I can smell it, I really can. Spring is in the air. Well, not really, but I am pretending to myself. I love Spring. I love Spring most of all. In Spring everything feels full of hope. ALL good at this end, thanks. Thanks for all your inquiries, too. I do get to read some of them. Very nice. Very nice indeed. I have moved to Warp Films for representation now. They represent me for vids and commercials. Nothing wrong with my dear pals at Xrds, just that sometimes it's nice to have a little change. I've hardly been a bed-hopper, company-wise. Anyway, I am hoping to kick things off a bit more, shortly. Watch this space: hopefully more commercials/idents/vids. Things on the film front are moving along steadily, too... though I don't want to put the old kibosh |kəˈbä sh; ˈkīˌbä sh | on any of it by mentioning it all too quickly. Just to say there are several projects bobbing below the surface, just seething away - and hopefully one of these will be coming to a cinema screen near you soon! Oh, I WANT to tell you ssooooo much; but can't. There you go. One project in particular... oooooh. Apart from this? I LOVE my time in the garden, tree-hugging, pushing my wheelbarrow to and fro. Expect to see a documentary on me shortly, too, made by Max Langton-Lockton, coincidentally shot partly in my greenhouse, where I grow prize marrows as large as your grandma's meaty arm. When Max is ready he'll give us something to post on the website and you can see for yourself. So far interviewed Matt Johnson, Jools Holland, Marc Almond, Justin Hawkins, Johnie Marr, Norman, others... plenty more agreed to do it, seemingly... Max will give you the trailer and you can feast your eyes. Yay.

 

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Hello. Well... Where do I start? Finished the BBC project that you will see on your UK TV screens throughout the Christmas period - up to 800 times, I believe from December 15th until January 1st. This is the BBC's Christmas ident/logo - you know, the thing with the circles that goes before all BBC 1 programmes. Last year it was Wallace and Gromit, but this year it's, erm, me. Well, me...and... Well, you see I am not allowed to tell you. Anyway, personally I always like the BBC Christmas [ident], as you know that magical time of year is coming closer. {I like the star-studded M&S commercials, too, but does that make me sad?} I remember the BBC one with the big snowball being rolled down the street and many others. Otherwise? I am doing a proper commercial again in January [for Euros agency] and am in the process of talking to several companies about being represented for commercials - I am staying with the old company for videos as I like my top producer/fellow director so much, Trudy Bellinger. Actually, I am working with Trudy on a project at the moment, but am not going to say too much (again!) as I want to keep the surprise if indeed it is happening. All I can say...is that it's a longer project and might be my co-directing debut!!!! Will update you more. Am also working with TalkbackThames on another film project with old friend Jane Quigley. Watch this space too. The voyeur film [‘Light In Your Eye’] seems to be slightly on hold, though I am just as passionate about it and hopefully Charles Steel [producer] can keep going on the finance front. Meantime, I seem this year to have been on an endless bout of talking appointments, i.e. where I am talking to an audience. One of the most enjoyable ones was with Adam, from Adam and Joe TV fame, who interviewed me on the stage of the NFT to a packed out house at the Bug event. He was very funny and I enjoyed talking with him, especially as he chose to show many of my rarer seen videos in the UK - Neil Young stuff and even Sex Dwarf for Soft Cell. And of course my beloved Fatboy one. Thirty years after its debut, it [Sex Dwarf] still could create an effect in an audience as I am certain I saw at least 3 people walk out. Excellent!! Also spoke at the Syn-as-thesia event a couple of weeks ago and shared the stage with fellow fantastic director Dougal Wilson, who directed the fantastic video for ‘Bat for Lashes’ with the bicycles (that I sometimes claim to have directed myself, as it’s so good!) and also the world-famous, classical percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. It was great to hear them both talking about their inspiration and especially Dame Evelyn, as she is so inspirational. She is profoundly deaf, has been since she was 12, and an amazing percussionist (feeling with her body) and also an interesting talker. I cobbled something together for the event and ended up reading an excerpt from a short story I wrote when I was 12 that I rediscovered during my recent house moving when unpacking old boxes! Evelyn sent me her film afterwards, called ‘Touching the Sound.’ Very interesting. Have recently watched the great film about Carthusian monks, called ‘Into Great Silence.’ I discovered there’s a monastery near to where I live and have been finding it very, very mysterious and intriguing, as it's a place for hermits who remain silent. Read a book about the place [‘Parkminster’] and, oh, also read… am reading Bob Dylan’s autobiography. Boy, what an interesting bloke. Nearly worked with him a few times, but never did. Shame. My old pal Elliot Roberts, Neil Young’s manager, gets a few mentions in it. Sorry, I digress from the talking events… Something in Manchester [In The City], a couple more talks in Poland, Denmark also.  Been invited back to Poland to speak again at the Lodz film school, so hope to do that again next year. Polanski’s old school, so filmically that be great for me (as opposed to his behaviour in life!) Talking of Christmas, evenings in the Pope household now involve a stiff G&T with a slice of lime, then watching all the excellent BAFTA films sent to me on DVD, as its film judging time. Must go now…neeed to go to Tescos. Ah, the thrilling life of a legendary pop video director!!!! P.S. Might be doing a vid, too, for a very old client, who I did up to 12 vids for, in another seeming lifetime. No... it's not The Cure, so please don't write Tim Pope is working again with The Cure, or I think Robert gets very upset!!!

