Back Home from 'Nham

Back from the Cheltenham Festival to masses of work of the writing kind, the Day Job kind, and the household kind. And I had a bit of sleep to catch up on too.

I will be posting a write-up of the two professional days soon - it won't be exhaustive, but it should be informative. In the meantime, my overall impressions:

The administration was very efficient for the most part. The sessions were excellent - a good mix of information-packed sessions, and the more after-dinner style speakers with wonderful Hollywood war stories. The food was expensive, but the tea was free. And there was always a KFC five minutes outside the venue, if one fancied a variety meal (I did - I'm not proud, I was hungry).

I had a great script meeting while I was there, and managed to pitch a project to a producer. It went disastrously, but that's another story (good thing I wasn't on stage!)

I met many wonderful writers, some I already knew, some whose blogs I read, and some whom I was meeting for the first time. Aside from the speakers, it seems there weren't many writers making a living from screenwriting alone, but quite a few who make a living solely from writing in various media, or with an industry day job (which, I think is a pretty good show for a random sample of screenwriters in the UK).

I am saving the pennies now, so that I can go for all four days next year. Take no notice of the Newbie/Professional split - you really need to get as much Screenwriters' Festival as you can in 2008.