Markham – Matthew Cooper Director

8 December 2022

From When The Earth To The Shadows Over Innsmouth – Matthew Cooper Director

Wow, it’s been a crazy few months – we released my third horror feature film (in as many years) When The Earth Gives Up The Dead free to view on my YouTube Channel on Halloween 2022 – which resulted in over a thousand new subscribers to my channel in less than a month. The other two films in the Sekurig Trilogy were also put free to view on YouTube too.

Since then, I moved straight into a fourth horror film (and second to be shot this year!) H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth (2023) which I’ve written directed and already shot – a four day shoot which took place on location in Staithes and Whitby in early December. The film is (of course) based on H.P. Lovecraft’s tale of terror in a seaside town.

Lovecraft Adaptation

The film stars Ashe Russell and Tony Coughlan (who were both in the Sekurig trilogy) but this time the film is a straight forward Lovecraft adaptation (we’ve updated it to the present day).

This film will be in colour, and will finally feature some old school stop motion animation – done by the guys at Warehouse Transmedia.

The film will be released sometime before April 2023.

Amazon Comedy release for Sober (2023)

I have another completely different feature film to direct in April 2023 – SOBER – a comedy, which will be a welcome change of pace. We have high hopes for that film – and an Amazon streaming release WILL be on the cards for that film (and hopefully a slightly wider audience).

Moving further forward – there will be another HUGE trilogy in the works – this time it will be a sci-fi / fantasy / horror – hybrid, mixing old school SFX with Unreal Engine tech.

On top of all this my bread and butter work as a script writer for hire and UK script consultant keeps me busy.

So, I think this will be my blogpost of the year. Merry Christmas and good luck for 2023. Keep checking back next year, for more regular updates.

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021 and his third horror feature film (and final part of The Sekurig Trilogy) When The Earth Gives Up The Dead (2022) was released on Halloween 2022.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

24 August 2022

When The Earth Gives Up The Dead – release date drops on GOTH CHRISTMAS 31st OCT 2022

Crash bang wallop – When the Earth Gives Up the Dead the last of the Sekurig trilogy of horror films will be released on HALLOWEEN 2022 – that’s right GOTH Christmas.

Keep checking back for more updates…

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. Matthew is also a judge in the Page Turner Awards 2022.

7 April 20227 April 2022

When the Earth Gives up The Dead – coming soon…

I’m currently deep in post production on When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) – which will be out later this year… For now, he’s a few taster images from the film (which is the most amazing looking thing I’ve ever worked on)…

Keep checking back for more news…

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. Matthew is also a judge in the Page Turner Awards 2022.

8 March 2022

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) – Principle Photography has WRAPPED

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) is a wrap – the live action sequences at least are now in the bag – this, the third film in my Lovecraft Trilogy (which includes ‘Markham’ and ‘At the Mountains of Madness’) is now moving into a heavy post production phase that will include loads of exciting SFX sequences as well as some knock-out old school Stop Motion animation provided by the Warehouse Transmedia Wrecking Crew.

Below are a few behind the scenes shots from our last day of shooting.

Behind the scenes on ‘When The Earth Gives Up The Dead’ Directed by Matthew Cooper

Keeping checking back for more exciting updates.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

15 January 2022

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) – preview images drop

Hey hey, as regular readers will know I’m busy as a bee at the moment shooting When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) which is my third film as a director and the final part of our low budget Lovecraft trilogy, which I started filming all the way back in 2019.

This, the final film of the three is going to be a bit of a surprise to some with much more action, and even a touch more humour than ‘Markham’ and ‘At The Mountains of Madness’.

This film, had the biggest budget of three films we’ve made, and the longest shooting schedule. Remember you can still purchase ‘Markham’ or ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ on DVD click here.

The shoot continues into the spring – and all being well When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) will be out sometime in the late summer of 2022.

For now, here’s a few images from the film – which stars Tony Coughlan and Ashe Russell.

Keep checking back for more info…

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

23 September 202123 September 2021

Dark Eyes of London put their focus on Matthew Cooper director

David Dent is a horror and fantasy films critic who has set himself an incredible task of cataloguing every British fantasy film from 2020 onwards across on his blog Dark Eyes of London.

While doing this, David came across my feature debut as a director Markham (2020), which he was enthusiastic about. He then followed this up with some very kind words about my second film At the Mountains of Madness (2021).

David has been so supportive that when he launched his Dark Eyes of London fanzine in print, he feature both films in the first issue, and myself and the team are really honoured to feature in the fanzine – because apart from anything, the magazine is a brilliant read.

With the world wide web appearing many moons ago printed fanzines kind of died a death – but it’s so nice to actually have a printed copy of something (and I say this as a digital first person).

I remember buying horror fanzines like Deep Red back in the 80s and this magazine is along those lines.

If you want to buy a copy its £3 and you’ll have to track down the author on Twitter – David Dent – Dark Eyes of London – Twitter handle (@darkeyesofldn)

Also in the mag are directors Louisa Warren (Curse of the Scarecrow) , Tom Lee Rutter (The Pocket Film of Superstitions) and Charlie Steeds (Death Ranch).

I guarantee you’ll end up buying some DVDs or streaming some films you’ve never heard of – which is kind of the point.

You can buy Markham on VOD here. You can also buy At the Mountains of Madness on VOD here.

If you want to purchase either film on DVD click here.

