Web design and development: Sometimes it takes the opportunity to conquer a large, intimidating and extremely challenging project before you realise: it can be scary stuff.

I recently completed a new website for Bandwood Pty Ltd; an Australian software design, development and consultancy company. It is, to date, the most extensively structured and coded website I have ever had to construct. In this article I will detail the process, the tears and the triumphs that became the Bandwood website.

We begin with the original website (best viewed in Internet Explorer 5 or greater, by the way!):

Remember to view it in 800 x 600!

It was actually quite a triumph in its day. It was fast, efficient, simple, clean and purposeful. A proud standing pillar of the glory days of web design: HTML frames, animated gifs, site counters, and no more than 256 colours. Ok, maybe we could use more colours, but remember we’re on dial-up so don’t be silly! But by today’s standards it had begun showing its age. HTML 5, the new kid on the block, had begun making waves in the web-hood, and all over the world websites were desperately trying become best buddies with the popular new kid. This saw many legacy sites fall behind, left to play with their Perl marbles on their own. Yes, did I mention this site had Perl scripts?

Granted, the out-dated design of the website did not affect sales, which even to this day remained booming. Bandwood still has the most successful selling Gantt Chart Builder solution on the market (for users without Microsoft Project), which proved it still worked. So why change the design of the site? It’s purely comes down to one thing…

The art of appearing “current”

Stand two websites side by side, one with an out-dated design, and one with a modern design. Now tell the customer that they are going to get relatively the same product and level of satisfaction from either company. Now give them the opportunity to choose which company they want to spend their money on. It becomes quite obvious when you exemplify it this way that the more modern (or “current”) looking site is going to succeed in securing the business of the customer in the vast majority of occasions.

In a study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, it was found that the attractiveness of interviewees can significantly bias outcome in hiring practices. Basically, the more attractive the potential employee, the more success they are destined to have in that business. So why can’t the same apply to websites? The more attractive the website, the more success it will have in gaining more business!

So, with all of that taken into consideration we had reached a clear and concise brief: Build a new and attractive interface that would show the company as “current” in a visual sense, but still maintain the functionality that has given the business much success to date.

With that in mind, we could not just stop at web design: we needed a whole new banding approach, starting with the logo.

Bidding adieu to the old Bandwood logo

I think they make Atari Games

 To be fair, I don’t think Bandwood ever committed to an “official” logo. Being a software developer where sales were performed by use of digital distribution, there was really not a huge need to front-up to customers or project any substantial branding image in the same way a retail company would. However, within the past decade digital sales have grown exponentially becoming the major force in product sales and distribution. Over-the-counter retail has begun to suffer in sales due the success online businesses. This means that the web has become the new shopfront, and if you didn’t have an attractive facade you will be left behind.

So let’s talk minimalism

Logos are all about simplicity, proportions and balance. You want something that signifies what you do, but it does not have to be literally so. Perhaps it can be more symbolic than that. Introducing the new Bandwood logo:

Notice with this logo we have kept the “globe” symbol, which adhered to the “international” nature of the business. But, being a software company we have picked a more “digital” looking interpretation of the globe, quite minimalistic and symbolic in nature: two axis of curves with a third axis of dots. It’s global, unifying, and very “software-ish”. We have also picked a colour scheme of dark teal blue, and grey, replicating that in the typeface as well. I would go into detail about why we chose those colours, and maybe make up some cock-and-bull story as to how this particular shade symbolises “synergy” and “success”, but let’s be frank here: These two colours just look cool together. That’s it. Sometimes it’s thoughts that are, quite simply, successfully basic which yield basically successful results.

From this logo design we have now determined the new colour scheme the company is going to adhere to, which will be copied across to the website design. Aside from the brief (which we must adhere to) we must now determine what platform the site will be built on, and which elements the site must contain in order to maintain its functionality, and perhaps improve upon it.

As usual I chose the WordPress Content Management System (or CMS for the acronymphs out there) to build the site. Initially created as a blogging platform, WordPress has since turned into an extremely powerful CMS for all types of website development. You can build any type of site using WordPress, and the vast array of plug-ins available to you expands the capabilities beyond the vanilla (default) installation. I’ve worked almost exclusively in WordPress ever since my first WP based website, which happens to be the one you are reading right now!

