Shadowplay Year Zero
Well, got my computer back from the repairman with next to nothing on it. Reinstalled some of the software that came with it, and some of the stuff that was floating around free, but to get the documents back will involve a specialist and likely set me back three hundred quid. Now, I’ve GOT three hundred quid, but if I spent it I wouldn’t have, so I’m not terribly keen on that option.
For a while I felt enjoyably light. Sure, four years of work was gone, but most of it is right here on the web, or else it’s in the possession of producers, publishers etc. It’s only when I started thinking about the stuff that wasn’t backed up anywhere, including one very good screenplay that never had a producer, and a lot of nice music, that I kind of felt that three hundred quid was as good as spent.
But there’s no immediate urgency. So what I might try to do is write an e-book and offer it for sale at 50p. If I sell 600 copies, I’ll have paid for the data recovery. Of course, that figure may be rather unrealistic. But I figure I ought to be able to shame SOME of you into shelling out, and I’ll make sure I give value for money. At least ten pages…
Of course, I’m making a documentary right now and I teach and occasionally I write for money, so I don’t know how long this will all take to organize, especially as I don’t quite know how to go about selling the thing. PayPal, I guess.
Oh, and I need a subject. I was vaguely thinking THE LADYKILLERS, the William Rose-Sandy Mackendrick version, of course. Should be plenty of fun to be had with that…
July 9, 2012 at 4:07 pm
go ahead mr Cairns I would pay the 50 Cent or Pence for a piece if writing of yours, doesn´t matter what it is about as long it is in your usual expertises I love the way your write and connect some dots. Good day to you.
July 9, 2012 at 4:21 pm
we like the Ladykillers…
July 9, 2012 at 7:37 pm
I’d buy one.
July 9, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Yay, that’s £1.50 already!
July 9, 2012 at 10:10 pm
I’d definitely buy an eBook from you for whatever the exchange rate for US dollars came out to.
I don’t know if you can use it in the UK, but Gumroad might be a good way to both sell and distribute it. and they don’t take a big chunk of your profits like Amazon.com would. You could still use PDFs that would be supported by eReaders.
https://gumroad.com/ is the link.
July 9, 2012 at 10:41 pm
I’m in. The pence are mounting up.
July 10, 2012 at 7:31 am
Thanks, all! This is beginning to sound as lucrative as filmmaking!
July 11, 2012 at 12:37 am
I would absolutely buy an e-Book by you. Or a Shadowplay T-Shirt.
July 12, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Maybe this is the time for the Siodmak book you mentioned in comments on an earlier post.
I’d like to see that, and you’ve already got stuff that’s good to go.
(And as to what you’ve written about Walsh — maybe not so much, but what’s there is cherce).
July 12, 2012 at 11:10 pm
I’m determined that my e-book will contain all-new material, more or less, so Siodmak would have to wait. By the way, have you seen my big Siodmak piece over at Moving Image Source?
July 13, 2012 at 1:51 pm
I’d pay much more than 50 p. (And I happen to have 60 Turkish lira in my wallet right now–which is like twenty pounds stirling. Sold?)
July 14, 2012 at 12:13 pm
I’ll pay 50 pence, even though I don’t know what a pence is, but it sounds pretty keen.
Are you rich yet?
July 14, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Nearly! Just got to write the thing and make it available. And figure out a way for people to pay me. In Turkish lira or otherwise.