Axelle stands

Oh, it’s all go now.

Another two days of production carnage finally spits me out again long enough to let you know what we’ve been up to. And it’s all moving in the right direction.

The in-depth discussions with the Premises and Facilities teams of the potential new college are in full flow. Is there a First Aider on the crew? Who is going to be producing your Risk Assessment documentation? Do we need to be CRB checked? Yesterday spawned another extremely positive meeting, as Jake and I were gradually helped out from under our angst-lined location clouds.

This time we had a guided tour around the college, ticking off our planned filming spots, and we wound up chatting about the project with the staff in the Film and Media department. Guys – it’s a standing invite to come and join in with the production fun, should you think that the best thing to do with a summer holiday is more school.

We have now cast eight out of nine of our main characters, and I am stoked beyond measure with the talent that we have assembled. This is the posse with whom we're going to be spending three weeks in a darkened room, and I genuinely can’t wait. One word of warning – after the visit to the college we had a quick straw-poll around the crew, and it looks like I'm the only trained First Aider. Anybody thinking of developing chest pains on set would do well to give me a day’s notice so I can shave and brush my teeth beforehand.

I’m pleased to report another Charmed win with the catering. Anybody on the shoot this summer is in for a treat. A local business one-stop-shop for hot meals, sandwiches and cakes, freshly cooked each day and delivered directly to us. Jake and I chatted the logistics over with the boss, Mark, and sampled their fine wares, officially making this the first Encona-less lunch since we kicked the film off.

Mark is a mad horror fan, and you can commend him on his nibbles when he goes native in our horde. A couple of his pals even featured in the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie, driving two horse-drawn carriages with Johnny Depp strung between them (if this makes any sense – I haven’t seen the film). I think this means that I’m now only one degree-of-separation away from someone who has gone on to become a Lego figure.

And it seems that the Zombies on an Oil Rig concept has kicked off a bit of to-and-fro in the Twittersphere (a word which trips off my 41-year-old fingers with the same generational unease that I get when reading my Mum trying out text-speak). Disappointingly, it appears that Neil Marshall has got there first – none other than Axelle ‘Mrs Neil Marshall’ Carolyn waded into the debate with news of his existing screenplay. All well and good, Axelle, but does he have an Oil Rig? Gushing.