Saturday afternoon found me squatting in my bathtub with a digital camera, distorting my spine and kicking up my sciatica.

My wife Kerry was on the toilet, Kaden was at the sink, and a hazardously thin girl named Jamie was struggling to reach in with a make-shift boom pole. This is the cast and crew of our short film, “Smasheroo.”

Part 1: How It All Came About

This whole thing started when I attended a scriptwriters event back in June. Props must go to Euroscript, who host them for free every couple of months, as an incentive to sign up to their courses (which, to be fair, look pretty useful...I'm just cheap!). The free events are pretty good too. I learned quite a lot about how film festivals work, and in particular, Cannes.

Last week we had the cast and crew screening for 'Colton's Big Night'.

The showing was in London at the Genesis Cinema. It was a wonderful night with all the cast and lots of the crew members turning up to see their hard work on the big screen.

It was said to me recently, “You've been at this a while; about time you saw some success.”  “This” being screenwriting, which I have been “at it a while,” but I realised, after stewing on this comment, that the writing is only part of it.

To see some success, you also have to put that writing out there.  And that is where I’d been going wrong for ten years.

The power of editing never ceases to amaze me – actors, writers, DPs, designers, all offer incredible contributions to a story, but it’s the editor who takes that heady cocktail of ideas, creativity, drama, misfires, failures, surprises, technical problems etc etc that happened on set location, and makes it all work as best it can. This is a process that requires tough choices, reflection and an unwavering dedication to the audience.

As soon as I read the idea for the 50 Kisses filmmaking challenge I knew I wanted to be apart of it. Of all the scripts I read there was one that really stood out, Richard Greens “The Last Supper”.

Unfortunately like most projects I work on in my spare time, I left the shooting until the very last minute when a surge of guilt and stress propels me to work.

A snog, Valentine’s night, a two minute script – easy. So what on earth made me think of setting it in an optician's? No idea. Various stuff filters through the murky quagmire that is my brain: sunsets, violins, roses, impossibly handsome men... stop.

The practicality button clicks on and all images are dumped in the pink impracticality bin.

Last night I worked into the wee hours with editor friend Simon Reglar, planning the post production process for 50 Kisses.

Simon is an old pal who worked with me on Urban Ghost Story before pursuing a career as an editor – he is currently wrapping up on Merlin for the BBC after which he will jump ship to edit 50 Kisses. FANTASTIC!

Evan asks, “How’s your Irish accent, and would you kiss a guy no tongues?”

The text came through on a sunny California Saturday morning. After working with Kerry and Evan Marlowe on their first feature project, “Blood Rush,” I have to admit, I wasn’t as surprised as I should have been at his request, or at its out of-the-blue, laser-pointer precision.

I've delayed responding to the invitation to contribute to the blog in the forlorn hope that the filmmaker's submission would be made. I was always concerned as to where the filmmaker would find two "Glaswegians" in Los Angeles! The only E-mail, from the filmmaker, enquiring if the "Bar" as described could be an "Irish Bar" I pointed out that the characters would be unlikely to find an "Irish Bar", with a working class clientele, intimidating.

50 Kisses is the first screenwriting competition I’ve ever entered, though it’s not likely to be the last! I was struck by its simple yet ambitious premise; 50 2-page scripts, 50 little stories, 50 talented filmmakers, 50 on-screen kisses. It was a chance to write a script that would get read and evaluated and potentially even seen by hundreds of film-makers hungry for material to polish up and turn into amazing shorts. How could I pass it up?

I have never directed a live action film in my life.  So when I decided to direct “Romantic Hideaway” I went through all the emotions of excitement, nervousness, anxiety and panic (especially as I am Producing as well) and then finally ended with a “What the hell…I can do it!” attitude.  I had somehow stumbled across the 50 Kisses competition online and had even submitted a script which made it to the long list.

I was delighted to act in « Love », directed by Phil Peel, screenplay by Rob Burke. When I first heard of the 50 kisses, I told myself « I really got to be in it ! ». I searched through the web, but I couldn’t find any team or film-maker taking part in the competition. So, I posted a message on the project’s page inviting directors to visit my website www.lulasuassuna.com and watch my showreel.

