COG DIARIES
The Cog Diaries follows 62-year-old filmmaker and artist Rob Perrett as he tries to build Microscopic Cog Films, develop new projects, raise money and get films made against the odds. Along the way, it captures the ideas, frustrations, setbacks, small victories and sheer bloody mindedness of trying to make ambitious creative work at a stage in life when most people would probably be planning their retirement.
At its heart, the series is about the reality of independent filmmaking as it happens: developing scripts, finding finance, building an audience, designing campaigns, creating artwork and gradually pushing projects closer to production. Rather than presenting a polished success story after the event, The Cog Diaries records the uncertainty, problem solving and occasional wins that are part of the work itself.
But filmmaking is only part of the story. The Cog Diaries is also about the person behind the work — the experiences and influences that continue to shape Rob as a filmmaker and artist in his sixties, and the persistence required to keep creating without the money, machinery or resources of a major production company.
The series approach is cinematic in presentation, but deliberately personal, direct and sometimes a little tatty at the edges. This is not a perfectly manufactured piece of TV, it is a record of someone trying to make it happen.
New material is recorded throughout the working week and shaped into regular long-form episodes for YouTube, creating an evolving record of Rob, Microscopic Cog Films and the projects he is determined to bring to life.