On... the trailer (yet again)

Yep, the trailer is done. If you enjoyed it, and want to know more about making it, and whether I have a cameo, or the answers to any of other many questions I've received since the trailer came out, read this post.


First of all, The Making Of story.

My agent Laura and I had been talking about trailers. It seemed like it might be pretty easy (oh, silly me). I did some research and realised there are a lot of book trailers out there, but most are pretty dire and even the best just wouldn't be compelling to the woman who might read my book (and I know her well, because she's me - humour-hungry, short attention span, professional woman type of thang).

This was the brief: the trailer needed to be sharp, glossy and funny. It needed to communicate the spirit of book; the sharp silliness of the humour and the quirky appeal of the protagonist. The storyline needed to reveal the plot in a pacy and entertaining way, and as a standalone piece be compelling enough to watch all the way to the end. It also needed to be worthy of maybe, just maybe, forwarding on to friends (the holy grail of any digital campaign). Lastly, it all needed to be as near to free as possible as I was paying for the entire thing myself; not take up too much of my time as well, I had another book to finish and a wedding to plan; and not look too home-made.

I wrote the first script in February, my friend Sam is a TV director and thought it sounded like fun, through friends and contacts we got a full cast and crew together, we had some rehearsals, had a shot list worked out and hired very high-spec cameras. Sam is the reason it's so professional-looking: he treated it as a short film. (With no budget. Ha.) All of this took weeks, but it was all pretty organic.

Then we filmed it over Easter, then I was away (wedding, honeymoon – yah, the usual), and Sam had other projects with his company Preditor, and we did about six or seven different edits and fiddled with the music, the sound clarity, building the trailer home page and so on. And now I think it’s – maybe – just about perfect.

And now, the answers to the most frequently asked questions:

Why make a trailer?

Well, why not?

First of all, it was interesting and fun to make, and I’ll do pretty much anything if it’s interesting and fun.

It was also a damn fine learning experience. I’m writing a screenplay for The Dating Detox, so the trailer was a chance to flex my screenwriting muscles; figure out how to introduce characters; use tone of voice in a different way, etc. The trailer is one particular chapter in the book, but I introduced a couple of asides she says elsewhere to get across the reasons behind the whole dating sabbatical thang. It was interesting. We could chat for hours about this. But let's not.

And of course, I hope it will help my teeny tiny little minnow of a book get a bit more exposure. Because it's really good. Honest.

Am I in it?
Yep. I am the crying girl. The girl we'd earmarked for the role had a hangover and didn't turn up, so I threw some tearstick in my eyes and off I went. Apologies for the overacting. I'm a guy-behind-the-guy kind of person.

Why does the cover not look like the trailer?
Because the cover is wrong. Wrong colour hair, wrong colour bag, wrong everything.

Do I want to make a real THE DATING DETOX movie?
Yes. And no, I haven't sold the rights yet.

Do you really think this will make a difference to book sales?
I don't know. I hope so. If nothing happens, if everyone hates the trailer, and thinks I’m jolly silly for even trying, and the whole thing fizzles like a wet match then, well, tant pis. You play with the bull, sometimes you get the horns.