Links to previous posts are listed at the end.
Julie blonde and Nicky black!
Okay, so Nicky is Capricorn and Julie is Aquarius....
Nicky: "Since there are
two of us in Nicky Black it makes it a little less straight forward as you can
imagine, but it really made me think about how much Julie and I have in common,
how much we don’t and how that makes us a brilliant team. Also, when I look at the list of Capricornian
traits, I wonder why I have any friends at all...:)."
(Note: that's only the bad ones...
...let's look at it more positively!)
In awe of this amazing writer, and being a determined and ambitious Capricorn, I took up her challenge to work with her to get the movie made. She knew I was a hard worker, meticulously organised and not in the least ‘arty-farty’. In 1998 we set up Hard Place Productions (based on a Fringe play Julie had written and directed called Between and Rock and a Hard Place).
We can both be self centred, and are both most
definitely independent. We both gave up our jobs (okay, that’s batty) to try something new. In the end, ‘Heads’ didn’t make it, but my
goodness we had some laughs. "
"I began to edit Julie’s work. She liked my ruthless ‘red pen’ and honesty.
And in 1999, she shoved a writing competition in my face and said, ‘you
could do that, Nicky.’ I dismissed it pessimistically
and though I was thoroughly sceptical
about the whole charade, I came second in the competition. And that’s how it all started. I wrote some
short pieces for the Live Theatre and started taking being a writer more
seriously, but never thought I could make a living out of it, so a hobby it
remained.
Julie began writing for Hollyoaks and Casualty, but her
ambition was always to be original and
produce her own work. The Prodigal was commissioned by Granada
in 2001. She would write ten pages, and I would read and edit.
Sadly, again, time moved on, ITV regions ended and the
producer moved on to other things. The Prodigal gathered dust. Julie, stubborn to the core when she wants to
be, refused to let the option run on and on and bought it back from ITV with a
view to selling it to independent producers."
"By 2006, never satisfied with my income, I’d moved to London for my day job and I forgot about writing all together. Then about 5 years ago, my career going really well, director of a company, I sensed that typical Capricornian depression descending. I needed something to do that would make me proud.
Julie, too, was feeling a little down. The Prodigal was going nowhere, another
rejection. ‘Why don’t I try writing it as a book?’ I asked. I took the Prodigal by the (Capricorn!) horns and started editing - locked away, solitary
for hours and days at a time.
So what’s next? Well,
I mentioned ‘Heads’ earlier. It’s set on Valley Park in the rave era of
1989. That’s all I’m saying for now,
other than it certainly demonstrates the youthful outlook of a pair of old birds."
I am very much looking forward to Heads! If you'd like to keep up with Nicky and Julie, you can follow Nicky on Twitter.
.... and I've chosen these writers of some reknown as typical examples of the two signs....
Cynical Capricorn, Douglas Kennedy (one of my favourites) ~
many of his characters embrace long periods of solitude....
... and independent and forward thinking Aquarian, indeed: Virginia Woolf
Up next, a Sagittarian lady with a few strings to her bow, followed by a sceptical Leo!
Leo and Aries: Terry Tyler and Julia Proofreader
Gemini: Shelley Wilson
