Black Monday for Barnet Tories

Yesterday was the day when the Barnet Tories hit rock bottom. Things really could not have been worse for them. They made ITV London news with two successive items. You can watch the piece about Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble here - http://vimeo.com/51935140

and the main article is here -

http://www.itv.com/news/london/story/2012-10-22/barnet-on-film/


 The first was about the film Barnet The Billion Pound Gamble. I produced this film with acclaimed US director Charles Honderick.  The film exposes the effects of the councils policies on the local community. Yesterday we had the Premiere of the film at the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley. Despite atrocious weather and major disruption on the Northern Line, over 200 people paid to come in.

Over 200 People packed into the Phoenix Cinema

I took this picture on my mobile phone as people were still arriving. We had to delay the start time by 30 minutes to allow latecomers to arrive.  After the film there was a debate with three local bloggers, Mr Reasonable, Mr Mustard and Mrs Angry as well as Martin Russo from the Save Friern Barnet library campaign.

They fielded all manner of questions. It was encouraging to see that all walks of society joined in.  The panel were asked about their political affiliations. Mr Mustard and Mr Reasonable have none. MArtin Russo said he usually voted Labour and Mrs Angry said she'd reecently joined Labour as she felt there was no alternative. As for myself, I don't belong to any party. I stood for the Lib Dems in the 2010 Council elections, but as I fundamentally disagree with the policies of the Coalition and was disgusted by the decision to break the pledge on tuition fees, I have left the party. I am banned from being a member of Labour, so I am an Independent. As for Charles Honderick, he's a supporter of the Democrats being from the USA.

Everyone who spoke to me after the film said they thought it was a good film and got the message across well. Some right wing commentators have dismissed the film as a "Left Wing Polemic". This is both unfair and untrue. I don't believe that outsourcing services is a "right wing" policy. Sadly many Labour Councils also do this. If what right wing commentators are saying is they believe in poor services, bad administration, library closures, anti business parking policies and the destruction of the High Street, then yes it is left wing, but I am sure these are not policies most Tories really want.

I made the film, not because I want to destroy Barnet Council. I made the film because I want the administration to see sense. ITV London Tonight came to the studios and interviewed myself and Charles Honderick. They then went to Cafe Buzz and interviewed Helen Michael about how the Car parking policies have damaged her business. Their last port of call was the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius. Richard told ITV that Barnet is "A successful London Borough with lower than average unemployment and better than usual services". It may shock you to hear that I agree with Richard. The problem is that One Barnet will export jobs, damaging the unemployment figures locally. We've already seen this with the outsourcing of parking to NSL, the first major One Barnet project. This exported 26 jobs to Croyden. As for the better than usual services, why is Mr Cornelius trying to fix something that ain't broken? The evidence is clear, One Barnet will destroy jobs and services and in five years time, whoever the leader of Barnet Council is, they will not be able to make the proud boast that Richard Cornelius made about the in house services.

Mr Cornelius also acknowledges that he hasn't seen the film. He states that it doesn't portray the real Barnet. Sadly it does. All of the people we interviewed are real Barnet residents with real problems. None of the people interviewed had to be coached or guided to make things up. They are just real life victims of poor policies. ITV interviewed Helen Michael at Cafe Buzz. She explained how the Councils parking policies lead to a 40% drop in trade.

Ironically, as they were interviewing Helen, Councillor Brian Coleman was being charged with assault, for an incident involving Helen outside her business in North Finchley in September. The story is on the ITV website here -

http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2012-10-22/ex-barnet-mayor-charged-with-assault/ 

Back in 2009, I took Brian Coleman to the Standards Committee. I won a judgement against him, proving he breached the Barnet Council code of Conduct. At the time, I wrote that I had done it because I felt Brian Coleman needed to learn to respect other people. As his colleagues in the local Tory Party refused to take any action about it, in effect they encouraged him in an ever more self destructive mode of behaviour. In May 2012, the people of Barnet punished Mr Coleman. They sacked him as GLA representative in the elections. Whilst Boris got over 50% of votes in Barnet, Coleman was slung out on his ear. Coleman learned nothing. He sent more rude emails, losing another standards case. He then insulted women in the public gallery of Barnet Council chamber, calling them "Hags".

Sadly Barnet Council Tories took no action. Now he awaits a trial on the 5th November. Incredibly, his colleagues still refuse to suspend him. On Thursday, he will chair an important committee meeting for the Council. How can the local Conservatives fail to acknowledge how poor this makes them look?

