Indie failure to Hollywood success, Filmmakers Podcast chat with writer/ director Lisa Azuelos

ANDREW CARR AUTHOR

GOLDEN TIME - THE PROCESS

23RD AUGUST 1947. HAVING ESCAPED THE HORRORS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, FRENCH REFUGEE CÉLESTE LELOUX AND HER SON LOUIS (LOU-EE), ARRIVE BY SHIP ON THE BANKS OF THE HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK CITY. THEY ARE BOUND FOR PITTSBURGH TO START A NEW LIFE, FAR AWAY FROM THE UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING THAT TOOK PLACE IN TULLE. YEARS LATER AFTER LOUIS GRADUATES FROM HIGH SCHOOL, HIS CURIOUS NATURE LEADS HIM TO FIND WORK AS AN OFFICE JUNIOR FOR THE LOCAL GAZETTE. IT IS HERE THAT A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG JOURNALIST NAMED PAIGE CAPTURES HIS HEART. SHE HELPS LOUIS UNLOCK PAINFUL MEMORIES FROM THE PAST, WHICH IN TURN SPUR HIM ON, TO DELVE DEEPER AND DISCOVER A SECRET PAST. ON LOUIS’S 21ST BIRTHDAY, CÉLESTE PRESENTS HIM WITH A GIFT. A GIFT THAT NOT ONLY REKINDLES A LOST LOVE, BUT BECOMES THE CATALYST IN A MYSTERY THAT LEADS HIM ON A JOURNEY OF PAIN, RECOLLECTION AND AN ETERNAL LOVE FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.

From an early age my mind conjured up many strange dreams and stories, probably inspired by Jack Wild in H.R. Pufnstuf and other weird 70’s T.V. programmes. The yearning to break away from the humdrum life of the cash and carry led me to write songs inspired by Bowie, Osterberg and Reed. I was never a great songwriter and painful rejections by some of the big labels cut me deep. After 8 years of gigging with my band and basically bankrupting myself through purchasing equipment, booking studios and having a way better time than I actually deserved, I threw in the towel for some hard-earned regular cash. Over the next twenty years; I drove a van; became a bingo caller; performed in a club version of the Rocky Horror Show; I joined the Royal Marines Reserve; played for a semi-professional football team; ran countless marathons, raced in both the Sahara Desert (50°C) and the Arctic (-40°C).

I was never a big reader, but I was always drawn to the tragedy of war and the suffering it causes. I performed poorly in school - but taught myself how to express my ideas through many hours of hard work. Writing this book has been a journey, and I hope if my children take anything from my work, it will be that anything is possible and never give up on your dreams. 14th October 2014 - The day had started pretty much like any other. Sitting in my office responding to the usual emails from management, staff or customers and the guys were preparing the department for the pending annual stock check (Something I can only liken to pulling teeth, but a necessity nonetheless!). At lunch, myself and a good friend of mine Adam Williams had decided to take the company accountant out for something to eat…not the best idea as he was generally the tightest person in the company. I returned with a full belly and the usual urge to fall asleep

after being fed and watered. I continued working on my laptop for an hour before deciding to take a break. As I sat there, I noticed a tiny ball of light glance across the wall. Realising it was from my watch, I slowly turned my wrist and like a little child, toyed with it for a few moments until something quite inspirational happened…I can’t explain here as it may spoil the story. But at that point my mind went into overdrive as if I were possessed and the whole story literally poured out of my head!

I went back into my department and told my Assistant Manager Dave Pugh about what had just happened and my idea for the story and he stood looking at me, puzzled, with his first words being… “how the hell?” From that night, I started work on this project, I had never written anything more than a few pages and that night I must have put down at least 20 pages in storyline alone! While researching the Second World War in France, I stumbled across the atrocities of Oradour-Sur-Glane, which shocked me and stimulated my interest in the region. This led me to discover the Tulle Massacre, another horrific act carried out by the Nazis. All men between 16 and 60 were rounded up, 99 men were hung over three days, and many more died in concentration camps. The more I visited this town in my research (although never physically stepping foot in the place), I grew to love it and I could picture my story oozing from the 18th-century buildings around the town.

Apart from generating storyline, creating scenes and developing dialogue, I also did a tremendous amount of research into various mechanical procedures and time calculations to make the story possible. At one point a friend connected with the railways told me it wasn’t possible what I had queried him about, so I went away and spent hours figuring out how to make it happen. There are a number of things that I could talk about, but I would rather do that in person.

For the next three years I worked from 10pm until 2 am (Sometimes 3 am) trying to knit this story together to make it work, then up at 6 am with wife and kids for breakfast and another day in the motor trade. With my best friend and wife Laura there to bounce ideas off and my Parents who read every single page I put under their noses, I took this adventure across a number of countries – in my mind, until 15th January 2018 when I wrote ‘The End.’

www.andrewcarrauthor.com