Crossing the border!

On the road to Scotland Rachel reports more enjoyable times on the Origins tour. Great hospitality and audiences have helped to make it a great tour although the cast are looking forward to shortly returning to see everyone in York!!!

The Ten Commandments remake is finally here!

Origins and Lemons on the road.....

A week of good audiences and generous hosts. Illness has once again hit the camp with Rachel and Alan feeling a bit ropey!

THE SKY'S THE LIMIT - SCAFELL PIKE UPDATE!

Desmond the Camel, Snowy the Black Sheep, Paul, Kelvin, Ian and a couple of goats have all safely returned from their sponsored Lake District remake of the 1956 epic movie The Ten Commandments. Thanks to all who sponsored so generously in aid of The Sky's the Limit.

The final movie is still being edited, but early footage shows some rather diva-like behaviour and a few questionable budget cutting special effects. Here's a taster...

Another good week......

Rachel reports another good week. The Leatherhead Theatre was a great venue and had a great audience. In Southampton the team stayed in a guest house which made them appreciate the host families even more! Went to above bar church in Southampton which was ace! Had an amazing 3 course dinner before the show last night in Windsor so being looked after very well!

Another week on the road!

Rachel reports another great week playing to auidences from 30 to 300! The team have eaten lots including an abundance of fruit salad! Oli's foot is better so the team enjoyed a beauitful walk on the moors near Tavistock. The show is continuing to bring joy to people and causing them to think!

Review of Origins & Lemons from The Baptist Times, 15 October 2009

Origins for all
Why are we here, say the bells of Grasmere?
And where are we bound, say the bells all around?
Mark Woods hears some answers

HAVING spent most of the millennia since their composition as a fount of wise sermons and personal devotion, the first few chapters of Genesis have over the last hundred years or so become a source of often bitter theological strife.

Denominations have been split, friendships broken and accusations of naive fundamentalism and grave heresy have been slung about with abandon.

But can Genesis 1-11 also be fun?

Yes, according to the Riding Lights Theatre Company. Its new production, Origins and Lemons, is a wryly comic take on the opening chapters of the Bible, with a serious point to it.

And it really is fun. The four cast members manage to fill two hours with a virtuoso set of sketches and monologues which are thought provoking without being preachy. The prevailing note is cheerfulness, and it's sustained throughout, even when serious issues are being addressed.

The Riding Lights thesis is that there are appropriate ways of talking about different kinds of truth, and it's important not to get them mixed up.

Dawkinsites do, in what they say about religion, and young-earth creationists do, in what they say about the Bible. One tries to use the language of science to talk about faith, and fails; the other tries to use the language of faith to talk about science, and fails too.

The point's made both explicitly and implicitly. The players - Alan Christopher, Fred Denno, Jamie Higgins and Rachel Wilcock - take to the stage at intervals to address the audience directly.

The question why and the question how, they say, require completely different answers. You can identify the chemical composition of a human being, and work out how much the ingredients are worth - about 87 pence. But 'that's not what you are, it's just what you're made of’.

Understanding the right use of metaphor is vital: 'Once you start speaking of the really vital things, imagery is the only way.'

It shouldn't be thought, though, that this is just an attack, however polite, on creationism. It does not fall into the trap of implying that because the stories in Genesis are not true in a literal and scientific sense, they are not true in a deeper way, and it unpacks some of those meanings too.

And just as clearly, Riding Lights has the sort of atheistic scientists so beloved of the media in its sights (how on earth these people manage to generate so much publicity is beyond understanding).

'If religion is useless and harmful, as Darwinians believe, why hasn't evolution got rid of it?' ask the players - a telling point, it seems to me. There's a scene set in a school which is a quick-fire disposal of some of the common objections to religion.

And they take on the big questions of pain and suffering, and why the world is as it is. We create, and we're made in the image of God; why not assume that God enjoys creating too, and that he's bringing his world to an as yet unseen perfection?