In the 1980's, the Labour Party was nearly destroyed by "Looney Left" councils. In Barnet we have the "Rabid Right". Every day the news gets worse. The question everyone now asks about Brian Coleman is "What does he have on his colleagues that makes them so scared to take action?". I don't know.  Only a fool would think his continued presence in the party is anything other than a millstone around their neck.

At a recent meeting with Barnet Council officials, I explained that Barnet will always find itself in the eye of a media storm whenever it screws up. The reason for this is that more TV producers, newspaper editors and reporters, film directors and producers and other media people live in Barnet than anywhere else in the Country. These stories are on their doorstep. Richard Cornelius says in his interview that "No one likes being Dr Evil". Sadly no one thinks Richard is Dr Evil. They just think he is a weak and ineffective leader who is not up to the job. He has a stark choice. He can man up and start behaving like a leader or the Barnet Tories will, sooner or later, sack him as an act of self preservation.

The bad news stories will not go away until someone on the benches of the Barnet Conservative Party sees sense. Let's just hope that whenever that is, it is not too late for the people of Barnet.

Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble - The Full Story

I was asked "Why have you made a new film about Barnet?" today. There are many reasons, but perhaps, if I tell the full story it may be easier to understand. Many readers will know that in March, Charles Honderick and myself unleashed "A Tale of Two Barnets" on the world. Although Charles and myself are immensely proud of the film, we were in many ways unhappy with aspects of it. The reason for this was simple. When the film was first conceived, it was going to be a short film on Youtube, giving an outsider (Charles is from Florida) view of Barnet. Charles motivation for making it was to experiment with a new movie making format (he'd previously made corporate films in the USA and pop videos). My reasons for becoming involved were because I have a deep love of Barnet.

When the project started, our aims were modest. Shoot a few interviews and make a short and interesting documentary. When the interviews started, it became apparent that there was a bigger story and that it was more interesting. Before we'd finished, we had been offered a premier at the Phoenix in East Finchley and a screening at the House of Commons. Barnet Alliance for Public Services had also arranged dozens of local screenings.

We had the task of editing footage shot over six months, in a variety of locations into some sort of order. We'd not had a pre defined narrative, so the whole thing was a bit of a mish mash. Charles is a brilliant editor, so we managed to turn a lot of people filmed in difficult circumstances and turn out something which was quite watchable. Many people have speculated that because I'm a well known blogger, my role was more than "producer". This does a huge disservice to Charles. He doesn't know the issues, so I have spoken  more about them at screenings etc. Charles was interested in the film making aspects and "telling the story".  We both watched the footage and both had input into the clips used, but in general it was fairly obvious what was good and what wasn't. We didn't tell people what to say, so the direction was all about getting people to feel comfortable and open up. Charles is brilliant at doing that.

After the film was made, both of us had a feeling that we hadn't told the whole story. We hadn't really shown what the people on the rough end of the council polices were going through and we hadn't really explained why the councils policy were not only causing misery but were fundamentally risky and dangerous. People approached us and suggested we make a follow up. Then they started offering to fund the filming. As I own a video recording studio, we decided to film the interviews on site where possible, so the issues with sound could be avoided. We also decided to agree the format beforehand..

The filming and editing has been a nightmare. This has been becasue the story has changed so many times as we've gone along. Firstly the leader of the Finchley traders gave a fascinating interview about her campaign against Brian Coleman in the GLA elections. After the filming, Brian Coleman was arrested for an alleged assault and the footage became potentially prejudicial, so we made a decision to not use it. Then we filmed Friern Library. The Council had closed it. After we filmed, Occupy London reopened it and a court case was set for last week. We couldn't finish the film without this, but had to wait until we knew what happened to do the interviews. The events superceded the original footage. Then the CEO of Barnet, Nick Walkley resigned. It is entirely unclear what is going on.

We actually finished editing the film yesterday. I watched it this morning. I am pleased. It is a much better film than A Tale of Two Barnets. It is a shame that Nick Walkley declined the offer to be interviewed as did all of the Conservative Councillors. Local politics should be a very boring subject, I think we've brought it to life.  It isn't perfect, but on a budget of £2,500 it was never going to be. You will hear some tragic stories and I hope you will be moved. Some of the scenes are funny, some are shocking. Charles Honderick has a superb eye for detail and many of the interspersed clips are staggering.

I sincerely hope as many people as possible come to the Phoenix to watch the film on Monday and come to the other screenings.

Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble

Press Release - 1st October 2012 - Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble - World Premier

On Monday 22nd October, at 6pm  the first screening of a brand new film about life in the London Borough of Barnet will be screened at the Phoenix Cinema in Finchley.

