A new interview with Moe Acharki in the Gibraltar Chronicle looks back on our work together, and hints at what’s coming next.
Following the success of The Cost of the Crown, Moe gave an interview with his local paper. The interview goes into the making of the film, the challenges of working on two projects at once and hints at what we’re working on next.
It’s very early days on that project, and you never know how things are going to go. We know roughly where we’re heading towards and have a mountain of reference films and materials we’re exploring. But we’re also not in any rush on this one. Either way, we’re having fun exploring what it might end up being.
Moe and I have worked on a number of projects together, including The Eyes in the Box, The Haunted House Hotel and The Cost of the Crown.
I’m extremely proud to announce that I’ve been shortlisted for this year’s Dinesh Allirajah Prize.
I’m not able to speak about the story yet. It will be available as part of an anthology published by Comma Press.
Organisers set up The Dinesh Allirajah Prize after Dinesh’s death in 2014. It was a reflection of his love of writing short fiction. This is the ninth year for the prize.
Our stories had to be on the theme of Fandom, which allowed me to revisit an idea I’d actually vaguely had back in 2010 or so, for a competition that I think involved Terry Pratchett. It’s always so cathartic to finally get a long-held idea on paper, and doubly so when it not only find a home, but is shortlisted for an award.
Tickets for the online prize giving event are available from here. You can read the original press release (if you have a Book Brunch subscription) here.
A little while ago The Haunted House Hotel was shown at In The Palace, an Oscar-qualifying festival in Bulgaria. We were in the Best Short Student Fiction category. Director Moe Acharki and actor Bojidar Nikolov gave an interview during the festival. That interview is now available to read on the In The Palace website.
They spelled my name wrong in the transcript, but what Moe and Bojidar said was very flattering.
Moe said:
I asked the British writer Matt Grocott (Sic) to write the script, which he did in two days based on some very odd criteria: 15 minutes, four characters, crime mystery, documentary, and the 1990s. It was a very bizarre combination, but he made it work, and that’s the film we ended up making.
It’s the only comedy I’ve ever made, and I’m still not entirely sure how it worked, but it did. I think it’s mainly because Matt wrote such a beautiful, funny script. He has a great sense of humor. And I had a very passionate, motivated team, especially considering how fast the production was.
And Bojidar added:
We had a lot to manage in only a few days, it was definitely a challenge. But having real professionals in the crew, and having Moe and Matt’s script, made everything easier.
The full interview is very interesting, and goes to show how much we went through putting this film together in only a few days. It really was a small miracle that it turned out at all, and that’s thanks to the hard work of Moe, Bojidar and the rest of the fantastic cast and crew.
The Haunted House Hotel, written by me and directed by Moe Acharki, was shown at the prestigious In The Palace short film festival. Audiences loved it, and it was one of a number of incredible films shown at the festival.
Moe and Bojidar filming the Q&A
Moe – who I’ve worked with on several projects including The Eyes in the Box – spoke about the film alongside lead actor Bojidar Nikolov during a Q&A session.
We shot the film at Nu Boyana in Sofia in 2023, and we all remain extremely proud of it.
Moe said: “Truly a blast and what a great way to remind myself why I do what I do! I wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for the hard work and dedication of the whole Haunted House Hotel team.”
The Q&A session goes through the unusual speed of production, where the concept came from and the few hours I had to write a pilot-length script. We were also working on our upcoming film The Cost of the Crown at the same time.
I travelled to Bulgaria to see the production on both films and was impressed by the incredible talent and dedication of both cast and crew. It was an incredible experience, and I’m happy to see the film doing well.
Synopsis:
Welcome to the Haunted House Hotel! The rooms are okay, the owner dangerously quirky and the murders deliciously unsolved. Although that might be about to change.
When Edward DeWitt rises from the grave to solve his own murder, he brings along a camera so he can finally release a world-famous documentary.
But will he solve the riddle of his death? Will the love of his life return his affections? And is Hollywood ready to accept its first deceased documentarian?
The Haunted House Hotel is a murder mystery comedy about love, loss, and ectoplasm.
