TeeYo Media

A newly formed media production company based in Teesside and York. Join us here, where we'll be keeping you up to date via diary entries, photos and videos, as we work on our current project - Middleton - a new comedy web series.

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Middleton - Available Now!

Twenty months after picking up a pen to start drafting ideas for our web-series, Middleton, we're finally in a position to release it to the world!

The project as a whole has taken a little longer than we'd initially anticipated, but with all things taken into consideration, I think everyone has done an incredible job to get to this stage.

As mentioned in previous blogs, we started filming Middleton early this year in the picturesque village of Great Ayton, North Yorkshire. Our team, made up entirely of local cast/crew, were aiming to produce a short sitcom series made up of five, fifteen minute episodes; the equivalent to a feature film! 

          Some of the Middleton cast / crew in Great Ayton Village Hall

As with any low budget production, we found that financial restrictions and work commitments were the biggest challenges to overcome throughout the project. With these factors in mind, we were only really able to film on Sunday's, and I really do take my hat off to everyone who is so committed to making it in the film/TV industry, that they gave their only day of the week off each week in order to make the project a success - Thank You!! 

In order to celebrate the release of Middleton, we held a screening of the entire series, which attracted an audience of 90-100 people. The response from everyone I spoke to afterwards really was overwhelming, so a big thank you for all your comments. In addition to this, we also managed to raise £380 for Teesside based charity, Abbie's Love, which is an excellent bonus. 

Following this we released 'Middleton - Episode One' to YouTube on Thursday 7th November and had almost 2,000 views in less than a week, along with some excellent feedback, which has already made the entire project worthwhile!

People still ask me, "Why did you create Middleton?" The reasoning behind it was to provide a platform for everyone involved; an extra project to add to everyone's CV, whilst providing the experience necessary for future productions. And I for one will be keeping my fingers crossed for everybody involved that they manage to get recognised off the back of Middleton, because the dedication and effort everyone has put into the project deserves rewarding!

If you're interested in taking a look at the first episode of Middleton, please head to; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8ViQSqdQYo

Your support really would be appreciated! Episode Two will also be available to view at www.youtube.com/teeyomedia, as of 19:30 (GMT) on Thursday 14th November.

If anybody has any questions relating to the project, please contact us at [email protected] or visit www.facebook.com/teeyomedia 

#MiddletonSeries

Thanks again for your support everyone, I really do hope you enjoy the rest of the series! 

Martin Davies, Director

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Middleton Series - Our Goal

What is Middleton? Why are we doing it? What do we hope to achieve from it? I've lost count at the number of times I've been asked these questions. This is my attempt at answering, as well as welcoming you all along to the world of Middleton. 

Inspiration

I’m a big fan of scripted TV comedy, with programs such as Only Fools and Horses, Friends, Summer Heights High, Little Britain and Come Fly With Me (to name a few) constantly being on our tele. But there are three comedies in particular that have had a bigger influence on me than others, and these include Mr Bean, The Royle Family and most of all, The Office. Why? They’re simple, they’re funny and they’re believable.

("Believable? But Mr Bean's an alien?" ... You know what I mean)

As you may have read from co-writer, Adrian Phipps’, recent entry, we wanted to create characters that people can love, hate, poke fun at, laugh with, but most of all, we wanted to create characters that viewers can relate to. And this has been the biggest obstacle to overcome, but thankfully, I’d like to think we’ve achieved this with Middleton. 

So why create a comedy? Ever since I watched The Office I’ve been a massive fan of Ricky Gervais, and I’ve always thought it would be brilliant to be involved in a production similar to The Office or Extras. Whether it be as a hobby, or for a living, it didn’t matter – I just knew I wanted to create something to try and make people laugh. About ten years later, I’ve stopped putting the dream off, finally put pen to paper and just got the hell on with it ... no excuses! 

So far the production couldn't be going any better, and we hope things are going continue in this manner this weekend, as we have a big shoot coming up on Sunday. We will have all but a handful of our 15+ cast members on set throughout the day, which is to make up our biggest shoot to date. Once the day is complete, we will be approximately halfway through production, which is a great achievement for everyone involved. But what next?