 

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ok, so many people have been writing to the website, as usual, to ask what i am up to. want to know the answer? can't tell you - yes, what i am working on is so TOP SECRET that i am literally not able to tell you what it is i am doing. this is true. seriously, even if i hinted i would be strung up... or worse... far worse. castration? who knows? but who is 'number 1' - who is my boss? not even allowed to tell you this. in fact, i now have to go... i must leave...seriously. speak soon and will update you with more

 

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what a lovely thing to do on saturday night - to see mr. julian holland and his orchestra, in brighton. always lovely to see julian, of course (as we go so far back), though especially nice to see and to speak with marc almond, with whom i have not met for, well, probably a quarter of a century, or therabouts. we talked of old times - oh, yes, we did! we talked affectionately of many poeople and events (and, oh, about some specific people, without affection). then marc paid me a real compliment by dedicating on stage his rendition of 'say hello, wave goodbye' to me. with jools' arrangment, i really think they should re-record it and i for one would be happy to do the vid.

 

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oh oooh oooooh - i can feel a damned movie coming on! watch this space!

 

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Oh dear - well, all hell seems to have been let loose by my last delirium-fueled posting on this website! I am told by the person running the site that we have received literally hundreds of emails, after I mentioned going to see The Cure play live at Wembley. Though I think the main interest came from me also mentioning that I may be going to see Robert. I am going to see him and although these events tend to be fairly sporadic, they are always fun and it's nice to catch up. There is FYI talk of a project, but I shall let him announce this at a time that he sees fit, rather than me doing so. It will be a very interesting project. Though it may not involve videos. Hmmm. Is this going to make the debate even more ferocious? Or will it assuage the rumours? We shall see! Just so you know - and, God, there seem to be a few of you interested - my meeting with Robert is delayed for the moment, as he is working hard and so I am I with Neil Young and Gianna Nannini. I am off to Prague this Friday and then plan to go to either San Fran or Hawaii to work with Neil, but rest assured as soon as there is any "proper news" you wil be the first to know...

 

