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]?

Pearls from Cheltenham

I've settled on a different approach to covering the Cheltenham Screenwriters' Festival, as so many others have covered things in depth elsewhere. So here are a few soundbites that stuck in my head over the two professional days, all of which seemed wise:

Be a writer-producer, either in reality or in your mind: think like a filmmaker when you are writing (Bill Nicholson)

Read books on negotiating – beware of saying ‘Yes’ to your first offer, or signing whatever contract is put in front of you (David Kavanagh)

Join the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain and make use of its services (Julian Friedmann)

No one owes you a living as a screenwriter. If you think the money or treatment isn’t good enough – do something else (Julian, again, sugar-coating things as always - don't hold back, Julian, tell us how you really feel!!)

He's right, of course; but, to balance it out:

A professional is an amateur who didn't quit (Stuart Perry, but I'm only passing it on - I must have read it somewhere, possibly in Julian's wonderful ScriptWriter magazine)

Change the system for the better in whatever small way you can (Valentin Tubau)

Try to work on projects that excite you, or you find fun. A film will only be any good, if the writer has had fun doing it (Michael Goldenburg)

Tell the truth – it saves time (Michael Goldenburg again - and he backed this up with a great story about Tom Hanks, who - as producer of a film that Michael was in line to write - pitched his producer's idea of how the story would work. Michael thought about it overnight, and said 'No, I can't write it in that way, but good luck with it". Within days, Hanks was banging down his door to say "Okay then, how would you write it?")

The best notes are from people who know about life, not necessarily those who know about writing ((Sir) David Hare)

Advice is terribly cheap. If someone offers you input when they have no investment - monetary or emotional - in the project, disregard that advice (Sir David, again, who had a wonderful analogy for this behaviour: the people giving advice without investment are like the blondes in Casino movies that stand behind the cigar-chomping rich guys and say "Put it all on red, honey". If you don't pay, you don't get a place at the table!)

Good writing finds its way – it may take time, but it finds its way (Diana Ossana)

The battles you have when making a screenplay work will ultimately be battles with yourself. How far can you go against your own integrity? (Anthony Horowitz)

And this was only a fraction of the pearls of wisdom on offer. But I'm mindful that I haven't got any comments from the last two big sessions on the final day. So , a brief note on each:

Simon Oakes, of Hammer films, is working on building a slate of horror pictures - aiming for at least five low budget pics per year. He may be remaking some classic Hammer films, but he's also looking to the future, particularly for psychological horror scripts. You can pitch projects to Hammer, as long as you have an agent or a lawyer.

Stephen Frears. What can you say? If you get the chance, see him speak - he's always a good performer, and the unprepared interviewer should beware. But he also has some wonderful information for writers and directors. The main thing I took away from his session was that, if one can, one should work with a director like Stephen Frears, or - if one is really lucky - a director who is Stephen Frears. He brings no preconceptions to the project he wants to work on next, he just finds a script that excites him and makes as good a film as possible from it. And he works with the writer at every stage to achieve that. The results speak for themselves.

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.

Off to the Screenwriters' Festival

Going straight from work tomorrow to Cheltenham, so I probably won't be able to post for a couple of days. I'll be sure to report back at the weekend. Ta ta!

You win some, you lose some

I was going to post with the nice news that I have made it to the last ten in the Euroscript Screenplay competition. But before I could get finger to keyboard, Euroscript put the shortlist in their latest mailing, and posted it on Shooting People. So, everyone probably already knows. Thanks to all who have posted or emailed me their congratulations. Much appreciated.

I'm bowled over by this news. As I hadn't heard about it for a while, I just assumed I hadn't got anywhere. Hooray! The winner and two runners up will be announced on Tuesday at Cheltenham; alas I won't be there. I could only afford to go for two days, and I plumped for the latter two.

My plan of winning the pitching competition to get another two days at the festival has not worked - I didn't make the final ten for that one. It's probably just as well: I'd have had to beg the Day Job for some last minute leave, and I'd have had to get up in front of a crowd and pitch, which - I must admit - was making me feel a bit apprehensive (read: scared stiff).

