A couple of updates for you

Queen of Hearts – A Twin Peaks Fan Film

First of all, my friend Cameron Cloutier’s long-gestating Twin Peaks fan film looks like it could finally begin filming. After so many setbacks and an agonising quest to find actors, the project is now fully cast. This passion project, which has been in Cloutier’s mind since 1992, focusses on the whereabouts of a character who was left out of Lynch and Frost’s stunning return of 2017, Annie Blackburn.

There’s still rehearsals, camera and make-up tests, costuming to do but we are getting closer to filming than ever before which is truly amazing. Still have some crucial locations to find and then a schedule can be made but we are looking to have this fan film completed for the spring of 2020. Fingers crossed. I’ve spent almost two years of my life passionately getting the film to this preliminary stage and that’s wild

Annie was last seen by Twin Peaks fans in a hospital bed after her harrowing visit to the Black Lodge. Although Mark Frost’s Final Dossier offered us some idea of where she ended up, there is a whole mystery to explore in between, namely how she ended up appearing to Laura Palmer in her bed with a cryptic warning in Fire Walk With Me.

Cameron Cloutier is so passionate about his dream of adding something to the Twin Peaks universe that he has devoted an inordinate amount of time to making the project happen. It started with a crowd funding campaign that attracted support from Twin Peaks cast members like Chrysta Bell, Jake Wardle and the late Peggy Lipton

The campaign, which played out in a series of live YouTube broadcasts and even a 24hour live stream, was put at risk when malicious complaints were made to YouTube and the live stream was suspended. Despite this, the drive went on to reach its goal of $25,000, giving the film a budget that would allow Cameron to do what he always wanted; make a film that he and others could be proud of.

That was over a year and a half ago now, and the project has slipped into development hell for a number of reasons. Cameron has had to manage a number of setbacks such as cast members leaving the project (the title character, Annie has a third name next to her on the credits), a family emergency and an inexplicable campaign of hostility and disinformation from some members of the Twin Peaks fan community. If you’ve ever watched his show on YouTube or spoken to him, it becomes very clear that he is in love with Twin Peaks and takes every opportunity to try and bring people together and showcase their contributions to the fan community.

For my part, he invited me onto his show after I wrote something on this site about my experience of The Return and also told me about the 25YL writing competition which I was thrilled to go on and win with my Laura Palmer diary entry. He got nothing out of that; he was just matchmaking.

So, from a position where it looked like he was going to have to abandon the project completely, it looks like he’s crawled through all the crap that’s been tossed in his direction and is now in a position to make his film.

Luckily now, I have some wonderful people surrounding me and the film now and I can’t wait to finally get started on a movie that’s been 27 years in the making (not continuously). LOL

The passion to do this is an inspiration and I for one find it grossly unfair how he has been singled out for abuse for doing something that any number of other people have been lauded and praised to the hilt for.

So, what can we look forward to in Queen of Hearts? Well, you can see a taste of things to come by watching the video below. This is an early piece of filming from Washington State which gives a flavour of the kind of atmosphere we can expect. I’ll let you judge for yourselves.

I know lots of us are looking forward to seeing the finished film. Twin Peaks is a world that has inspired so many of us in so many different ways and all expressions of our love for this source material, be they in print, paint, verse or on film, should have an equal footing.

The Ardenna Crossing

Right, on to this… As far as my book goes, I’m afraid to say that I’ve made no progress on it this summer. None at all. Having started the rewrite a while back and made a start on the revised opening, I then hit a wall in the form of a major plot problem that my editor had pointed out. I was stuck on something that I needed in order to provide a reason for the entire story.

Although I haven’t actually written anything this summer, I am delighted to announce that, on a long bike ride last week, the answer finally came to me. I spent a good couple of hours mulling it over and adding to it; testing it out in my head, and it works. I now have a workable plan to build all this into the story and finish it off. I’d like to have the next draft completed by Christmas in the hope of getting it out by next summer.

This has been going on for a long time now (It’s nearly three years since I finished the first draft) and I am desperate to get to a place where I can share it with everyone, and then get on with the sequel (20,000 words of which is already in the bag). More updates on this to come. Wish me luck.

Twin Peaks Poetry Anthology submission

One more thing… Today, I was signposted to an opportunity to submit some of my Twin Peaks poetry for inclusion in an upcoming anthology. I just need to select five of my poems to put forward for consideration. Here’s hoping that comes off. If it does, that would be out in the Spring of next year. Wish me luck with that, too, if you’ve got a second. If you have a favourite from my Twin Peaks related poetry that I’ve shared over the past couple of years, let me know. It’ll help me choose.

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Anyway, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading and following this site.

Take care,

Richard