The staging is minimalist, appropriate for a production which is touring churches and can't rely on the usual stage machinery. The characters include Noah as a salty sea-dog, Adam and Eve - their nudity tastefully indicated by appropriately designed kitchen aprons - Cain, represented by a ventriloquist's doll and voicing a moving poem; and a peculiar giant, one of the Nephilim, who appears in order to be ordered off because the writers can't think of what to do with him. Indeed, the story of the sons of God taking wives from among the daughters of men is almost invariably airbrushed out of our preaching schedules...

This is popular apologetics at its best; think C S Lewis on a skateboard. If you go and take a non-Christian friend with you, you won't be embarrassed by it and there'll be lots to talk about afterwards.

Origins and Lemons on the road.....

Origins and Lemons cast member Rachel Wilcock reports another great but busy week on tour. The highlights of the week include the trip to Kingsdown Theatre which in itself was a fantastic venue made even better by the large audience of around 300. The magnificiently beautiful church of St Mary’s Cogges was cosy but the audience once again meant a fantastic night was had by all.

Rachel sends get well wishes to team member Olly who has been under the weather and would like to thank everyone for being such fantastic hosts.

Origins and Lemons tour diary

Origins and Lemons cast member Rachel Wilcock is writing this tour diary:
"We're just over one week into the tour and the cast and crew are having a great time.
We've had some fantastic audiences - loads of really big belly laughs.
It takes a bit of time to get used to being on tour; we have finally worked out how to fit all the set into the van at the end of each venue. Dan's joining the crew from next week. Even though Ollie and all of us have managed really well an extra pair of hands will be very much appreciated. I'll write again early next week - Bye for now!"

PS If you haven't booked your tickets to come an see us visit the Origins and Lemons website for tour dates and online booking

Former Riding Lights actor performs a classic sketch in Trafalgar Square!

Luke Walton, former Roughshod actor, Arts Development Officer for the Bible Society and co-producer of the recent Bible Society/Riding Lights film 'Unscripted', will be taking over an 8m high plinth in Trafalgar Square tomorrow afternoon for one hour as... part of the Fourth Plinth Project.

You can read more about the project here http://www.oneandother.co.uk

Among other things, he will be performing the classic Riding Lights sketch “Life: wotsitallabout?” Given that the sketch is written for rather more than one actor to perform, we're intrigued how he's going to do this...

Go to www.oneandother.co.uk on Tuesday 6th October between 2pm and 3pm to see streaming video of Luke performing - LIVE!

Luke would be really pleased if you felt an urge to make a small donation to the Sky’s the Limit to encourage him as he performs an old sketch in a new and high up place, you can do so by going to http://www.justgiving.com/riding-lights and donating there.

PS - bidding on the handwritten copy of 'Bugs' by Antony Dunn is going well. Take a look at: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250506650261&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:GB:1123-INDIVIDUAL

First review of ORIGINS & LEMONS - the new revue show from Riding Lights

Review: Origins & Lemons, Riding Lights Theatre Company, on tour until December 5

YORK EVENING PRESS

9:55am Thursday 1st October 2009

Origins & Lemons, Riding Lights Theatre Company, on tour until December 5 I’ve been to a few Riding Lights performances now, including African Snow and Redemption Song, but Origins & Lemons – Squeezing The Juice Out Of Genesis was my first experience of a Riding Lights revue.

People said it would be like the early Riding Lights performances; I’d enjoyed their other recent productions, so I wasn’t quite sure what the difference would be or if there was going to be any.

The title Origins & Lemons was curious and raised a few questions: was it only focused on the Bible; did I need to be a scientist to understand Darwinism; or did I merely need to go with an open mind and be prepared for a good night out? Riding Lights is a Christian theatre company from York, so is Origins & Lemons about the Bible? It is, yet it also examines the origins of life today in a pleasantly thought-provoking way. Was it hilarious? Absolutely; the person sitting next to me said it reminded them of Monty Python.

