If I Could Run

As many of you will know, this blog normally acts as a vehicle for either my inane ramblings about whatever has tickled my proverbial fancy on the day, or as a means of updating the world on the progress of my inane scribblings.
Today, though, as I sometimes (though rarely) do, I'm handing over my blog to something or someone else so they can reach out to you utterly fabulous people.

So, here is IF I COULD RUN.
Once you've read about it, you'll find a link to Kickstarter where Emily and Hannah would be immensely delighted if you could find it in your hearts to part with a shekel or two and give this project the support which it deserves (there's even the opportunity to be mentioned as an Executive Producer on IMDB!!! How cool is that?)
And just for the record...if no-one supports it, I'll keep badgering everyone via this blog until someone does :)
You have been warned!!

About this project

Hannah Mason and Emily Ritchie are producing and directing a short drama film based around a young carer who has had to put her life on hold for her Mother's illness.
If I Could Run shows Beth's struggle to continue being a young carer and we see her frustrations at the opportunities she has to miss out on due to the fact she has to care for her Mother who is suffering from Parkinson's Disease.
The honest and moving story will place you into Beth's shoes as you follow her daily frustrations and coping mechanisms, this is a real eye opener to what it is like to live with the disease from both viewpoints.
We'd like to raise the money so that we can make the film as realistic as possible - whether this be from the locations, the best actors, the costumes or even the props.
Currently, we are in the pre-production stages but in mid-January we will begin filming in Preston, Blackburn and Liverpool so that we have the best locations to make the film look as real as possible. After filming we will begin the post-production stage and then be able to market the film and once finally completed hopefully enter it into film festivals and get it screened as much as we can.
We want to tell this story so people can understand, sympathise and learn more about young carers and Parkinson's Disease.
We have a great script, a brilliant cast and now we just need your support to see this project really take off!
Thank you for the time and support given to If I Could Run.

Risks and challenges

Some of the risks film makers face could be anything from the weather to technical issues or from not getting it to how we want it to look to a lack of preparation.
So far for If I Could Run we have planned everything with military precision from the shooting schedule, the locations, the actors and even every single travel expense we will need. We're nearly ready and raring to go!
Since we are filming in January and we are in Britain we hope that any of that typical bad British weather stays away! We have a back up plan for our locations and even potentially new filming dates - but we have faith in the weather to make it work for us!
We know how we want it to look and we know it could not look like how we want it but we have a brilliant and dedicated cast and crew who have already fallen in love with the characters and the film - they're itching to get this started! With the dedication and determination of the team we believe that we can make a really great short film!
No matter what challenges or difficulties we face, we will work as a strong team and use our abilities to work through it and break down any obstacles we have to!

IF I COULD RUN on Kickstarter

Support your local author...er, no

I guess at the outset of this post it is important to make clear that, in spite of the fact that 'The Book That THEY...' is perhaps the most fantastically inventive and brilliantly-written book of this and maybe every other century, I should not expect anything other than the slow maturation of global recognition of its superb-ness, like a giant stonking oak forming from the tiniest of acorns.
However, what I could have perhaps expected was a little bit more support from those around me...and by that, I definitely do not mean friends and family and likers and followers and buyers, all of whom have been really, really supportive to the point beyond brilliance (and I love you all)...no, what I mean is those potential avenues that could (and in my humble opinion, perhaps should) do more to promote what is a book by a local author (born-and-bred), featuring a very Lancastrian hero and set (for Part 1 at least) in and around the local area that is Darwen and Horwich and Manchester.
Yes, I'm talking about my 'local' promotional vehicles and outlets.
Like all books by anyone other than Dan Brown or J.K.Rowling, there is a need for the author to do their bit to promote their work, which is fair enough and I have no problem with that. One of the areas where such promotion usually bears fruit is the author's own geographical backyard, their local patch where their achievement can be lauded, celebrated and, yes, promoted by their own; I approached this opportunity with much enthusiasm.
Alas, the balloon of local expectation has been very quickly deflated by the forces of rejection and indifference.
For example:

• On the publication of Part 1, I e-mailed a certain free magazine about life in Blackburn with Darwen, asking whether it would be an article of interest - no response.
• I also e-mailed the local Blackburn newspaper (which shall, of course, remain nameless) - again, no response (it's the failure to respond which really narks)
• I contacted my local bookstore (you know, the one with the well-known brand of coffee shop inside it) to ask if, seeing as they sell my e-book on their web-site, they'd be willing to put a small notice up next to their Kindles highlighting the work of a local author - the manager responded (which is a positive) to say that they can't do anything like that unless told to by head-office; end of debate.
• Local book clubs - some have responded (thanks, Daniel), but most have not.
• There are other examples, but I won't bore you with them.

You see, my friends, what I find just a bit galling (and I don't want to sound all whiney here) is that so many of the possible avenues I have explored actually promote their own 'local-ness' as a virtue, as something that they are proud of and should be celebrated and, more importantly, supported; and yet, when something of genuine local interest comes along (as I think someone writing a sci-fi book set in Lancashire is), they are simply not interested.
To the raging cynic in me, it would appear that they flaunt their 'local-ness' only when it suits them, but ignore it if they see no benefit in it for them.
The worst example of 'not supporting your local author' comes from Lancashire Magazine (yes, I will name them). I contacted them to ask if they'd be interested in doing a piece about a book with a local hero written by someone who has lived in Lancashire all their life; their response was to say, possibly, but only if I took out a quarter-page advertisement at a cost of £395.
Naturally, my response was 'fuck that!' (though I was too nice to put that in the e-mail!)

The only silver lining I can provide on what, in my eyes at least, is a damning indictment of those who claim to be 'local' failing to support something genuinely 'local', is a potential interview in another local newspaper - however, the interview itself did happen five weeks ago and, as yet, nothing has made it into print.
I do, however, remain eternally hopeful and my positivity is undimmed.