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I think I have a decent chance of finishing the first draft of script 1 of series 4 of Relativity by the end of August. Given I had hoped to do this by the end of May this is not a terrific result. I will have two months to do the other five (and then do second drafts). But based on past experience I will do this and you probably won't be able to tell the difference between the ones I've fretted over for months and those I tossed off in seven days.
I assumed after the mildly Hellish and busy weekend that I would flake out today, but my brain was pretty sharp (if still a little dizzy) and my only real challenge was to make the extreme effort to get my arse in the chair and actually write. I was in the unusual position of pretty much knowing the shape and plot of the last few scenes, but still my laptop was acting as some kind of comedian repellant and it was hard to get close enough to get on with it.
But when I did sit down I was happy with the dialogue that magically appeared from nowhere and had funny ideas that were bursting spontaneously on to the screen - my favourite extended bit was about dipping your toe back in the water and how that made the toe water feel (funnier than it sounds - or maybe not, I won't find out until the actors read it). I feel I could have finished today with a proper push, but hope I can complete the remaining two scenes tomorrow morning. I probably spent 50% of my time perfecting the scenes that I have had written for four months. Writing a script never really finishes until you've recorded it.
On Twitter I get an awful of people asking if I was in such or such a place today because they think they have seen me. Nearly always it isn't me, but just a slightly chubby man with brown/grey hair and a beard. There are an awful lot of men who look like this it seems. This weekend I was asked if I was at a festival by a guy who said his wife was convinced she'd met me. I told him I wasn't and the wife then contacted me to say she couldn't believe it as she'd had a 5 minute conversation with me about the podcast which "I" happily joined in with. She sent me a photo of her with me, and the cheeky fucker who had pretended to be me was beaming at the camera. There was a mild similarity (though he had teeth more like Rob Beckett), though the lady in question did say she was better with voices than faces and said he'd sounded just like me. Luckily he had been friendly and polite, but the fake Richard Herrings are sometimes rude or shouting obscenities (which to be fair, is commitment to the brand).
It's pretty weird someone happily pretending to be me, when (if they look like me) they have a shot at pretending to be Brad Pitt or at least Charley Boorman. I find it slightly worrying, but also quite funny, that this fake Richard Herring committed to it and also allowed his photo to be taken so that people would be able to get his joke down the line. I wonder what benefits he is getting from pretending to be me. Not much, because I am me and I don't get anything. But there was that time I got one pound off my key cutting bill and I hate to think about this guy saving a penny or two a year by hoodwinking gullible podcast fans.
I am tempted to post his photo here so you can help me track him down and we can punish him for his crime, but as long as he doesn't start breaking laws then I guess we'll let him get away with it. If only because I pity him for having to happily pretend to be me. I'd like to think that most of the clones of this look would be ashamed by the comparison.
