Writing schools

 Hi..Has anyone noticed the massive growth of Writing schools on the internet..Maybe because I am a published author and I publicise it the algorythm sends lots of them to me..I read most of what is on offer and I have come to the conclusion that the majority are trying to sell format writing..I have no problem with helping would be authors in developing a writing style but I have always felt you should really tell your story straight from the mind and heart..If we all follow the same format and plot lines then we will all be reading the same stories with slightly different characters and locations..Thank heaven there were no Writing schools around when Will Shakespeare was around..If you have a good story then simply write it..it might be disjointed rubbish but so what..It is your story..you are telling the tale....the storyteller.

posts

 Congratulations everyone  Over 10,000 visits this month..Now lets see if we can expand the site somehow...

Falsely accused

 This site wrongly gives a warning about it containing sensitive material.  It doesnt.  It does contain an article discussing the effect of an innocent person being accused of a crime...and the ongoing consequences..thats it.

Visits

 Almost 10,000 visits this month with a couple of days to...Well done everyone.

Literary agents..more info

 Hi and hello to those visitors who dipped into Literary Agents..More info

My name is Richard Dodd..I have a screen name..Dick Dodd..This name is listed on IMDb and gives some details of my long career as a Director of Photography  in the TV/Film industry

I have shot thousands of Prime time Dramas, along with Documentaries and LE sghows.This has taken me around the globe many times..I have used this experiences in my five novels, hopefully bringing the pace of a film script and the adventure of foreign filming.

For more info and details of the books then please contact me on my E MAIL  r.jdodd@outlook.com..

I will be happy to answer any questions..RJD.

Literary Agents

 Do any of my regular visitors to the site know of any Agents who may be interested in looking at any of my five novels..All are available and are selling on Amazon..  a couple have 5 star revues....My e: mail is    r.jdodd@outlook.com       or a message on this site.  Thanks. 

Now kill me ...Part two.

 The four marines seemed happy to carry out the order and took up attacking positions, knees bent ..knives held in front of them they began to circle the very calm instuctor.

In less time than it takes to read this part two all four marines were disarmed and were flat on the floor clutching wha appeared to be very painful parts of their anatomy.   The Instuctor walked to centre stage and addressed the now stunned and silent audience  'I need four more volunteers'   The hall was very quiet.

This brings me to the point where I give a little advice..If you are ever involved in a pub fight ..do not, under any circumstances, go for the short fella stting on his own at the far end of the bar...better to find the exit door and go home.

Now kill me....

 Some years ago I was filming a documentary in a massive Marine training camp in the States...I may have told this tale before but its worth another visit..

Basically USA Marines are not really like the rest of mankind..they are completely unique..they get insulted if you actually call them humans...They are bigger than normal..wider than normal..taller than normal..meaner than most folk..love to fight and maim  others..this is natural to them...and here I was, an average size Brit (Natural enemy) in a training camp with about 500 of them..The camp is a place where they are trained to kill..most of them do not need training.

One day I  was sent to a massive drill hall..about 150 trainees were there, al colours, all races, all Americans ,  they looked like very angry shaven headed muscular Humvees...and there was me...and today was going to be a lecture in hand to hand combat. This group did not look like they needed any training.

After a few minutes and a call for silence from patrolling Marine Drill Sergeants a  small man walked into centre stage..I am 5-8 inches tall...this fella was 3 inches shorter. He stood with his armrs crossed and the room went completely silent.The small man introduced himself..He was the instructor..A  few laughs and hoots went u up..the small  man just stood there..silence again..He the said ' I Want four volunteers on stage, no short arses, I want the biggest and meanest and I want them now'

There was a scramble to get on the stage, almost everyone volunteerd and the Drill Sergeants finally selected four of the meanest..Up they went onto the stage.They were huge..

The small drill instructor went behind the curtain at the back and returned carrying five long bladed knives..He gave one to each of the volunteers who  looked as if they new how to use them..he kept the fifth one.He told the marines to form a line across the stage facing him and stood about 6 feet away..then he said the words I will never forget 'I am now going to give you an order and you will obey it...Kill me..that is the order..Kill me'

..