The show is a series of sketches with songs, one being a fantastic play on words of the original Oranges And Lemons song. Written and directed by Paul Burbidge and Nigel Forde, two of the founding members of Riding Lights, the revue plunges into some of the issues that have aroused people’s curiosity since the dawn of time.

This is not dumbed-down comedy. In the year that marks the bi-centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his landmark publication of The Origin Of Species, this performance reaches out to everybody.

Actors Alan Christopher, Fred Denno, Jamie Higgins and Rachel Wilcock use a mixture of observation, imagination and light-heartedness to take the audience back to the very beginning, concentrating on “the Why? of the created world”. The Friargate Theatre was full to bursting on Tuesday for the opening night of a UK tour that will arrive back in York on December 3. Other performances include St Andrew’s Church, Starbeck, Harrogate, on November 25.

The opening two nights in York were sold out weeks ago, so anyone wishing to see this show on its return should book straight away. I left the theatre saying with complete honesty to one member of the Riding Lights team: “That was the best night I’ve had at the theatre in years”. • For tickets, visit www.ridinglights.org/o&l or phone 01904 613000.

Win the only complete, hand-written copy of 'Bugs', Antony Dunn’s third collection of poems

Win the only complete, hand-written copy of 'Bugs', Antony Dunn’s third collection of poems

Antony has written, in his own fair hand, a complete and unique copy of his third collection of poems, Bugs, in a classic black Moleskine sketchbook, using a series of .38mm black Muji gel-pens. It will also contain one or two new poems, which are not included in the printed version of Bugs.

The hand-written copy of Bugs will be auctioned both online and 'live' on Fri 9 Oct at Friargate Theatre, York. It will be signed, dated and dedicated to the winning bidder.

The auction is being held to raise funds for Riding Lights Theatre Company, where Antony worked as Marketing Manager from 1997 – 2007, and which will receive every penny of the winner’s payment.

The money will contribute to Riding Lights’ The Sky’s The Limit fundraising campaign, designed to establish a production fund over and above the regular income which it needs to keep its doors open. More details can be found at www.ridinglights.org/stl

We know that many people will want to bid on this item, even if they can't attend the book launch in person. We have therefore put the book onto eBay so that it is possible to enter your bid whether you're in York or Yemen. To make things even more exciting, the eBay auction will close during the book launch at Friargate and all live bids will be put onto eBay so that as the closing time approaches you can still have a chance of winning. Just follow this link to the eBay page:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250506650261&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:GB:1123

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALTHOUGH THE EBAY PAGE SUGGESTS THAT THE AUCTION WILL END ON 10 OCTOBER, IT WILL ACTUALLY END AT 8.30pm BRITISH SUMMER TIME ON FRIDAY 9th OCTOBER, WITH THE WINNER BEING THE HIGHEST CURRENT BIDDER AT THAT TIME.

The 'live' auctioneer here at Friargate will be poet and founder member of Riding Lights, Nigel Forde.

Please note: the reserve price is £100.

You are also very welcome to come along to the launch at which Antony will read from Bugs for around half an hour, and will be available to sign ordinary copies of the book, which will be on sale for £9.00. The bar will be open throughout, and you’re warmly invited to stay around for as long as you like.

Fri 9 Oct, 7.30pm

Friargate Theatre, York

Lower Friargate, YO1 9SL

Box Office 01904 613000

Admission is FREE, but please ring to reserve your seats

The event at Friargate Theatre is one of four readings to mark the publication of Bugs (Carcanet OxfordPoets):

Mon 5 Oct – London, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Fri 9 Oct – York, Friargate Theatre

Fri 16 Oct – Leeds, Yorkshire Dance

Wed 21 Oct – Oxford, Blackwells Bookshop

Full tour details are available at
www.antonydunn.org

www.ridinglights.org/stl

www.justgiving.com/riding-lights

Origins & Lemons - the new show from Riding Lights

A sneak peek into the rehearsal room.........

For more about the show - touring nationally from 29 September - 5 December just click below to go to the:

ORIGINS & LEMONS WEBSITE

Oxford Skydive

UPDATE ON SCAFELL PIKE ASCENT!