Colour grading and colour correction is an essential part of the filmmaking process that is often overlooked. For our film ‘Colton’s Big Night’ we were fortunate enough to have the film graded at Molinare, where the ‘Kings Speech’ was graded – How cool is that? However, don’t feel disheartened if you don’t know anyone there that can do the grade for you.

Having reviewed many of the films for 50 Kisses, one common thread is emerging.

A lack of solid audio post production, and in particular, a lack of foley.

The video below gives you a really good overview of a professional foley artists job – and you can do the same too.

Every now and then an online competition arises which allows you to push your creative abilities on a self funded production. It’s always a welcome change from the day to day grind of making a buck, which doesn’t get any easier when you actually rely on media for your profession! The competition felt like a right step in terms of how it’s being judged and would also give me the chance to take my writers hat off to solely concentrate on being a Director, (and for now, still a Producer!).

As part of 50 Kissses, we have invited filmmakers to act on our feedback and that of the community. Already, one filmmaking team, Sweet Home Films in LA, has made their film over 20% shorter, fixed some audio problems and overall radically improved their work.

Here is there first edit... watch and read on.

A month ago a friend of mine, Sebastian Solberg, asked me if I wanted to be production designer on his next project, Colton's Big Night, and of course I said yes. I wanted to be a part of this production for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I loved Nathan Gower's script. It was really endearing and immediately set my imagination of fire. I also wanted to get involved because it presented a new experience.

Amidst the excitement and exhilaration of this weekend’s London Screeenwriters Festival, we announced the winner of the 50 Kisses Screenplay Award to a packed Hall in the Keynote speech.

Who won?

“Enough” by Kirsty McConnell (Read script here)

“Some people want it to happen; some wish it would happen, while others make it happen.”

I came across this quote only months ago in between another sales call at a very corporate company where I was doing my day job, selling my soul to simply assist in making someone else’s dream come true. The quote certainly complimented my understanding that those of us who want to be successful in this industry, would need to create our own opportunities.

I first heard about the 50 Kisses competition through Chris Jone's blog. I loved the idea of making a crowd sourced feature film and was looking for another project to sink my teeth into. A two page script, I thought ‘how hard can it be’? Boy, was I in for a treat. After narrowing the 50 scripts down to two, I eventually picked ‘Colton’s Big Night’ written by Nathan Gower, it had the charm, humour and quirkiness that I was looking for. The main character was also a ten year old. “This is perfect, I love a challenge”!

"What was I thinking?"  

"Why did I think we could pull this off?"

"I need to be at back work in 6 hours..."

"I wonder if they'll have bagels on set tomorrow morning?"

All these things were rattling through my head going into the 14th hour of the 2-day shoot.

The first desicion we had to make was choosing a script. It was rather easy because we had certain limits, no money, not much time to prepare and the cast had to be easy available. "Enoungh" gave us all that.

A simple but strong story, we did not have to change locations and the actors were quickly cast out of an acting school our team has connections to.

So it’s 1.15am and I look over to see the shop manager looking sleepily at the clock. I had told him we’d be finished filming by 11pm and we’ve still got a couple of shots to do. I look at the crew but they’re working flat out – as they have been for eight straight hours – I can’t say anything. I just have this feeling which is simply… pressure. We’ve had to try and put so much into such a limited time frame and now I’m beginning to panic.

An hour later and we’re wrapped.

I heard about the 50 kisses competition through a friend and decided to read a couple of scripts out of curiosity. When I read Lloyd Morgan's "Ghetto Punk Romance" I instantly felt inspired. It was one of those moments that you can't quite descibe. To put it simply, I couldn't let myself step away from such a strong piece of writing. I wasn't looking to make a short film due to the usual reasons of lack of time and money but this was a spontaneous decision that I knew would be worth it.

So the votes are in and we can now reveal the top ten scripts for 50 Kisses. The winner will be revealed at the London Screenwriters’ Festival next week.

So to be clear, this is just the best screenplay award. There will still be awards for best film which could go to any of the films based on any of the 50 scripts. There will also be other awards for acting, camera, editing etc.

We chose Dream Date because we found the script charming and witty. We could relate as parents to the storyline, and as filmmakers, well, we are all about the humour. Read Dream Date here…

So far in our films, we tend to stretch ourselves and try new things. So of course we wanted to change an aspect or two in this script.

