I went out to the hazel wood,  
Because a fire was in my head,  
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,  
And hooked a berry to a thread;  
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,  
I dropped the berry in a stream  
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor  
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,  
And someone called me by my name:  
It had become a glimmering girl  
With apple blossom in her hair  
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering  

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,  
I will find out where she has gone,  
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,  
And pluck till time and times are done,  
The silver apples of the moon,  
The golden apples of the sun.

“Sooner or later…one has to take sides. If one is to remain human.”
― Graham Greene ‘The Quiet American’

Been musing over this quote from Graham Greene’s 1955 novel.

GradeSaver writes: He was willing to kill innocent people to establish a Third Force in Vietnam, but he failed to understand the toll it would take on the people around him. Pyle’s character is a microcosmic representation of how unprepared the American forces were when they came to Vietnam in the middle of the 20th century, which is the core of Greene’s anti-American critique.

Starring Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude Dauphin, and Giorgia Moll. It was the twenty-second movie of Audie Murphy's career.   SUMMARY: Adapted from Graham Greene's prophetic novel, the backdrop of this film is Saigon, 1952 and the failure of U.S. foreign policy in pre-war Indochina. Audie plays the "American" who is trying to promote a free economy in a country fettered with a colonial government. Contrasting the American's views are those of the cynical Brit, Thomas Fowler, played by Michael Redgrave

Set in early 1950s Vietnam, a young American becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle when he falls for the beautiful mistress of a British journalist. As war is waged around them, these three only sink deeper into a world of passion, drugs and deceit. Nothing, and no one, is as it seems, in this adaptation of Graham Greene's classic and prophetic story of love, betrayal, murder and the origin of the US war in Vietnam.

Thinking about my message in a bottle a few days ago, got me thinking of these words by Paul Celan – musing on his challenging poems this morning, but more of that in the near future.

“The poem can, as a manifestation of language and consequently in its essence dialogic, be a message in a bottle, sent in the – certainly not always hopeful – belief that somewhere and sometime it could be washed on land, on heartland perhaps. Poems are on the way also in this manner, they move towards something. Towards what? Towards something that stands open, something that can be occupied, towards a responsive “you” perhaps, towards a responsive reality.”

(Paul Celan in a speech acknowledging a poetry medal awarded him by the city of Bremen: poetry as a kind of precarious conversation or message).

I am no poet. All I have is my ‘cervus fugitivus,’ my ever present fugitive stag! My hope is that my stag will also encounter a genuine open – towards (that) something that stands open … towards a responsive “you” perhaps, towards a responsive reality.

I Like these words by Andre Breton – “We are still living under the reign of logic … But in this day and age logical methods are applicable only to solving problems of secondary interest … Under the pretence of civilization and progress, we have managed to banish from the mind everything that may rightly or wrongly be termed superstition, or fancy; forbidden is any kind of search for truth which is not in conformance with accepted practices” –  André Breton in the 1924 Manifesto of Surrealism.

The challenge facing the director of ‘The Fugitive Stag’ will be to creatively fashion the mythical, and, maybe in one or two instances, ‘moments’ bordering on the the surreal.

Surrealism – “to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind by the irrational juxtaposition of images“

AUGUST 2020 – There is a massive need for female-driven projects across all genres! NBCUniversal is going all in for Joe Exotic (working title), UCP’s limited series starring and executive produced by Kate McKinnon! Netflix just dropped the first trailer for pic Enola Holmes about Sherlock’s teen sister, starring Millie Bobby Brown!  And Literary Manager and Producer Scott Schulman has just attached an emerging female director to a feature Thriller! 

What does this mean for you? It is time to take your female-driven script to production companies, studios, and distributors who are looking for great material. 

THE FUGITIVE STAG IS A Screenplay PLUS – ready to go to the next stage.

… AND ARTEMIS ONE OF ITS LEADING CHARACTERS IN THIS EPIC TALE.

It’s not uncommon to view Hollywood as a young person’s game. It can feel like there’s an expiration date for when you’re “allowed” to break into the entertainment industry, and at some point, the doors simply close. This doesn’t need to be the case, though, and there are many examples of people finding success later in life or after transitioning from a different industry altogether. In fact, there are big advantages to taking this step at this point in your life and upper hands that Hollywood lifers will never experience. Nonetheless, transitioning to a creative career later in life is not easy and presents unique challenges. But with a strong lay of the land and the proper tools under your belt, it’s a journey that is absolutely achievable - STAGE32.

From - Andrei Tarkovsky: The Poet of Apocalypse
James Quandt 1 October 2018