Moving Forward

Since finishing my Television Production course at Teesside Uni, I've often been asked, what have you got to show for it? And the honest answer is, nothing. Which I think is true for the majority of graduates. However come the end of this series, everyone involved will have a credit to their name, with which they can start / progress their career in the industry, and I think that this purpose alone is worth the immense effort this production is taking.

We also aim to use the experience and knowledge we gain from Middleton to work on future projects, which are already in the pipeline, and it's with this in mind that we try so hard to make this a success, because if this is the stepping stone for us to work from, then I really do think that everyone involved is in a very strong position moving forward.

Stay Involved

To everyone involved and to those who have helped encourage me personally, and the production as a whole, so far, a massive thank you!! To those of you who are new to the Middleton scene, welcome along. From here on in we're going to be bringing you more frequent blog entries and regular video updates which will keep you bang up to date with all our goings on, starting next week, with a blog entry from Producer, Lydia-Grace Pitts, and a video of Middleton's Mayor, Terry Coombs (played by Jim McMaster).

To keep up to date with proceedings, head over to the following pages;

www.facebook.com/middletonseries,

www.youtube.com/teeyomedia

@MiddetonSeries

#MiddletonSeries

Martin Davies, Director

Ps. Mr Bean is an alien ... right?

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Adrian Phipps - Writing Middleton

It never ceases to amaze me how life is so unpredictable and offers you opportunities when you least expect it. And so it was, when a colleague at work turned to me and said, “Oh Martin is looking for someone to write comedy with”. Martin explained that he and Glen had been working on a mockumentary about a village suffering a flood. With some trepidation I pitched my idea for a poorly run community centre and with Martin’s resounding thumbs up of “I suppose so”; I was on board the Middleton roller coaster.

The biggest thrill for me has been watching the ‘world of Middleton’ take shape through the development of its inhabitants. Some characters like the Mayor and Clive came fully formed and thinking back, except for episode length, very little of their material was changed or discussed because as writers we instinctively grasped their motivations, reactions and speech patterns. Other characters have proved more challenging. We all agreed from the start that we wanted strong female roles but writing them is another thing. However by developing the leopard print obsessed Denise and the permanently stressed Bella we have avoided all the usual stereotypes of women as emotional sex objects. Of all the characters in Middleton, the female roles are the most fascinating for me as we have only begun to scratch the service of what makes them tick.

Another interesting lesson has been the impact a back story can have on a character. The role of Danny was originally conceived by Glen and Martin as a double act with Dave. But during the writing process we felt they needed to be more involved in the plots of each episode, so Danny became the Mayors nephew and most recent volunteer of Red Flange. This allowed us to create much more conflict within scenes and introduce real pathos into the series as a whole. Developing Danny also provided us with another challenge of being able to walk a tightrope of playing Danny’s complete lack of empathy for laughs without him coming across as cruel. For me the greatest comedy characters have always been the ones who are monsters at times and yet we recognise these as human flaws and so they evoke sympathy and pity in us.

Communication between the writing team has not always been straightforward. I am fond of saying “I’m not precious about it, change what you want” only to respond to the subsequent subtractions and additions with the menacing phrase “I see you’ve made changes…” Or the time Martin asked me to trim down an episode and the following day presented him with six more pages. But at least I can say that my voice was always heard: on stating my concerns that we had too many characters, I was informed we had two more.

Looking back on it all, I loved every minute of co-writing Middleton and it helped me through some very painful times in my life. Now to see it being filmed is one of the most thrilling experiences I have ever had. I am so proud to be a part of this great project and to all those people who are putting in so much effort in front and behind the camera, I would like to thank for making my dreams come true.

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Ree Collins' Middleton Update

Hey guys, Ree here.

I play Denise Fowler in the #Middleton series. This means wearing a lot of leopard print, red nails, horrific make up and very short skirts. Safe to say, I feel a little out of place in the sleepy village of Great Ayton.

It has been great meeting the team. Everyone is so passionate and enthusiastic about the work in hand which is just brilliant. We are supplied with endless tea/coffees, sandwiches, crisps and last week we even had homemade cakes and cookies courtesy of Lydia! (Earl Grey tea cupcakes nonetheless!? Who knew?)