Going back to some of the features we want to keep, the old website consisted of the following elements:

• Standard page structure
• Product pages with descriptions
• Demo downloads
• Online store / e-commerce mechanism
• Integrated support mechanism with secure log-in
• File access and permission management
• Information database management for software updates
• Contact and support forms

At first I considered simply transferring some of these more complicated mechanisms to the new site, until I found out that most of them still used the legacy ‘Perl’ scripting language, which was not only incompatible with the CMS I was using, but not translatable by the server which the site was being built upon. They were simply too far out-of-date, and it looked as if all of the above would need to be re-created from scratch.

Ditching Perl and opting for a PHP development model, based on HTML 5 and using Java and JQuery elements for some fancy bells and whistles, the Bandwood website shell was born. Because it was built using the WordPress CMS platform it was relatively simple to plug-in the elements to create some of the features in the list above. But the headache was not so much integrating the features; rather manipulating them for our needs. The Bandwood website needed to go beyond what was achievable by simply plugging extensions into the site. Each one needed their own custom configuration to ensure they did what the client wanted.

For the Shopping Cart and eCommerce system I used the Tribulant Shopping Cart by Tribulant Software. This was by far the most impressive and powerful plug-in of its type, and did close to everything we wanted. However, it was missing some features we needed, and certain parts of the system did not perform as expected. It was simply a matter of raising these issues and feature requests with the support team of the plug-in, and within a few days they were able to provide updates that included the features we requested. Take note developers: this is how you do business!

Some of the more advanced features required for the shopping cart included: Tiered Pricing models for group discounting and volume costs, international tax models, and integration into Bandwood’s existing 2CheckOut secure checkout system.

Needless to say, after a good few weeks of chipping away we had successfully re-created Bandwoods online shopping experience with all the Web 2.0 glory!

For the file access and permission management we used the Role Scoper plugin by Kevin Behrens. We required this plugin to ensure that each user who had an existing support subscription was granted access to only the support files and software updates they were entitled. Role Scoper enabled us to maintain a set of rules and privileges for certain files on a per-user basis. This means if I have purchased support for the GBS Excel system (one of the software packages Bandwood offers), I would be able to access the support files for that software only, and nothing else.

This was an extremely tricky process because of all the variables we were presented with. Not only did we have to determine who had access to which files, but also had to enforce time restrictions that would automatically expire their access to files if they did not renew their subscription before its expiry date. This took about 2 weeks to fully implement and perfect, and after this period we had a safe and secure way to serving the support files to Bandwood’s loyal subscribers.

A feature that was programmed into the website form the ground-up (because there did not seem to be a plug-in available to do this) was the ability for Bandwood’s developer to update their software files and version information centrally, and that information could propagate throughout the site. Because each user of the site (who has a support subscription) has their own landing page for accessing their files, you can imagine there are a lot of pages which reference the files (and version information). So instead of having to update the file links and version numbers of each individual user page when one is updated, I created a series of function calls which reference a central product database within the Worpdress system. This meant that if a piece of software was updated from 2.0 to 2.1 (for example), that information only needed to be updated in one place, and both the links and references to that file would automatically update throughout the entire site. This was a feature specifically requested by the client as software updates were apparently a frequent occurrence, and the simplification of this process was a must.

Those two were probably the most complicated features that had to be integrated into the site. Other features such as the user profile management, login-out widgets and contact forms were either handled internally via WordPress or via other small 3^rd party plugins like the Enhanced Meta Widget, and Contact form 7, by NeuroDawg and Takayuki Miyoshi respectively.

Overall, the website took about 2 months to create from start to finish. We had gone from a legacy website, chock full of its own features, to a band new HTML 5 and web 2.0 website which not only kept what worked best about the old site in terms of features, but significantly improved on that functionality, whilst giving it a graphical overhaul and bringing it into the modern design space.

Here is the final front page design:

Not just a trim, back and sides

 You may visit the website and see it for yourself at: http://www.bandwood.com

I said at the beginning of this article that this website challenged me in many ways. Conquering the challenges that I was presented made me realise something: from now on, nothing else scares me. Except maybe animated GIFs still. *shudder*

In 1969, there was no internet, no YouTube, no Facebook… how on earth did people find out about things!?

Let me introduce you to the latest show which I have been given the opportunity to design the complete marketing collateral. It’s called ‘Cliff Joins The Beatles’, and it’s a musical fantasy starring Marty Rhone & the Beatle Boys. The show plays on the idea of what would happen if Cliff Richard joined the Beatles after his split with the Shadows in 1969. Quite an interesting concept, and an equally as interesting (or challenging) advertising campaign would be needed to help bring the fantasy to life.