I would like to have been in the audience for the final pitches though, but I'm sure they'll be blogged about, or covered in ScriptWriter magazine. In the meantime, there's Lucy's competition for all the pitches that got away. I want to do a bit of work on mine before submitting it - is that allowed, Luce?

Oh, and a non-writing PS: My young lad started walking this week. He can go a few metres in a controlled way, without holding onto anything. It's amazing.

Slight Return

Apologies for the break in transmission; unfortunately, this is not because I’ve been on holiday like some other folks out there in Blogland (chance would be a fine thing!) but because I’ve been tremendously busy. Which is nice. Things what I have been doing:

Having meetings. I have been lucky enough to have three meetings in the last week. Two were for short film projects that now seem to be a definite go. The third meeting was for a feature, and I’m keeping everything crossed. I’m too superstitious to add anything more at the moment.

Preparing for the Screenwriter’s Festival. I’m going for the second half. I’ve entered a script into the market, and I’ve submitted a pitch (if it makes the final ten, I can go for the first two days as well – if the Day Job lets me have the time off).

Getting the best rejection I’ve ever had. The BBC Writers’ Room got back to me about my radio play. It got two reads, and I was given some very positive feedback. They don’t want to develop that idea, but they want to follow my progress and have solicited my next script, as and when I can send it in. As far as I can tell, this is as far as I can go through the system without being put in touch with a producer. So, I’m happy, and raring to go on my next spec radio play.

Watching last Saturday’s Doctor Who every (thirty-something, male) writer seems to be blogging about it, and with good reason. It was a very good show in a long recent run of quality episodes. And it had the return of a character from the series past that made my inner-fanboy do cartwheels. If none of this means anything to you, then you’re probably a grown-up. How does that feel?

Preparing for the Script Factory Storylining course this week. It’s tomorrow and Thursday, and Sir Jason of Arnopp will also be there. It involves breaking down the story beats for the first 8 episodes of “Harkness Hall”, a fictional soap opera developed by the tutor Yvonne Grace. I have received the series outline document, and am currently getting to know the central characters, and working out ways to melt them.

Things what I haven’t been doing:
Writing the – hilariously delayed – third part of my Digital Shorts diaries. But it will come. I predict another week of quiet, and then I’ll be blogging every day again. TTFN.

Only just resisted putting a ‘Cannes’ = ‘Can’ pun in the title here

It’s around this time each year that I don’t go to Cannes. I annually don’t soak up the unique atmosphere, don’t race around trying to get meetings, and don’t blag my way into parties or screenings.

Is this a mistake? I ask myself this every year. I’ve never had the readies, and I’ve never been convinced it’s particularly helpful for a writer. This year it was a particularly hard decision to make, though, what with the 60th anniversary and having written a film that’s there too. But my producer has gone over and is flying the flag (ooh, Scooch flashback – nasty!) for ‘Lent’ this week. So, I’ve saved my pennies for the Cheltenham Screenwriter’s Festival in July, which I think will be more useful for me at this juncture.

But, reading Sal Brown’s Cannes updates is wheting my appetite for when I finally give in and give it a go. Next year, definitely. And hopefully, with another short film to take with me…

Where am I?

I'm in a state, that's where I am. It's a nice state, though. There's so much going on at the moment - which is obviously a good thing - but it just means I have lots of things to blog about, and no time to write the blog entries up.

I've just completed entries for the BBC Writer's Academy, and for the Script Factory 'Wireless and Boundless' scheme. Soon, I will publish the second installment on the process of creating a film for the 06/07 Digital Shorts programme. I've just been to a Screen South Information day, and to Raindance's open evening in London, and there's a bit of useful info to disseminate from both those events. Plus, I am working on a spec radio play. And making arrangements for going to the Screenwriter's Festival in Cheltenham in July, and submitting a feature screenplay to their ScriptMarket. And trying to listen to as many radio plays as I can, and watching every episode of all the four BBC continuing dramas.

There aren't enough hours in the day, I tells ya! Anyway, I hope everyone else is keeping busy too. Better get back to that radio play...