About Me
Myspace Editor
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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 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 and 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 and 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.
