Did a whole load of research around the time and place of the event. Came across some interesting stuff, not least the fact that the people who will become central characters in my film have gone on record previously as saying they’ve washed their hands of the whole event that the story leads up to. That makes my job both harder and easier in that I can’t rely on any historic events/relationships as crutches. I basically have to make up 95% of the story and obviously present it as fiction.

Good Friday. Just had an idea whilst washing up. Who says washing up is a waste of time? J It’s for a film that leads to a well-documented event in songwriting – an event that has fascinated me since first reading one of several accounts of it. Quite a few versions are recounted by the songwriter himself, who seems happy to embellish or change the details with every telling.

I listened to the song 4 times, then Anna begged me not to play it again. I’m determined to pursue this and I’ll probably drive us both mad in the process. The denouement is all there – I just have to put my own slant on it and build the story around it. There’s a few potential pitfalls but I’ll just have to find ways around them.

What it means is that the other project, which was already on the backburner, will have to be put off for the foreseeable future…