Photo: Livia Wang, Leilei Hu and Leo Lee, from Versatile Digital Film Factory, with Luqman Whittinger, CEO of Lookman Ltd (Animation / Live action Film Producer, England) and Matias Ebert, producer from Germany. See full article on Prensario TV

LOOKMAN LTD RETURNS TO MIP JUNIOR AND MIPCOM AFTER A SUCCESSFUL VISIT INTRODUCING THE COMPANY’S NEW PROJECTS TO DISTRIBUTORS.

Lookman has spearheaded and created a new genre with “Mihte Lugh the Shining One” taking ancient British themes and fleshing them out. This is the first glimpse of a lost heroic culture for thousands of years.

Also introduced was “Who is Henrietta” an animated story of an alien princess from Earth who returns with a confused shape shifting alien, and a schizophrenic sprite. Earth will never be that same again as these bizarre characters encounter a demonic invasion.

Finally on a live action note, feelers were put out for co-producers to make the popular mystery about Katie, a merboy and a Spanish village’s unspeakable secrets. This is no PONYO, but more Romeo and Juliet.

The Oracles's home in the Underworld

I’m “Mihte Lugh

the Shining One”

An amazing cartoon series is being made about me!

I’m the Irish sun god.

Well, that’s not quite true -

I’m known throughout northern and central Eurasia and the whole world really. Just ‘cos you haven’t heard of me – its cos’ people have forgotten about me, but I’m always there first thing in the morning.

Next year, after my rebirth and each year after I will hopefully be shining out of you TV set.

It all started with my first book *MIHTE’S QUEST; Kids in the Underworld*
This is the exciting story of Jack, Ellie, and Jamie – the children left home alone while their mother went on holiday. Social workers sent us to live with dad in the countryside. We were delighted one day messing around on the river in two old dinghies.

Suddenly, disaster struck and we were sucked into the Underworld to become slaves of the Gnome King, except he was not that person, but another.

We escaped, were rescued and were sent on a quest, it was the only way home. We had to courageously face terrifying battles in an extraordinary adventure reminiscent of the ‘Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. ISBN 978-1-906206-833.

I spent three more years in the Underworld…

Then my second book *MIHTE’S CHALLENGE; Can Jack defeat the dread Lord of Annihilation* tells of another adventure.

Three years, I spent as Hadi’s Apprentice. Then one day, my friends Haw and Rowan turned up and a lot of strange Grithods with trunks for ears. The next day, we were sent to the land of the Twenty-One Queens. We crossed the desert and were captured and made slaves of the Koblineigh. I caused a revolution before stumbling across the Amazois who wanted to eat us.

Finally ‘the Fish of Knowledge’ helped us to the Grithod’s home isles where the Gnomes who wanted to kill us. Escaping we arrived on a small rocky Island where we found the Grithods. I then faced a battle of wills against the dread Lord of Annihilation and found my real self. We had humongous battles of supernatural willpower.

This book should be published 2010, or early 2011, when I get time from my celestial duties.

Going home and join my family was all I wished for….

That’s where my third book starts. *MIHTE’S RETURN; Arthur Unmasked*

After three long years in the Underworld, I had not grown at all. You might ask why? Adolescence was not supposed to make me into a god. I suppose people who have druid and imaginary friends and an admiring army are different from the rest.

When I returned to my parent’s home, things are not right. News reports warn of a far off plague? It’s getting ever closer. Governments worldwide unite – they direct of people – changing lives.
At great personal risk with my imaginary friends I uncover what no one else wants to know. This journey takes me to the girl I am destined to marry? I risk all to discover the ‘Stone of Destiny’ and learn ‘Excalibur’s origins’.

You may ask where Stonehenge and the Druids come into the story – you will have to read it.

“The digital era has not made publishers defunct”

by Ursula Mackenzie is chair of the Trade Publishers’ Council, The Publishers Association

Who is Mackenzie? She is chair of the Trade Publishers Council, The Publishers Association. What else could one expect from a representative of publishers, but for her to comfort publishers? Let us here the opinions of the Society of Authors. At my first author’s conference in 2008, I realised that authors were unhappy with publishers, probably since the end of the net book agreement. They were surprisingly militant and have not subsided since.