WELL ,WE WERE NEARLY THERE... AND THEN THE DREADED SWINE FLU DECIMATED THE TEAM!

Swine flu produces particularly nasty complications in camels and sheep, but nothing of course to compare with the miserable, shivering, sweating, croaking lump which Paul turned into on Thursday night. So the trip has had to be postponed until the middle of October (the best weather day in the 16/17 weekend).

Although Paul was keen to battle on at all costs, surprisingly none of the other members of the team fancied sharing a tent with him or risking another shivering, sweating, croaking moment half way up. And the Scafell summit phone link-up with BBC Cumbria might have been obliterated by sustained coughing.

It was a beautiful day yesterday in Cumbria as well... so we're all really miffed and Paul is still in isolation.

HOWEVER THIS IS MERELY A SET BACK AND WE WILL GO VERY SOON TO COMPLETE THIS UNIQUE EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF RIDING LIGHTS THEATRE COMPANY.

Thank you for your sponsorship so far. The upside of all this is of course that there is more time to raise even more money!! SO KEEP YOUR SPONSORSHIP COMING, because everything written below is still true...

We're off to the top of England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike, to film an astonishing sky high version of that great epic of yesteryear THE TEN COMMANDMENTS... er... with puppets and various friends and expedition helpers. Nothing as remarkable or so artistically risky as this has ever been attempted before. We are clearly going to sail into the Guinness Book of Records. The first filming of a theatre show on England's highest peak.

Long-standing Riding Lights performers Snowy and Desmond will be reaching new heights with this towering project. Being quite small (and ancient), this will be hard work for our favourite puppets, as it will for the film crew. SO MAKE SURE YOU ENCOURAGE THEM BY SPONSORING GENEROUSLY and then sit back and enjoy the great movie remake.

A TREMENDOUSLY BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS ALREADY CONTRIBUTED!!

RIDING LIGHTS is seeking a new production fund to create more of the life-changing theatre that we want to take across the UK in the coming years... for young people, prisoners, theatres and church groups. On September 12th and 13th many of our friends will be taking part in all sorts of sky-high fundraising to help us reach our target.

TO SPONSOR THIS EXTRAORDINARY THEATRICAL EVENT, JUST CLICK HERE

FIRST SKY DIVES

Almost immediately after the end of the Improthon, our first The Sky's the Limit Sky Divers were in the air. Heather Rushforth, Darcy Ball and Richard Allsopp took off over Oxford and gracefully descended as the sun began to set - and all to raise money for Riding Lights. Many thanks to the three of you.



There's more sky diving today as RL Stage Manager Rob Gooch and loyal member, Angela Smith, make their way into the Oxfordshire skies.....and then down again!

They did it!!

Our last team of improvisers - some of whom had been here for the full 24 hours, some of whom had been here for many, many of the 24 hours brought the Improthon to a triumphant conclusion at 5pm today.


Somewhat crazed by the experience, a few of them couldn't quite grasp the fact that they could re-enter the real world again and didn't have to keep making things up.

They'll be ready for a rest now and our thanks go out to them for entertaining themselves (and us) for this marathon of improvisation which kept us laughing right up to the end, helping to raise even more money for The Sky's the Limit.

As we sign off from the Improthon, our first sky jumpers are about to take off over Oxford...

24 HOUR NON-STOP IMPROTHON

Watch the fundraising Improthon here:

http://www.ridinglights.org/sub_sites/stl/video.html

24 hours of non-stop improvising from 5pm Friday 11th - 5pm Saturday 12th September

Pledge your sponsorship here:

www.justgiving.com/riding-lights

FUNDRAISING UPDATE!!

Here we are in the week leading up to our big Fundraising Weekend and there's already news to report! Members of Riding Lights Theatre took part in a sponsored bike ride last Saturday raising over £1,000 towards The Sky's The Limit.




