Artist and Filmmaker Gary Thomas looks at the relationship between art and film, why it's sometimes uncomfortable, and how he deals with his own 'strands', (including disability), both personally and professionally. He'll also be writing about his own work as well as developing other projects, including films about the Olympics.

My three words for 2013

11 January 2013

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I’ve never ever done new years resolutions. I think it’s cos I heard all those jokes about all those people joining the gym in January and never going again. From the first time I heard about them I remember thinking it’s not a very good idea. I mean, if you really want to do something why wait? Why not do it now? If I do have something in mind that I want to do, and I can do it whenever, i.e. it doesn’t take money or anything else to do, I’ll make sure I start it...

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End of Year Round Up

27 December 2012

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I thought I’d blog about how 2012 has gone for me. It’s sometimes confusing being a creative person, as the ‘personal’ and the ‘professional’ easily gets mixed up. My ideas, which are sometimes personal, become something I want to write about, then make work from. Anyway, this is a run down of what I achieved this year, and there have been a lot of ‘firsts’ for me. In January I ran a 7 week workshop at The Orpheus Centre, teaching filmmaking, and...

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Under What Grounds?

29 November 2012

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I’ve been thinking about a couple of posts I saw recently. Well, one on Facebook and one article in the local paper. Both were about suicide, and the one on Facebook in particular mentioned that the person who knew the man who committed suicide had no idea he felt that way. Which left me thinking about why I, and others like me, don’t talk. I’m not going to go on about any male ego bullshit, I’m trying to come up with helpful answers. Stuff that I’m not 100% sure...

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My life through the Hare. (DADA-South)

4 November 2012

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“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”  sometime attrributed to Dr. Seuss, and sometimes to Gabriel García Márquez in Spanish: "No llores porque ya se terminó... sonríe, porque sucedió."   I received an email last month from Ardent Hare saying that they were closing. You can read the original release here.  So Ardent Hare, or DADA-South as they were known, is no more. When I linked to the newsletter on my...

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Bionic People - Two day filmmaking workshop

12 August 2012

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Bionic People was the 3rd and final event in the series 'Specimens to Superhumans' run by The Arts Catalyst, with support from Shape and DADAFest and funded by The Wellcome Trust. A 2 day filmmaking workshop was run by John Williams, who's made a number of short films including the award winning ‘Paraphernalia’, about a child’s complex feelings towards his robotic dialysis machine. As a filmmaker myself I was asked to review the event for DAO & take part, and...

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Images & Words

15 April 2012

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Those of you who’ve known me for a while may know that I’ve done boxing & wrestling for some time. (Although I haven’t done either for a couple of years). You may also know that a few years ago I had a photo-shoot which I wore my ‘Disabled’ T-shirt.  That idea came about because I was so pissed of with having to explain why I had hidden disabilities and what they were, that I decided to start blatantly telling people.  It was really me saying,...

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State of the Arts 2012 Conference Sessions (Blog 2)

29 February 2012

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Probably the most interesting session for me was the first session about the audience. It certainly presented a different way of thinking. The main speakers were Alastair Spalding from Sadlers Wells and Helen Marriage from Artichoke, who produced the Sultan’s Elephant outdoor spectacle as well as The ‘Spider’ in Liverpool in 2008. Alastair was interesting in that he started by talking about the iPhone, saying that no one could really imagine 10 years ago that there would be a...

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State of The Arts Conference, 14th Feb 2012 (Blog1)

16 February 2012

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I was selected as one of 50 bursary winners to attend the State of The Arts Conference in Manchester, on 14th February. You can read the twitter stream by looking up the hashtag #SOTA12 and podcasts will be available soon. OK. Lets start with the really obvious thing, that shouldn’t have been obvious at all. Throughout the conference, even on the film, there were no subtitles, and no BSL Interpreters. What were ACE thinking? Has it been like this for the past three years? This was my...

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My 2011

2 January 2012

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  Happy New Year! I thought I’d start this year by recapping last year. Why do I think last year was so good when I had a family bereavement in January & I was assaulted by 2 'youths' in August? I think, at least for the past year, I've been feeling pretty well, and simply didn't want to let things get in the way of what I was doing -  possibly because I had such a terrible 2010. The other reasons are work & funding.  I've done more this year than I ever have,...

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Stephen Merchant Live at Hammersmith Apollo (Review)

1 December 2011

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For those of you who've been offended by someone recently who I'll just simply refuse to name, his comedy writing partner, Stephen Merchant, seems to be a bit different. A friend had tickets to see Stephen Merchant at Hammersmith Apollo, London, and I went, with slight trepidation. Was he going to be as offensive as Ricky Gervais? (Damn, OK, I had to mention him) Was I going to sit there & cringe most of the way through? Was I?  Well, no, as it turned out, I didn't at all. Stephen...

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The Dog & The Palace, Phase 2

24 November 2011

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Hooray! Let me say that again. Hooray!! The Dog & The Palace, my split screen film installation inspired by a dream I had way back in 2009 (complete with original alternate ending) has received a second lot of arts council funding so it can be completed. This means that come January, it’ll be full on finding locations, finding a Queen look a like, and finding a handful of Paralympic / Olympic athletes who’ll agree to take part in the film. And maybe a small crowd too....

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Save the Date! - 31st October 2012

14 November 2011

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 So, that’s it then… Well at least I’ve sent the form off to book the room, now I have to write the thing! Good Lord. What am I on about? I’m on about the 31st October 2012. That’s right, when everybody’s absolutely stuffed with anything to do with the Olympics and Paralympics (except for my short film of course, which will be playing for many years after ;) 31st October 2012 is when you can all come to the lovely Dorking Halls and hear the first ever...