Too busy to Barf,,

 Too busy to barf (Vomit) is a generic title..Quite often in the frantic world of news garthering in which I was involved on numerous occasions I have had to suppress the urgent need to get rid of my last meal...not because of food poisoning but because I had just witnessed something that simply made me sick.

The first one to spring to mind was in Sidon..I believe it was in the Lebanon..I was hurrying to catch up with the IDF which was making its way to Beirut to conduct some business..and we had driven along the coast from Tel Aviv in Israel.  It was a slow journey and we had been on the road for some hours..Eventually we stopped and pulled over in front of a huge pile of building debris..sat in the shade of the vehicle and attacked our hotel wrapped beef sandwiches..

We didnt get far into the sandwiches, they smelled OFF.....we put it down to being in a hot truck for several hours in hot sunshine..we were very hungry and attempted to eat as much as possible...we had a long drive ahead of us..None of the crew made it through more than half a sandwch...As is the case in some countries a film crew attracts attention from the kids..lotsa them..They are naturally curious and ask a lot of questions..one of them asked why we werent eating the packed lunches which we had thrown into the rubble heap.. We said they smelled bad and must have gone off...they smelled rotten.

This made the kids fall about laughing...and we found out why. 

The rubble heap we were sitting near was until a few days ago a residential block of flats..In the skirmishes the went on between the two armies the block had collapesd. The occupants had all made it down to the supposed safety of the underground garage...all 120 of them...the apartment block had been hit and it had collapsed...the sheltering occupants were still in the garage...No attempt at rescue had taken place..The smell of rotting corpes is difficult to get out of ones brain..We quckly moved on.

Too busy to barf...I have a number of these stories..I wiil post them occasionally.

Safety...

 This past week we have had some builders in to rememove an old boiler and remove it...in with the new, more efficient, modern one. They did a great job...but created a mountain of dust..The workmen were ok ..they had face masks, gogles ..dust extractors, sprays..metal clad gloves..everythinh to to protect them...all supplied by the company that employed them..Great stuff

When I started work as a deep seam coal miner in 1955 I had nothing supplied, bought my own boiler suit, absoloutely no protective equipment, no masks, goggles or gloves..Nothing..and we were working in seams that were 3 feet deep where the air was thick with coal dust, the meal break was 20 minutes taken on the seam where it was impossible to stand up//No toilests or wash rooms..When we were in a wet seam we simply got wet up to our waists...I finished up with Pneumonia...all for less than 5 pounds a week...and we considered we were well paid.

It occurred to me that perhaps my career choice was the wrong one...so I changed it...not everyone was as lucky.

It is different now and rightly so but some of my workmates spent their entire working life in those conditions...not many reached retirement age. We are so lucky right now. 

Winter quarters.

 A wonderful sight here in our Italian Mountain village It was the annual move of the cows from the high pastures to their winter quarters. Superb animals, all with massive bells arouund thier necks and huge bouquets of floweres on their heads..all surrounded by their families in traditional costume..lotsa kids...Beautiful weather for it.. Love it.

Visitors

Thank you everyone..The visitor numbers to the site have now exceeded over 71,000.....keep it up.

Streamers

 We are having great fun watching the Streamers from various companies..A massive choice of evening viewing..I recall the days when we only had one choice  BBC1..then BB2..The ITV lincences blew the industry apart....fortunately it eneabled me to get a start in the industry.  I loved every minute of it.

One thing that is impressive with the Streamers..  The Production values..  The quality in almost every department is superb..Lotsa talented folk out there ....and vast amoutns of money..Long may it coinue..One day perhaps we can all enjoy 'HATRACK' when it reaches the right production company... working on it.... Keep a lookout.

Book sales

 Good news today..  Our books are selling well  'The Fiddler'..'Maginty's Quest' and 'The Stack'

The Fiddler'  Set in Italy ..about a young farmhand who trieds to join Mozarts Orchestra...The journey changes his life..massively

Maginty's Quest..Three small sea creatures rescue a pirate who is also a magician and he gives them a quest..250 years later they carry it out..A great young readers romp.

The Stack..A family dynasty tale..It begins in the first wordl war and concerns the activities of two young British soldiers who seek out the NEW WORLD and continues up to the present time..Locations are UK..Gallipoli..Australia and USA

All three novels began as Screenplays and then  adapted into books..