The realities are:

Authors are not glamorous multimillionaires as we often see in the films

Multinational companies have seized the market and some tried to create horizontal monopolies

Every year author’s royalties have been falling

Publishers expect authors to market themselves at their own expense

Many publishers have sacked authors, as cut their lists

The remaining market is smaller and ghostwriters have stepped in with celebrity books

The government is reviewing public lending rights, which may mean less money for authors

What is happening?

Authors are considering self-publishing and considering publishing coops. These authors are published authors looking beyond the current industry to stay alive. Many authors are investigating other media. A story does not need to be in a book.

Failure and elitism

It is the failure and elitism in the publishing industry that has limited market share as literacy and educational attainment rises. Children have been discouraged from reading by a literary bent in many books. They loose interest and give up reading. Literary prizes inspire adults who do not normally read to buy a book, which makes sales look good. They find they cannot read the telephone directory they bought and give up buying books. All the excitement of childhood reading is dissipated. I firmly believe the reading audience is several times larger than at current and that publishing and marketing over the same ground has restricted readership.

Science fiction becomes science fact

Nothing is strange these days. Editors running around trying to find some licentious story or seeking celebrities to put their name on books they never wrote to keep readers on board. You can almost sense the fall of the publishing houses when you hear the groans and complaints of authors. Books as we know them will virtually disappear. A considerable part of film making will divert into increasingly realistic animation and merge with computer games.

This is really a window of opportunity for creatives until the great eye of corporate greed closes again and shuts them out for many decades. I can see a period emerging of great author brands dominating the market controlled by a new kind of publishing house. When this period ends the corporates will return. Corporates need monopoly so they can feel comfortable, rake in assured profits, and grow fat, lazy, and self-indulgent. Books will no longer be books, but experiences, perhaps eventually virtual experiences – On-line theme parks, where the reader can indulge in alternate reality from sources other than the written word. What will become important will be the written word or screenplay, but the story and how it can become a total experience. I am sure we will see the emergence of enduring alternate worlds that will become as familiar as the great stories of literature are in our epoch.

I have no idea what this will do to human consciousness and awareness – it does not bode well. Yet, it is unavoidable. There will be two types of people sharing a world – the impoverished excluded and the zombieish rich world.

This was part of a mail sent to a fellow author.

Lookman (Film and animation)

‘Henri and the Alien’ is one of those unique books with an outstanding story in a bizarre world. It is part Time Bandits and part Alice in Wonderland. It is not a normal children’s story: It is multi-layered, contains archetypes that adults can easily relate to and children can enjoy.

Where to find “Henri and the Alien”

Reviews:

Reviewer: “…both children and grandparents can appreciate this book.”

Lauri Foston alias Cheryl Haynes (author):”…with lots of visualization, humor, melancholy, and adventure. …a fantasy …with a touch of science fiction and has facts inserted in the comments throughout the story that stimulate the reader…”

Deborah Hockenberry: “‘Henri and The Alien’ will unleash your imagination taking you with Henri on her adventures to find her real parents.”

Michael Flowers, author of  Jackal: “This is definitely an avid reader’s book.”

The Screenplay: Henrietta’s Odyssey

It is difficult to find any existing film that resembles Henri and the Alien with its unique plot. The closest comparison is Terry Gilliam’s blockbuster film ‘Time Bandits’ from the 1980′s. It shares a similar mixture of humour and pace. The ghostly children’s story ‘Spirited Away’ shares other elements including transitions and character types with the book. Other films with less obvious similarities; are ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for its humour, ‘The Neverending Story’ for its depiction of school life, and ‘Police Academy’ for it situational stupidity. Fifty percent of ‘Henrietta’s Odyssey’ depicts Henrietta’s school and home life the rest is scenes of pure fantasy which include unique cinematic effects.

Animation

Many years ago, a commissioning editor suggested making the book into a great cartoon. Its strong characters and unusual storyline make it score high as an animation. Henrietta depicted initially as Cinderella, but within a few pages, she has transformed into a determined personality only seeking reunion with her lost parents. The character Eanie Meanie is not the normal depiction of an alien. He muddles through the bizarre human world like a man in the dark. He only half-understands to world he finds himself. Yet, when it comes to getting out of tight corners, he is at Henrietta’s side, as either himself or Arthur the artificial boy. Geegle is an archetype new to story telling. He is a bit like a leprechaun, plays a magical violin and an antihero. He endeavours to destroy everything about him until he realises Henri was the child he left as a foundling on the self-indulgent Fritzgrumpy’s doorstep. He then uses Henri to serve his ends until the final sequence when he becomes a saintly figure bring order to the world after the fall of the Black Cardinal. Henri’s nemesis is only fully revealed in the latter scenes. A disgruntled power mad Cardinal who after failing to be elected the leader of his church becomes a fallen angel seeking revenge and subservience from the human world. I think he is based upon Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu from the Four Musketeers.