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Gary Thomas' Project The Dog & The Palace Film & Workshops wins Inspire Mark

21 June 2011

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Gary Thomas' new project The Dog & The Palace Film and Workshops has been granted the Inspire Mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire Programme. The London 2012 Inspire programme recognises innovative and exceptional projects that are directly inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Dog & The Palace is about a young boy who is so inspired by watching the 2012 Olympic Games on TV that he decides to write to The Queen of England to say 'Thank You'. He sends...

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Full 'stream' ahead

11 June 2011

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I've been thinking I need to do a new blog post for sometime now so here it is. I've had a very busy time preparing and then 'doing' upstream, which was a major experience for me and one that I've been more than happy to be a part of. There was so much work I wanted to do in preparation for it that (along with everything else) for two or three weeks beforehand I felt like I didn't even have time to piss (I'm writing that cos I actually thought that a few times in the run up to it!) So things...

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Gary Thomas takes his film script forward after some successful pitching...

12 April 2011

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My brain is all mushy right now and I don't think I could be any more tired unless I was actually giving birth. I'm not, so that's fine. Anyway, I'm this way because rather than JUST doing loads of prep for the film shoot on Wednesday & Thursday I also went to a comedy writing festival on Saturday and a producers talk on Sunday in London. I stayed overnight in a hotel in Finchley (of all places!) and I got to practice pitch my feature film script to two of the biggest names in indie film...

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Pulling it all together

3 April 2011

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Go Team Gary! I didn't write that, a friend put it at the end of an email and it does seem rather apt at the moment. You see, things are moving way faster than I could have imagined, and that's what needs to happen right now because time is indeed of the essence. How did this happen? I hear you cry. Even if you didn't I'll tell you anyway. I asked a friend I've known for a relatively short time (Christine Wilkinson) if she would write an application to ACE for R&D...

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PR Sweetie!

25 March 2011

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Everyone needs PR even if we're not sure what we're doing or how to do it. If you're an artist its crucial to get your success' out there and let people know about it. Here is a 'Press release' that I sent to a few people and am putting it here to tell even more people about my journey in the Arts. Gary Thomas has been selected for UPSTREAM, a major showcase of deaf & disabled artists in the South East. Work will be show as part of the Brighton Festival, 24th - 26th May 2011. A development...

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Embracing 'Interference'

14 March 2011

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I've recently subscribed to Chris Brogan's blog posts email, which contains useful information and suggestions on what to write about. The recent email is all about confidence, and suggests writing a post on where I'm headed, so here it is. Er.... Who knows? Really, I mean I think about where I'm heading a lot, and as much as I like having plans, things conspire to interfere. Now, sometimes what happens when 'things' interfere with plans is WAY more interesting than the original plan. And...

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Gary Thomas asks AM I ready to move on?

28 February 2011

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This may sound silly, but I've ummed a lot over the past month about how personal my blog posts should be, as potentially EVERYONE I know could read them (I'm tempted to say here 'they won't', but I'm not going too). The past month has been difficult because my step dad died on 23 January, and I've been wondering how and whether I should write about it. I've decided that I'm going to, as it all fits in with the whole notion of things being difficult, things going slowly, things not going right,...

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Gary Thomas on what we can learn from 'everyone else'

13 February 2011

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I've been talking to a couple of people recently about ambitions. Okay, mainly my ambitions, but certainly ambitions. You see, I want to aim quite high, so at a recent arts meeting in London (more to be revealed eventually!) I stated in a sort of unsure voice in a room full of disabled artists - “I want to be mainstream”. And then, after a pause: “I want to be nominated for the Turner Prize.” Yep. That's what I said. And now I've written it down. Shit me. Silly isn't it?...

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IT GETS BETTER... EVENTUALLY

5 December 2010

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Originally written on 5th October 2010. I'm in a hotel in Buckingham as I write this and there is very little 3G signal. A couple of days ago I felt like shit. Truly awful, and I think I'm experiencing for the first time in my life (having had severe depression since I was 14) the 'black dog' that so many have spoken of. All entirely ironic, considering I am thinking about a piece of film for the 'It Gets Better Campaign.' I'm thinking about it having not seen many...

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Gary Thomas on frustration, risk & money.

20 August 2010

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I am an intellectual. No, I'm not just saying that to show off or anything, I did an online quiz at www.oprah.com and it told me so. It also said my need for helping others was my lowest score, (no surprise there) and creativity was up there in the highest marks (12 points) but my thirst for knowledge was paramount (14 points). I wonder if this is why I'm feeling frustrated at the moment, which I really am right now. I would like to use this frustration to take risks that would mean I can get...

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Some more notes from Gary Thomas on filming 'Moving In',

16 August 2010

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This post was written on Friday 23 July 2010 Fifth day of shooting Moving In and I am realising why film is not art. I'm also realising that it takes a whole load of people (and we don't have a whole load of people) to make things happen, and I also realise that I'm coping relatively well with the responsibility, as the crew we do have is very good. The actors are good too. Yesterday was a bit of a f*** up as we'd planned to do a load of scenes in the kitchen with all the actors, and for...

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Gary Thomas on his way to direct 'Moving In'

31 July 2010

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The first of these blog posts were written whilst filming 'Moving In', a couple of weeks ago on Sunday 18th July 2010. I am currently on the train to Portsmouth. Despite being disabled I have managed to bring two rucksacks and two suitcases with me. Hence, I may well be hideously stressed by the end of the journey. I'm going to Portsmouth to direct a half hour film that my friend has written, about four students who discover life, love etc... and I think it'll be good. Hopefully it will be...

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