All available from Amazon.  Check them out,,RJ

'HATRACK'

 Hi everyone..This is Richard Dodd..the owner of this site..nice to see you all visiting..At the moment I am working on a new TV streaming project called 'HATRACK'.

The concept has been viewed by a number of A list industry professionals and they have all given it an enthusiastic  thumbs up.  It is mainly aimed at a teenage audience but for the first time it will involve them  both in the viewing and the spin off game..

The concept has been offered to a number of Streaming companies and we await feed back..

More on this as/if  we get it.

In the meantime if any of you want to post your experiences in the industry then please feel free to offer them up and I will see they are published...

Talk later.  RD.

Rape ..and its consequences

 This a slightly off topic post but it is relevant and I may have posted it before but please stay with me.

Some years ago I lived in a very smart apartment block in Kensington London. A two bed place..on the top floor..  Mega..  Surrounded by great restaurants, bars and shops.

At that time I was the D.o.P on a prime time show for  UK TV..As usual the production company..in an attempt to keep the costs down.. had hired a very rundown studio (Abandoned factory) In a  remote part of East london. To call the studio a permanent health hazard for the crew would be an understatement..  Full of bird dropping,  appalling toilets etc....everything about it was wrong

It was about an hours tube ride from Kensington.

 Because of the filthy conditions I chose to wear the oldest scruffiest filming  clothes I had..  Raggy faded jeans.. a well worn sweater and the oldest well worn  jacket that was at least 30 years old and looked it.

At wrap on a particular day I dashed across to the tube station,  caught the train and made it home at about 9 pm.  As I approached my apartment block a woman who looked to be in her sixties was approaching from the opposite direction.  It was obvious we were aiming for the same large glass doors. I held my keys up as we closed.  She ignored me and opened the door ..entered and then closed.it behind her.

Odd.. but I was cool about it.  She began to walk down a quite long corridor to the elevators.  I waited until she was approx half way and then went inside.The woman stopped and turned 'Who are you?'

I waved the keys  'A resident'..'I dont believe you, Ive never seen you before and a scruffy person like you would never live in this place'

I was a little shocked..but this was London and some funny folk live there..  I walked past her and arrived at the lifts . Pressed to button.The indicator said the carriage was on the top floor ..the 7th

I heard the woman behind me start to scream at the top of her voice  'RAPE..RAPE..HES RAPING ME  HELP'  and she kept on shouting as she threw herself ont the floor,  pulling her blouse out of her skirt and kicking her legs about..  Still screaming 'RAPE' etc.

The lift was taking its time and there was no one else in the corridor..My entire life and career now hung on someone being in the lift or entering the building..A woman in obvious distress was writhing about on the floor,  her clother were in disarray and and she was screaming 'RAPE' 

Who would any one believe?.. the very upset woman or this very scruffy man who obviously did not live there,  altho he did.  If the police had been called  then I would have been detained.  Taken to a station to be questioned.  No doubt held overnight.  Would not be on set in the morning and it would soon get out that I had been arrested on suspicion of rape..  NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE..  In my business the phone would never  have rung again..ever.

What should happen to a woman who does this. Should she be charged with a crime  Even if I had ultimately been completely cleared the smell would have lingered  forever.  

Just askng

Adverts..Advertising.

 Adverts:

Recently a very large Advertising Placement company carried out a survey on 'The Chelsy Swann Blogsite' to see if we were suitable too place ads on.

In spite of having a decent hit rate the Company stated we were not diverse enough to attract their Client ..Fair enogh.

The point about the site is it is aimed primarily at those people who want to be part of the Film/ TV/ Advertising world...at all levels.

Having spent a number of decades working at the top level in these categories I can honestly say that whilst all three are immensely satisfying in a number of cases as a career choice I  made infinitely more money working in the Advertising section. Sometime I would earn the equivalent of a full years salary working for a Drama production companyin a couple of weeks working on a commercial,,and I have worked on a helluva lot of commercials.

I am still fascinated by the process and find myself analysing an ad as it bursts onto the TV  screen.  How many set ups. How many times do I see the product..Why do car ads never show the  nterior..the most important bit.. the bit you get to see as you sit in the car for many hours a week. Why dont they concentrate on the selling bit ...This product is good, this is why..buy it.  Job done.

