Blog

The Blog

Welcome to my corner of the internet. This blog is a collection of thoughts, stories, ideas, projects, and occasional obsessions. You'll find posts about filmmaking, storytelling, theatre, technology, the paranormal, creativity, and whatever else happens to hijack my attention for long enough to make me write about it. I'm a chronic overthinker, which means I have a habit of trying to understand and explain the unexplainable—or sometimes topics that were probably never meant to be explained in the first place. Expect deep dives, personal reflections, behind-the-scenes insights, and the occasional rant about things I have absolutely no business ranting about.

All 57 Film & Television 12 Gaming 2 Music 5 Nonsense 2 Personal 28 Ramblings 5 Theatre 4 Web Design 1 Writing 4

Dolly Parton

Rest in Peace, Dolly. We Will Always Love You.

Gary festivals

Film & Television

So You Want Festival Distribution: Here’s What Nobody Tells You

Gary JJ Spate standing in front of the Great Tower at Dover Castle

The Extremely Thorough (and Mostly Accurate) History of Dover Castle

The Extremely Thorough (and Mostly Accurate) History of the Royal Military Canal, Hythe

The Extremely Thorough (and Mostly Accurate) History of Western Heights, Dover

The Extremely Thorough (and Mostly Accurate) History of Folkestone Harbour

The Extremely Thorough (and Mostly Accurate) History of Richborough Roman Fort

The EERIE FIles

Introducing The EERIE Files: My New Home for Everything Unexplained

A Night at the Theatre, From the Other Side of the Ticket

The Hokey Cokey. That's what it's all about!

The Hokey Cokey: A Full Structural, Choreographic and Philosophical Breakdown of Britain’s Strangest Communal Ritual

Stuck writing a novel

Stuck Writing a Novel? A Practical Guide to Getting the Thing Moving Again

How to budget an indie film

Film & Television

How to Budget an Indie Film: A Practical Guide for UK Filmmakers

why being number one ruins mobile games

Why Being Number One Ruins Mobile MMO Games For Everyone Else

How to start writing a novel

How to Start Writing a Novel: A Practical Guide for Complete Beginners

UK film legal basics

Film & Television

UK Film Legal Basics: Contracts, Releases and Permits Nobody Warns You About

McFly

What My Music Taste Says About Me (Spoiler: Apparently Quite A Lot)

How to fund an indie film

Film & Television

So You Want to Fund an Indie Film: Here’s What Nobody Tells You

Character in filmmaking

Film & Television

Character in Filmmaking: The Engine Behind Every Great Story

Gary on Writing

Nobody Warned Me It Would Feel Like This

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? A Deep Psychological & Technical Academic Breakdown