The film explores how the people of Barnet are coping with changes to parking, cuts to care budgets and the effect of the councils One Barnet outsourcing program are making changes to the lives of residents.


The film will feature interviews with residents from all walks of life in Barnet detailing their experiences of life in the 2012. Interviews with Olympic Torchbearers, gold medal winners from the special Olympics, local business people and stories from carers and disabled people are interspersed with some of the landmark sites and local events which have happened in Barnet in 2012.

The film is the follow up to the highly claimed "Tale of Two Barnets" and has been directed by Charles Honderick and produced by Roger Tichborne.

The film has been made in direct response to requests from local people who saw "A Tale of Two Barnets" and wanted to see the stories behind the stories. After the success of the film, many people approached the director and producer and wanted to particpate in a follow up. The production team found that "A Tale of Two Barnets" had only scratched the surface of the story. 

This film lifts the lid on the real life stories of the people you never get to see and tells you the stories that the council don't want you to hear. Charles Honderick said "The response to the film (A Tale of Two Barnets) has been overwhelming. So much has changed and moved on since January, when we finished filming the film. I have been inundated with requests to make a follow up. We have also received several donations from ordinary members of the public to help with the costs. It reached the point where it would have been impossible not to make a follow up".

***** Ends *****

Notes to Editors.

1. The world premier for the film will be shown at The Phoenix Cinema on Monday 22nd October. Doors open at 6pm and the film will be shown at 6.30pm. Entrance costs £1.

2. The film has been directed by USA film director Charles Honderick. The film is a follow up to the acclaimed film  "A Tale of Two Barnets" which has been screened at The House of Commons, The Edinburgh Festival, The Unision National Conference and the TUC centre at Great Russell St. There have also been over 20 local screenings.

3. The film features a new exclusive interview with award winning film director Ken Loach, talking about life, football and outsourcing.

4. The film website is  http://www.billionpoundgamble.co.uk/ . This is being constantly updated with information, details and clips as we move towards the full screening.

5. The website for "A Tale of Two Barnets" is http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/ . This has full details of all press coverage and clips from the film including full interviews with Ken Loach, Richard Cornelius (Leader of Barnet Council) and Nick Walkley (CEO of Barnet Council).

6. Please contact Roger Tichborne via the contact link on the film website for more details

A Tale of Two Barnets - The technical details

I was asked today, by a young film maker from Barnet, who attended the premiere of A Tale of Two Barnets, exactly what the production entailed. Of course Charles Honderick would be the man to ask the technical details, but here is an insight into the logistical exercise. We formally decided to go ahead with the film on the 17th September, six months and two days before the Premiere.

The first exercise was to draw up a list of interviewees. This was originally five people. We then made a list of scenes and images we thought we may use. We decided to make sure we got some of the views of panoramic views from various Barnet sites, a few London Buses, La Deliverance (which became our Icon), St Josephs College (a favourite of mine). In all we interviewed 40 people and featured 22 in the film. Some of the footage was simply unusable due to technical reasons (poor sound quality and background noise), some was not relevant and some people just wanted to recite pre written monologues which were unsuitable to the tone of the film. We shot 25 hours of footage in total, which was edited down to 28 minutes. We also used some footage shot around Mill Hill by my daughter Elizabeth. Most of the driving scenes are her footage. In all I clocked over 200 miles driving Charles and he incurred tube and bus fares of over £140. Charles did the filming on 28 different days, on average spending six hours on each interview with travel time.

Charles did the initial cut of editing in his house over a two week period. He spent nearly 80 hours paring the 25 hours down to about four hours.  This took another 68 hours. He then showed this to me and we discussed the form. This took approximately six hours. Charles then edited this down to approx 1 hour. We then shot more footage, approximately another two hours. This footage was mostly at Cafe Buzz (the parking coffin procession) and the leader and ceo of the Council. We then paired this down to approx 30 mins.

On watching, it became clear that the pace was uneven and some better "stock footage" was needed. A tighter edit was produced and then we added the soundtrack. In places this was used to try and disguise background noise etc, where other methods couldn't mask it. Finally we shot the closing credit footage, and chose a song by Charles band "The Hamptons" as the play out music.It is worth stressing that as Porducer, my role was to bounce ideas off Charles. He made the efforts. We had many heated arguments, but at the end of the day we got a great result.

Once we had the final edit, I had to get the DVD burned and spent approximately 1 week constructing the website. I also spent several days in total on press and plugging activities. On Monday this culminated with a visit to BBC London at 7.15am.

