It's been two years since my last update, and this is in part because there hasn't been much to update, and in part because I'm not very good at being a blogger. Plus I think I'm the only one who reads my blog. I'm discounting the numerous internet 'bots' who post random, non-personal but very friendly blog comments, whilst secretly hoping I'll click on their links to essay writing services or obscure video games - but I'm neither a gamer nor do I need help with essay-writing. And I've just deleted all their comments (sorry 'bots'). I wouldn't want any potential, "real" commenters to feel scared off. I've had some health issues that have forced me to take things slow. However, things are looking up again, and I'm in post-production with the next instalment in my short film trilogy: "The Day We Met", with an expected completion date in January 2018. We shot it over 6 days in July-August. This film is part one of the trilogy, but the second to be made. "Second Encounters", which is part two but the first one to be made, and "The Day We Met" feature characters and storylines indenpendent of each other, but they share an overarching theme. Part three, "Sweethearts?", is currently in preproduction, which means we are putting the financing together and soon we will start the casting process and lock-down location. We aim to start principal photography around Easter 2018. I was/am also in development with a feature film ("Black Blood") which I completed writing in 2016, and it had a producer attached, but due to family illness, followed by pregnancy (on the producer's, not my, part), I am now looking for a new producer. However, at the moment, I'm more interested in pursuing my feature script "Oliver & Cecilie Go on a Date" - which is a romantic comedy told in split screen from his and her point of view - and I'm currently trying to finish the script. I have about 35 pages so far and I'm somewhere just after the first turning point/beginning of act two - not that I write based on the three-act structure, but most stories do feature a beginning, middle and end, and I'm somewhere in the early middle. I'm looking for a producer for this project, too, but mainly I'm focused on completing a first draft.

​It’s been nearly a year since my last update, and what can I say, I’ve been busy… and too lazy to upload to my website blog. But I’m hoping this tumblr thing will make updates a breeze, enabling me to post more frequently. The hassle of uploading gone, I have no excuse :)

Anyway, a lot has happened in 2013. Last I wrote, I was still working on Fragments of Me and had just returned from Sitges and the last of the Four Corners workshops. I had “broken up” with my producer, and was looking for a new one asap, as I wanted to apply to the first Biennale Film College. And somehow I managed to find one and complete the application in a week. However, the application did not go through. Instead I took a well-deserved holiday with my family in Asia. We visited Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and China. It was exactly what the doctor ordered.

​Then I went home. To Hong Kong. I can feel it in my bones that I was born there.

​​I fell in love with Stanley. I had never been there before. It’s like a seaside colonial village amidst all the high rises of the bustling city. I wouldn’t mind living there, if I ever had the chance to relocate to Hong Kong.

​Back in wintry Denmark, I started a brief stint at a renowned production company in Copenhagen. I spent 6 months with M&M Productions, during three of which I worked there intensely on a daily basis. Then I got busy with the making of my first Danish short “Dronning for en dag” (aka “Queen For A Day”) which was overall probably one of the funnest, nicest shoots I’ve been on. I had so many wonderful people helping me make this little film a reality.

​“Dronning for en dag” (affectionately known as Dfed), aka “Queen For A Day” (Qfad) premiered at the Cinematheque theatre of the Danish Film Institute on September 6th.

I was also accepted into Torino Film Lab’s “Adaptlab” which is in its 2nd year. I am adapting a novel called “Buster’s Ears” by Swedish writer Maria Ernestam into a feature-length screenplay, although we will only submit treatments in November, when we pitch at the Meeting Event in Torino which will be the third and final workshop. The first one was in June in Lyon, France.

I ate a lot of good food, especially desserts. In fact, I think I garnered a reputation for being the girl who always eats. I think I gained about 5 pounds in a week.

Then in August the second workshop was held right in my backyard. We stayed for a week at Schæffergården in Gentofte, which is just on the outskirts of Copenhagen. More divine food. This time of the organic, Nordic gourmet kind. I’m starting to think these writing workshop are more about food than actual work. Although I did get a lot of work done. I am actually quite proud of the adaptation I’m writing.

On September 2nd I started my MA in Film and Media Studies at Copenhagen University. Which so far is great. However, I am not good at keeping up with all the readings which leaves me feeling chronically guilty. I have no trouble understanding what’s being taught, though, a lot of it is second nature. But I still have to write about it all academically - and I have blissfully forgotten how to do that. I’m a practical sort of girl these days. I don’t write about other people’s ideas and endeavours. I indulge in my own.

Which leads me to the amazing and spectacular news that I am in prep with a new short film. Well, actually it’s “Fragments of Me” re-envisioned as a trilogy of short films with the titles “Kærester?” (“Sweethearts?”), “Et Gensyn” (“Second Encounters”) and “Da Vi Mødtes” (“The Day We Met”). The Danish Film Workshop is funding part II, “Et Gensyn”, so we will shoot that in January or February 2014. Hopefully “Kærester?” and “Da Vi Mødtes” will follow, but I have to get them financed first.

Moreover, I am also in advanced development with a new feature film which is also a transmedia project, and experimental in its visual style. However, narratively it is a very commercial rom-com that should be a crowd-pleaser. I’ve got a great producer attached and am really looking forward working on this project with him. It’s gonna be huge!

I also started as a volunteer teacher at a local film lab where I teach kids and teenagers how to be filmmakers. Next week I am teaching them how to direct actors, and the two weeks after that, I’m in charge of their midterm films.

