So let’s go back a few more years. When I was in Grade 2-4 in Dartmouth, NS, my best friend was a guy from Oz whose father was going to Dalhousie University. At that point, for me Oz was Skippy the Kangaroo and The Air Doctors – both shows about the rugged jungles and outback.  Jump forward to 1983, when my buddy John and I went to see a very weird and strange film, Starstruck, at the local rep theatre in Victoria, BC. This wasn’t your usual Australian film – no world war drama, or disappearing children, or year of living dangerously. This was a new wave, music video pile of crazy.  And I loved it.

So when I was looking for a country to avoid the ‘real’ world after finishing TV School, I chose Australia, remembering that wild film full of cute girls, fun pubs and awesome music. And I did have a year full of all three. At the time I went, people actually questioned my decision to go to Oz. Too far away, too backward. It was while I was there that I met, and stole a full-time job away from, an Australian musician who would turn out to be my best friend and creative partner for over 30 years, Adam Warnock.

I arrived the week Crocodile Dundee opened.  It was still playing when I left a year later. I returned to find North America Oz crazy.

I loved my time Down Under and have written numerous screenplays set there, trying to capture the craziness of that place. If I didn’t live in Canada, I’d live there.

Which brings me around to the screenplay Adam and I have been working on for the past couple years. Our fifth screenplay, four of which are set in Australia. On a creative whim about a month ago, I decided to try something different. The screenplay had come out of a short film we had made, Bangamahamup, so the main characters were essentially us but 20 years younger. What I tried was flipping the genders of the two main characters and the love interest.

Wow, I couldn’t believe what a difference that made!  Suddenly, we had a compelling and awesome female lead character with a frustrating yet appealing sidekick, and a love interest who was a bit less macho and a lot more interesting as well.  How amazing!

You never know what will spark inspiration, this was how we changed up a good script into a great one.

I realized that the plot for the second draft of the sequel to ‘12 Cups of Coffee‘ was weak and lazy so I spent a few weeks tearing apart all those precious words I’d written and have come up with a much tighter, and way better story for this sequel. Now it’s time to dive in and write it!

But while I was letting that settle in my psyche, I dove into a major revision to the screenplay for what was formerly known as ‘Bangamahbamup‘ which is now, wisely, called something other than that. (Especially since I can’t even type it out twice in a row correctly) New poster with the new title to your left.

I also deconstructed an old story I very much love, ‘Classic Rock‘, to see if I can create something better. And I’m excited in what’s coming out of my head around this story. I’m not sure if it’s going to turn into a screenplay or a novel but I’ll let you know which way that wind blows.

But next up is the second draft of ‘No Time Like The Past‘, where it moves from, as Stephen King’s says, being written with the door closed to being written with the door open.

Hold your horses, everyone, it’s going to be a hell of a productive year!

The latest short film from Adam Warnock and myself, filmed in February 2017 in and around Mudgee, NSW and now submitted to Tropfest 2018!

“Truly enjoyed the book. I think the author has a lovely inter-generational touch. Whimsical, light-hearted and poignant.” Great comment on Senior’s High from my story editor.

While I’m feeling pretty great about that, I get an email informing me that ‘The Souvenir’, a short film I made down in Oz a couple years ago, was going to be part of the online portion of the Vancouver Lift Off Film Festival!

In the mean time, I’m trying out Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat approach to story building on ‘No Time Like The Past’ – a time travel adventure back to 1984 Vancouver – the grubby, pre-Expo, little-big town Vancouver – and it’s a lot of fun.

Time to go and buy some more corkboards and index cards for the other stories I’m working on!

For those keeping track, that means in the past year I’ve written two novels and a screenplay – almost 200,000 words by my guestimate.

Phew!

Next up is a weekend of break, then back into it with the third draft of ‘Seniors High’.

Check out the 12 More Cups of Coffee page.

All the while, I have been writing every day and am up to 26,500 words into ’12 More Cups of Coffee’ which is almost the first third of the first draft done. Let me tell you, Jamie’s on quite the emotional rollercoaster at the moment…

Buy it here.