This week we have had a week off from the filming and have used it to work on promoting the show. It is so exciting to see the number of Facebook likes grow every day! Thank you all so much for your support so far. Glen and Martin had a bet going as to just how many Facebook likes we could get over a day. Glen won the bet, which meant Martin has had to buy him many pints! Please continue to support and ‘like’ us on Facebook/follow us on Twitter and who knows, Martin may have to buy us all drinks!?

In addition to the Facebook following, we have confirmed two slots on local radio stations. Tune in to the new Palace FM (located at the new ‘Hub’ on Redcar seafront) Friday 17th May @ 5pm to hear us talking about all things #Middleton.

Last week saw homemade cakes, boob flashing and Midsomer Murders ... who knows what will ensue this week! But, I can’t wait to find out.

P.S. In other news, we have been filming in Great Ayton for a few weeks now and I am yet to indulge in a Suggett’s Ice Cream. Bad times.

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A Middleton update from Glen Fawcett

A while ago I wrote an entry for our Middleton blog to document the epic journey Martin and I went on to try and find the perfect setting for our weird little village. We encountered fog, snow, freezing temperatures and I think there was a whale involved at some point, although, it was a while ago. We spent a whole day driving through village after pointless village and we managed to narrow it down to two options - Ravensomethingorother and Easilyforgottonville.

You might also remember I briefly mentioned another small village which was quickly dismissed as a potential location because of its unsuitability due to it being a tourist 'hot-spot'. Well, we decided we like tourists and if you've been following the blog thus far then you'll know we've actually just had our second day of filming Middleton in the definitely not unsuitable village of Great Ayton!

Filming has been an absolute pleasure. After our read through in MINK I was a lot more confident in our choice of cast than I was in our initial choice of location. It's great to work with a team of such talented and dedicated people.

It's been especially great getting to know our production team, I feel as though I’ve really bonded with Paul, our camera guy who recently saved someone’s life, Alex aka ‘Sleepy Simon’ who’s been following us about with his camera and appears to be sleeping in the back ground of one of our scenes (look out for that) and Chris, the sound guy.

One thing I’ve noticed throughout the production so far is the level of professionalism shown by everyone. I’d like to take some credit for that, I think people have witnessed the way I conduct myself on set and that has served as an example to everyone.

On the subject of professionalism, I really fancy a pint and I’ve got an hour before I’m due at the theatre so I’m going to cut this blog short and quickly sum up what else has been going on:

Richard, (playing Ned), convinced some locals that we’re filming Midsomer Murders, Alex has promised to do a short documentary with me on the ducks of Middleton which should involve us both wading through the stream just over the road from the Village Hall, our record for keeping up a ping pong ball remains at just 5, Danny (playing Danny) can’t use walkie-talkies, Chris the sound guy owns a pair of handcuffs and is most definitely a kinky bugger, Ree (playing Denise) got well into character and pretty much flashed everyone and Lydia makes great sandwiches.

It's been lots of fun and lots of hard work and I can't speak for everyone but I definitely have bruises on my arse. Peace.

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Middleton - Day 1

After a year of writing, months of pre-production and endless sleepless nights of planning, it was finally time to start the shoot!

As we woke up at the crack of dawn, the first thing that sprung to mind was ... "Please let today be worth all the effort." But as soon as we walked into the Village Hall and seen the cast bring Middleton to life, I knew it was.

Despite so much planning and communication on the run up to the production, it was only when all cast and crew members congregated in the Village Hall that things started to feel real. The guys sorting the camera, the mic being checked, the make-up being applied, the behind-the-scenes camera rolling and the cast rehearsing. The ball was finally rolling!

Our first shot was situated in a small, cramped corridor. A scene that was always going to prove challenging, which only added to the nerves I was already feeling - was this production really going to be as good as we'd been expecting?

Thankfully, from the moment the cast opened their mouths, we knew we were onto a winner and everything became a lot more relaxed. The connection between all the guys (both on and off camera) was evident to see. They really could have been long-term residents of Middleton.

With the first shot out of the way, it was time to re-assemble the main hall and plan the afternoons shoot, safe in the knowledge that the cast we had were more than capable of pulling off a really enjoyable and more importantly, funny series.

As the afternoon came and went, we shot a series of events that will act as the backbone of episode two, setting us up nicely for the remainder of the series. The reason we wanted to shoot these scenes first is because it gives us a good base to work from moving forward, as the cast were able to get to know their characters in a scene that includes the majority of the cast.