As soon as my girlfriend told me about 50 Kisses, I knew I was going to go for it. I’d never entered a writing competition before but this seemed like a no brainer to me.

2 pages? Anyone can write 2 pages in a month, right? My girlfriend keeps encouraging me to write more and I couldn’t really say I didn’t have time to write a 2 page script could I?

It’s this funny thing being known mostly as a Producer rather than a writer. Truth is I write a lot. I’ve got a drawer full of short film scripts ready to go, a TV pilot, a documentary and a feature outline.

It’s just that while I’m creative, I’m also a born organizer: I’m very practical and excel at people wrangling. So people keep asking me to produce their stuff and then I’ve been too busy producing their stuff to produce my own stuff or find the right person to produce my stuff.

Maureen: For a filmmaker, I always find myself making up excuses not to make films. 'I don't have money', 'I have to work a full time job', 'I don't have time'.

I went to film school thinking: 'I can write, but I can't direct'. I came out thinking, 'Ok, I get what directing is about, but I can't write!'. So that was my last excuse: I can't write.

There. I said it. In all its seemingly hyperbolic glory, that first sentence is completely valid and one that I will stand by, regardless of whether or not I ever have the pleasure of seeing another of my scripts make it on the “big screen.”

Let me give you some context. From my earliest memories (watching THE WIZZARD OF OZ over and over again until the tape stripped from the VHS), I have been in love with movies.

The backstory? I hear you ask. Well….I had recently completed a fifth draft of a feature script and was about to lean into working up another feature idea when I saw the 50 Kisses competition. Competitions are great! It’s masochistic but the whip hand of the deadline, it sadly gets things done! I saw the post two days before the deadline and after spreading the news to my writer buddies I went on a long lunchtime walk. I came back with a Nasi Goreng and a pretty fully formed idea.

I heard about 50 kisses on Facebook. Write a short and get it in the cinema? Boom! Count me in. As soon as I read the challenge, my brain started fizzing with various scenarios. I read on... only one entry per person. What! My plan was going to be to hedge my bets with multiple entries in multiple genres.

But now I had to pick just one.

I was told about 50kisses by a fellow script writer Gareth Turpie (Who made it to the last 100 himself) and thought i’d give it a go. I hadn’t wrote a short in a while as I was mostly concentrating on my feature writing, but the competition seemed like an interesting one. The idea of writing something a little more romantic than my normal violence’s and horror style scripts was a draw, and so was the idea of the competition to put all 50 films together to create a feature.

Advice was pretty much the first idea I thought of when the 50 Kisses project came up.

It's not too difficult to see where the idea came from: Mike is basically me in my early 20s. The first draft was dashed off in about half an hour whilst at work, cobbled into a screenplay format, and submitted.

So the first productions for 50 Kisses have been shot and are in post production, with teams in both the UK and LA shooting over the last few days. And from what we hear, many more are gearing up right now. It’s tremendously exciting for both us, and the screenwriters, to see their work come to life within such a unique and dynamic process.

One of the most powerful lessons I ever learned was that when someone doesn’t get what I am communicating, it’s not their fault, it’s mine. 100% my fault, and 100% of the time.

I get it, when someone doesn’t understand what you are saying it’s REALLY frustrating and annoying.

But it’s still your fault.

It was always going to be difficult, honing a list of 1800+ scripts down to just 50. It wasn’t just a case of picking only the “best” writing either, but balancing the “best” with the “right” subject matter too – we didn’t want 50 smoochy-smoochy scripts, or 50 outlandish ones either.

The reading team needed to keep that end outcome in mind of “50 Kisses – the movie” as well! NOT easy.

It would be this morning that the central line decides to crash and burn as I travel to Ealing Studios early to announce the 50 Kisses winners.Flipping Olympics, don’t they know we have 50 Kisses to announce? I clawed my way through the crowds of infuriating tourists and untrained G4S staff to get to Stratford, got on the Jubilee line and made it as far as Canary Wharf before I thought it best that I just find a place with strong Wifi and stronger coffee to start announcing.

We have spent weeks refining 1,870 scripts that were submitted to 50 Kisses, down to the final 50.

We got there over the weekend, but then we discovered we had a problem. We effectively had a first draft of a feature film, and like any first draft, it’s not ready to be shot.

The main difficulties were…