In order to make it as convincing as possible, I had to thoroughly investigate how an event of this nature would be presented via the media if it were to happen during the subject era. There was no internet, no YouTube, no Facebook… how on earth did people find out about things!? Well… television was going through a golden era, but newspapers were still the primary form of media used to inform people of the what’s what and the who’s who! That gave me a good starting point, so I decided make it look as if all the marketing consisted of materials prevalent in the late 60s.

The first to be designed were the posters and print materials, which were specifically styled to look like an old 60s newspaper headline front page. Not only did this enable us to create a lot of visual impact (with the bold lettering and convincing newspaper design), it also played along with the whole alternate reality, or in this case: the music fantasy which the concert is going for.

Flyer

Poster

Second was the website. This was probably one of the hardest to pull off because I somehow needed to combine modern tech (the internet) with old tech (print material) to provide users a consistent yet functional experience, reflective of the era in terms of style at least. I achieved this by combining the design of the newspaper posters and a modern news website. Basically: it’s what the CNN or SMH website would be today, if they employed a 1960s graphic designer to do all their visuals!

Website front page

Lastly, there was the TV commercial…

There’s something odd about filming a TV commercial using new technology, only to “age” the whole thing by about 40 years.

We’ve all seen file footage of the Beatles: hysterical girls, smiling faces, and concerts filled with so much screaming that you can’t actually hear any music. That’s what we were going for! We had to film the commercial using our very modern, full colour cameras and it was probably the first time I have ever used the term “overkill” with regards to the technology at our disposal. Then we proceeded to “age” the footage and make it consistent with the old black and white Beatles file footage.

This process wasn’t as simple as you would think, and you were probably thinking “just make it black and white, increase the contrast and voila!”. This wouldn’t work because there are still a lot of technology used in modern cameras to enhance the footage that did not exist back then, so we tried to synthetically remove everything our nice, new, modern cameras were doing to make our footage look so darn good!

In order to make it truly convincing it required a combination of techniques such as nose generation, gate shifting, splotching, flickering, scratching, blurring, warping, and that was only the video! The audio endured the same acoustic destruction such as filtering, EQ, acoustic modulation and a range of tricks to make it all sound 40 years old. The end result was footage so convincing it matched perfectly with the stock/file footage of the screaming girls we cut into the ad, which were actually shot from that era.

The end result was pretty awesome! See below…

So there you have it, all 3 elements combined (print, web and video) to make up a pretty convincing period campaign that serves to enhance the music fantasy that would have been: Cliff Joins The Beatles!

Now all I need it some young teenagers to show the footage to and try and convince them it actually happened!

for more information about the show, visit: www.cliffjoinsthebeatles.com

The new TV commercial for Parkinson’s NSW titled ‘The Role Reversal’ is now online. I had originally wrote an article about the production of the ad, and you can now see the finished product using the embedded video player below:

Paula with her two daughters Greta and Mary

A new TV commercial is about to be aired to help raise awareness for Parkinson’s Disease. The ad is going to give younger people living with Parkinson’s the opportunity to tell their story, whether they are sufferers of the disease or are close family members to those who are. The idea is to educate the public and let people know that it is not just a disease that effects the elderly, but can effect people as young as their 20s.

Peter Brown at Blue Desk advertising agency was brought on board by Parkinson’s to come up with an idea/theme for the campaign, and because of my long-time relationship with Parkinson’s as a director and producer of many of their previous campaigns I was brought on board to direct, film and edit the television commercial, and the accompanying radio campaign.

The TV commercial stars Paula Argy and her daughter Mary, and is a touching insight into the lives of families who deal with Parkinson’s disease on a daily basis. Paula herself is a sufferer of Parkinson’s and first experienced the symptoms of the disease on her wedding day at the age of just 23 years old. Today, she lives with the disease and thanks to recent breakthroughs in medication, she is able to live a relatively normal life with her two daughters (Mary and Greta).

Moving onto the technical aspects of the TV commercial; it is now the 2nd production I have shot using the Canon 5D MK2 digital SLR camera. Once again, Justin Fisher was the camera operator just like in the previous production of the Peter Fitzsimonds Unity Walk TVC. The types of shots and story being told in this campaign called for a very intimate composition of imagery, and the shallow depth of field and colour depth with the 5D worked perfectly on the day to achieve the perfect representation of Peter’s original storyboards he drew up in pre-production.

For the time being, the ad is currently being finalised for broadcast and will be airing on television within the coming weeks. But in the meantime, please enjoy a few still shots I have captured from the final version of the TV commercial and stay posted for the final video which I will host here as soon as it has officially launched.