Despite the amount of coffee that was flying around the place, I think everyone who was on set would agree that it was a long and tiring day. but I can assure everybody that after watching the days footage back, it was worth it.

Production continues this Sunday at Great Ayton in the Village Hall, which will be our second of three shoots in that location, before we move onto our external shots around the village. After this weeks shoot, our behind-the-scenes guy, Alex Whitely, will be providing some footage of the production to date for you all to have a look at, which should give an idea of a day in the life on the set of Middleton.

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Great Ayton

After much deliberation, we've finalised our decision as to where Middleton is to be based, and we've gone against our initial judgement, and decided upon Great Ayton. 

Having grew up in Middlesbrough, it was always nice to visit Great Ayton with the family on a summers day. Whenever the sun decided to play out, we knew we'd find large crowds of people providing a lively atmosphere.

I think this is the image we had in mind when we first set out to look for our location and therefore almost immediately ruled out Great Ayton, for two reasons in particular;

The village seemed too large and lively (especially in summer) to give the feel we wanted for Middleton.

With too many people around, there's always the possibility of people waving and making a disturbance in the background of any shots and spoiling any scenes we've lined up.

Due to these factors, we decided to go in search of a more fitting location and decided upon Ravensworth, situated on the outskirts of Darlington. Ravensworth was quiet, scenic and more intimate than any of the other villages we'd considered.

However, as time passed we got to thinking that perhaps Ravensworth was too isolated and didn't really offer enough personality for what we wanted, forcing us to re-think our decision and go back in search for the ideal village.

It was at that stage that our attentions went back to Great Ayton, and the more we thought about it, the more it made sense to base Middleton here. There's a really friendly, welcoming atmosphere around the place, as well as some real character about it, which will add to the attraction of Middleton.

The size of the village will also provide more opportunity to play around with certain shots and capture the spirit of Middleton, as it is larger than we'd initially imagined.

In regards to the people waving in the background etc., if they were to do so, it might just work in our favour. Middleton is being filmed through the eyes of a documentary crew, which would attract attention anyway. So if this were to happen throughout the shoot - it would only add to the realism.

I've spent this afternoon doing a reccy of Great Ayton, and the more time I spent visualising certain shots, the more excited I became. Also, the locals I've had the pleasure of speaking to today have been very supportive of the series, and seem more than willing to help out wherever possible, which has really given me the confidence boost I was hoping for.

I've been lucky enough to have spent many enjoyable days at Great Ayton when I was a kid, and I would love to think we can create an excellent series here, as it would be a bit more personal to myself and others involved in the production, who also have a link with the place.

Although we aren't looking to shoot any external shots for a good while yet, it's great to know we've decided on the village, which we can now visualise better when discussing scenes.

As it stands at the minute, there are still a couple of locations to finalise, but each day brings us that little bit closer to having all the pieces in place.

Click here to see a short video of Great Ayton, AKA. Middleton.

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Series Read-Through

With the audition process being a great success, it was time for the cast to meet and to hear the entire script come to life. The main focus of the session was to allow everybody to feel more comfortable about the production, but it was also a great opportunity for us to see what did and didn't work. 

The Get Together

We held the read-through at MINK in Middlesbrough, who were really accommodating and provided the perfect venue for what we needed. 

As soon as the cast arrived, it was evident that the group were going to gel as well as we'd hoped. A few of the cast members have actually worked on previous projects together, which instantly relaxed the atmosphere, which is what we were hoping for.

Once the read-through began, any initial doubts or worries I had about the day disappeared. The enthusiasm from everybody involved was clear to see and it was great, and almost a relief in some ways, that everybody clearly wants this to succeed as much as we do.

Dedication

During previous blogs I've mentioned how I feel similar productions could have been a lot stronger had more time been spent on certain areas. Another key factor I've noticed is peoples dedication to certain projects, or lack of it. I've sat in on similar read-throughs to today, and a lot of people have arrived without bothering to have previously picked up the script, or they look as though they've been forced along.

Thankfully the feeling we got from everyone who came today, was that they were genuinely pleased, and excited, to be part of Middleton, which is a great feeling for everyone involved and will definitely help the production.