You can read a bit more about this and even see a video by clicking HERE

You can also see read about some other activities happening as part of The Sky's the Limit next weekend and it's certainly not too late to add your sponsorship by clicking HERE

Non-stop Theatre!

The Sky's the Limit - Fundraising Update

Buy Rob Gooch a parachute! Our stage manager Rob is going to be jumping out of an aeroplane on Saturday 12th September. As yet, he can’t afford to buy a parachute. Help him out by donating to his parachute fund HERE. He’d much prefer it if he had one come September, so be generous.


Snowy and Desmond perform at the top of mountains with Paul Burbridge and Kelvin Goodspeed. Long standing Riding Lights performers Snowy and Desmond will be reaching new heights with old sketches. Being quite small, this will be hard work for our favourite puppets, so make sure you encourage them by sponsoring generously HERE.


Riding Lights Youth Theatre fancy dress sponsored bike ride! Sally Maddison will be leading her adventurous Youth Theatre dressed in silly clothes 27 miles on the Tissington Trail in Ashbourne. She admits she’s never been able to finish this track herself, having tried it three times, so we’re hoping RLYT will help Sally to beat her record of ‘half way round’. You can sponsor the Youth Theatre HERE.

RIDING LIGHTS - Actors wanted for Roughshod 2010

The Sky's the Limit - Riding Lights aims high with September fundraising weekend

We are teaming up with JumpMAD (www.jumpMAD.co.uk) to help raise £50,000 towards the work of Riding Lights.

We are offering ANYONE the opportunity to show how much they love Riding Lights by jumping out of an aeroplane! All you have to do is raise at least £375 worth of sponsorship with all funds going to Riding Lights and JumpMAD will then make all the necessary arrangements and the costs of you making the jump will be covered.

We want to go for a REALLY BIG JUMP with lots of people jumping for Riding Lights at the same time. The jump will be the weekend of the 12th and 13th September and there will be simultaneous jumps from four locations in the UK (Hibaldstow, Oxford, Nottingham and March).

Our aim is to get 150 people jumping for Riding Lights in September, each raising sponsorship of around £600. Once the costs of the exhilarating experience of you jumping out of an aeroplane at about 12,000ft have been covered, that would mean that Riding Lights would have about £50,000 of much-needed funds to help stage productions in the next couple of years.

And if skydiving doesn’t appeal, there are plenty of other ways to help raise money for your favourite theatre company. If you think you could do something sponsored or hold a fundraising event, call Susie at the office on 01904 655317, or email theskysthelimit@rltc.org for more information. In addition to this, Riding Lights will be holding our own fundraising events. Watch this space for more info!

THE SKY'S THE LIMIT WEBSITE

168 party!

Back from the 168 Film Project awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Luke Walton and Jackie Sheppard returned to York to join the cast, crew and those who had helped in the making of Unscripted to watch the film at the City Screen cinema. The invited audience watched Unscripted followed by Colin Pringle and Fionn Watts' award winning behind the scenes film about the making of Unscripted. The large screen environment was perfect, creating the right atmosphere of excitement and anticipation. Afterwards the guests returned to Riding Lights' Friargate theatre where Luke and Jackie presented the awards received. The winners accepted their awards with off the cuff speeches mixed with the usual with humour and grace.

RIDING LIGHTS THEATRE COMPANY TAKES TOP HONOURS AT HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL

Click HERE to see a short version of the film Unscripted

Riding Lights Theatre Company's first professional film production has taken four of the eighteen awards at the 168 Hour Film Project Festival in Los Angeles, having been nominated in a record breaking fifteen categories. Their film Unscripted, was produced in collaboration with Reel Issues Films and supported by Bible Society.

Producer Ralph Winter (X-Men, Fantastic Four) presented the prestigious Best International Film award to two of the film's three Producers Jackie Sheppard and Luke Walton. Unfortunately, Jonathan Brown of Riding Lights was unable to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles but said "Unscripted has been a fantastic foray into filmmaking for Riding Lights and we are very excited and pleased by the nominations and awards the film has attracted in the 168 competition".