For more information about Parkinson’s disease, please visit: www.parkinsonsnsw.org.au.

Hi folks! I am happy to finally announce the winner of the Scripts to Flicks competition!

Congratulations to Alison Erlanger for her short film script ‘What Comes First’!

I received quite a large number of awesome screenplays, with a range of different genres, styles and formats, and was very impressed with the overall standard of work. But in the end there could only be one winner an I very much look forward to collaborating with Alison during the production of the (soon to be realised) on-screen production!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who submitted scripts. I have already gotten in touch with everybody who sent me screenplays via email and am offering feedback for those who would like it.

The next step is to go into pre-production of ‘What Comes First’, and I also plan on keeping a production blog of the project’s progress here so that everybody can see the process as it unfolds.

Well, that’s it for now! Thank you once again for everybody who sent screenplays and I wish everybody the best of luck in the future!

Recently the TV commercials for the 2011 Parkinson’s Unity Walk featuring Peter Fitzsimons went live to air. A few different versions of the ads were produced for national distribution and air-time, each with their own state/region specific details. You might spot them on some of your favourite TV channels including 7, 9, 10 and Foxtel (or their region equivalents). Have you seen them on TV?

The ads were shot using the Canon 5D MkII digital SLR. It was my first experience with the camera and so far it has been a rewarding one. Justin Fisher, my film and video partner in crime brought one along with him to the shoot with the intention of simply showing it to me, and we ended up using it as our primary camera, with Justin behind the wheel. Editing in Premiere with the native footage was smooth and hassle-free, and the entire workflow of the TV commercial was extremely smooth. I’m still not 100% convinced I should abandon my P2 workflow yet (in favour of the 5D), but I guess more experimentation will help me make a more informed choice about whether or not I should make it a permanent part of my film/video arsenal.

I have also been approached by Parkinson’s to film and produce their new national advertising campaign’s TV commercials. As you can imagine I am very excited! As always, I have found working with Parkinson’s a rewarding experience and very grateful for the ongoing relationship I have with them. In the meantime, if you would like to support Parkinson’s yourself, why not participate in this years Unity Walk. Visit this website for details on how you can take part!

As part 2 of my resurrection of Tex Murphy goodies from the golden era of PC gaming (the 90s) I have another surprise. Since the Adventure Game Genre’s extinction, a lot of valuable and priceless “digital artefacts” began disappearing into the abyss. I’m talking about materials related to the games of yesterday, the gems of our childhood and the creators of many wonderful memories. Despite the world moving on, we see today how having the foresight (or the obsessive compulsiveness, you decide) to collect and preserve these digital artefacts has certainly paid off. No longer will a trip down memory lane be a fragmented daydream. Goodbye to desperately trying to explain the golden area of PC gaming to those just young enough to have missed the boat. “Do you remember that game we used to play all night? Tex somebody? Oh wow, weren’t they great! Oh you haven’t seen them? Well let me show you what I’m talking about”.

Below you will find the trailers for all 3 of the CD-ROM based Tex Murphy PC adventure games (Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive and Overseer). I’ve done my best to clean them up so that they look good by today’s standards, but bare in mind: these trailers were originally created to be shown shown on very old computers and in a time where internet was only accessible via dial-up connections! Either way, they are here to stay, immortalised for all eternity in the glistening shininess of the Web 2.0! Enjoy!
 

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the Tex Murphy series of Interactive Movie Games released by Access Software in the mid to late 90s. In fact, I have been so actively involved in the Tex Murphy fan community that I have had the opportunity to speak directly with, and even work with some of the Games’ creators and crew (including Matt Heider, music composer for the series, who became the composer of the original musical score for my own short film ‘The Masque of the Red Death’).

A long time ago when I was becoming more actively involved with music composition and sound design, as a personal project I remastered most the Games’ music which was originally presented in MIDI format. This process involved extracting the arrangements from the digital MIDI files, remastering the instrumentation and then converting the tracks into MP3 format for everyone to enjoy. I had uploaded all of these arrangements online for other Tex Murphy fans to download and enjoy. Even Matt Heider was kind enough to supply the MP3s of some of his original orchestral arrangements to complete the soundtracks for all 3 CD-ROM based Tex Murphy games (Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive and Overseer). However, despite these tracks still being online and accessible all these years later, I have since developed my website, leaving the original pages behind and allowing them to date badly.

