Wednesday 1 August 2007

Progress Report (and ‘Power of Three’ Call Out)

It’s August already. Phew! I’m still keeping busy and have lots of projects on the go, which is great for my morale but doesn’t do much for the frequency of postings to this blog – I apologise for any breaks in transmission you may be experiencing. Still, there are already many (almost too many) lovely things out there to read and view: Robin Kelly has been posting on a method for developing a screenplay to enter into the Red Planet prize that I recommended highly. And head Shooter-scribe Andy Conway’s podcast with Tony Jordan is a must listen.

Besides enjoying those, here is what I’ve been up to:

Shorts. I’m in development on two 10-minute shorts with two wonderful directors, ‘Santa Baby’, a comedy, and a drama, ‘Second Date’. More details as things progress.

Radio. I’m currently finishing the latest draft of a 45-minute radio play, ‘Lollipops and Samaritans’. This will be sent in to the BBC Writers’ Room as my “Invite Next” script.

Features. Through August I will be redrafting ‘Sold Out’, the film screenplay that was short-listed in the Euroscript competition this year. The producer that I met through the Cheltenham Festival ScriptMarket wants to see the next draft, and Screen South may well be prepared to provide some development funding for it. This is encouraging, and makes up for some less good news on the feature front - the separate, paid feature gig that I had a chance of getting seems to be on hold at the moment. I still have hopes that it’ll happen one day, though.

TV. I’ve submitted something for the TAPS Nations and Regions showcase for Soap Writing. Has anyone else taken part in this scheme in the past, or applied to it this year? Fingers crossed for you, if you have.

Red Planet. I’ve completed a first draft of a 30-min TV screenplay called ‘Normal’ which is a possible entry for Tony Jordan’s screenwriting competition. I’m looking for kindly bloggers who are able to give me some Power of Three feedback on this script: if anyone is interested, please e-mail me (the address is in my profile). I will, of course, be prepared to return the favour. Cheers m’ dears.

That all seems much more impressive written down. I thought I was being lazy over the last few weeks: for a start, I took a couple of days out to read the Harry Potter book when it came out, to avoid seeing any spoilers posted on-line by insensitive souls. Great read. Can you believe that she killed off [censored]?

8 comments:

DAVID BISHOP said...

I've applied for TAPS too, but being in Scotland I'm Natons, not Regions. I thnk Piers was throwig in hat in the Regions ring.

Oli said...

Happy to help with PO3ing, especially as it's short!

Piers said...

Yep, I've chucked the first ten pages of Bingo in for Regions. Wonder when we'll hear?

martin said...

having troble with my e mail, but hit me with some po3 action big boy!

i entered a taps competition last year - it took them nearly nine months to annonce the winner - and the results STILL arent on the website! I had to email them (several times) to find out I hadnt won. They did say they'd sent me a letter, but it never turned up. So decided not to bother this year!!

Stuart Perry said...

Thanks to everyone who's contacted about the PO3 - you're all wonderful and kind. I have my three for the first round (one of whom is you, David - Cheers! - I'll send the script out tonight).

Oli, Martin - can I put you down for the next round, once I've done some redrafting? Shouldn't be long to wait.

Piers, the deadline for Regions is tomorrow, and the workshops are early in September, so it can't be more than a couple of weeks until we hear, I should think.

Oli said...

That's dandy. Looking forward to it.

Jason Arnopp said...

Lots going on with you, sir. Keep it up, or John Barrowman says it's the carousel for you.

martin said...

Sweet