Unscripted also won Best Drama Screenplay for Riding Lights' Nigel Forde, and their Roughshod Company actress, Rachel Wilcock, won Best Supporting Actress. Young film maker Fionn Watts' short film, on the making of Unscripted, was awarded the prize for Best Behind the Scenes documentary.

The film was produced as part of the Los Angeles-based 168 Hour Film Project which challenges teams to create a film of no more than 11 minutes. It must be completed from start to finish, and delivered to Los Angeles, in 168 hours (one week). Each entrant's film is based on a Bible verse all with a common theme which this year was 'Family Business'.

Unscripted tells of an actor's personal journey set in the family environment of the rehearsal room. Through a 'baptism of fire' of improvisation, he has to face his own failings. The film asks how we would respond if we should hear, in an unforgettable way, the full affirmation of a parent figure. It also challenges parents to give acknowledgement to their children - not for what they have done or achieved - but simply for who they are.

The judges for the competition included critically-acclaimed Hollywood
producers: Howard Kazanjian (Star Wars, Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark); Mark Clayman (The Pursuit of Happyness) and Bill Ewing (The End of the Spear). The awards were presented by Zachary Levi (Chuck and An American Carol) and Ralph Winter.

Reflecting on this work in film rather than theatre performance, Riding Lights Director, Paul Burbridge said "Riding Lights and our Roughshod Company are constantly looking at ways to bring theatre everywhere. We experimented with film in summer 2008, as a way to reach out to new audiences and to engage with those where theatre may simply not be possible. We saw 168 and any other film productions we may become involved in as complementing our work. I am delighted our first serious attempt at film has been recognised in a way no one would have imagined possible. The awards we have received confirm the team's ability to produce film to a quality and level people already associate with Riding Lights and Roughshod".

A shortened version of Unscripted has also been entered into The Doorpost Film Project and can be seen at www.thedoorpost.com. Viewers' online votes decide who goes through to the next round with an awards ceremony in Nashville in September. Voting is open until 30th April.

168 project update!

Monday - The day the editing starts!
8am Jimi Lund, the editor starts work on putting the film together and by 8pm we are able to have a look at the material. In the meantime Jackie and Luke have taken the HD (hard drive – remember we are using the Red Camera – the digital film camera) to the online editor in Barnsley (South Yorkshire) and then crossed West Yorkshire back into Skipton (North Yorkshire) to visit Dave Aston, the Sound Designer before heading to East Yorkshire to deliver paperwork to the film’s writer Nigel Forde. All four parts of the Great State of Yorkshire! The finished review of the edit was completed at 1am! Jimi Lund and Paul Burbridge arranged to meet at 9am the next morning.

Tuesday – Paul and Jimi worked on the editing, Jackie and Jonathan worked on sound and Luke arranged for one of the actors to record some more lines before heading to Bristol to meet the other 168 Project team.

Wednesday – End of paperwork in sight! Luke has seen a rough cut of the Bristol team’s film and come back to York.

Thursday – Back on the tour of Yorkshire! So far – Skipton – the sound has been finished overnight and now he’s off to Barnsley where the film has been edited and they are doing a ‘grade’ (where the sound, colour and pictures are checked) and the credits are put onto the film. There are a few issues with the edit but hopefully these can be resolved quickly as it takes several hours to render the final film before it can head off to LA. The files are so large it could be the early hours before it is all finished.

We’ll update you again later today......

It's a wrap....

The movie business gets quite excited about this moment - when the cry goes out 'It’s a wrap' and the filming is over. Our shoot was no different with welcome applause from exhausted crew and cast.
The last 36 hours:
12:00 midday and we are in the midst of a Riding Light Members day. As a former member of the Roughshod company I am interviewed by Bernadette Burbridge during the afternoon.
5:00 pm Saturday: Crew call for an evening shoot and after a lengthy break from last night the team return to the theatre to set up for the evening
7:00 pm and finally camera's run, until 10 past midnight
Sunday morning and a bleary crew arrive for the Sunday shoot, three locations and plenty of shots to get.
Flat out until finally, at 9:30 the cry goes out 'It's a wrap'.
For one team its all over, for the post production team its only just begun….