As of Sunday 21st April, we will start filming and as discussed today, we will all be involved in some really long days. With this in mind it was great to see how well everyone was getting on during the read. One of the things we mentioned afterwards is that the general banter from everyone involved shows that the cast is genuinely funny, which, again, can only be a good thing for the production as a whole.

Looking back on the day, it was definitely a worthwhile exercise. It's clear that there's already a good vibe amongst the group, or as Jack Bandeira likes to call it, "The Middleton Family". In regards to the actual script itself, we've definitely noticed areas where we can improve, and we are hoping to have these changes in place come the end of this week.

We're Ready

So, that's it! The cast have met, the crew is ready and the shooting schedule has been finalised. There's no doubting that this production is going to be a massive undertaking for everyone involved, but it's days like today that really make the effort worthwhile, and if today is anything to go by I think we really are in the process of making a brilliant comedy series.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be asking certain cast and crew members to give their thoughts on the process so far and what they are hoping to come from the Middleton series, or "season", according to Glen. As well as that, we will be doing one final reccy, and confirming a couple of locations.

Other than that, there's nothing more for it, apart from saying a big well done to everyone who was there today, thanks to Paul Robinson for the photos, and again, a big thank you to MINK for allowing day one to be such a success.

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The Cast!

With pre-production plans coming together nicely, it was time for us to finally bring the characters to life, and find our cast. Over the last few weekends we have seen a wide range of actors from across the North, during our audition process at Middlesbrough College. When we look at the quality of talent we've actually managed to find for all available roles, we are delighted!

From Page To Reality

When writing the series we were always aware of our limitations as a production company. With this in mind, we wrote material that would be realistic to produce, both visually and financially. We know that one of the key financial factors in any production of this kind is always food and travel costs, meaning the fewer actors the better.

However, Middleton began to grow at such a rate, that we didn't want to hinder the storyline for the sake of saving a few quid here and there. In spite of this, I was still surprised when producer, Lydia-Grace, came to me with a full cast list of nineteen people, after reading through the entire series. 

A lot of these characters play very small roles in the series, and will be played by family / friends. However, the key roles needed to be cast properly, as the main thing I have found with so many low-budget productions is that they would have been a lot stronger had the production team spent that extra bit of time casting it correctly.

The most exciting thing for myself throughout these auditions was seeing our work come to life, especially when hearing a room full of people laugh at certain lines we've wrote. I could tell that it gave the production team an extra bit of confidence to move forward as we move into the production stages.

The Actors

Thankfully, we were very fortunate throughout the casting process, as the talent that auditioned was excellent, and in the end we were debating on numerous actors for each role, which can only be a good sign.

With the standard of acting ability being so high, there was a fair bit of debate amongst the team as to who were the strongest candidates. However, since we've made our decision and spoke with everybody involved again, it's evident that everyone is delighted with the guys we've got for every role, which means we're all going into next weeks first read-through with very high expectations that Middleton now has all the necessary requirements to be a success.

Read-Through

We're hoping that the read-through will allow us to get a better understanding of sections that maybe don't work as well as we'd initially hoped. But mainly, it will be a great opportunity for the entire production team to meet each other and get a feel for the series and our plans for it.

Moving forward, it's very much all systems go. With next weeks read-through being followed by numerous reccy's, confirming shooting locations and working on potential re-writes of the script, before filming starts on Sunday 21st April...

... 3 weeks yesterday. Exciting!

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Searching For Middleton - Another Perspective

The below is our 'Search for Middleton', through the eyes of co-writer, Glen Fawcett;

On 12th March, Martin produced a blog documenting our search for Middleton. Although the basic facts are accurate I feel his account of events does not allow the reader to truly experience the roller-coaster thrill ride that was our perilous journey that day. Here’s how I remember it…

To start with, although Martin states he left York at 8.30am when he arrived to pick me up, I can assure you, it was the crack of dawn. His phone call to let me know he had arrived surely woke the birds and as I hastily dressed I felt strangely uneasy. There was something in the air. I knew the day would go hard on us.

My feelings were confirmed when I got in the car with Martin and he didn’t have the heating on. I was cold all day. It was perhaps because of the cool temperature of the car that I initially dismissed the tremor in Martin’s voice when he greeted me as a sensory reaction to the sub-zero atmosphere he was maintaining inside his newly purchased Peugeot. However, the truth of the matter quickly became apparent. Martin didn’t have a clue what he was doing.