The visitors to the site are aiming to be employed in the industry, at whatever level, it is Highly paid, you get to travel a lot, creative, exciting, glamorous and they will all become big spenders..But the site is not deemed to be 'Diverse ' enough.

As most of the posts are from my own personal experience I seem to have covered many aspects of the business.  Two lost at sea episodes, A spell on a Nuclea submarine, being catapulted off a a massive Aircraft carrier, being in a war zone, Crashing in a chopper, the pilots amazing story, filming in all parts of the world..and thats just for starters..The site is primarily aimed at the folk who may want to be a part of all that. I would have liked to see ads on the site..they are samples of our work....maybe someday..   

Chasing the Dream

 That title could also be 'Chasing the impossible dream'

This situation may apply to many of the visitors to this Blogsite and probably to most people in the Industry of making TV/Films.

Most hopefuls who want to work in the business have dreams...in order to achieve those dreams they may have worked on and financed their own projects, which is why  my wife, Mary Lou Clarke,  and myself set up the very successful  'REELSHOW' site some years ago which cost us a lot of money but it did help a number of hopefuls to enter the system.We hope they are doing well.

After over fifty years as a jobbing Director of Photography, almost all of it in the TV industry, and shooting literally thousands of hours of Drama and documentaries all over the globe I happily stood down from the sometimes crippling discipline of working long hours and spending months at a time on locations. 

Now was my time to bring my experience and hopefully story telling expertise to bear and delight the world.

So far ..so good,  We now have six novels in print.  Two of them with Mary Lou and four of my own.

Now is the time to turn my eye onto theTV game...Easy..  or so I thought.

I also dream and came up with a concept 'HATRACK'...I wont go into too much detail but basically it is a streaming drama series, which are now watched by millions around the world.

The audience is basically the next generation of the richest and best educated people ever to walk the planet, they will be wealthy beyond even todays wealth..but at the moment they are teenagers.

I know...but you will get through it..enjoy..

What do teenagers want..? Like all of us who went through those tortured years  I can tell you we wanted everything and lots of it...but most of us finished up in the same disappointed heap..work slaves..nine to fivers..limited experience of the world and how we all finished up where we were.

HATRACK  is designed to change that in a small but hopefully significant way.

The concept is to supply the answers to the insatiable curiosity of who, when, where and how we got here. 

The Idea was sent to a number of contacts in the industry. All established and busy production companies with great track records. I had worked for most of them...All of them are quietly chewing the fat on the project..mainly down to the cost element. It would be expensive.

Each and every one of them want  to be involved and each of them stated it would be easier if the Elon Musk company was brought in..Mainly for the wonderful technology it had developd  AI..Grok..etc..  also because the subject matter was close to thoughts of the founder..  Elon Musk

How do we get this to the man at the top..Elon???

So far it has proved almost impossible to push through the protective ring of tempered steel that seems to accompany those individuals who rise to great prominence. The modern Praetorian Guard.

My efforts so far have been likened to a small rock bouncing off the latest heavily armoured tank on a battlefield.

I never realised at the outset that Elon  Musk had more impersonators than Elvis Presley..Hundreds of them.  All wanting to take a chunk of the action..all of them are basically scammers.

So today,  just like any other hopeful, I am about to attack the Musk Citadel..I am going to submit the Concept of HATRACK  to the official dept for hopefuls at Musk Central. knowing it will join the thousands of others that sit in a dust covered pile in a large warehouse in Texas somewhere...never to see the light of day.

Do any of you know a direct route..let me know..  my e mail is:   r.jdodd@outlook.com     

Comments:

 Lotsa hits and visits to the blog but no one ever leaves a comment..1,000's of hits per month and no comments..Its your site folks..get involved and talk. Expand on the posts..

Crits of productions...new equipment..Jobs..contacts...its all avaiolable...just comment and you shall recieve. DD

The interactive Chelsy Swann Blogspot

 Chelsy Swann Blogspot is a place where those interested in the Film and TV world can read some anecdotes, share stories and connect..There is a comment section so if you want to say anything then pleasw feel free..All comments are welcome as well as some experiences in the industry.. DD