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| BIOGRAPHY |
I
grew up in Manchester, England – in the heyday of
Factory
Records, The
Hacienda nightclub, and the tail-end of Punk
Rock. Between the mid-sixties and mid-seventies my father
had a record shop on Great Western Street, in Moss Side.
In hindsight, it seems ironic that at one time or another
The Beatles, Chris
Blackwell (founder of Island Records) and Engelbert
Humperdinck (then known as Jerry Dorsey) had all set foot
in my father’s shop. In those days 7” 45s were
the mainstay of my father’s business – mostly
rock-steady and blue beat artists like Prince Buster, Desmond
Dekker and the late, great Lord
Kitchener. Jamaican music was played constantly
in the shop. Lord Kitchener was a regular visitor, and my
father’s friend. |
I
remember reading early issues of The Face magazine
and seeing The Smiths in one of their first gigs –
supporting Blue
Rondo A La Turk, at The Ritz Ballroom. |
In
1984 I went to London and studied Media at what was then
The Polytechnic
Of Central London. At the Film, Photography
and Media Faculty (on Riding House Street) I met Seamus
McGarvey, Jon
Ronson, W.I.Z., and Gerry
Cox. I ended up writing for the college magazine
with Gerry, I was a nightclub M.C. for WIZ when he DJ’d
at the Crypt
in Deptford, and Seamus shot the first rock
video I directed – ‘Saturday’s
Angels’ by IF?… I mention Jon Ronson
because myself and Steve Keeney would play poker with Jon,
and crash in his room at the hall of residence. |
The
first magazine/newspaper story I ever sold was in early
1985 when I interviewed the late and great Derek Jarman.
That story was published in Melody Maker, and I later had
college placements with Bruce Dessau at Sounds and John
Godfrey at City Limits. From there on in, I
tried to make my living as a writer. |
By
1988 through friends like Chris
Sullivan, Sean McLusky and
James White I had become quite a fixture in various West
End Nightclubs. I had done number of ill-fated video projects
with Chris and Sean, and was even M-C’ing with James
under the dubious name Mr. Love. A chance encounter with
Frank
Hatherley lead to my debut novel, TRIP CITY
– which was published in 1989 by Avernus Creative
Media which was owned by legendary sci-fi author
Brian Aldiss. |
Trip
City was a unique product – packaged with a soundtrack
cassette of original music by A
GUY CALLED GERALD. Although well reviewed by
some, Trip City was pigeon-holed as the ACID HOUSE novel.
Through some misbegotten P-R, it was suggested you ‘read
the book while listening to the tape.’ As you might
imagine this concept fell on deaf ears. Regardless of that,
I am still very proud of Trip City and it managed to land
me at the Endinburgh Festival, the BlueCoat Arts Center
in Liverpool, and New
York’s Chelsea Hotel. |
In
New York, Sean McLusky introduced me to Nat
Finkelstein. Nat dates back to Warhol and the
factory, and it was Nat who recommended me to the Carol
Mann Agency – and I signed with them as my literary
agent, shortly after. At the time Carol handled the likes
of Paul
Auster – so I felt very special. Needless
to say, a year later, my relationship with that agency elapsed. |
I
had met John
Rutter in London while writing a story about
himfor French Photo, and in the subsequent years, up until
1993 I had written numerous short film scripts for him.
Earlier I 1993 I had been in New York with Rankin
writing about The New Music Seminar for Dazed
and Confused Magazine. On my return from that
New York trip, while helping Sean McLusky organize the Depeche
Mode end-of-tour party – Rutter called with a job
offer. He wanted me to come to Los Angeles, and work for
David Bergstein on what became Metropolis
Publications. |
Between
1993 and 1998, I helped David Bergstein build the Metropolis
Publications brand in the United States. My increased visibility
enabled me to freelance for the likes of French Vogue, Esquire
and Loaded. In 1995 I launched the American lifestyle journal
Men's
Perspective (which some say paved the way for
the U.S. launch of Maxim & FHM). In 1996, David promoted
me to the Editorial Director of Metropolis Publications
where I oversaw 12 national entertainment titles including;
Digital Diner, Station (for Sony Playstation), and Gamefan. |
During
that period I wrote several hundred feature stories and
celebrity interviews for both Metropolis and other publishers.
I was also quoted on the "youth culture marketplace"
in the likes of The Wall Street Journal & The New York
Times. |
Between
’99 and 2002 I worked with a number of brands concentrating
on media and interactive launches. I was mainly a consultant
who delivered content, branding and strategic marketing.
I helped to launch of dvd.com, ebay’s print magazine,
Kevin Spacey’s triggerstreet.com,
and number of interactive properties for Lionsgate Films,
Brink Media and Muse Films. |
David
Bergstein and Elie
Samaha invited me to head up a number of interactive
projects early in 2003. That led to several screenwriting
assignments at Franchise
Pictures – including production rewrites
on a Jean Claude Van Damme project (that went into turnaraound)
and then “Out
Of Reach” which starred Steven Seagal
and was shot on location in Warsaw. After “Out Of
Reach” I co-wrote “Into
The Sun” – another Seagal action
picture which was shot in Thailand and Tokyo. |
Even
though Franchise was already on the ropes, I pitched to
write the sequel of “Art
Of War” which was being co-produced with
Franchise, Stallion Film and Sylvester Stallone. I didn’t
get the job, but Stallone liked me, and I was invited to
work on a script with him, tentatively entitled "The
Protector." During negotiations for The Protector,
Franchise filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The rest, as
they say, is history. |
Most
recently, I wrote a short film for James
Gartner entitled ‘Vuelo,’ which
was part of the 2005 Sony Dreams Series. Vuelo screened
at the DGA in Los Angeles and the Zeigfeld Theater in New
York. That year I also worked with Bernie
Morris on a Mixed-Martial-Arts screenplay called
“Bare Knuckles” and began the adaptation of
my novel Trip City into a screenplay. |
I
devote most of my time on screenwriting these days. Two
new projects are in the works, currently. |
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