Carlochmuir
Thu 23 Jun 2011
Writer, Mick Martin and Director, Marcus White, from Can-U-See TV, have been working with writers in the Highlands and Islands for the last 2 years developing a long running serial drama for television. The drama is set in the heady building and development world in the Highlands – bringing, passion and intrigue to the north.
What's the Jackanory Jan?
It can be a little nerve-racking visiting somewhere new. Finding your way, meeting people, getting to know them and they you and Carlochmuir was no different.
I was excited to get the call. What an opportunity! To work with Industry Professionals and here, on home turf. I was intrigued to find out what it was all about but elements of self-doubt started to edge in Would I be good enough? Could I hold my own? Would I fit in? Questions anyone asks themselves when invited to be involved in a group project. But this was much more than just an exercise, this was a community But I needn’t have worried. With Marcus and Mick as guides into the world of Carlochmuir and Amanda helping us to understand the logistics of the process, the introduction was both fascinating and pleasantly painless.
Seven of us, each having their own take on things, their own style and experiences to bring to the table, assembled in Inverness for our first meeting with our mentors. After the initial meet and greet, we were put through our paces. We had all done our homework beforehand, reading up about the story-lines and characters, but now we had to get to know the place and its people in depth There was a lot to take in Mick and Marcus ‘showed’ us around the town, introduced us to the local characters, made us aware of their problems and the secrets which lay hidden. The story-lines became clearer I was hooked Now to hook the audience, get them interested and hold that interest with intriguing scenarios that would develop throughout the series. That was the challenge We flexed our writing muscles and examined specific scenes. We started to hear the characters’ voices and understand the complex relationships between them We discussed techniques, tried out new situations, new voices, new twists, new secrets. We were growing Carlochmuir was growing…… Watch this space.
Jan Storie
Tristan's Journey
On the Friday morning I was standing in a field in deepest Indonesia boarding a plane at an airport that made Inverness look like Heathrow Terminal 5 Five flights, a Megabus and one night’s sleep later I was sitting around a table in a conference suite at an Inverness hotel ready to embark on a three day development and writing workshop of a new TV drama set in The Highlands and Islands.
I’d met Mick and Marcus by chance at Go North They’d read my work, liked it, and asked me to join the writing team of Carlochmuir.
‘When is it?’ I asked.
‘August’ they replied.
‘Oh’ I sighed into my Ramada Jarvis warm brown coffeeish water.
A chance for an emerging Highland writer to work on a Highland based television drama with a BAFTA Award Winning Director and an established tv, film and stage writer does not turn up everyday, but this chance so happened to turn up right bang in the middle of a six week intrepid travel adventure across the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Four flight changes, eight if you include my travel partner’s and shifting my adventure forward two weeks and I was all set to join the writing team of Carlochmuir That is, if I didn’t contract malaria, be beheaded by an Islamic fundamentalist or as it happened be ambushed by an OAP Rainbow Religion Russian Nudist who had a penchant for dolphins, anyhow that is another story and deserves to be behind a paywall.
I was joining an already established group who had been working on the project for eighteen months This being my first ever experience of collaborative writing I was expecting ideas to be held close, characters to be untouchable and storylines to be set in stone How wrong I was The process was so open, engaging, sharing and everyone contributed in their own way Some say team writing can numb ideas and by the nature of it consensus rules thus producing something safe and middle of the road I found the complete opposite Ideas were shared and built upon in a way that is difficult when writing by on your own.
The constant talking about characters created a depth of personality that was very different to my previous experience where characters live and develop in your head These characters were here with us, in the room at the Ramada Encore debating what exactly was in the sandwiches
The three days were long and even longer with my jet lag but what we accomplished will hopefully be seen on Samsungs and Sony’s across the UK, from Bogroy to Bognor to Bangor Presenting the Highlands as it is, modern but with deep rooted tradition, cosmopolitan but with cultural identity - there is no tartan and shortbread, no twee and tweed – this is no Monarch of The Glen.
The journey from script to screen is still a very long one Perhaps we’ll get there and perhaps we won’t. Personally, my long journey home was worth it, for the laughter, the confidence, the contacts and the collaboration However most importantly it is the Highlands and Islands that hopefully will benefit the most We are creating something that is fresh and dynamic, that showcases the best of our area and the best of its people… and worst of its people… well it is a drama.
Tristan MG Aitchison
Lou Let's Loose on Carlochmuir
So you want to enter the world of Carlochmuir, you’ll have to be stir crazy that is for sure
It’s a place that does and doesn’t exist, if you know what I mean, a place you love to escape to scene by scene
It stays with you through all of the night and all of the day, even at times when you want it to go away
Days locked in a room in Inverness with writers, director, laptops, coffee, soup, sandwiches and a mess
There’s the renowned director Mr. Marcus D White, a fine stature of a man, but nothing’s ever quite right
Well, is it a thriller or is it not, is it before 9.00pm, oh maybe not, it’s certainly not Monarch but neither is it Twin Peaks...oh shit ... it could even be Damages, The killing but not New Tricks
Writer Mick Martin, brave from Bradford, not a Scot but is eager to learn, what is a stramash and what is a boorach, so he can pen.
He thumps his laptop talking it out, we all interrupt and often shout ...but what does Aggie look like for God’s sake ......is she like Anne Hathaway or similar make
Mick types Murray Firth, it’s a river not a name, I thought he done it, done what we complain, dug holes on the moor again!
Marcus is concerned about Patricia giving on screen birth, Jan wants Joyce to bake lots of cakes and be mother earth
I want Roxanna to be of This Life like Daniela Nardini, Ally thinks she should have red hair and be tall and skinny.
Dave wants a comedy series with American one liners and has us laughing about things that should be serious and should refine us
Tristan wants surreal Desperate Housewives who’ve lost their babies to spiritual bling cause if there’s not enough sex in ep one, his mum will switch off and do other things
We all like the shinty cause its blood and gore, will network know what it is and will they want more, Our Robbie’s the Beckham of the shinty game although not sure he will have quite the same fame
One person has been cast we know for sure, she’s the singer in the bar singing so pure. Its Amanda didn’t you know, sings like a nightingale, its true, she’ll be cheap on our budget too
Is it winter or summer out there, is it Beauly, Inverness or Faar, the petrol station, the bank or the Spar. Is it day or is it night? We’ve all lost sight
Ah well let’s see... are we in Carlochmuir at Joyce’s for tea or at the Thai in Inverness ....hit button REALITY
The bar is beckoning and with goblets of wine...yes actually, we all get along fine...we enjoy the tales that Marcus does tell, Mick loves a beer and the Thai food smell, we all are tired but all know too well there’s no place like Carlochmuir for a spell!
Louise Wyllie
Socialise