So here we are at this page, a new place where you can download all the Tex Murphy game soundtracks, and as a special gift to everyone I have included a few new orchestral arrangements of some of the most famous Tex Murphy pieces which I created only a few months ago. Enjoy, and long live Tex Murphy!

Tex Murphy Track Listings

Audio Grabs – From Game
	Access Software Title
	Introduction
	Day 1-7 Introduction Music
Remastered by Mat Tyler (from MIDI)
	Tex’s Office
	Tex’s Office 2
	Chandler Avenue
	Chandler Avenue 2
	Chelsee’s New Stand
	Rook’s Pawnshop
	Rook’s Pawnshop 2
	Rook’s Pawnshop 3
	Clint the Bum
	The Brew & Stew
	Slice ‘O’ Heaven Pizza
	Beek Nariz (Coit Tower)
	Mac Malden
	Sno White Warehouse
	The Electronics Shop
	Pug
	Ardo at the Lobby
	Hotel Love Suite
	Hotel Hot Tub
	The Knickerbocker
	The Knickerbocker 2
	Confronted by Eddie Ching
	Countess Renier
	Abandoned Mansion
	Melahn Tode
	The Colonel Has Been Stabbed
	Ally Moore
	GRS
	The Chameleon in a Cube
	The Bastion of Sanctity
	The Bastion of Sanctity 2
	The Broken Skull Lounge
	Moon Child
	Moon Child 2
	Bonus Track 1: Smooth Tex
	Bonus Track 2: Alleyways

Remastered by Mat Tyler (from MIDI)
	The Pandora Directive
	The Cabin
	Sandra Collins’ House
	AUTOTECH
	Black Arrow Killer Chase
	Garden House
	Roswell
	The Mayan Temple
	The Sound Test
Matt Heider – Orchestrated
	Suite From The Pandora Directive
	Tex Meets Fitz
	Emily In Trouble
	Showdown With A Killer
	Meeting Dr Malloy
	Sad News For Regan
	Archie Dies
	Down The Slide (alternative)
	The Ship
	Postcard from Chelsee
	Chelsee’s Holodate
	Tex Lives (special suite)

Matt Heider – Orchestrated
	A Chip In Your Head
	Approaching Knotts Cabin
	Clocktower Showdown
	Death at the Clocktower
	Gideon’s Story
	Greg Call’s Message
	Hello Handsome
	Hiding from Slade
	Journey To The Ruins
	Larry At The Lab
	Larry Hammond Explains
	Monkey Business 1
	Monkey Business 2
	PI Theme
	Reece Passes Out
	Sylvia’s Gifts
	Tex Meets Sonny
	Tex Meets Sylvia
	The Argument

 Bonus Tracks

New Orchestrated Versions by Mat Tyler
	Tex’s Office
	Tex’s Office 2
	Chandler Avenue
	The Pandora Directive
	A Day’s Introduction (Rock Version)

Filming the TVC with Peter Fitzsimons

Yesterday I got the wonderful opportunity to meet celebrated author, journalist and Aussie rugby legend Peter Fitzsimons during the shoot of the 2011 Parkinson’s Unity Walk TV commercial. Peter is this year’s celebrity ambassador for the charity fundraising event, and the third Aussie icon I have had the pleasure of working with for Parkinson’s, having worked with Vince Sorrenti the previous year and Sam Kekovich the year before that.

It was only after the shoot when I did a bit more research about Peter and his published works that I found out that he was born in Wahroonga, just like me! Small world. Anyway, despite the strong winds and chillingly cold weather, I was very humbled by Peter’s down to earth attitude and focus throughout the shoot. You can really tell a seasoned writer when they suggest placing a terracotta frog in the shot for a bit of creative juxtaposition, and yes you will see what I’m talking about once the edit of the commercial is finished.

Moving on to speaking from a technical perspective; this was the first shoot I had the opportunity to work with the Canon 5D Mk2 camera. Justin Fisher (personal friend & professional partner in crime) had recently borrowed the kit, and brought it along to the shoot. I had originally intended to film the commercial with my Panasonic P2 (as I did with previous commercials), but within 10 minutes of playing around with the gear (with Justin behind the wheel of the pocket HD rocket) I was happy to put my trust in the camera for the commercial.

Checking the footage on the 5D Mk2

It really didn’t disappoint, and I am starting to see what all the fuss is about. Granted, there are a few issues keeping the thing steady, not having the weight behind it like its larger, more expensive competitors. But it’s rich colour depth, low-light performance and ability to work with some amazing depth-of-field produced some truly amazing shots.

