Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Sanguine

My third sit down with the Actress today. From the offset she had wanted to talk about the highs and lows of her life and career. After two meetings mainly discussing the former, the time had come for us to concentrate on the latter.

The agent had altered her schedule and was there with us, which turned out to be a good thing. Arriving ahead of the Actress, we discussed the subjects to touch on. When the Actress turned up, as I brought up various areas to talk about, the agent egged her on to reveal more than she perhaps wanted to this early in the game.

For the most part she was very open about her past. A couple of times I had to switch to much more lighter subjects when it became obvious that, after all these years, some of the topics were still too raw to discuss at length. Although by now she was much more comfortable talking to me about her past, there came a point where the tape recorder had to be switched off.

After feeding the Actress’ dog the remains of the lunch provided for us, we touched on the last of the subjects and ended on a happier note. Heading home earlier than expected, with everything I needed for the time being, I got off the tube the stop before West Hampstead and wandered around the O2 Centre on the Finchley Road.

Having seen it repeatedly on the train into town, I figured it was finally worth a look. It turned out to be utterly pointless. Standing outside the VUE cinema on the top floor of the massive space-wasting atrium, reached by an escalator that looked like it had been lifted from a tawdry theme park, I couldn’t find a film I could be bothered to see and went home.

Checking my email, there was a further note from the friend at Granada, continuing his thoughts on the script, that included:

It's a script that exists to be screened. It's not simply a collection of ideas, characters and scenarios. It is a collection of pages which exists to direct an episode.

That’s a good thing, right?

10 Comments:

At 8:58 am, Blogger Brian Sibley said...

A good thing indeed... But (with due respect to your friend at Granada) did you think - even for a moment - that maybe you had written a script which DIDN'T do those script-type things?

The Actress sounds encouraging - I do hope that many Very Famous People will be quaking when you and she have finished your labours and the book is Out There! ;-) Seriously, make sure you keep a bit of the "raw", won't you?

 
At 9:51 am, Blogger Good Dog said...

I think he had probably read enough scripts that didn't do those script things.

I'm finding out that many VFP were very naughty VFP.

 
At 11:25 am, Blogger Jaded and Cynical said...

If the Actress is who I think she is (and please God it's not Jean Alexander) she was the object of one of my first schoolboy crushes.

Probably not a unique experience.

It's scary to think about the contrast with the equivalent iconic young women who occupy the same place in the cultural spotlight today.

Paris Hilton's in jail (according to latest reports). Lindsay Blowhands is in rehab. Britney and Kate Moss should be. All the crazy actresses in LA are marauding through the orphanges of Africa like a plague of locusts. And the likes of Kiera and Posh are - how to phrase this without inviting a libel action - plainly anorexic.

Good luck to any twelve-year-old boy hoping to have a pleasant dream about any of that lot.

 
At 12:42 pm, Blogger Good Dog said...

I had to look Jean Alexander up.

Heck, no....

J&C, can't really say here but drop me an email (via the Profile page) with who you think it is. Let's see if you win a cookie.

And by god, the 'iconic young women' of today are absolute skanks.

 
At 8:02 pm, Blogger Jason Arnopp said...

The O2 Centre has a Nando's. How bad can it be? :)

 
At 9:35 pm, Blogger Good Dog said...

Yes, there was a Nando's and Yo Sushi amongst others, but they were about the size of broom cupboards and really little more that gussied-up fast food joints.

 
At 8:42 am, Blogger Jaded and Cynical said...

Just to point out, in order to spare everyone's blushes (particularly my own), I thought the Actress was Joanna Lumley. It isn't. And that's why I don't gamble.

I suspect that the real Actress (and there aren't that many candidates) achieved fame a little later in life, is perhaps a wee bit more talented than Ms Lumley, and has a rather more dramatic story to tell. And she certainly did not figure in my adolescent fantasies, which will be a great relief to all concerned.

Please continue with your trail of breadcrumbs GD, because I really want to figure this out.

In the meantime, if anyone should happen to have a tape of Joanna Lumley talking about sex, please let me know.

 
At 9:33 am, Blogger Good Dog said...

Actually, if there is a tape available of Joanna Lumley talking about sex I'd sure as heck like a copy too.

 
At 6:44 am, Blogger Brian Sibley said...

What's it worth?? ;-)

 
At 11:12 am, Blogger Good Dog said...

Plenty.

 

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