Many people helped us along the way, especially Barnet Alliance for Public Services who spent hours delivering leaflets and planning the premiere. All in all the film was a fantastic effort by the whole community. Charles has made a great film, most of the hard work done in the early hours of the morning in his flat. I believe he deserves great recognition for this labour of love.

If ever you want to truly appreciate how good value he has given, check these videos out, put together by Barnet Council using professional film companies at the cost of several huindred or thousand pounds each - http://www.youtube.com/Barnetcouncil1 - Charles Hondericks film didn't cost the taxpayer a penny !

A Tale of Two Barnets - The Big Smoke interview with Charles Honderick

There is an excellent interview on The Big Smoke with Charles Honderick today. The Big Smoke is London's newest listing site. It has a strong social element and is well worth bookmarking.

Check out the Big Smoke page here detailing the interview  -  http://www.bigsmoke.org.uk/?p=49665 - here is the Youtube clip.

A Tale of Two Barnets - A film you really must see

Every so often, someone tells you about an idea they've had or a project they are working on, which catches your imagination. Charles Honderick is an independent film maker born in Florida. He made a pop video for me a year or so ago and plays in a great band called the Hamptons. A few months ago, I asked him what he was up to on the film making front. "I really fancy doing something different. I am thinking of making a documentary about Barnet". I was rather surprised and enquired why. "Well, 2012 is the two hundredth anniversary of Charles Dickens birth and he set based his famous workhouse scene on life at the Barnet workhouse". He continued "Also in 2012, the eyes of the world will be on London, I think it would be fascinating to see what is going on in one part of London and what the concerns and interests of ordinary people are". I asked what format the film was likely to take "We all talk about reality TV, but what we see isn't really reality at all. Often so called reality TV shows are all about changing individuals situations, rather than chronicling them. People are selected because they look good for television, rather than because they have an interesting story to tell".

So having heard Charles explain his idea, I offered to help him put it together in any way I could. There were two ways in which I explained I could help him. First, as I run a studio, I offered him the use of all facilities we have and any technical backup I could provide. Secondly, through writing a blog and the charity work I do, I have a large list of contacts. I offered to try and introduce Charles to as many people as I could, who I felt had a story to tell. So I introduced Charles to a few people and off he went. Now as Charles is also an extremely nice guy, he took the list of people I gave him, interviewed them and then came back to me and said "Hey Roger, that guy who you suggested I should interview, well he gave me such and such's number and he's introduced me to such an such and you really should have a chat with them about your blog" - which is how I ended up with a whole new team of guest bloggers such as John Sullivan of CADDS, who I'd never met.

After interviewing a couple of dozen people, Charles turned up at the studio one day to show me the footage. I thought it was fantastic. He replied that he was really unhappy with it. Why? "Well there are some really great stories in there, but there is no balance and we get no feel for what sort of a place Barnet really is." Of course, if I was making the film, I'd be more than happy with this, but Charles said "Do you know anyone who could add some context, explain why the Council are doing what they are doing, explain what sort of a community we have?". So I gave it some thought. I have a pretty good relationship with Commander Neil Seabridge, who is the acting chief of Police in Barnet. I asked if he could say a few words about what sort of place Barnet is and what are the hot issues in 2012. Neil kindly agreed. Then I happened to be at a Barnet Council business breakfast, with the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius and CEO Nick Walkley. I though, "hell, why not ask them if they will appear in the film". So I did and to my amazement and their credit, they agreed. So Charles emailed them and went along and interviewed them. I was intrigued, how did the interviews go? "Really well, Richard Cornelius is a really nice chap. He was very friendly and we had a bit of a laugh about a few things". What about Nick Walkley "He was very businesslike". Charles showed me the footage. If it was me, I'd have put both interviews in their entirity on the web. They provide a fascinating insight into exactly what the people running the council think. Charles however was making a film and he wanted to make it work.

He explained about the footage he was using of Richard Cornelius "Too often, these films show politicians as purely two dimensional characters, purely using clips to show them talking about policies. I think it's interesting to see what amuses them, what worries them and how they perceive what they are doing". And the CEO? "He was a bit harder to bring to life as he was very focused on his job and he didn't really let out any insight into Nick Walkley the person." When I saw the cut and how the footage blended with the other cuts, I realised that Charles had got the balance right.

