Sacred Boston

Just returned from a short filming trip in Boston. There's something very cool about Boston that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it's my obsession with Lehane's Kenzie & Gennaro detective series to which Boston provides the backdrop, always a bonus to be in the place that the book you're reading is set, or maybe it's the abundance of cool bars like the Beehive. (if you get a chance order a Shortrib, Farmhouse Cheddar & Fontina Grilled Cheese sandwich - worth the trip alone). Not to mention the history, the friendly people, the obsession with baseball, the fact that it has seasons and weather similar to ours. Whatever it is, everytime I visit I like it just that little bit more.

Vombies!

More to follow...

Berlin

Just got back from filming Europe's biggest pharma e-marketing summit EFP.

This is the view from the hotel which overlooks the Deutscher Dom. It was snowing but don't think you can quite make that out from the picture.

Can't wait to go back and spend some more time exploring.

In production

Nick & I have just spent a couple of days on a film set.  We're shooting some 'behind the scenes' EPK stuff for a new horror anthology called Little Deaths  Our old war buddy Sean Hogan is directing the 2nd of the 3 episodes in the anthology, 'House & Home'.  The first & third films are called 'Bitch', written & directed by Simon Rumley and 'Mutant Tool', written & directed by Andrew Parkinson.

Tuesday evening we joined them on a night shoot over near Enfield, where dog handlers were on hand to control the 'actors'.  Filming seemed to be going fairly smoothly and apart from the bloody temperature, everyone was happy at the wrap for the day.

Yesterday we were at a closed set over in Mill Hill.  One of the crucial final scenes was being filmed and the poor lead actress Kate was clearly involved in some harrowing scenes.  We had a nice chat to her afterwards and spoke to Simon and the DoP Milton Kam, who is shooting all the films on a Red One. They gave us their thoughts on the fully digital workflow and were generally really happy about the picture and performance.

So, we should have some cool goodies for EPK webisodes & a BTS documentary for the DVD release.  Will post again when we visit Sean's set - expecting more harrowed actresses there...

Pics from the top -

On-set in London, 

Gravy, 

A dog and a Red One, 

Simon, 

Kate 

Cadbury Boost

We had another call from the folks at Cadbury the other night.  Could we get down to the Gold Coast bar in Brixton and film distinguished guests from Ghana at the launch of the new Swap Songs TV ad campaign?

It's a campaign where Cadbury are asking people to swap any regular purchase to the Fairtrade equivalent (not sure everyone understood the concept thoroughly, one portly gentleman told us he would swap a crate of beer he had in his boot for chocolate bars!).

Anyhoo, the idea is that you let them know what you have swapped on the Cadbury website and you can download a free album of British song re-recorded by Ghanaian artists.  Pretty cool.

So we had a busy night, interviewing the attendees (including Harriet Lamb - the 3rd time we've had the pleasure in as many weeks!).  It was a fun night, we got some nice photos & soundbites for a little promo to help the campaign along.  Had a sip (a sip, mind) of a Ghanaian brewskie, and we were given a little gift as a thank-you on the night - 4.5KG of Fairtrade Dairy Milk bars!!

Well, hopefully our consumption helped to do a tiny bit of good in the world(!).  As I think I've said before, it's nice to see the big boys beginning to embrace ethical trade...

Phipps Photoshoot

Just looking at the stills from last week's photoshoot at Phipps PR, the agency responsible for G&B and other premium brands - stumbled across this test shot of Paul. What a handsome chap!

Saints go marching in

Friday was a crazy day.  We got a call from our old friend and colleague Zachary on Thursday night.  He's working for a pretty cool biz in NY and he called to see if we were interested in doing some 'pro bono' work for a potential client of his, Global Green.  

Could we get a simple 30sec promo completed and shown on air in the run up to Super Sunday in the States in less than 24hrs?

Yup.