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

16 August 202116 August 2021

Welcome to Wakeywood -Backstage at an XR/VR/Unreal Engine event Production Park in Pontefract

Its official! The Pontefract / Wakefield area in Yorkshire is the new Hollywood – I’m not making this up!

I spent a couple of days last week at the Backstage Academy on the rapidly growing Production Park in Pontefract, which is home to the some fabulous students, some super engineers, some amazing sound stages and the about to be world famous XPLOR Innovation Centre. Which is a £6m+ Backstage Academy project, partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and based on Production Park.

What do these guys do? Well, they make the unreal possible – they make reality virtual, and they lead the way in XR and VR production in the UK.

Everybody has seen how Disney has used game Software ‘Unreal Engine’ to create the world of ‘The Mandolorian‘ – with everything shot on sound stages that are basically huge TVs, the walls, the floor and the roof of the stage, all reflecting a reality that can be manipulated with the touch of a button.

Lighting can be controlled within this virtual reality, and cameras specially designed to work with the software can create a real sense of movement, actual spatial reality, and a photo realistic representation within the studio itself – so the actors, can see and feel the universe in which they’re performing (making this software so much better than old school greenscreen or chroma key for performers). These VR soundstages are changing production, and they’re changing where production takes place.

The UK has always had great film and TV technicians – but up at Wakefield at the Production Park – they have great film and TV technicians AS WELL as engineers well versed in the build and manufacture of these VR stages. They’ve also got students trained especially to run these stages (which often need a couple of dedicated servers and a crew of at least four or five highly trained people to get the most from the stage.) These students are doing degree level learning ON THESE STAGES…

So Wakefield is becoming a VR/XR film production hub – because the expertise is here in Yorkshire. But there are other reasons why this new tech is becoming so popular.

The environment is on everyone’s mind, and rightly so. Film producers and production companies are beginning to get asked about ‘Carbon Footprint’ and the days of huge convoys of production trucks (or 747s flying cast and crew across the globe) are beginning to be frowned on.

It won’t be long until films need to balance their carbon footprint. And that’s where XR/VR production comes into its own…

In the next few years (or even RIGHT NOW) it will be possible to shoot ANY type of film /TV show or series ENTIRELY on a sound stage in Wakefield. The same way that Disney Shot The Mandolorian – but the Mando is fantasy – XR/VR productions can make REALITY look real too – and when producers get wise to that – the WHOLE show can be on the same XR stage – no need to jetset, no need for convoys of crew to each location – the whole play can be put on right here (in Wakefield).

I recently moved from Leeds to Wakefield – partly because I’m keen to get involved in one of the biggest shifts this industry has ever seen.

Welcome to Wakeywood. You read it here first….

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

3 August 20213 August 2021

Tip of the hat to Phil – the genius behind Mad God

After the two low budget horror films Markham and At The Mountains Of Madness one of my upcoming projects requires a lot of old school stop motion effects and miniature work. I’m looking forward to getting my hands dirty one-frame at a time – but any sort of stop motion work is a huge undertaking.

One of the last great practitioners of stop motion animation is Phil Tippett – Phil was the AT-AT man on Empire Strikes Back as well as the genius behind Robocop and Starship Troppers amazing special effects.

But almost in secret and in his spare time between Hollywood projects Phil has been working away on his own feature length stop-mo epic. Mad God has been 30 YEARS! That’s right -30YEARS- in the making, but from the trailer below it looks like it will have been more than worth the wait.

I just hope that my project using these effects doesn’t take as long to finish.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

25 January 202121 March 2021

Buy Markham – Low budget Horror Film shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove

My low budget horror feature film ‘Markham’ shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove and on set in Leeds is getting a lot of local interest in the lovely, picturesque areas it was shot.

Markham was almost entirely improvised with the actors, inspired some great locations in Staithes and the surrounding area, it’s based loosely on the short story ‘Shadow Over Innsmouth’ by H.P. Lovecraft.

Markham was shot in 2019 and 2020 on a low budget, and was initially released in 2020, it’s available to buy here, just click add to basked and we’ll get one in the post.

The film has had pretty decent reviews – like the one here by David Dent a prominent horror reviewer (scroll down the pages to the section on ‘Markham’).

There are a couple of different trailers and images below showing some of the local area used in the film.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire, UK Script editor and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. His UK script coverage service, Script reading service and script development service are highly sought after.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can contact Matthew directly to purchase his ebook The UK Soap Opera Script Writers Handbook.

9 January 2021

Editing and Post Production on – At The Mountains of Madness – Matthew Cooper Director

I’m one week into post production on my second feature film as a director – ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (ATMOM) and already, the process is much smoother than on my first feature film Markham which was released in 2020.

On ‘Markham’ we used improvisation, and never had a real script or storyline. While this made ‘Markham’ a pretty unique film, it also made it hugely hard work.

‘ATMOM’ had a script, I didn’t entirely stick to it, but for the most part, the actors had set lines to learn, we had set scenes and a pretty strict structure too. And, that has made making the film and editing it soooo much easier.

As a script writer for hire and in demand script consultant of course, I should know this myself. Yes, everything works better with a good script – but it’s a gentle reminder to the director in me to get the script working before you do anything else – something I didn’t do with Markham, I almost attempted to write the film after we’d shot it. A mad idea.

ATMOM is already looking like a winner, like Markham it’s a horror film based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. It’s the second film in what will be a low budget trilogy of horror films based on Lovecraft stories.

All being the well, the film be finished very soon, for a late April release. Keep checking back more info.

As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.