I am pleased to say that Fractured Radius’ 48Hours film for 2006 is all done and was handed in on time.

The last time I checked it was called “T.H.A.T. – Three Heroes Against Terror”, which is just a hint of the comedy genius that it contains.

I don’t want to give away too much, but I can reveal that:

• It features a car driving inside a warehouse.
• Dylan, James, Ryan and I were drafted in as henchpeople. We wore $7.50 shirts from an army surplus shop. James and Dylan looked like Howard Moon and Bob Fossil from season one of the Mighty Boosh. I looked like a gay pirate. Ryan looked hot, as per usual.
• I woke up this morning with bruises, probably caused by being beaten up in my small role as an evil hench wench.
• Somewhere along the line Andy’s eyepatch mysteriously went missing. Fortunately we were shooting sequentially so it could be hilariously written into the script.
• We shot a lot of it in a disused bed warehouse, with variety of mattresses lying around. So not only could we do cool falling stunts, but we got to lounge around on a $5000 bed that was luxuriously soft and yet supportive.
• If I get my way, Melanie and I will be credited as laser technicians, because that’s what we did.

Exclusive behind-the-scenes pics can be found here.

You can see the film at the mighty Civic this Tuesday, May 30 at 6pm, so come along and see a bunch of good and/or entertainingly bad short film and remember to vote for Fractured Radius.

It’s 48Hours film competition weekend and Fractured Radius is back in full effect. Highlights so far have included…

* Going from the city to Beach Haven in rush-hour traffic in the pouring rain.
* When one of our writing crew fell asleep during the writing process and didn’t wake up until 2am.
* Running out of actors to play the main characters.

But not to worry – all of those were minor hassles and did nothing to halt production. A script has been written and the last time I read it (3am, just before bed), it was still funny.

Today we shoot, and the weather forecast is for rain.

I went along to the Civic to see the heat in which “Fruits of Passion” was screen. Keen readers who have been following my 48 Hour film competition adventures will realise with glee this this meant seeing myself up on the giant Civic screen saying, “Arrr! Shit me balls!” in a pirate voice.

“Fruits of Passion” was last on the list of films in that session, so I had to sit through 11 other films. A couple were really good. I especially liked “Hood” a hot hot hot retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story. Other films were so-so – usually good ideas let down by crappy sound and/or slow pacing. And more than a few were just shit, with the only redeeming features being when they moved into “so bad it’s good” territory.

HINT: If you are a 20-year-old skinny-arse whiteboy, wearing a suit, putting on an American accent and adopting a hard-arse persona will not transform you into a world-weary 40-year-old American private eye. Suspension of disbelief has its limits. Be that skinny-arse white boy and you will go far.

By the time “Fruits of Passion” came along, the audience was getting a little restless, but it got laughs in all the right places (and no wrong ones). The girl who can’t swear properly got big laughs, but swear words are usually good for a few laughs. There was even an “aww…” moment, which is good for a romance.

I stuck around to see the next heat with the “Fruits” co-director and the camera guy. There were fewer quite good ones and more average ones. There were a couple with ex-Shortland Street actors that turned out to be pretty good. I guess that’s a good training ground for fast-turnaround acting.

Out of the 150-ish films being screened in the heats, a mere 12 will make it to the Auckland final. Eek! I don’t know how “Fruits” will fare, but fingers crossed, yes.

The film was completed and handed in on time, thanks to the efforts of the talent of the great auteur Ryan James and his editors.

It is titled Fruits of Passion, which is a completely brilliant title. I just saw it for the first time tonight and I laughed and indeed giggled many times.

It’s debuting at the mighty Civic next Tuesday (24 May) at 6pm. Tickets are $11 and are only available from the Civic box office half an hour before the screening. Admission is technically only available to cast and crew, but I think this is just a requirement for classification purposes – i.e. if you are reading this and feel like being a crew member, then you shall be.

I recommend seeing it, especially if you’ve ever wondered, “Hmm… I wonder what Robyn sounds like saying ‘Shit my balls’ in a comedy pirate voice.”

The 48 Hour Film competition is back again. This would explain why I’m up way too early on a Saturday morning after having got not enough sleep to quite be alert yet, but enough to have dreamed of my IMDB page.

I’m on board this year as a writer and indeed last night from about 7pm to 12.30am much writing did occur in collaboration with the legendary Fractured Radius writing team. Our theme this year is romance, a subject I am well qualified to write about (I have PhD in romanceology).

My muse was over-the-counter cold/flu remedy (the stuff that’s made from P!!!!!!), as I’m getting over a badass cold that wiped me out earlier in the week. It seemed to work. I seem to recall coming up with at least one excellent line – possibly more.

It’s amazing how sleep deprivation can make everything seem either really funny or really shit, though this morning I was still laughing at the memory of some of the wacky, zany and madcap lines we came up with. I’d quote some here but, y’know, I don’t wanna give away any of the surprises.

Today will be about fine-tuning and filming and hopefully not about realising that the ending is shit and needs to be entirely rewritten.

I just got back from the 48 Hours film competition final.

Tragically, “The Sceptre of MacGuffin” didn’t win, but it did get mighty big laughs from the audience. I think it was probably the one film that got the most laughs. My supermodel joke also got a big laugh, but again Andy stole the show with his eyebrow acting and his expert delivery of the choice dialogue.

The winner was “Jessie McCloud: The Journey,” made by a team from the Classic comedy bar. It was about a couple of burglars who find an video made by the leader of a suicide cult. It was announced that director Radar will use his prize of a return flight to Los Angeles to show some film he made at some peace festival. Notice how I used the word ‘some’ twice in that last sentence.

My non-MacGuffin favourite, “Cool-a-rama” came third. Interestingly enough, it didn’t get as many laughs in the big Civic theatre as it did with the much smaller audience in the Capitol.

It’s a cliche, but there really is no shortage of talent in this city. The next time anyone complains about there being no good local stuff on TV or at the movies, well, now we know where to look for the talent capable of making greatness.