Of course, all this hoo-hah is not really much without a finished product to show so I promise that once the Ad is finished, approved and submitted to air I will post a version of it here.

For more information about Parkinson’s or to participate in the Unity Walk Charity Event (which is happening right across Australia on August 28th), visit the Parkinson’s Unity Walk website HERE.

To see the previous Unity Walk TVCs, click here.

Got a short film script you want to see on the screen? I am officially offering myself to you as a director!

The world of independent filmmaking is interesting. While developing your own ideas, it’s often easy to fall into the trap of not keeping as active as you should. So to stimulate the creative brain that sits between my ears (as well as getting in a bit of practise) I am offering to manage, direct, and bring your short film script to life.

Sounds awesome doesn’t it? Well it is!

As much as we all would love to have our ideas picked up by well known producer (hey, it happens) the fact is; there is a lot of writing talent out there that simply never gets the chance, no matter how much they to put their foot in the door. So, with anybody starting out and trying to make their mark (me being one of that type), the simple idea of seeing a story make it from paper to screen is a phenomenal boost. Not only that, but it gives both the writer and the producer a greater product to put forward and exemplify the talent behind the story. Think of it as a collaboration between a team of passionate folks, who (with a low to no-budget model) band together to create a fantastic film that is going to help bring more exposure and attention to all of those involved.

So if you’re a script writer, here’s where you come in:

Simply submit your short film script for me to read. It can be written especially for this project, or it can be one you have already written and have been dying to see converted to the screen! I will then read through all the scripts and pick one from those submitted, and get to work! The goal is to produce the film on a low to no-budget, relying on the combination of my creative skills and your fantastic idea to make the story come to life!

So how awesome is my story going to be with you behind the wheel?

Well, there is only one way to find out, right? Considering this is at no cost to you, there’s really nothing to lose! If you would like to see some of my previous work, you can view my showreel video here, or my film and video portfolio here. If you are already familiar with me you will understand that I am a creatively driven and dedicated independent filmmaker. I have experience in videography, directing, editing, special effects, audio mastering, music composition and heaps more. I like to consider myself a jack of all trades, and see this as a good opportunity to fine tune and expand upon my skills as a producer of films as well as give someone the opportunity to have their story told. Feel free to browse the rest of my website to familiarise yourself with me and my work.

What’s in it for you, Mat?

Just like you, I know that there is a lot of un-tapped talent in our industry, especially from the up and coming. I am indeed one of those people myself. I have the ability, the creativity and the confidence, but not as many projects under my belt as I would like to have. This project not only gives me the ability to work on something new, but also the opportunity collaborate with others just like me, and hopefully help the next big screenwriter get their break into the industry as well.

What kind of script are you looking for?

• Originality: Show me something nobody has thought of before. Some of the best stories around are impressive purely based on their originality.
• Budget: Bare in mind, this is a low to no-budget production, so coming to me with a script only Michael Bay would direct is probably not the best idea. But, challenging components such as special effects are definitely not out of the question. After all, my goal is to prove what can be done with dedicated and committed talent, despite a low budget.
• Timing: I am looking for a script that is no shorter than 5 minutes but no longer than 25 minutes. Remember the rule of thumb: 1 page = 1 minute.
• Story: Scripts that have the best chance of being picked are ones that focus on an engaging storyline, good character development, and a well balanced structure. Remember, the more of these that are in your script, the more your talent will shine through.
• Synopsis: Self-explanatory. Please include one.
• Formatting: It’s important to ensure your script uses the correct screenplay format. This makes it much easier for me to read an interpret. For advice on how to format your script, please read this guide.

When should I have my entries in, and when can I expect the film to be made?

Entries will be accepted up until 31 August 2011. Once I have had the opportunity to read through all the scripts, I will announce the chosen screenplay here on 15 September 2011. From this date, I will collaborate with the screenwriter and production will commence shortly after this. The time it will take to produce the film will depend entirely on the screenplay’s content, but I will aim to have the majority of the film completed by the first quarter of 2012. Of course, I will be keeping everyone up-to-date on the film’s progress with a full production blog you can follow here.

All scripts will remain confidential and not be distributed to anybody not included in the competition process. This is to ensure the safety of your original idea. If your script is not chosen, it will not be submitted or distributed elsewhere without your permission.

Where do I submit my script?

All script submissions are now closed. Thank you to everybody who submitted their scripts and I will be announcing the winner shortly!