Diary of today...

9:00 People arrive from Manchester, Rugby, London and Shropshire or have simply had to fight through snow drifts from the villages around York.
12:00 Crew call and set is prepared for the shoot
1:55 An introduction from Luke Walton (Exec producer for Bible Society) and Paul Burbridge (Director) on the background to the work and how and why we are looking at 'affirmation' (it comes out of a verse in the Bible: Luke 3 v21-22)
2:30 Cameras finally roll
7:15 and we break for dinner.
So as you might imagine today is about detail and numbers. There is a good deal of time setting lights and clarifying moves, but also making sure we can find food when energy flags and discovering that we may have already eaten the entire supply of chocolate for the shoot. The pace is picking up and the vision is all coming together, only 163 hours to go...

And Action...

it’s a cliché but there really is something electric about seeing the crew and cast arrive: everyone focussed and energetic, cast in rehearsal and then finally the hour arrives and cameras can roll. As this is a timed competition, 2:00pm today marked the moment that cameras could roll. They will keep rolling until midnight tonight, but by Sunday night the shoot will be over and we will be onto the post production.

It's all systems go! go! go! the shoot schedule is Friday: 12pm-12midnight, Saturday 6pm - midnight, Sunday 9am-9pm! and after that... well... keep reading!

Snow!

So what does today look like, well that pile of contracts awaits and the snow is already settling, so deadlines and details are of the essence. But so is a great deal of creativity. This year the verse we have been given from Luke’s gospel tells of Jesus Baptism and his affirmation he received from his Father (Luke 3: 21,22), and conversations on how to convey this with crew, cast and producers have been fascinating. We have a great script, written by Nigel Forde, and cameras roll at 2:00pm tomorrow. Which reminds me, those deadlines, and that snow, are really piling up…

Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork!

Day of mounting paperwork and details, but some really good progress. We had an excellent meeting with the post production team in Leeds. We will be shooting with the Red camera, quite probably the digital camera that will replace film and certainly capable of creating the look of 35mm film. However this also requires detailed planning.

Today we also secured a further two possible locations and visited all three options with the director, designer, DoP and the team who have arrived to make a film of 'the making of' our film. Which does leave the question of what we are to call it. As the discussions went on into the evening we decided to carry on with the working title of 'Subtexts'.

With the casting now complete we have 11 cast contracts, 20 crew agreements and 3 location agreements to complete and sign in 24 hours.. On which note its back to the paperwork,

Pre Production preparation

Pre production is going on apace: bringing the cast and crew together, checking every detail from tea to toilet rolls, sourcing equipment and finalising the script.

The cast is still to be confirmed (but need to start rehearsals in two days time) and we are flat out on a million and one details you might never have thought came into film production; and that we are only hoping we have remembered!

Looks like we may have sorted our exterior location today – with simply stunning views of York and, for now at least, snow on the North Yorkshire Moors in the distance. Meeting with crew, 1st Assistant director and Director today, meeting with the post production crew in Leeds tomorrow.

We have been allocated the following piece of verse from the Bible on which we will create our film project:
Luke 3:21-22 (NIV)
"21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Riding Lights goes to Hollywood!!!

After our first "toe-dip" into film writing last Summer we have teamed up with The Bible Society to take part in the 168 Film Project. The 168 Film Project exists to encourage emerging film-makers. Worldwide, people form groups that are passionate about telling stories. Movies are a maximum of 11 minutes long and are based on the Bible. Films premiere at the 168 Film Festival April 3-4, 2009 in Los Angeles.

The theme for the 2009 competition is 'Family Business'. Filming starts at 2pm on Friday 13th February for 168 hours; we'll keep updating this page to let you know how it's all going!