The animation pilot “Who is Henrietta?”

The first appearance other than in print will be a children’s television cartoon. Work is in progress to make a sequel for the book with vivid characters and unusual happenings. The pilot should now be in production by Cannes MIPCOM, October 2010. It is a wonderful story with stronger characters than in the book who act in a way reminiscent of Tom and Jerry. The director has multiple Emmy Awards.

Can you wait?

Lookman Ltd has started production of a Children’s television animation pilot called “Mihte: Lugh the Shinning” and is a development of the Mihte book series.

The storyline fit between the published book Mihte’s Quest: Kids in the Underworld and “Mihte’s Challenge: the Dread Lord of Annihilation”. In “Mihte’s Quest: Kids in the Underworld” Jack is a wimpy kid with an over active imagination who dreams about being a superhero. He and his siblings are abducted by swans and fall into the Underworld. In their escape from the Gnome King Jack finds his metal and saves Jamie and Ellie from the carnivorous gnomes. They escape into the desert and Hadi “the Moor” finds them. He takes them to a pagoda on top of a mountain where the Oracle and choose Jack to be “Mihte.” A title and an incarnation of the god Lugh;
more… http://tinyurl.com/dxovnf

“Mihte: Lugh the Shinning” fits after this period before Jamie and Ellie return to the Earth’s surface. In this story Jack is also joined by his imaginary friends Haw Stick and Rowan Cap . This is in the Celtic tradition where all heroes/gods come in Trinities. In the cartoon Jack will spend his time fighting off the defeated Gnome King and his raiding parties. We will likely also meet the Earth Goddesses again.

Unpublished books

There are two future unpublished books in the series:

Mihte’s Challenge: the Dread Lord of Annihilation: Jack finally meets his nemesis the Dread Lord Balor. In this epic adventure, he tests his training in magination and he starts growing up. The second manuscript is “Mihte’s Return: Arthur Unmasked” is set on the Earth’s surface. It is a World in grave danger from what appears to be a plague. Jack soon realises it is not what it appears. In this mystery adventure, Jack emerges as something divine and a divine marriage seams to lie ahead of him. His intended starts teasing him. Many of the settings are based on real places in the ancient Celtic landscape.

A third book is planned following Jack’s maturation towards manhood set in the land of the gods on the Eurasian Steppes. You may even glance sight of Tara, the home of the gods.

Do not miss out on what could be the film of the decade.

• Just as significant as Gwillermo del Torro’s “Pam’s Labyrinth”.
• ground shattering as Ron Howard’s “DaVinci Code”.

Tag-lines

• Never fall in Love with a Merman
• Kiss wish
• Dolphin’s haunt villagers
• Beach sand and duress
• When Katie lands in Spanish receives a net-full of dolphin trouble from the villagers
• more secrets hidden in the screenplay.

Contact Gilt Entertainment

Henrietta's Odyssey's film option sold to Gilt Entertainment

Henrietta’s Odyssey is the oddest odyssey ever…

Ten-year-old Henrietta’s life is different to that of her school pals – she exists to serve her unloving parents as their dutiful daughter by cooking their meals, washing their clothes and carrying out all household chores.

One day, Henri’s life turns downside up with the discovery that her grumpy dad and her pampered mum are not her real parents… They are thinking of sending her away to a children’s home.

That’s when her tears of sadness are received by Eanie Meanie, a green tentacled alien on his supersound receiver. Henrietta and the alien shape-shifter have only an old coat to go upon, but are soon joined by a tricky sprite called Geegle who knows a little more than he is prepared to say. The three embark from Henrietta’s school upon the most bizarre, humorous and hazardous epic adventure ever. It ends far away from earth through time and space dimensions.

It is Great Family Entertainment where even grown-ups can see the funny side of Henri’s mishaps.

The film script is based on a book called ‘Henri and the Alien’ by Lookman and shares many features with the extremely successful film ‘Time Bandits’.