Hello Scarlett,

I am your father. Not in a revelatory Empire Strikes Back kind of way (although I cannot wait to introduce you to Star Wars – I may even wait until you are 6 months old). It is January 5, 2012. You are 128 days old, I am thirty-eight years old and I am writing this to you, Scarlett, for the following three reasons…

(1)   The Small Reason: When you get older you’ll remember me as a forty-something/fifty-something, and never a man in his (semi-vibrant) thirties. As you grow up I will hopefully seem to be the finished article, self-assured and knowledgeable in the ways of the world, as opposed to a man who is still trying to figure out the rules himself. Occasionally I make a movie about it.

(2)   The Big Reason: I am a workaholic filmmaker and it will be inevitable that – at times – I will be distracted by one project or another. This blog is intended to be my extended apology to you for all those (hopefully few and far between) times when I didn’t manage to sort out my life to help you with your homework or take you to the park.

(3)   The Other Reason: I have recently moved with your mother Lucy to the Gold Coast of Australia. This is your birthplace but being a born-and-bred North Londoner (the North is important here), it is a place that is very pleasant but not what I am used to (eg. friendly people). Much like the US, Australia (or Oz as is simpler to say and write) and England (NOT the UK – we’ll get to that in future entries) are two cultures very much – as the saying goes – separated by a common language. This blog is an attempt for me to reflect and reconcile those differences as an almost-but-not-quite stranger in an almost-but-not-quite strange land.

THE RULES OF THIS BLOG: I will always be honest. And I reserve the right to ramble. So, here goes… APOLOGY ONE: The mission statement is most of my entry for today – I don’t want to make it too long as I have no idea what attention spans will be like in the future. However, I thought I’d give you a snapshot of my day.

Today I am…

1. Editing ‘The Manual’ - an independent feature I wrote and directed – and am currently still producing and editing. Due to the move to Australia and your arrival, it is about seven months behind schedule. And since the shoot the project has evolved slightly (and please forgive the media-speak) – the feature is now the ‘tent-pole’ of a wider transmedia project. More on that in future writings…

2. Brainstorming ‘Meter Maids’ – a feature comedy I wrote and am producing set in Surfer’s Paradise, Australia. About 5 minutes from where we currently live.

3. Tutoring at Bond University –officially I am a ‘Teaching Fellow,’ and this particular semester mentoring the students through the production of their graduation films.

4. Looking after you. I’m a bit of a beginner at this, but it seems to be going OK. Not that you will remember.

But not necessarily in that order. Obviously.

Bye for now,

Love Dad