Eugene Bullard

Charlie – indeed!

I have had worse knocks, for sure, but have learnt these last few years that this industry is inhabited by some quite dishonest folk.

I wont go into detail, but another series that cropped up about 18 months ago arose out of an off-the-cuff suggestion I made to a producer who was having a general discussion with me in his quest for ideas. I thought no more of it, especially since we both agreed (then) that “…it was a naff idea” and “would never work”. But I should have thought a little more of it. Imagine my surprise (I shouldn’t have been!) when the same production company came back to me months later saying “We have come up with this idea…..” Yep! You are ahead of me, I guess! The rest is history, and the series ran. I should have been involved, but a falling out left me telling them to Foxtrox Oscar, so to speak.

That said, I shouldn’t tar all with the same brush – by a long way.

From a personal point of view I can understand your dismay, but these things happen as you are more than aware. A now deceased friend of mine was a lawyer specialising in movies and movie contracts and I never ceased to be amazed at the some of the stories of connivance, manipulation, deception, duplicity and general underhand sh***tiness that went on. How apt your canine phrase is. But spare the old boy – he won’t be with us much longer and perhaps knows not what he does, or what is done in his name.

Ah-I was thinking your dismay was simply a result of the awful pun chosen for the title…

Yes, the working title was taken from the motto on his Spad but my agent had recently changed the working title, anyway.

Not a wrangle as far as I’m concerned. Nothing that can be done about it.

Anyway, must dash. Lots more pins to stick into this little Attenborough doll. 🙂

Andy, it’s a shame there’s already a wrangle attached to it.
Your working title was I think the title of the original biography of the man, and that was taken from a the motto on the fuselage of his SPAD VII.
Certainly a worthwhile subject for a film I think.
Andy.

I’ve been interested in Bullard for some time.
Why dismay..?

Dismay because I pitched this as an idea to Attenborough in 2000 in a fairly comprehensive document. The proposal was “All Blood Runs Red” and I have since touted it around to other production companies etc. After a meeting with Lion Films just before Christmas it was agreed that the proposal, about which they were hugely enthusiastic, would be discussed at a meeting they had set up with major ‘players’ in Turin on 12 March. Not now, I suspect!

Trouble is, the story was already out there in the public domain and there is no copyright on that idea. However, the idea that this did not arise from my pitch is highly improbable and implausible.

So, dismayed? Yes. The nature of the beast when you deal with these people, sometimes. If you lay down with dogs etc etc….

I first came across Eugene Bullard in either a ‘Cross & Cockade’ or ‘Over the Front’ journal about 25 years ago. Since then I’ve pieced together bits and pieces on him, including a couple of biographies written about him. I’ve got a lot of time for his story and what a life he had.

I was saddened when this film appeared to have been put on the shelf due to Attenborough’s health so I am puzzled that the news of its revival causes dismay. Can you enlighten us?

I’ve been interested in Bullard for some time.
Why dismay..?