FYN DAY

Fyn Day has benefited from studying under the guidance of several significant writers, including Syd Field and Robert McKee, but one of the first was F E Smith (Frederick E Smith, author of more than thirty published novels including the 633 Squadron series). F E and Fyn struck up a correspondence friendship after they met at a writing course mastered by F E at West Dean College, just north of Chichester. F E advised against the taking of a creative writing degree, suggesting instead that "real writers really write" and that time spent with "your bum on a chair writing" is more important than time spent with "your arse in a class studying". Nevertheless, it was F E Smith who wrote Fyn a reference in support of his application to do a Masters, and it was F E who was the first to congratulate Fyn when he earned his place. Later, Fyn came to agree that there is no teaching a writer 'how to', and there is no substitute for time spent with "your bum on a chair writing". F E was right. However, the MA experience was not without its virtues. The discipline of a degree, and the exposure of new writing to the rigorous evaluation of academic staff and fellow students, ensured that the work produced had been properly critiqued. As an inexperienced writer this was in itself invaluable, but became of critical importance later when ignorant misinterpretations of the novel were published. Fyn took comfort in knowing that the material had both academic and artistic merit, and whatever else can be said of 'The Alice Factor', it cannot be suggested that it was anything other than an earnest attempt to deal with important issues maturely. Hugo Donnelly, who tutored at University College Chichester, honed Fyn's approach to style, recognising influences such as Nick Hornby, Vladimir Nabokov, and Blake Morrison, but it was F E who had already given Fyn his approach to dealing with contentious subjects. 'The Alice Factor' is a story that rages against the horror of child abuse. F E (who also wrote as David Farrell) spoke of the difference between a "headshot" and a "heart shot". The former sets out to change the way people think about a subject, it preaches and gives a readership enough time to dig their heals in and resist the change. Whereas the latter aims to change the way people feel about a subject, it involves them with identifiable characters affected by the issues until without warning a readership is moved. 'The Alice Factor' is a heart shot, a fictionalised account of the true abuse suffered by Fyn's first wife, Kim, during her childhood, but revealing that the effects of such abuse long outlive that abuse, and maul the lives of many not even cognisant of the original evil. F E used to say he wrote one book for his publisher, and one for himself. The ones for himself were invariably "heart shots" dealing with issues such as racism and prejudice, it's a shame they were all outsold by those for his publisher. He now lives in Southbourne in Bournemouth, and still receives enquiries from all over the world asking for information about 633 Squadron and its characters.

In July 2007 Fyn Day moved his production company, Running Legend Film Ltd, from the rented offices at Big Yellow in Portsmouth, which had served them well for more than 3 years, to a permanent site near Fareham just a few miles along the coast. The old Big Yellow office won't be forgotten though; its image has been preserved for posterity since it was used as the set for Running Legend's short film production Daydream. The new self-contained building, which has a small open studio on the ground floor and offices upstairs, has been called "Deltaworks" to reflect the fact that it provides a base for three (a delta is triangular) different businesses. These are the parent company Mr Blue Sky Limited which owns Running Legend and holds the lease on Deltaworks, as well as being active in IT consultancy and publishing; Signalize, a corporate video company, owned partly by Running Legend (the remainder of shares being equally divided among the three directors) that specializes in video production and commercial promotion through moving image; and, of course, Running Legend Film Ltd itself, which is currently active in developing several short film and feature projects. "I like the offices at Big Yellow," said Fyn Day in April 2006 on the set of Running Legend's short film production The Sister Resurrection. "There is nothing pretentious about a company operating from an 8 foot square serviced office above a self-storage lock up. We hold auditions there and are very open about our lack of size, and lack of money. Hollywood this isn't, and after attending a casting at Big Yellow no-one can hold any illusion about our status! At least we're in the offices and not operating from a lock up. Someone once said that we were. I don't know if that was laziness or spite, but in truth Running Legend has never misrepresented itself. What would it gain? I'd rather be underestimated than overblown." For the first few years of its existence whilst providing production support for other people's film projects, Running Legend operated from Fyn Day's home office. It only moved to an office at Big Yellow when collaborating with a company already based there. "I was reluctant to take on any office, no matter how modest," said Fyn Day in July 2008 on the anniversary of the company's move to Deltaworks. "It's ironic that the 'established' company we followed to Big Yellow proved themselves so incompetent as to be forced out of Big Yellow into some mother's attic or something! Now I'm the first to recognise that Running Legend is scrabbling around in the dirt looking for money to finance its first feature, but that's the nature of filmmaking in the UK, and at least we are still scrabbling, still fighting. We have a firm foundation and are making progress every month. There are good people in this industry and Running Legend is working with more and more of them. We have the integrity, the creativity, and the durability to take the fight all the way."

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