I can finally talk about it

I am officially a professional feature film writer! After a few weeks of meetings, negotiations, and intensive writing, I finally signed the contract yesterday. I’m working with producer/director Mark Jay of Full On Pictures, with some development support from Screen South. Thanks - and another beer onto the massive tab I already owe her - to Miranda Robinson, who initially put Mark in touch with me.

The project is a 1970s based coming-of-age story, and is proving to be a joy to write, and Mark a joy to work with. In fact, the only difficulty so far was finding someone in Brighton’s Jubilee library yesterday to witness the signing. We needed a person not known to either of us, and Mark’s lawyer advised trying the library; but, most of the staff there looked at us like we wanted their John Hancock on some kind of devil/soul-extraction type agreement.

Mark had to be on a plane to the U.S. mere hours after this, and I didn’t want to delay any longer either ‘cos I’ve been bursting to post about it for weeks. What would happen if we couldn’t get anyone to sign? Can I get a witness?! Luckily, the fourth or fifth person we asked agreed: we promised the library a copy of the eventual DVD as a thank-you!

As I said, Mark is now off to the States to pitch this project, and I have to have the first draft completed by October 31st before the AFM. The day job is horribly hectic, though, and can’t give me any time off. So, I am working every minute of every day, and haven’t got time to swing a cat (which as anyone who’s tried it will know takes quite a long time – you’ve got to find a pet shop that doesn’t ask questions, and all sorts).

At the time of writing, I’m up to page 85 of a 95-minute script, and today’s pages have included the words “applause”, “prison”, and “falafels”. Woo - and after having given it a certain amount of calm reflection – hoo!

On the IPod today: podcasts of Radio 4 shows. Hooray! Never normally being in a room with a radio at the right time, these new podcasts are a positive boon. And, after only a few days, I’m already addicted to The Archers. You can also get Start The Week, highlights of The Today Programme, The News Quiz… As soon as the Afternoon play is available, my listening will be complete.

List of Independent Radio Producers

As mentioned by Paul Campbell in the comments to this post, here is the page with a link to a list of independent radio producers, as well as some information about writing for Radio 4:

Do you want to write for Radio Four?

Last I heard, the commission rounds are in May and September, so it might not be too late to pitch to a producer and get in for the next opportunity.