had more than 100 votes, and thanks to the great little bit of software we are using (micropoll) there is no chance of cheating, as it blocks an IP address once someone has voted. Even if they think they have voted a second time, it doesn't register on the results. I know all this because I spent about a week testing it.



The same day whilst I was making cushion seat covers (I really know how to let my hair down on my birthday) Dean Twaites, director of Barney and Film Northants 2008 winner, was on BBC Radio to talk about graduating from university and setting up his business Timecode Pro. He also gave Film Northants a good plug, even if the producer did keep saying he won the competition last year, when in fact it was two years ago. Dean entered a film last year but it didn't make it to the final, so this year he is even more determined to claim back his crown.



But it won't be an easy task. A sneak peak of the voting shows that all of the films are neck and neck, and it could still be anyone's award. So make sure you go online and vote.



The voting up and rolling, the committee had a meeting and planned the running order, timings and format of the screening and reception on September 20th. Tickets will be in the post in the next week. Northampton Mayor Councillor Marianne Taylor also confirmed that she will be attending the screening and the guestlist is mounting up. It should be a packed cinema, fingers crossed. Thankfully we also have help in the form of Northampton Youth Forum so there will be plenty of people on hand to offer guests canapes and bubbly at the reception.



There are still a couple of pairs of tickets for the public going spare, so get your hands on them by following the details on the Film Northants Finalists page.



As I was saying, it was all going swimmingly, when the stops started to come out on Thursday. First there was the matter of a small disagreement over one of the final films. Much two-ing and fro-ing on the email finally resolved the matter about 24 hours later. Secondly awards presenter Claire Young pulled out. Then she pulled back in again, and then a day later she pulled out again. Claire has been asked to do some filming in London on the day of the ceremony and cannot guarantee that she will be finished in time to attend the ceremony. The committee was not impressed. Fortunately help was at hand via the charismatic charms of film critic Bruce Green, who does the weekly film news and reviews on BBC Radio Northampton. Not only are Bruce and the BBC stumping up prizes for the festival, but Bruce has kindly agreed to step into Claire's shoes and present the awards. More details will be put on the website next week. Thanks Bruce!

Next up I had a meeting with Stacey Swift, winner of 2009 Judges' Choice award for his film Tuhfah. Since then Stacey has made an excellent feature length film entitled Stabbing for Jesus. It is a satirical mockumentary about Christian extremists in the vein of Brass Eye. Stacey is now developing and rewriting the script with the hope of getting it professional made and he has already meet with a regional producer. He hopes to film it all in Northampton to keep the setting local. I have been giving him advice on how to develop the film and knocking ideas around. It is great to see that Film Northants has given someone the inspiration to go on and develop a feature film and also been able to connect them to the right people in the industry. Watch this space for more details...

My last task of the week was to send out a press release to local media to encourage people to vote. BBC Northampton snapped it up and contacted me to see if they could interview two of the other Film Northants judges. They were not available and I had already been on twice! AHH! However I suggested they speak to the aforementioned Stacey Swift to get a winners perspective. They thought this was a great idea and all being well Stacey should be on the radio tomorrow around 12.20pm on 104.2FM.

Another boost to my day was looking at the Film Northants website stats. It had more than 1,000 hits in August and only a few days into September and it has had more than 500 already. This is far higher than when the festival was on the Chronicle & Echo website. Having a dedicated website is a real bonus. Further good news is that all of the prizes have arrived. There is tonnes of film merchandise from 20th Century Fox, film goodies courtesy of BBC Radio Northampton, £500 Jessops gift card for the 1st prize winner and a £200 Jessops gift card for the Judges' Choice winner. There are also annual cinema passes to be won. Again it is our best ever year in terms of prizes.

So the glass is definitely half full at the moment and all hiccups have been sorted. Just keep those votes coming in as you have until September 17th. It would be great if we could hit the 1,000 votes mark.

Hopefully there will be no more issues over the weekend, as I'm off bridemaid dress shopping with my best mate who is soon to be wed.

NB: whilst writing this blog the internet crashed, so I have had to re-write half of it again, perhaps I shouldn't be off shopping after all...