As Martin states, our knowledge on local villages wasn’t great (a redundant statement really, after referring to Great Ayton as a major tourist attraction) and with our initial ‘plan’ to head towards Darlington foiled because of a crash in Darlington Town centre (another ill omen – this day would go hard on us) we set off, with all the direction of a daddy long legs skirting across the surface of a pond from one lily pad to the next, aimlessly in search of Middleton.

It took us a while to get the hang of things. Most of the North Yorkshire countryside consists of roads leading to other roads. When we did spot a village we’d driven through it before we’d had a chance to see anything. I shut my eyes and started to think of my bed and how promising the day had begun, full of pillows and duvets and dreams… When I opened my eyes the hazy fog of dreamland had become a reality; there was fog all around us (as is the nature of fog). This day would go hard on us. 

It is said that it is always darkest before the dawn, that’s not true, obviously, and yet for some strange reason I still felt spurred on by our dismal situation. The cold, the crash, the fog they were all just hurdles to overcome in our 110m race to find Middleton. We were on the road to Whitby and we were close, I could feel it. Even as the fog turned to snow and the radio lost reception and the barometer read -3 degrees my excitement grew.

Martin claims that I sensibly suggested we turn back but it actually happened more like this: Martin was driving at 60mph through the freezing fog and snow navigating blindly, knowing that each turn in the road could be our last. I was hanging out of the window and pointing into the abyss, and as I roared against the elements, the whole thing was like a scene from Moby Dick.

“Onwards! Onwards Martin. She’s out there. Show yourself! Showyourself, Middleton, you motherless bitch!”

After a while we decided to turn around and go back the way we came.

With the kind of introspection lacking in Melville’s Captain Ahab I decided to question my instincts and instead take a more logical, or rather technological approach to finding our white whale.

We switched on the Sat-Nav and allowed the dulcet tones of Billy Connelly to guide us to one of the destinations previously suggested, never once mentioning the passing landmarks we were seeing for the second time that day.  

We managed to see two really great villages, both with heaps of potential, both with quaint little pubs with ridiculously late opening times and both annoyingly close to where we initially set off from. We had a little look around and we absolutely loved both places. We’re almost positive this had nothing to do with how cold it was and that we’d been driving around aimlessly all morning…

The discrepancies in mine and Martin’s stories are purely down to our individual perspectives, for instance, when Martin says I was ‘scribbling ideas’ on our producer’s notes, I was actually just scribbling on them. The facts are though that we have two great potential locations in Ravensworth and Melsonby and the fact that I’ve been telling people we’d visited Ravenscar (a small coastal village near Scarborough) and Easby doesn’t mean my account of events is any less accurate.

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Searching for Middleton

After a fortnight of fantastic feedback regarding the scripts, as well as our production team falling into place, it was time to find our village, Middleton.

Getting a feel for the actual village itself would allow the team to create a stronger mental image of the series, and certain scenes in particular.

As I left York at 8:30am on Saturday 9th March to pick Glen Fawcett up from Stockton, I felt confident that we would find the perfect location come the end of the day. 

We knew that our village was to be located within reasonable driving distance of Middlesbrough and York, to allow better access for our cast and crew. 

Our knowledge on local villages wasn't great, but we had been advised of a couple of villages on the outskirts of Darlington. Unfortunately, on the morning of Saturday 9th, there had been a crash around the town centre, causing heavy traffic and meaning there was no way of us passing through from Middlesbrough. This forced us to change our plans and drive, almost aimlessly, from village to village to see if anywhere fit the bill.

In addition to this, the weather deteriorated drastically, and before we knew it, we had ended up towards Whitby, almost ninety minutes from where we ideally wanted to be.

The weather turned on us almost instantly, and the above image gives an idea of the conditions we were dealing with. It was after driving through the ice, fog and snow for about an hour that Glen thought it best we turn our attention back towards Darlington in the hope that the traffic caused by the earlier crash had cleared.

Thankfully the traffic, and the weather, had cleared slightly and approximately an hour and a half after setting our sat-nav, we arrived in the small village of Ravensworth, situated on the outskirts of Darlington. 

We instantly fell in love with the place!

Scenes that we'd only visioned in our heads were suddenly starting to become a reality. Within the first two minutes of stepping out of the car, we'd organised three scenes.