That’s it. You’re all updated on 2013 thus far. Torino and the last Adaptlab workshop is coming up in November. Then exams in December. And then it’s merry christmas and happy new year, followed by more filmmaking. Yay!

A brilliant and shiny kiss to you all!

​- Marianne

​Hello everyone! It’s been a while... Sooooo much has happened!

First of all, I am halfway through a third draft of “Faith Hope Love” which now has a new title: “Fragments of Me”. We shot a teaser for the film in August, which is online now.

The Four Corners workshop has just ended, and it was a blast. I’m sad it’s over and I miss everyone. I wonder when I will see them again. The final workshop took place in Spain, at Sitges Film Festival, where we pitched to an invited audience. It went quite well, I think. It was my second time pitching to a large group of people, so I’m slowly getting used to it :)
My short film “Queen For A Day” got funded by the Film Workshop @ The Danish Film Institute, so I am in prep with that. Currently casting, I plan to shoot in January. It is very exciting!

​I finished the rewrite of “Jomana” for producer Gabriela Uweis in late June, and it came out really well! We both like the script a lot now. She submitted it for funding from the DOHA Film Institute and she is supposed to find out in mid November whether they want to support the project or not. Fingers crossed x

The Four Corners workshop in late May/early June was good fun! The weather was amazing, and we spent most of our days sitting in the gardens of Regent’s College. I got some good feedback, and even managed to steal a session with tutor Miguel Machalski on top of my sessions with Ana Magallon, and that was extremely helpful! Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to immerse myself in the 2nd draft over the summer, and I basically rewrote it the week before I had to submit it. Needless to say, it wasn’t as good as it could’ve have been!

The next workshop took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, in early September - and the weather was beyond good. It was sweltering! I got heat stroke, and was ‘out of order’ for 2 days with fever, nausea, no appetite, rapid pulse and a head that felt like mush. But I got some awesome feedback on the script - mostly thanks to fellow participant Ibai Siso - which now forms the basis for the 3rd draft that I am writing. We ended the workshop on a high: We all jumped into the pool, fully dressed! We should all do more things like that in life - it’s liberating :)

​Then we only had a month to prep for the 4th and final workshop in Sitges. We finished up the teaser, had a new poster designed and we were good to go. I only got halfway through the 3rd draft - I had intended to finish - but that was just way too ambitious of me. We arrived two days early and I finally got to see Barcelona! It was amazing. Barcelona rocks! In Sitges we enlisted the help of pitching guru, David Matamoros, and he really whipped us all into shape :)

I am currently in the process of switching producers on both “Fragments of Me” and “Queen For A Day”, so everything is a bit up in the air. When I know more, I’ll let you know! By the way, I also turned 35 on August 15th! I was in the middle of editing the teaser, but my editor, Birger, was so kind as to make me a birthday cake! And the weather was amazing that day! It’s usually not that nice, so I guess I’ve either been a good girl, or I have a good year ahead of me. I hope it’s the latter!

​Ta for now... xo

​I met my May 10th deadline :-) and I am very happy with the results! It came out at 92 pages! The 2nd Four Corners workshop is approaching rapidly, and it remains to be seen what the feedback will be. London, here I come (once again)!

I am also submitting the script for script development funding at New Danish Screen (@ the Danish Film Institute) next week. Fingers crossed x

My short film script “Queen For A Day” - which I completed the 2nd draft of last month - has passed the first round at The Film Workshop @ The Danish Film Institute. I have a development meeting tomorrow at 13:30. I will find out in June whether the project ultimately is a go or no go. To date I have been rejected twice at the Film Workshop with two other projects. In hindsight this was understandable - they were much too ambitious and ill-suited for a short film format. One is now a feature, the other a TV series. “Queen For A Day” is a whole different beast. A very simple, small idea that can be nothing but a short film. Hopefully three’s the lucky number. Fingers crossed again x

This month has been the month of applications. Apart from the above, I also applied to Danske Dramatikere for script funding, and is in the middle of the application for the same at Danske Filminstruktører. I also submitted a writer’s proposal for a rewrite assignment. Amazon Studios has a project in development called “I Think My Facebook Friend Is Dead” and had an open call for rewrite proposals that closed this week. If one is picked, there’s a handsome fee of $33000 - apparently this is below the WGA minimum and hence union writers are not allowed to apply. But that’s A LOT of money to me and I would only be too happy to rewrite the script, which I think has a great premise and I could definitely come up with a great new draft. Fingers crossed here too x

What really amazed me, though, was that I was able to put together a proposal in three days! I didn’t see the rewrite assignment until a few days before the close of the open call. I’ve actually never put together a writer’s proposal, and I am really proud of myself that I managed to come up with a new plot (that I can vouch for) and write a sharp 5-page proposal in such a short amount of time. It was intense.

I was not picked for Torsdagspitch at The Danish Film Industry in April. I do realise “Faith Hope Love” is not a high concept premise and therefore a very difficult sell pitch-wise. Better luck next time.

I am also rewriting my producer’s pet project. Gabriela has had a short film project called “Jomana” in development for a while now that is very close to her heart. She and director Søren Grau is submitting it to the DOHA film institute for production funding in mid July and has asked me to rewrite the script for them by mid June. Embracing the challenge with gusto :-)

That’s all, folks! Catch you again soon xx