I suggested that Charles might like to interview Brian Coleman. Although I am not a fan, he invariably makes a good subject for anyone who points a camera at him. I suggested to Charles that as he's a Camden resident, he may like to approach him directly. Sadly Brian Coleman didn't get back to him at all. I think it is a shame. I suggested that he might also like to interview Andrew Dismore, who is running against Coleman. Charles replied "If Brian Coleman had agreed to appear, then I might have interviewed his rival, but without him to put his point, it wouldn't really be terribly relevant". Charles explained that the subject of Brian Coleman came up time and time again in interviews. He could have made the whole film about Brian Coleman if he'd wanted to, but as Coleman chose not to appear, Charles chose not to mention him at all. He said "It might be interesting to make a film about him if you could get all the people who like him to appear as well". He then made a good point "The film is really about the stories of the people in it, not about their opinion of someone who they perceive as the bogeyman".

Last night, I watched the near final cut of the film. Charles has spent about two weeks, locked away in his flat, editing the film, working on the soundtrack and trying to make it look as good as possible. I'd previously seen a very roughly chopped version, without the narration, titles etc. It is approx 25 minutes long. He has spliced in plenty of footage shot around Barnet. As Charles is a pennyless filmmaker, I spent a couple of days driving him around Barnet, filming all sorts of things, from signs displaying parking charges, to local landmarks such as the statue of "La Deliverance" at Henleys Corner (which Charles has used as the iconic image of the film), St Josephs College in Mill Hill, estates such as Beaufort Park. I also gave Charles the use of my video library of footage I've shot at council meetings, etc. Strangely much of what he chose to use to illustrate the story wasn't shot by me, but by my daughter Elizabeth for her various art projects. There are some lovely sequences she filmed as we drove around Mill Hill.

When Charles first explained how the film would start in the conversation that lead to our collaboration, he said "I want to start it with some scenes around Barnet, accompanied by the narrator reading the opening lines to "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. In the final cut, the film actually starts with Richard Cornelius talking about La Deliverance. I asked Charles about this. He explained "There is no really universal image or landmark that people instantly associate with Barnet, such as Big Ben in London. It is a beautiful statue and films really well in the light as the sun goes down. There isn't much humour in the film or the subject matter, so it was the best place to put it in. Start on a humourous note. I hope we can really put the statue on the map".

One of the people Charles interviewed, knows iconic British Film director, Ken Loach. They mentioned Charles project to Ken and he expressed an interest in saying a few words about the film. As he is an extremely busy man, he could only be interviewed on a particular day. I got a worried call from Charles, he was in Florida visiting his parents at the time. I arranged for another filmmaker friend of mine, Joe Grahame to film the interview. Ken was very excited about the project and his interview is on the film website. This introduction will precede the film. As Chales couldn't be there and I wasn't 100% sure of what the film would be, Ken is really talking about the early rushes and my thoughts of what I hoped the film would be.

The select few who have seen the (nearly completed) version of the film have been highly impressed with what they've seen. It isn't Hollywood, it isn't even Elstree. What it is though, is an extremely powerful film about real people in Barnet. I think Charles has succeeded beyond my  greatest expectations (pardon the pun) in showing that you don't need to be an oil painting, if you have a story to tell, to make a good cinematic subject.The film also shows that you don't need a huge budget to tell a story. I think that the film is a template that every community should copy. Under Mike Freer's leadership, Barnet Council commissioned a film company to "interview local residents" to show what sort of a place Barnet is. You can see the fruits of their efforts here - http://www.youtube.com/Barnetcouncil1 - although I think it is a good idea for Councils to use this medium to get information across, I despair at the sterile stilted tone of the videos produced. When you see the film Charles has made, you will see a film made by someone with a passion for movie making. I long argued that the money the council has wasted making these films would have been far better spent, by giving it to local schools to encourage film making. Give the kids a camera, editing software and unrestricted access to Councillors and council premises and I believe we'd get fantastic films which are actually watchable.

Which brings us to the Premier of the film. This will be on the 19th March at the Iconic Phoenix Cinema in Finchley at 6pm. The Phoenix is one of the finest cinemas in London, if not the world. It is only fitting that the film be shown here. We are hoping that as many people as possible will come to see the film.

Charles has made a film that anyone who is interested in life, people and communities will find fascinating. Whilst I believe the appeal of the film will be go far beyond the boundaries of the Borough,  if you live in the London Borough of Barnet, are at all interested in the place and the people who live here, you really shouldn't miss it, because this is your town.

You can find out more about the film at the official film website. Please pass this on and tell all of your friends about it. The website will be added to constantly as more information, footage, stills, trailers and clips are added.


http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/