For the next twenty minutes we walked around the village and discussed possibilities for the shoot. Unfortunately the pub was closed and nobody could be found at the local church, meaning we weren't able to have a chat with any locals in regards to the project.

Finding Ravensworth had made the entire journey worthwhile. However, our search hadn't finished just there, as we stumbled across a larger village, Melsonby, on the way home.

Again, we seen massive potential for the shoot and were able to discuss numerous possibilities. However, I think we both, silently, agreed it wasn't as 'perfect' as Ravensworth.

Despite this, we intend to visit both Melsonby and Ravensworth again over the coming weeks, once we've worked through the scripts again with both villages in mind.

Our journey back to Stockton consisted of Glen scribbling ideas on our producer, Lydia-Graces', notes, and long silences, as we considered the possibilities of the location. In addition to this, we also called a potential actor to arrange an audition slot.

It was during this journey home that the reality of the production hit me.

There's no doubting that the scope of this project is huge, but we feel more than confident to take on the challenge. The commitment and willingness of everyone to get involved has been incredible, and I'm sure everyone will continue to work as hard in order to pull off a great series!

Next up for us are the first auditions, to be held at Middlesbrough College on Sunday, where we hope to bring some of Middletons' characters to life.

If you, or anybody you know, would be interested in getting involved in Middleton, then please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected], or visit of Facebook page.

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PER Productions

With our scripts complete and our casting process well under way, it was time to start looking at our crew.

The TeeYo Media team are all educated to degree level, and have the necessary experience for a production like Middleton. However, with the production seemingly growing beyond our wildest imagination, it was evident that we needed to expand our team, and in doing so, add more experience. 

The first guys who sprang to mind were PER Productions. Having worked with them previously, and followed their involvement in local production, Damaged Goods, I knew they would be perfect for the job. Therefore we contacted Paul Robinson, who runs PER Productions, to see if they would be interested in getting involved.  

Thankfully, Paul came back with the answer we were hoping for, and when asked about the production elsewhere, said;

"PER Productions are excited to be helping with the production of Middleton. After Martin from TeeYo Media sent over the scripts, our mind was made up. It's a great script, full of humour with a great storyline. We can't wait to get started and see what comes of the series."

... Welcome aboard guys! 

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Middleton

The Script

In April 2012 I met with good friend, and Middlesbrough College Tutor, Glen Fawcett, to discuss the possibility of writing a short, ten minute sketch show for the web. Ten months later we have six, fifteen minute episodes that make up the series of “Middleton” – the town recovering from Flood Fiona.

During the writing process I moved from Teesside to York, where I met former co-worker, Adrian Phipps, who immediately joined the writing team and has since played a major role in shaping the series, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for the endless hours he’s dedicated in helping us acheive our goal of scripting an entire series.

I think all three of us have learnt a lot from the writing process, in particular how to write in a group. The hardest thing to do when writing is to take a step back from your work and allow others to incorporate their ideas on the project. However, we have managed to get through the entire process without any major issues, and I think this is due to the fact that we all strongly believe we are working with a quality story.

For me personally, creating funny lines / plots has proved the most challenging aspect. On numerous occasions, I've passed the scripts on to friends / family, who have thankfully said, "that's not really funny", and as embarrassing as that can be at the time, I feel the feedback has definitely made the project stronger.

This image from August was approximately the fourth draft Adrian had re-sent me. I remember squeezing a quick re-write in during my dinner break. It really does seem such a long time ago! Looking back, I don't think this script would be recognised alongside the completed version, due to numerous changes. 

Future Plans

Over the coming months we will be updating you with our progress throughout production. Diary entries, photos and videos from both the cast and crew will keep you bang up to date with all things Middleton.

Our next step is to find the cast and location of Middleton, and our search for both will be getting carried out over the next few weeks. We intend to search the North Yorkshire Moors for the village of Middleton, before holding auditions in Middlesbrough and York.

If you would be interested in joining the production team, or if you / someone you know would be interested in auditioning for a role, then please feel free to contact us on Facebook or Twitter, or by Emailing [email protected]. All available roles can be found at CastingCallPro, or request a character information pack, which can be sent via Email.

Likewise, if you have any general questions relating to the production of Middleton, please contact us through any of the above social networking links.