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Been a bit of a mad couple of weeks, to be honest. Only problem is I have ended up this Friday/Saturday with a serious bout of the flu. I don't know if this is because I am more susceptible, or is it because I just simply have the flu. Anyway, I am writing from (what feels like) my deathbed, with a hot water bottle and a few sachets of Night Nurse. So, this is how it all goes… I was at my boy’s school’s Quiz Night (as you are) in Brighton, when the phone goes. It’s Neil, Neil Young, and his manager of forty-one years standing, confidante and good friend, Elliot Roberts. They want to film Neil’s concert the following Friday/Saturday (14th/15th March 2008). Like I said it at the time, nothing changes. When something comes into Neil’s head, before you know it you are sucked into the madness (and of course what nicer place could there ever be on this planet). Anyway, we had our usual deranged and not-understandable-to-mere-mortals conversations, with me pacing back and forth in the school’s quadrangle. My voice echoed around a few hundred years of history as I spoke – no, yelled. Tell you what was really funny, though – when the headmaster announced we were coming to the evening’s musical section, he had said: “Don’t expect me to be excited about some of this music, though if it was Neil Young…” What was funny was that I had just come back from London and a very pleasant lunch with Neil and Elliot, just by way of a social event – and certainly with no talk at all of filming concerts. Sooooo, I had Neil on the mobile, and the headmaster had finished the Quiz Night, so I went up to him and said: “I got Neil Young on the phone for you.” How bizarre was that? Anyway, he chatted with Neil for a few minutes, and Neil obviously took the whole thing in good humour. Well, I had explained to him: “I’m at Quiz Night and your name just came up.” So, cut to me a week later, having worked with my excellent producer Jon Adams, to put everything together at break-neck speed. The filming was a whole lot of fun and it was a privilege to immortalize the fellow, how I felt he deserved. A doubly funny fact was that just a couple of weeks previously I had caught on telly Neil’s “Heart of Gold” documentary and live film, made by Jonathan Demme. I had said to the missus how great it would be to work with Neil again, and before you know it… Case of being careful what you wish for, methinks! I think the filming was a great success and Neil was on tremendous form, especially on the second/Saturday night. I seriously hope I didn’t muck up the concert for a few people in the front rows at the Hammersmith Apollo. (Sorry if you’re reading this). To make the film a little edgier – what Neil and I had decided – I filmed some songs with a camera on the end of a pole. I literally filmed it myself standing on the stage’s edge. Got some amazing, amazing material, the likes of which I have never seen at any live concert. Especially during the song “Tonight’s the Night”, an edgy song about a friend of Neil’s who died from drugs. Neil was at the psychedelically painted grand piano, wearing mirrored shades, and I managed to get the camera-on-a-pole within millimeters of his sweating brow. I was a little bit scared of ‘clunking’ him one with it, which would have been equivalent to head-butting the pope in Rome. With this particular device, I could swing the pole out over the heads of the audience, then bring it back into Neil’s face, within a matter of millimeters. Damn, it was fun. When Neil was playing electric at one point, I even managed to thread it beneath his legs and get a very unusual view of “iconic rock guitarist”. Other techniques were to crash land on the stage, which worked very well – or to have the camera at the guitar and then to let it drop down to Neil’s feet and his famous orange pedals (featured on many an album cover, included “Ragged Glory”). It was great for me, too, as this was how I began with bands like The Specials, filming them on stage. It was a trip down memory lane, basically – good to have a camera in me hands again, albeit on the end of a pole. After the show, Neil called me in to talk – said my camera had at first terrified him, but that after a couple of songs he had warmed to it. I actually personally think it fed his mad guitar playing and, well, I can’t wait to go to San Fran to cut the thing. Can’t wait.
I left the gig, and they had organised me a cab all the way back to Brighton. Thing was I was on my way to the airport the next day. Did I mention that I had been to Milan to meet mega Italian superstar Gianna Nannini, a couple of weeks before this? Anyway, I caught the plane and had some excellent meetings with Gianna. Rome is my favourite city, anyway, so this was a real pleasure – also, I like talking with Gianna, as she’s the only person I know who talks a fast and as loud as me! Some very productive chats, and I also saw the show in front of 11, 000 hysterical Romans. She had them eating out of her hands and chanting along word for word with every song. For me, it was a bit of a cultural experience, to be honest. I traveled around with Gianna in her car, and it was fairly humorous as we arrived at the gig, for her driver drove us down the wrong ramp. They had to reverse out and drive past a second time 300 hysterical fans that waited for her. Very funny. Loads of great stories to tell, but for another time, perhaps. (For example, dinner with Mrs Fendi, as in the fashion name). The long and short of it is I am shooting a video with Gianna in Prague in the next couple of weeks, and then we are starting to talk about a live show to film later in the year. This will be the quintessential capturing of her performance and will be great fun to do, as her whole relationship with her audience is very physical. I describe her as Edith Piaf meets Iggy Pop. What can you say?
As if this week wasn’t already busy enough, while I was in Rome I got an e-mail from Robert Smith for The Cure’s Wembley show, saying he’d put me down for three tickets. I had to go, despite being knackered. The show was bloody excellent. The keyboards were gone and a lot of stuff was played by Porl on guitar, which gave the songs a whole new feel. It was as if they were written only the day before and had lost that Eighties twang (for which we all get accused). Call me an ‘anorak’ but I counted amongst their excellent set 18 videos on the old Pope walking stick. 18 videos is more videos than most people have probably done these days. Anyway, I shall be meeting up with Bob socially, or for a curry, in the next week or so, at a secret location in the UK. They’ve just recorded a whole new album, which after the show I am very keen to hear… Should be an interesting meeting!
Meantime, the movie "The Light in Your Eye" seems to be moving ahead. Through a sister of a friend, managed to get the script to a ‘certain actress’ in whom we are interested to play the main female lead. Watch this space.
Time for a little more flu-sleep. I’ll try and keep you updated.

 

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hello. sorry. again. so many emails to the site asking what i am doing. videos. just done one for joe penate, who's a very nice young man. will try and get this put on the site in the next week or so. meantime, very much back to the whole movie thing - very exciting stuff happening and watch this space for more news shortly...

 

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god, sorry about that 'blip' - so much time has passed since my last entry. just to say... i shall write more soon. i have received so many contacts via website to ask me what i am doing. i am sorry but i cannot reply to all, as there are too many. but... just for now... working on videos, movies - oh, and my first novel called simply 'towne'. more on all this coming...

 

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